Glass Book COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT u The Eternal Epistle SERMONS ON THE EPISTLES FOR THE CHURCH YEAR BY REV. S. P. LONG, A. M Pastor of First Lutheran Church, Mansfield, Ohio MISS FLORENCE MAY WELTY REPORTER Oh God, give us a faith thai will not waver, worry, whine nor wrangle, but a faith that will watch, wo'>-k, wait, win and const ut.tlv warble Amen! '' Columbus, Ohio: THE F. J. HEER PRINTING CO 1908 LIBRARY of CONGRESS Two Copies Received JAN 5 1909 CLASS O^ XXc, No. ■ E^bG COPYRI-GHT 1908 BY REV. S. P. LONG. A. M. PREFACE. ^*W ^ EAVEN and earth shall pass away, but My Word shall not pass I ^ away" said Jesus. The same Providence that preserved the ^ ^ Gospels for us will also preserve the Epistles. God's Epistles are Eternal Epistles^ and the same Providence that called forth "The Great Gospel" has also prepared for the press by the same tongue and hand this volume of sermons for the Church Year. Like "The Great Gospel," these sermons were delivered by a busy pastor to a large con- gregation from Sunday to Sunday and reported verbatim by his re- porter who herself has left a lucrative position to prepare herself foi* a greater work for her Master. The author is so deeply impressed with God's wonderful leading that he will quote for the comfort of others the following poem as a gem which will make at least one page of this book valuable : SOMETIME. Sometime, when all life's lessons have been learned, And sun and stars forevermore have set, The things which our weak judgment here have spurned, The things o'er which we grieved with lashes wet. Will flash before us, out of life's dark night. As stars shine more in deeper tints of blue. And we shall see how all God's plans were -right, And how what seemed reproof was love most true. And we shall see liow, while wc frown and sigh, God's plans go on as best for you and me ; How, when we called, He* heeded not our cry, Because His wisdom to the end could see. And even as prudent parents disallow Too much of sweet to craving babyhood. So God, perhaps, is keeping from us now, Life's sweetest things, because it seemeth good. And if, sometimes, commijigled witli life's wine. We find the wormwood and rebel and shrink. Be sure a wiser hand than yours or mine. Pours out this potion for our lips to drink. '. 3 PREFACE. And if some friend we love is lying low, ^ Where human kisses cannot reach his face, Oh, do not blame the loving Father so, But wear your sorrow with obedient grace. And you shall shortly know that lengthened breath Is not the sweetest gift God sends His friend. And that sometimes the sable pall of death Conceals the fairest boon His love can send. If we could push ajar the gates of life And stand within, and all God's workings see, We could interpret all this doubt and strife, And for each mystery would find a key. But not today, then be content, poor heart I God's plans, like lilies, pure and white unfold, We must not tear the close shut leaves apart ; Time will reveal the hidden cups of gold. And if, through patient toil, we reach the land Where weary feet, with sandals loose, may rest, Then we shall know and clearly understand — I think that we shall say, "Our God knew best !" M. R. Smith. Quoted by Bishop Huntington, TABLE OF CONTENTS. Page Advent Sunday : Knowing the Time 9 Second Sunday in Advent : The Power of The Holy Ghost . . 22 Third Sunday in Advent: Old Babes 37 Fourth Sunday in Advent: Precious Presents from Paul in Prison 52 Christmas : The Wonder of All Wonders 69 Sunday after Christmas : Looking Backward 85 New Year's Day : Looking Forward 99 Sunday AFTER New Year: The Present Judgment 110 Epiphany: Three Hearts 124 First Sunday after Epiphany: Thinking Sunday-school Teachers. 141 Second Sunday after Epiphany: Christians in Christ .... 158 Third Sunday after Epiphany : The Conflict of the Christian in Christ 175 Fourth Sunday after Epiphany: A Double Debt 189 Fifth Sunday after Epiphany : A Stranger in the Sanctuary 205 Sixth Sunday after Epiphany: Peter's Power 219 Septuagesima Sunday : Paul's Power 236 Sexagesima Sunday : Paul's Path 252 QuiNQUAGESiMA SuNDAY : Paul's Poem 267 First Sunday in Lent: Paul's Plea 284 Second Sunday in Lent: Know and Grow 296 Third Sunday in Lent : Three Classes of Children 314 Fourth Sunday in Lent: An Allegory 326 Fifth Sunday in Lent: The Spotless Sacrifice 339 Palm Sunday : God's Mind 351 Confirmation Sermon : Jesus' Jewels 364 Good Friday : The Serpent and the Savior 376 Easter Sunday : The Lump Leavened 379 First Sunday after . Easter : What Would John Join? .... 390 Second Sunday after Easter: The Shepherd and His Sheep . 405 Third Sunday after Easter: The Dearly Beloved 419 Fourth Sunday after Easter: Do Not Err 434 5 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS. Page Fifth Sunday after Easter: Three Kinds of Hearers and Two Kinds of Religion 450 Sunday after Ascension : What would You do To-day, If You Knew That Tomorrow You would be in Eternity ? . . . . 463 Pentecost: What Meaneth This? 476 Trinity Sunday : The Divine Deep 489 First Sunday after Trinity : Who is a Liar ? . 501 Second Sunday after Trinity: May One be Sure of His Salva- tion? 512 Third Sunday after Trinity : The Mighty Hand of God . . . 523 Fourth Sunday after Trinity : The Path to Glory . . . . ■ . 535 Fifth Sunday after Trinity : An Article of Agreement . . . 550 Sixth Sunday after Trinity : We should not Serve Sin . . . 565 Seventh Sunday after Trinity : The Manner of Men .... 578 Eighth Sunday after Trinity : The Spirit of Adoption . . 589 Ninth Sunday after Trinity : Why so Many Fall ? 601 Tenth Sunday after Trinity : Inexcusable Ignorance .... 613 Eleventh Sunday after Trinity : Born Out of Due Time . . . 618 Twelfth Sunday after Trinity : Letters of Recommendation . . 628 Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity : Who Hath Bewitched Us ? . 635 Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity : The Path made Plain . . 647 Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity : Practical Principles .... 662 Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity : Paul's Great Prayer .... 676 Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity : The One Baptism .... 690 Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity : How to Get Rich . . . . 709 iMNETEENTH SuNDAY AFTER Trinity : Where Are We? .... 722 Twentieth Sunday after Trinity : Five Fools . . . . . 737 Twenty-first Sunday after Trinity : The Battle of Battles . . 748 Twenty-second Sunday after Trinity : The First Foreign Mis- sionary 764 Twenty-third Sunday after Trinity : Was Paul Popular ? . 780 Twenty-fourth Sunday after Trinity : God has Translated Us . 790 Thanksgiving Day : Thanks Be to God 803 Twenty-fifth Sunday after Trinity: Our Dear Dead . . 824 Twenty-sixth Sunday after Trinity: The Word and the World. 833 Twenty-seventh Sunday after Trinity : Ten Truths God Wants You to Know Perfectly 846 Are Church Suppers Right? 861 The Greatest Reformation 880 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE ADVENT SUNDAY. Knowing the Time. KOM. 13:11-14 HND that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep : for now is our salvation nearer than when we be- lieved. The night is far spent, the day is at hand : let us there- fore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day ; not in rioting and drunken- ness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Thy Word is truth. Amen. Dear Christian Friends: There is no question as to whom the letter to the Ro- mans was addressed. It was addressed to the Christian people. We find in the first chapter the following words : "Among Avhom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ; To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints; Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ." The text then is addressed, not to heathen, but to Christians, and Christians are admonished to know the time, that it is high time to awake out of sleep. There are some things that we all know about time; we know what time is in general. There is not a man here this morning who has not some time or other said, I have not got time to do this or that. You know that today, Avhen, it is past, is past forever. You know that tomorrow is not today until today is past forever. You not only know what time is in general, but you ill so know the time of your own lives. You know how 9 10 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. much time has passed from the day that you were born until today. I take it for granted that you know your own age. Not only do we know the time of our own lives, but we know the time of the world. Whatever may have been the ages from the beginning to the first day, there is no question about the fact that as far as the people of this world are concerned, it was about four thousand years from the days of Adam to the days of Christ, and that it is about two thousand years since Christ was born, and that now we are in the year One thousand, nine hundred and four, and every infidel in the world Avho wrote a letter this day has, by the very beginning of his letter, acknowl- edged that it is nineteen hundred and four years since Jesus Christ was born. We know this about time, and the professed Chris- tian, especially in the Lutheran Church, knows that it is the first Sunday in Advent. We know what time it is in the Church Year. We know that Christmas is coming, and that there is a preparation necessary in the hearts of men for the reception of Jesus Christ, the God-man, as well as it was necessary for them to cry out ^^Hosanna to the Son of David ! Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord!'' Our epistle of the morning admonishes us to know the time, and therefore I shall take for my theme KNOV\^ING THE TIME. I. ''And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep ; for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed." We have before us here the pic- ture of a father in the home, early in the morning, going to the stairway and calling the children and saying for the last time. It is high time that you all get up, awake, arise, dress and go to work. The Apostle Paul writes many of his letters with pictures of the household, or of the army, or of the arena before him. We have here a picture, I say, of the household, of the good house-father admonishing everybody to get up soon and go to work, for the night is spent and the day is at hand. Knowing ADVENT SUNDAY. 11 the time then, it is high time to awake; for the Christian; for the heathen. 1. I said a moment ago that this whole epistle, was addressed to Christians. ''Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed." But when we believe in Christ is our salvation not as near as it ever can come? Isn't a man saved when he believes on Christ? And if he is saved, how can his salvation come any nearer? The mo- ment I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and accept Him as m^^ personal Savior, I am a saved man, but, my friends, I am today one-third of a century nearer to the Jordan, nearer to the crown, nearer to the judgment, than I was when I first believed ; consequently it is high time for the Christian to awake out of sleep. iVnd was this admoni- tion of the Apostle Paul unnecessary? Is the Church of God asleep? It is only too true, my friends, that too many ministers of the Gospel, and too many churches, are really asleep, like the children in bed in the morning; there are too many churches perfectly satisfied with their rest, per- fectly satisfied with their sweet sleep, waiting just a little longer, for a little more sleep, and wishing that the call might cease for a moment. Oh, it is so nice to lie a while yet on these cold mornings in a good warm bed! And there you have the picture of the Church of God, letting the family sleep on, — father no Christian — possibly mother no Christian — possibly the children not Chris- tians ; professed Christians themselves not growing at all in knowledge, knowing nothing more about the Bible than they did twenty-five years ago; no spiritual development, no activity, sleeping, and sleeping, and sleeping, and Paul says to the Church of God, It is time, high time, that you awake out of sleep. It is high time for the professed Christians to discover the difference between having their names on the church book, and having their names in the Book of Life. It is high time that the Church of God knows the difference between hearing God's Word Sun- day after Sunday, and growing in grace, and sitting at home and grumbling about the church, sitting at home and nmking plans with the children of the devil to carry on the work of the world. It is time, high time that the 12 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. Church of God discover the wonderful difference between mocking at the means of grace, and making use of them; and so I say this morning, in the name of my God, it is high time that the Church of God itself awakes out of sleep. 2. Not only is this true of the Church of God, but it is doubly true with regard to those who are no Chris- tians. One of the things that seems impossible to me is this, that a man should live in a Christian land like America, with Bibles by the thousand, hymns of praise on every tongue, churches of God in every community, the light from heaven forcing itself into every avenue, conscience enlightened despite the darkness, and living right on as if there were no God in heaven, living right on as if the story of Christ on Calvary were a mockery, living right on as if there were thousands of years of time for all poor mortals to be converted to God, putting off from day to day the salvation of an immortal soul, worth more than all the Avorld, on account of a little business, a little money, a little dirt, a little fun. The question, my friends, that I cannot solve, is how any man with an ounce of brain left, can go on to perdition in spite of mother's prayers, and all the Christian prayers and the earnest ad- monitions, and the cry from heaven, and the souFs cry, and immortality stamped on his very image. Consequently I say again, it is high time that every man on earth awake from his sleep of lethargy and of lost condition and arise in the name of Christ his only Savior. II. Not only is it time to awake, but it is time to get up. 1. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. The Apostle Paul, looking out into the world, sees that now it is twilight, just the moment that the morning star is going down and the light of the sun is appearing in the eastern horizon. We might well say that from the days of Adam and Eve to the days of Christ it was night; we might well say that when that star came from the east, and Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the morning came; we might well say that in the days of the apostles there went a cry out into the world such as there never was before, ADVP:NT SUNDAY. 13 and there never can be a greater by the same number of men, It is high time to awake out of sleep for the night is far spent and the day is at hand! And as the cry could go out for the world at large, it can go out to each in- dividual this morning: The night of sin is far spent; the night of an infidelic heart is almost past; the night of your life is growing long and the morning hour is approaching ; the night of your darkness and sinfulness is all in the past, and now the light of God's Holy Word, the light of the Gospel, the light of a Christian life, is all around you ; the light of Christian prayers calling to heaven; the provi- dential hand moving faster and faster in history; all this admonishes you to get up and arise from your sleep. The night is far spent ; the day is at hand. The Bible is com- plete; the redemption is finished; death has been con- quered ; tlie Church has become a mighty power on earth ; Christian literature is flooding the world; the Gospel sun is shining ; it is time to get up ! III. And when we do arise, w^hat is the next thing to do? To dress. ^'Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light.'' 1. We have here the picture then of the children ris- ing in the morning ; the first thing is to pull off that night robe; the next thing is to put on the garments for the day. And so the Apostle Paul pictures before the world, the people of God, that they also should cast off the works of darkness and they should put on the armor of light. And do you want to know what these w^orks of darkness are? "Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying." And if you want to know more about the garments you are to pull off, we will read what we learn in Gal. 5 : "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: Adultery, fornication, un- cleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like, of the which I tell you before, as I have told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." My dear friends, you cannot sit here 14 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. this morning and sleep when God's Holy Word is holding forth to you the very marks of the garment that never can enter into the kingdom of heaven. And how many people there are to-day yet, professed Christians, that seem to boast of these very garments here mentioned. "Rioting" — how many professed Christians are engaged in riots to- day? "Drunkenness'' ^ how many professed Christians to-day own the very buildings in Avhich these damnable saloons are carr^dng on their work, and it is just as bad to own the building and rent it for such purposes as it is to run the business. How many professed Christians there are to-day who go in and stand by the bar by the side of those leading ungodly lives, leading others who care noth- ing for Christ, and for the church, and for their souls, day by day on the path of destruction. As we heard this morning in our Sunday School lesson, the curse that rested upon Jerusalem Avas caused by the priests in their drunken sprees. If the priests themselves were drunken, what could you expect of the people? If ministers af the Gospel in this enlightened age think of starting such saloons as were started in New York by a great bishop of a great church, is it any wonder that the church mem- bers themselves stand there and feel satisfied? If the ministers of the Gospel, and the Sunday School teachers, and the councils of the churches, and the leading people of the city are going to go into these places, is it any wonder that the young boys are anxious for the day to come when they are allowed to go in and get a glass of beer with- out being refused? Is it any wonder that these boys are brought home dead drunk? Is it any wonder that Chris- tian families are put to shame as they are? My friends, you cannot wear these garments and go on and dress as God would have you dress. "Not in chambering and wantonness." I am informed that there are men who call themselves Christians, who are not at home, where they ought to be at night. Where are they? Where are they? Chambering — and you know what the word "chambering" means. Every man must so live as under the eye of God, and whether he knows it or not, God's eye is upon him, and the man that, lives in ADVENT SUNDAY. 15 adultery or fornication cannot get to heaven any more than the devil himself can. "Not in strife and envying." How many professed Christians there are who seem to think it is big to be at strife with somebody, to be quarreling here, and quarreling there, and stirring up strife here and there; and just as sure as I find the spirit in my heart to want to make trouble with every man and woman I meet, just so sure I have got a garment on that must be pulled off before I can go to heaven. Oh, it is high time to awake; to get up; to undress in order that we may dress. When we run through this catalogue of sins we come to envying. Oh, that green-eyed monster, jealousy! which no one will acknowledge, and those having it, act so dumb. May God in heaven help us to get rid of envying and jealousy. It is that which has ruined many a man in business; it is that Avhich has ruined many a man in the church; it is that which makes people blind to their own soul's eternal good; it is that which is ruining our immortal souls. The devil never accomplished anything greater in all the world than when he hatched out jealousy and put it into the heart of Cain, and from that time on to this the mark has been borne. I do not know what mark it was that God put on Cain, but He did mark him; whether it was a black skin or not T do not knoAv ; but there is one mark that Cain had that a great many people are carrying, and that is the mark of envy, the mark of jealousy, that moved him to raise the club to kill his good brother Abel, and if you have that mark about you, the only reason you have not murdered is because you have not had the opportunity. Pull off the garment of darkness; pull off your garment of adultery ; of fornication ; of uncleanness, lascivious- ness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like, for remember it is God who says, through His inspired writer, "Of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not. inherit the kingdom of God." Pull off this old garment of sin, with all its works of the flesli. 16 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. 2. Let US put on the right garment, the whole armor of God, and let us put on the armor of light. "But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof." xlnd if we want to know what that particular garment is that we are to wear, let us read again from Gal. 5 : "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, good- ness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit^ let us also walk in the Spirit.'' If you put on Christ then you will live in the spirit, and if you live in the Spirit, you must have in your heart love, you must be happy, you must seek peace, you must have patience, you must be gentle, you must develop that beautiful attribute, good- ness, you must have meekness, and you must be tem- perate : against such there is no law. Now, my dear friends, I ask you the question this morning, have you risen up from your sleep? Did you awake? And if you did awake and have pulled off the garment of darkness, have you put on the armor of light? Are you Avalking in Christ Jesus? Are you so living as you Avould wish to live if Jesus Christ were all around you and you in Him? If He is the vine and we are the branches, and if we can do nothing without Him, how else can we go on and dress for the higher life, if we do not walk as in His presence and in His sight? IV. Then, when the children are awake, and have risen, and have dressed themselves, the last call comes : "Let us walk honestly, as in the day." — in other words, let us go to work. KnoAving the time, it is high time that we all go to work, early in the day and keep at it all day. 1. Let us walk honestly, as in the day. A great writer has said : "I want to so live as if my house had no window blinds, and my heart itself were surrounded by glass, and Jesus Christ were living inside." Let us so live that God may understand us. The question is not at all how people may understand us, but let us so live that God may always understand us, and walk in His light as iu the day. The thief usually does not make arrangements ADVENT SUNDAY. 17 to go out in the morning, but after night. The sins of the world are mostly committed from the evening until the morning. The Apostle Paul tells us that in the Church of God we should walk as in the day. In other words, we should go to w^ork and live honestly, and we should begin very early in the day and continue throughout the day. That leads me to this important fact, that if the Church of God shall prosper on earth, we must give our at- tention to the little children. The Lord has taught us this so particularly again in the morning's Sunday School lesson. You will remember that Isaiah found Israel sunken as low as it possibly could on account of intemper- ance; you will remember that God Himself said of Jeru- salem that there is only one hope for that city, and that is to take the children from the laps of their mothers — from the breasts of their mothers, to use the words of Scripture. You will remember the little children of Israel were kept on their mother's laps until they were three years old. Now, says God, the only hope for that great city is not these old drunken sots any more; the only hope is not those Avhose consciences have become seared; the only hope for Jerusalem is to take hold of the little in- fants, take them from their mothers' breasts, take them from their parents' knees, and lay line upon line, precept upon precept, line upon line, precept upon precept, until they shall become the men and the women of God's eternal city. Oh, dear friends, the Protestant Church has not aroused itself to the importance of educating these chil- dren as the Romish Church has. If the Church of Rome, sitting on her seven black hills, can train her children for ten and twelve years to die Roman Catholics, no dif- ference where they go, what could not the Protestant Church do, if she would educate her children as she could? I am by no means satisfied with simply a Sunday School. I believe that Avhen the conscience of the Christian Church is aroused to the. awful situation in some of our public schools, to the fact that the old Bible is not allowed any more in the very schools that were born out of the Bible, when we understand the awful power of sin in our youth. 18 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. when we understand then the little seed of thirty minutes in a week, and sometimes not even that, then, my friends, we ought to arouse to the importance of having a kinder- garten in every church where the little children can learn God's Word every day for the first ten or twelve years of their lives; and I hope the time will come when tlie Protestant Church all over this land will say to the public schools, you shall educate our children after we have God's hand on their hearts ten years, and no sooner. Why are we not doing it now? The only reason is that we are afraid to reach into our pockets and spend a dollar or two for the souls of our children. Let us begin early in the day to walk in God's paths. 2. And when we thus begin early with our children and train them as they ought to be trained, then let us continue as long as it is day. There are some people who seem to think the right way to live is to serve the devil until just a few weeks or months before they die, and then hurry and prepare to meet God. I am glad that the Lord Jesus Christ is willing to save souls in the last moment, but I, for my part, would be very sorry, if my last thoughts in this world were like this, that here I am on my bed, and I am going to die in a few days, and all my life I have spent trying to drive other people to hell. I should think it a terrible thing in that hour to remember that God's grace and mercy had been following me all through life, and I never listened to Him until just now. It would be a terrible thought for me to think that I haven't a single day in all my life left to do good. It would be a terrible thing to let the impression go out among other young men that they, too, shall prepare to meet tlieir God when they are about forty or fifty years old, and many will never reach twenty, and will be lost forever. It is high time that we awake out of sleep; that we get up; that we pull off the old garment of sin and put on the armor of light; it is high time that we go to work early in life and work on throughout life, every day, un- til we breathe our last breath. My friends, life is too short to quit working in the vineyard of our God, and let me speak a word of admonition to the aged people: You ADVENT SUNDAY. 19 have only got a few more years to toil, only a few more steps to take, only a few words to admonish your fellow- men, only a few more days before you. Oh, work while it is day, for the night cometh when no man can work. It was in the year 354, in Africa, that a mother gave birth to a son for whom she had prayed long before he was born, and prayed earnestly for him after he was born. Mother jNionica was one of the great women of the fourth century. Her soul's desire was to give to the world a great man of God. For him she prayed, I say, long before he was born, and when he was born, she prayed for him while lie was nursing at her breast; she prayed for Mm. as she led him on the jDaths of life; she prayed for him in liis daily work. There was given to that boy a wonder- ful brain, a great imagination, a power for good or for evil. That boy at the age of about eighteen had gone so- deep into sin that the Avorld thought there was no hope for him any more; that boy had gone into the philosophy of the world and forsaken his mother's prayers and forsaken her admonitions and instructions, and there was nothing too bad for Aurelius Augustine to do. He went on from: bad to worse, while his poor mother was praying God never to Jet that boy get away from Him. Like a fish in the waters, having taken a bite of the hook, he swam up and down the waves but could not get away from the great truths that the mother planted into him. He went on to Rome, and from Rome to Carthage, and from Carthage to Milan, and there accidentally he heard the great Am- brosius delivering one of those great sermons of the fourth ceutur}^ His conscience was a wakened ; he Avas led back to his mother's prayers and to his mother's God. He tried to shake off tlie impression and went out with a friend of his, trying to plunge into sin deeper and deeper. One day an officer came to those two young men and told them how the Gospek preached by Ambrosius was saving liundreds and thousands of young men from death and destruction, and the conscience of Aurelius Augustine was awakened more than ever. Becoming uneasy and tremb- ling he said to his friend, "Come out and let us go into the garden;" there lie stood, face to face with the young man 20 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. who, steed like, had been galloping with him down the pavement of hell. He said, "The poor, and the aflicted, and the weak-minded, are coming into the kingdom of God, and you and I, with brain and education, are going to damnation, and it is time that we repent.'' Those two men stood face to face and trembled until Aurelius Augustine said : "I can stand it no longer," and went down into that garden under a fig tree; he lay there like his Master of old, and sweat as it were drops of blood; lying there he said, "Oh God, what shall I do? How can I get away from Thee and from my mother's prayers? O my God, when shall I be delivered of this burden and curse that rests upon me? Others have sinned ignorantly, and I knew better. Others have sinned, born of wicked mothers, and I have sinned against the prayers of the most Godly mother of the age. O God, will there be any hope for me tomorrow? O God, will there be any hope for me today? O God, will there be any hope for me now? And he heard a voice, and it was like the voice of a child, say- ing, "Arise, arise, and read." He listened to that voice, and he remembered that back there somewhere was tlie Testament that his mother made him promise to carry though he went to hell. He went back to the old Book, and for the first time in years opened it, and his eyes fell on these words: "Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ;" he said, "I will put Him on," and Saint Augustine became a saved man, and Mother Monica gave to the world the greatest man that lived since the days of the apostles, one of the greatest men that kindled tlie fire of a Doctor Luther, as the man that stirred up the Reformation of the sixteenth century, and that to-day has brought about the great theologians of the world, written in the apostle's letters as found in the book of Komans; and now may this admonition this morning move some one who has heard my voice to awake, to arise, to dress, and to walk as in the day, for the night cometh when no man can labor. Amen. ADVENT SUNDAY. 21 PRAYER. O God, our heavenly Father, we thank Thee for this blessing of proclaimin-g Thy eternal truth ; we thank Thee that these epistles are the inspired Word of God, and we thank Thee that we are permitted to preach sermons on sermons by Thine apostles. We pray Thee, O God, that Thou wilt spare our life to finish this course of sermons on these great letters of the Holy Spirit ; and we pray Thee, our heavenly Father, that Thou wilt enable those that are here this morning to follow this course of sermons as found in Thy Word throughout the year, and as one by one Thou mayst call some of them hence, do Thou help that these messages which they have heard may fit them the better for Thy kingdom. We ask Thee that Thou wilt give us Thy Holy Spirit to enlighten us and keep us close to the Master, that we may put on His garment of righteousness and accept it by faith. Heavenly Father go with us now throughout this coming week, and throughout the balance of life, and may we all heed the admonition given to our conscience. We pray Thee that Thou wilt give us many?, mothers like Monica, who shall pray for their children, and shall not give them up, but take them to the throne of God by daily prayer. We pray Thee, heavenly Father, that Thou wilt help the Church of God to arouse from her sleep and to take the little children early in the morning and place them in Thy vineyard; and we pray Thee that Thou wilt spare the lives of old hard- ened sinners until they see the way to come back to Thee. We know, O God, how stubborn the natural man is ; we know how hard it is for those who have been in the way of sin so long to come to Thee ; but what is hard for us is easy for Thee ; and therefore we pray Thee to reach out Thine almighty hand of mercy and take hold of the hearts of stone and crush them and make hearts of flesh, and give them new life in Christ Jesus. All these favors we ask in the name of the blessed Savior, who taught us to pray : Our Father who art in heaven ; Hallowed be Thy name ; Thy kingdom come ; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven ; Give us this day our daily bread ; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for- give those who trespass against us ; And lead us not into temptation ; But deliver us from evil; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen, ^ SECOND SUNDAY IN ADVENT. The Power of the Holy Ghost. Rom. 15:4-13^. fOR whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus. That ye ma}^ with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lprd Jesus Christ. Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God. Now I saj^ that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers. And that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy ; as it is written, For this cause T will confess to Thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto Thy name. And again He saith. Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with His people. And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles ; and laud Him, all ye people. And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and He that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles ; in Him shall the Gentiles trust. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Thy Word is truth. Amen. Beloved in Christ : — The Lord Jesus, just before He departed from this world, said: "All power is given to Me in heaven and on earth." From these words we learn that power belongs preeminently and entire!}^ to God, and the very fact that He acknowledged that this power was given to Him, gives the same power to God the Father. God tlie Father and God the Son had all power, but remember, this declaration was made in order to give strength to the command that followed: "Go ye into all the world, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the SECOND SUNDAY IN ADVENT. 23 name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy dhost," and in that last phrase yon find that equally with the two persons of God — the Father and the Son — power belongs to the Holy Ghost. This evening then I desire to call your attention to this power as men- tioned in the last words of our text : THE POWER OF THE HOLY GHOST. "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost." The power of the Holy Ghost, as Ave find it in this text, gives us : I. One manuscript II. One mind. III. One mouth. IV. One minister. V. One measure. I. Our attention is called here to one manuscript. ^'For whatsoever things are written aforetime were writ- ten for our learning, that we through patience and com- fort of the Scriptures might have hope." The manu- script therefore that the Holy Spirit has given us is the Book which I hold in my hand, the writings of old, the Holy Scriptures, to which the apostle refers when he says, •'Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of Me." Did you ever stop to think that this one Book itself is a dem- onstration of the mighty power of the Holy Spirit? — a Book that was Avritten in a period of fifteen hundred years — a Book that has sixty-six books in it — a Book that has been held down and burned by emperors and kings — a Book which has been forbidden to the people — a Book which has been destro^^ed time and again, and yet, like the adamantine cube of old, whenever it was upset, came down right side up? This Book itself is a demonstration of the poAver of the Holy Spirit. There is more power in that Book than there is in creation; 24 - THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. there is more power in that Book than there is in tlie resurrection of the dead. 1. I speak of creation first, because the Holy Spirit took part in that work. We confess in the creed : I be- lieve in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth; but thereby we do not exclude Jesus Christ nor the Holy Spirit, just as we do not exclude the Father and the Holy Spirit from redemption, and just as we do not exclude the Father and the Son from sanctifi- cation. When we read the first verses of the Bible we find that God created the heavens and the earth, and the Spirit dwelt upon the face of the waters. In other words, this whole creation was like chaos and would never have been in the order in which we find it this morning, had it not been for the mighty power of the Holy Ghost. 2. And w^hen we read of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we find sometimes the Bible says that the Father raised Him from the dead; we find that Jesus Christ says : T have power to give My life, and to take it again ; then we read again that He was quickened by the Holy Spirit. If you could have gone down into the tomb where Jesus lay during those three days of His death, you would have found His body cold and lifeless ; if you could have placed your hand on the forehead that had been wearing the crown of thorns, you wold have felt death there; if you could have placed your hand on that breast in which beat that loving heart, you would have found a gash there, cold in death ; if you could have placed your hands on His feet, you would have found the marks where the nails were driven; that whole body Avas lying there stiff and cold, and you would have said. There is no power outside of God Almighty that can raise Him up. Tlie Holy Spirit quickens Him, and He conquers death and grinds his iron limbs to powder. There you get the power of the Holy Ghost, and we are assured that when Jesus Christ shall come in the clouds with all His holy angels, that the dead shall all rise by the same power that Jesus rose, and Jesus being raised by the power of the Holy Spirit, your body and mine shall rise by that power. SECOND SUNDAY IN ADVENT. 25 And yet, my friends, the power of the Holy Ghost in this world is just as great, or greater, than the power of res- urrection; greater than the power of creation. If you are today a child of God, you are as much a new creation as the sun Avas when God said. Let there be a sun. The new heart within you has been created by the Holy Spirit in His Word. If you today are spiritually alive, you have had as much power in bringing you from spiritual death to life as God used Avhen He said. Let there be life, and there Avas life. The Word of God, then, is one manu- script which is the outward demonstration of the power of the Holy Ghost. II. Our text speaks not only of one manuscript, but also of one mind. '^Now the God of patience and conso- lation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus. Tliat ye ma}^ with one mind and one mouth glorifA- God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." 1, To be like-minded and to have one mind is the power of tlie Holy Ghost. What confusion there is in the minds of the people! There is an old couplet that says : Many birds of many kinds ; Many men of many minds. Wherever we go Ave find that each man lias his own way of thinking, and this diA^ersity of minds is found not only among the people of the Avorld, it is found also among professed Christians. The Apostle Paul was writ- ing this letter to Christians, as Ave heard last Sunday night, but among those Christians there Avere some of Jewish extraction, and some from the Gentiles, and these people could not be brought together to think alike on account of their former environments and circumstances. He calls attention to their different AA^ay of thinking and looking at things in a few verses of the previous chapter. ^'For one belicA^eth that he may eat all things; another, who is weak, eateth herbs. * * * j knoAA', and am per- suaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him that esteemeth anything to be un- clean, to him it is unclean.'' The people in the present 26 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. day are just the same as they were then. One man thinks it is wrong to take a swallow of whiskey; the other thinks it is just right. One man thinks it is wrong to smoke; the other thinks it is just right to smoke. One thinks it is all wrong to eat this and that; and the other says it is just right to eat this and that. The Apostle Paul, speaking on that question says : ''I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing un- clean of itself; but to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean." If a man thinks it is wrong to chew tobacco, to him it is unclean; if he tliinks it is wrong to smoke, to him it is Avrong to smoke; if a man thinks it is wrong to take a swalloAv of wine, to him it is wrong, until he is convinced that that is right. In other words, as long as the world stands, even professed Christians are hot going to agree on just exactly what you dare eat and what you dare not; or what you dare drink, and what you dare not. Nevertheless, though there is confusion among the people, the Holy Spirit has the power to give these people one mind. This confusion lies not only in eating and drinking, but you will find it in other things. "One man esteemeth one day above another ; another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind." The old Jews supposed the seventh day, the old Sabbath, was far better than any other day. The Gentiles thought one day Avas just as good as the other. The Gentiles learned from the Apostle Paul, what all Christians ought to know today, that one day is no better than the other. You do not find that Jesus Christ one day walked along with a long face, and the next day Avith another face ; you do not find that one day He AA^as worshiping the Father, and the next day not. The Lord Jesus Christ used one day just like the other, but He made eA^ery day a day in AA^hich to be about His Father's business. There are some people Avho seem to think that on the Lord's day they must walk around and look so holy, and then, from Mon- day morning to Saturday night, they look so devilish. My friends, it is better to be children of God every day. It is better to be just exactly on ^Fonday and Tuesday, SECOND SUNDAY IN ADVENT. 27 -iind Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, what you are on Sunday. 2. Out of all this confusion the Holy Spirit has the })ower to briui; one mind, and that one mind is the mind of Christ Jesus. ^'Now the God of patience and conso- lation iirant you to be like-minded one toward another, accordin,^ to Christ Jesus. That ye may with one mind and one moutli g:lorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." If the world is ever to have one mind, it is not to have the mind of a Luther, not the mind of a Calvin, not the mind of a Zwingley, not the mind of this man or of that, but it must have the mind of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in Him only the Church of God can •ever be united. It is in the power of the Holy Spirit to get men to think as Jesus thinks. It is in the power of the Holy Spirit to give us the minds to say, and to catch the hearts of men, and to catch their wills, by the powder of the Holy Ghost. The hearts of men are very slippery things, and they can very easily be caught sometimes by sinful offerings. We have just heard throughout the past week that even a banker's heart can be caught by a Mrs. Chad wick. There are some people whose hearts can be very easily caught by some sinful proposition ; but if you ever tried to catch the hearts of men and make Christians of them by human power, you have failed. If you liave ever tried to take the Avills of men and change them by your power, you have entirely failed. There never was a man in the history of the world that could ^ver make a Christian of a man that was none. We hear about men who travel from city to city converting men, and I never saw a man in my life that was converted by another man, who was not entirely perverted. There is onh^ one power that can ever make a child of God out of a child of the devil, and that is the power of the Holy Ghost. That is the power that can take and catch the hearts of men ; it is the power that can take the wills of men and turn them, in order that they may fall down and worship the Lord Jesus Christ. This, my friends, is the power of the Holy Spirit, the one uiind. 28 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. III. Not only do we find he has the power to give us one mindp but he has the power to give us one mouth. "That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Where- fore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God." When we study these two verses carefully we find out that the Holy Spirit has got the power to have us worship together, and welcome one another. 1. Worship together with one mouth. We have as many mouths as we have faces, but there is one thing that the Holy Spirit can do : — He can help us all to confess the same faith; He can help us all to pray the same prayer; He can help us all to sing the same songs of praise. When, a few moments ago we all stood up and said, I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth; when we all said: And in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord; when we all said: And in the Holy Ghost, it was as one mouth. Now, my friends^ no man on earth can stand up and confess the Apostles^ Creed unless he has been himself a miracle of the work- ings of the Holy Spirit. You do not find a Robert G. Ingersol standing up and sajdng, I believe in God the Father Almighty, as we confessed this morning. You do not find men who are not at heart Christians standing up and saying that unless they mean to be hypocrites. It is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that a man can get faith in the Father, and in the Son, and in the Holy Ghost, and when we have got that faith, we all stand up and confess it, according to the great declaration : He tbat will not confess Me before men, I will not con- fess before My Father in heaven. Whosoever shall con- fess Me before men, him shall the Son of man also con- fess before the angels of God. And when we take up our hymns of praise and sing them, we do not one sing this verse and another that one, one this stanza and another that; we all say the same words at the same time, and the very angels of heaven listen for the voice that comes out of the First Lutheran church this evening, or any other church ; it is the voice of one mouth, praising SECOND SUNDAY IN ADVENT. 29 God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, b}' the power of the Holy Ghost. And so it is with prayer. The Lord did not teach the Lord's Prayer for the special purpose of simply showing a form. Tliere are some people who seem to think that the Lord Jesus just gave that prayer as a model, and that, therefore, we do not need to pray it today. There are some people who seem to think that it Avill not do to have any forms in the Church of God. I would like to know if there is anything in the world that has any more form to it than this Bible; I would like to know if there is anything in the world that has more form than the Psalms; or the Lord's Prayer, or the benediction, when the Lord God not onlj said that we should pronounce the blessing on the people, but said you should say : The Lord bless thee and keep thee ; the Lord make His face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee; the Lord lift His countenance upon thee and give thee peace. We have no right to change that form. The Lord Jesus Christ said : Go ye into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. What is that but form? What is grammar but form? What is diction but form? What is education but form? W^hat are songs of praise but form? The real truth is that God gave us the Lord's Prayer in order that Ave might all come together and join mouth to mouth until every mouth shall be but one mouth, say- ing: Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven ; Give us this day our daily bread, and for- give us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil ; For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen. One mouth praying by the power of the Holy Ghost. 2. This same power gives us one mouth to w^elcome each other. "Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God." How did God receive us? Jesus Christ came down on earth and gave us His hand; but He gave us something else besides His 30 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. hand, He gave us His Word, and that Word of His is this: The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. Jesus Christ is the one Mediator be- tween God and man — the man, Christ Jesus. Just as the Lord Jesus stretched out His hand and gave us His Word to bring us to the Father, just so He has given to us this Holy Spirit in order that we might have love to our fellow men, and this love should enable us to greet each other and give each other the hand, welcome each other, thereby showing that we have one mouth, that is, the mouth of a child of God. IV. The power of the Holy Spirit not only gives us one manuscript, one mind and one mouth, but also one minister. "Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minis- ter of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers." The Apostle Paul here calls Jesus Christ the Minister. It was the Apostle Paul who said : I am determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Some ministers of the Gospel are doing more to show them^ ;selves than to show Jesus Christ to the world. The only man that will ever succeed in winning souls for Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit is the man that hides himself behind his Master, the one that will hold up Christ and preach Him to the world. Jesus Christ, cru- cified on Calvary, is the one Minister to the Jews; the one Minister to the Gentiles. 1. He is the only hope of the Jews. Sometimes the members of the Jewish race are finding fault with me because I object to Protestants singing for them. I ob- ject to it, not because they are not as good people as we are, but I object to it because they ofiflcially and confes- sionally deny my Savior, Jesus Christ, and how any Protestant Christian on earth can stand up for two dol- lars and a half and help them along in a service to deny Christ, I cannot understand. I do not understand that it is any excuse for Judas Iscariot to reject Jesus be- cause he got sixteen dollars, and I do not understand that it is any excuse for a Protestant Christian to stand lip and help people along in a work that denies the only SECOND SUNDAY IN ADVENT. 81 {Savior. It is absolutely wroug, aud if Christians had any conscience left they would not do such a thing. ^'Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circuuicisio.i for the truth of God, to contirm the promises made unto) tlie fathers." The Lord Jesus Christ Himself wn« ,i Jew; the Lord Jesus Christ Himself was circumcised; the Lord Jesus Christ Himself died for the Jews first of all, and then for the world, and there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby a Jew can be saved, except by tlie Lord Jesus Christ. God says in one jjlace that if an angel from heaven came and proclaimed any otlier Gospel, that angel should be accursed, and if an angel sliould be accursed for holding up any other salvation, what shall befall the man that proclaims sal- vation witliout Jesus Christ. I declare, therefore, berore this audience this morning, and wish I could reacJi the ears of every Hebrew in the world, if he does not repent, of liis sins and accept the Savior, there is absolutely no liope for liis salvation. That is the Minister whom the power of the Holy Spirit proclaims to the w^orld; and if all the ministers of the Gospel would stop patting the Jews on the back and telling them Ave are all going the same way, they ^^ould find out that there is another way, and that the only way — Christ and Him crucified. 2. This same ^linister is not only a Minister for tlie Jews; He is a Minister for the Gentiles. "And that the Gentik^s might glorify God or His mercy; as it is written: For tliis cause I will confess to Thee among lie (rciitiles, and sing unto Thy name. And again He saith, Kejoice, ye Gentiles; with His people. And again. Praise tlie Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud Him, all ye jjeople. And again, Esaias saith., There shall be a root of Jess(% and He that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in Him sliall the Gentiles trust." Here Ave find promise after ])romise out of the Word of God that this great ^linister died for the Gentiles as well as for the Jcavs, and what a blessing it has been to you and me that th.e Gentiles did receiAe the Gospel. Are you aware of the fact that in the sixth and seA^enth centuries after Christ a inissi(uiai'y Avent out through Europe and there found 82 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. our forefathers cutting each other's heads off with knives of stone? Are you aware that our own forefathers were heathen bowing down before stocks and stones? Had it not been for this minister by the power of the Holy Spirit that wrought in their hearts a faith, your fathers and mothers would not have been Christians, and God only knows where you and I would be this evening. Then let us not forget that we hold up to the world by the power of the Holy Ghost a Savior of the Jews and of the Gentiles, of the old and of the young, of big sinners and little sinners, a Savior of all. V. By the power of the Holy Ghost we notice not only the one Minister, but the one measure. "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost." In this verse we find the promise of a measure that shall be filled up, and this measure is filled up not only for God, but through Him also for us. 1. We find three beautiful attributes of God in this text. In one verse He calls Himself the God of patience and consolation, and in the last verse, the God of Hope. The God of patience! Oh, how full of patience God is! He waited on Noah and the people of his day one hundred and twenty years to repent ; He waited on the children of Israel in the days of Christ. Oh, what pa- tience He had with those Pharisees and those Jews, until at last He was compelled to ring out that Woe, woe, unto you scribes and Pharisees! And what patience He has bad with you and with me. When our little children do not obey when we tell them to do a thing, and they do not do it, we come with great authority and with the lash upon their backs; but Oh, how often God has called upon you to repent; how often He has told you to come and give your heart to Him; how often He has called after you with a voice of love and said, only a little longer and then you must do one thing or the other ; but He has waited, and waited and waited, and He is waiting this morning yet, and the only reason you are not in hell right now is because God is full of patience; and this we learn by the power of the Holy Spirit. SECOND SUNDAY IN ADVENT. 33 Not only is He the God of patience, but the God of consolation. Where have you ever found your consola- tion? You say you have found it in the Word of God, but where do you find it in the Word of God? Only there where it holds up the God of patience and consola- tion. Oh, how consoling God is! When the dead are lying in our homes our neighbors come in and express their sympathy; they go out, and where is the consolation? But here comes God's Word: Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions : if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where J am there ye may be also. There is consolation. Two years ago a young man was killed accidentally only fourteen miles from here. The mother was broken-hearted. The text that was chosen for her son's funeral was the one I have just recited. She said on the day of the funeral, "I know there is consolation in that verse, but some how or other I cannot find the comfort." A few Sundays ago I had the honor of burying that mother, and in that Bible she had marked her son's text for herself. That mark told me a great deal. She found the consolation and was ready to go home to her son; and then I Avas compelled to take the same words and preach the conso- lation to her husband and to the rest of her children. I tell you, my friends, there is consolation in God, and in God only, and such a God the power of the Holy Ghost holds up to us. Not only is He full of consolation, but He is the God of hope. If there is anything in the world that is hard for a man it is to reach that point where there is no hope any more. We have hope as long as there is life. No difference how sick we may be, or how much suffering, as long as we live we say there is hope. No difference how low some one has fallen, as long as he is still in this world and breathing we go after him and with the help of the Holy Spirit lift him up that we might bring him 3 34 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. to the God of hope. There is only one place where there is no hope: "But the children of the kingdom shull be cast out into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." There shall be no hope. But God is full of hope — the God of patience and consolation. 2. And the God of hope by the power of the Holy Spirit comes to us and fills us with Avhat? Joy, peace in believing and hope. ''Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that ye may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost." I ask young people sometimes w^hy they do not become Christians, and Uiey say, Well, we want to enjoy ourselves a while yet; we want to have real pleasure. Oh, that the poor boy and girl could once learn the great lesson that there is no joy outside of salvation! This thing of going to the theater for pleasure, where you sit doAvn and hear un- godly things that may make you laugh for the moment, is it joy? Your immortal soul cries out: Oh, I need something better than that. In the hour of death you are not going to think of Macbeth nor of Hamlet; in the hour of death you will not care whether you have Shake- speare under your pillow or not; in that hour you will Avant liope, peace, and joy, but this hope, and this peace, and this joy can only be found by the power of the Holy Ghost, and this can only be found through Him by be- lieving in Christ Jesus. Thus we have His mind, and having His mind we have got this great measure, the filling up by the Holy Spirit. Remember, my friends, in conclusion, that the work of the Holy Spirt is not yet finished. When Jesus Christ died on Calvary He cried out : It is finished. On the last great Judgment da.y the Holy Spiiit will be there and He will remind you there of His Avork in this world, how He called, hoAv He gathered, how He enlightened, hoAv He sanctified and how He kept Christians. On that great day He will remind you of the fact that His work Avas not done here on earth. He will tell you hoAv He went after you through a certain sermon that you heard; how He stirred up your conscience and stirred up your heart and told you to prepare to meet your God. He will call at- SECOND SUNDAY IN ADVENT. 35 tention to the God of patience; He will call atttention to the God of hope ; He will call attention to the God of conso- lation. He will stand before you and remind you of the fact that He did plead with your conscience and with your soul ; He Avill let you understand that He knows you better than you do yourself, and there will be no answer for you to give, except to stand there condemned, and the Holy Spirit will on that day say what Jesus said on Calvary. This morning the Comforter is among us, and the Holy Spirit is calling to every man, woman and child in the house to prepare to meet God, and He will keep on calling until the last hour. On that day, when the Judgment has come and the last assize on high has been held. He will stand before you, with the power of the Holy Ghost and cry out : It is finished ! And then it will be finished forever Avith you. Oh, may God help you to realize that true joy, and true peace, and true happi- ness consists in this, that we are children of God; that Christ is our Savior; that day and night we trust in Him and Him only ; that the seal is upon the covenant : He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; and that we never take the warning away as long as we live : He that believeth not, shall be damned. May the Holy Spirit by that quiet poAver from on high urge you all this even- ing to a higher Christian life, and may we be true to each other, and admonish each other in the path of rectitude and right until Ave shall stand before Him who said on Calvary: It is finished; and Him who shall say in the last moment of the Judgment : It is now finished. Amen. PRAYER. O God, our heavenl}^ Father, we thank Thee for the power of the Holy Spirit, and we thank Thee that He comes to us through the Word, and the holy sacraments, and calls, and gathers, enlightens, sanctifies and keeps us ; and we pray Thee, O God, that the power of the Holy Spirit may convince us all of sin. and of righteousness, and of judg- ment. We ask Thy special blessing this evening upon every soul in. this house. Bless the members of this church, the visitors who may be here from other churches. We pray Thee to bless those who may be visiting here from other cities, and every one who is not a child of God, help that he may not go out of this house without fully deter- 36 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. mining to accept Thee right now as his or her personal Savior. O Lord, demonstrate the power of Thy Holy Spirit in our own hearts and consciences in this hour. We pray Thee that Thou wilt give a special blessing to Thy Church on earth ; Bless Thy truly called servants everywhere. Help that they may stand before the people as dying men pleading with dying man. We pray Thee, O God, that Thou wilt make us all diligent students of that manuscript, the Word of God, and thereby help us to have one mind, and that the mind of Christ Jesus ; and O God, give us one mouth to confess Thee, one mouth to praise Thee, and one mouth to pray to Thee, when we say : Our Father who art in heaven ; Hallowed be Thy name ; Thy kingdom come ; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven ; Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for- give those who trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation; But deliver us from evil; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power,, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT. Old Babes. 1 Cor. 4 :l-5. LET a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and" stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judg- ment: yea I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but He that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts : and then shall every man have praise of God. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Thy Word is truth. Amen. Dearly Beloved in Christ: In the early Christian Church of the old covenant the little children were presented to their Lord and became members of the church at the age of eight days, and we find that in Israel there was no such a thing as a family Iiaving children who were not Israelites. It was God's plan from the beginning that Christian families should rear nothing but Christian children, and that this is still the spirit of the New Testament we heard in this morning's lesson. John the Baptist did not become a member of the church when he was a grown up man, or a young man, but he, too, was brought into the covenant of the circumcision at the age of eight days; was also filled with the Holy Spirit even before he was born. From this we learn that it is God's will in the New Testament dispensation that the little children can come into the Christian Church just as soon as they are born, and that 37 '38 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. they should have tlie Hol}^ Spirit, at least in the hearts of their parents, long before they are born. There is nothing more beautiful to a true pastor than to see the little chil- dren in the church. Those people Avho do not want the children in the church are far from being true Christians, for God gave the command to feed the sheep and the lambs, and hoAv can we feed the lambs Avhen we never see them? The way to train cliildren is to bring them to the house of God no later than six weeks after they are born, ana have them baptized, and the mothers come with those baptized children every Sunday that they are well enough ; and a room should be provided where they could go with those children in case they do disturb the service; and, as soon as they are trained a few weeks, they can be in the service as well as any one else. I have said it often, and I repeat it to-night, I could take care of twenty-five little children in any church if I were permitted to sit near by, and those parents who cannot take care of their children in the church, are discovering not simply that they have not trained them rightly in the church, bat they haven't trained them rightly at home. The little children should be brought into God's house, and if they were all brought in as they should be and trained there Sunday after Sunday, line upon line, precept upon precept, Ave would not have so many old babies in the church. Now the very people who do not love the little babes in tne church are old babes, and the old babes are the hardest babes in the world to control. The apostle refers to these old babes in chapter 3 :1 when he says : "And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able." This letter Avas addressed to Greek Christians, living in Corinth — the most intelligent people AA^ho Avere living on God's eartli at that time, but just because they were naturally intelli- gent they imagined in a very short time that they were theologians, and began to discuss questions concerning which they kncAv very little; factions arose, and the Apostle Paul Avas called upon to write them a letter in THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT. 89 order that he might settle them and in order that they might not become too proud, he called them by their right name and said, You are a set of Or.D P.AP.IES. You will notice my themes are in the Bible and not in the iiexN spai)ers. These old babies are still found in the church, and you will notice we find them 1. In the pew. 11. In the pulpit. 1. The old babes 1 say are souietimes found in the ptnv. You know them by three marks: Creating factions; qadrrdiiifj about the preachers ; and posing as theologians — uiaking fools of themselves. 1. Creating factions. We read of these old babes in the following words: 1 Cor. 1:10-11. "Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all s])eak the sauie thing, and that there be no divisions: among you ; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it hath been declared unto uie of you, my brethren, b^^ them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.'' In chapter 3:3 he says of them: "For ye are yet carnal : for whereas there is among you envjdng, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?''^ In other words, you will notice that these people that caused disturbances and factions were not an ignorant set of people, nor does he say they were not Christian, but he does say they were yet carnally minded. In Corinth, as I said a moment ago, were the thinking people of the world, but that did not cease to make them people who would quarrel and try to bring up factions in the church. And it is so to-day yet. I heard one time of even a senator who, in order to disturb his pastor, brought his big dog into the church. I do not know whether that was true or not ; some say it was, and some say it was a mistake. Be that as it may, intelligence alone is no sign that people will not try to make up factions. The real faction makers 40 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. in the world are naturally intelligent people, because the dumbest people could not do those things. Not only is it true that they are very intelligent, it is also true that they may be Christians. I would not for a single moment say a man is no Christian because he tries now and then to stir up a little faction in the church of God. The Apostle Paul gave credit to the Corinthians for being Christians. In addressing the letter to them he calls "them saints; he calls them children of God in Christ Jesus ; nevertheless he calls attention to the fact that though they are Christians tbey are very weak, little old babes, carnally minded. ^^And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ." There are so many people who let the flesh rule instead of the spirit, and there is a great deal of flesh about all of us; there is a good deal of that envy and strife that we find recorded in this verse found in the hearts of all people, and unless we let the spirit of God reign instead of this evil spirit and flesh that is within us, we will always be more or less disturbing the people in the church and raising factions. I am not speaking to-night on this subject because I have sought a special text. You all know that these texts Avere selected long l)efore I was born; you know that they are found in this order in your own hymn-book; and it is my duty, as a minister of the Gospel to explain these texts as Ave go along, fearless of any one's feelings and fearless of any one's criticism. I say then, giving credit to all people who may raise factions in the church, they may be Chris- tians but oh, what weak little Christians they are! Old babes. Not only is it true they may be Christians, but I say they are really carnally minded; the right power is not on top yet. When I ask the question. Are you jealous, the answer is invariably, No. You never saw a really jealous person in all your life acknoAvledge jealousy, yet you will find it in the hearts of nearly all people; and when that jealousy reigns and rules, it robs people of all decency, of all sense, and makes them do the dumbest things that can be done wh«n they think it is very smart. The result THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT. 41 is that it brings about little factions here and there, just as the Corinthians Avere all wrought up over small things that virtually amounted to nothing. 2. Another kind of babes in the pew are those that quarrel about the preacher. We read in the twelfth verse of the first chapter : "Now this I say that every one of you saith, I am of Paul ; and I of Apollos ; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?" Time and again in this epistle Paul calls atten- tion to the fact that these factions in the Corinthian church were all the time quarreling about the preacher. There was one faction that said, Give us Paul, the little theologian, that little hero, that man that has made clear to us justification by faith, that man so fearless that he fears neither man nor devil, that man though homely, and little, and stuttering, is filled with God's truth, and was converted on his way to Damascus, had the scales to fall from his eyes, arose and was born again, and now is a power in the world; give us Paul; none but Paul will do for our church. Then there were some who were not so much in favor of Paul ; there were some who wanted a good looking preacher, a big man, a man who could make a good appearance, a man full of fire, a good speaker, a man who could carry his audience with him, and so some said. We do not want Paul, we want Cephas, or, in other words, Peter; we want the man willing to walk on the waters to go to his Savior; we want the man that plunged into the water to reach his Master; we want the man who, when he did make a mistake, repented and w(^pt bitterly; we want the man that preached the sermon on the day of Pentecost ; we want the man that brought thousands into the church in a single day. Then some said, No, we want Paul; and others said, Away with Paul, give us Peter. Then some arose in the church at Corinth and said. We are not very much in favor of Paul, and not very much in favor of Peter; we want a man that has got the intelli- gence and education of Paul, and the fire and eloquence of Peter; one who has the oratory and the diction of an Apollos; we want that great hero from the south, that 42 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. great theologian and speaker who will overshadow Paul and Peter; we want the greatest preacher in the w6rld — give us Apollos. Then another faction in that same church said, We have heard a great deal in our church lately about Paul, and we have heard a great deal about Peter, and Ave know the faction that would like to have Apollos, but we would like to have a little more Christ in our church. And that little faction was right, and the other three factions were wrong, and the Apostle Paul felt him- self constrained to write not only for the correction of those that wanted Peter, or those that wanted Apollos, but also for the correction of those that were crying, Give us Paul! Give us Paul! He said. Was Paul crucified tor you? Is Ciirist divided? Don't you all see that you are a set of old babes? Don't you all see that when you are striking at Paul, or at Peter, or at Apollos, you are hitting Christ in the face? I am afraid sometimes some of tlie members of the churches of Mansfield will find they are striking Jesus Christ instead of the preacher. You sliow me a church where there are factions quarreling and fighting, and you will find it is not the preacher that is suffering, it is Jesus Christ that is being wounded over again, and nailed to the cross again; and if people could see, as the Holy Spirit is helping us tonight to see, that Ave should forget the man and listen to the message; forget that we are standing in the presence of flesh and blood, and remember that it is God Almighty with His Holy Spirit that uses men as miracles of grace to bring us one mind in Christ Jesus alone, you Avould not find factions in any church on earth. 3. These factions are AA^rought not only by those Avho love to create factions, and those who Avill quarrel about the different preachers, but they are Avrought by a class of people Avho Avill pose as theologians when they are making themselves a set of fools. The apostle refers to those in the latter part of the third chapter when he says: "Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be Avise in this Avorld, let him become a fool that he may be Avise. For the wisdom of this Avorld is foolishness Avith God. 1^'or it is Avritten, He taketh the THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT. 48^ wise in their own craftiness. And again, The Lord knoweth the thonghts of the wise, that they are vain. Tlierefore let no man glory in men.'' I know of no more beautiful picture of the old babes in the church who try to pose as tlieologians and make themselves fools, than the very words I have just read. What do I mean? 1 mean simply this, that when a man has given his whole life to tlie study of theology, has given his whole life to the study of doctrine, and to the study of his own church, then to have some young man who works in the shops day after day, and never looks in his Bible from one end of tlie week to the other, to step up and try to teach that man theology, that one is an old babe and is making a fool of himself. How many churches there are where you find these same old babes sitting in the pews, never trying to study theology as they ought to, who do not know the doctrines of their own church or the doctrines of the Bible as they ought to, draAving the conclusion that they are right and all others wrong, trying to disturb the church and raising factions among the people. Let us be very careful that we do not remain ignorant of the .doctrines of our church. And when I say that, I say it not only to this congregation as Lutherans, but I say it to you as members of your own church, if you belong somewhere else. There are too many Baptists in tTie* present day who do not knoAv the doctrines of the Baptist Church; there are too many Presbyterians who do not knoAv what is in the Confession; there are too many Methodists in the present day who never saw the discl- Ijline; there are too many Lutherans who absolutely do not know why there is a Lutheran Church, and the conse- quence is that those people, when they do hear an ab- solutely Lutheran sermon, are almost astonished and think it is wonderful and say We never heard such things be- fore. There are some that not only do not know the doctrines of their church, but they do not know the- doctrines of the Bible. The main thing after all is to know Avhether what the church teaches is in the Bible, and whether the things we believe in our church are the things the Holy Spirit A\Tote in this Book; and it we- 44 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. do not study the Bible and know exactly what the Holy Spirit said, how shall we ever know what the truth is? Therefore I say there are conclusions drawn by those who pose as theologians that are simply lies. It has come to me several times in the last month that I have been teach- ing that little babes not baptized go to hell, and it is a damnable lie; I do not care who tells it; I never said such a thing and everybody knows I never said such a thing. The great trouble is that there are some people will sit down and listen to something about half way, draw another half conclusion that is half a lie, and go and tell it for the truth. It is time we learn the difference be- tween being a theologian and being simply a man that pretends to be wise and is a fool. I am not calling any man a fool; I do not know who said it, but somebody has been saying it, and what I ask of you to do, is to repent of your sins and to come and listen to the Holy Spirit, and not draw conclusions that were never given. II. In order that you may know that I am not strik- ing alone at the pew, I tell you there are old babes in the pulpit as well as in the pew. Our text refers especially to the ministry. "Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment : yea, I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing by myself: yet am not hereby justified: but He that judgeth me is the Lord." When we look into the pulpit carefully we still find there are old babes there who do not work as they ought to work ; who do -not preach as they ought to preach ; and Avho fear man more than God. By these three marks you will know the old babes in the pulpit. L There are old babes in the pulpit who do not work as hard as they should. In the original language the word "ministers of Christ" reads like this : "Tlie under- rowers of Christ." It is a nautical term, pertaining to the navy. The man who is down at the oar rowing is called in Greek: onrjpirrjq, and that is the very word that here is translated "ministers of Christ." In other THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT. 45 words, you know very well when the captain stands in the vessel and the under- rowers are down at the oars, that they not only must work, but they must work according to orders, and work hard if the vessel is to be propelled. There you have the picture of the true minister of the Gospel who must be willing to go down to his oar and pull, and work hard in the ministry. There seems to be an idea among some people that if they have a. boy who has a weak backbone and is not able to handle the plow, or to work in the shop, and isn't worth anything else for any other purpose, they will make a preacher of him, and it is time that we learn that that kind of preachers are old babes in the pulpit. What we need in the pulpit is the man of muscle, the man of brain and training, and a Christian heart, a man who is not afraid to take hold of anything and lift it up; a man not afraid of work, not lazy ; a man who is willing to toil from Monday morning to Saturday night, and from the beginning of the year until the end of the year, until the sweat stands on his face, for the salvation of immortal souls and for the good of the kingdom of God. It is his duty, I say, to take hold •of the oar, and go down where God puts him, and pull for the shore until he brings them across the Jordan, saved. But the man who thinks he can sit around in his study half of the time and do nothing, loaf around with his members and visit day after day, doing nothing, that man is an old babe in the pulpit. The man who does not care whether the children are instructed or not ; who does not care whether he works in the Sunday School or not; who lias no interest in the young people; who does not care whether things go or not just so he gets his salary, 1 do not care by what name he is known, or what church he is in, is an old babe in the pulpit. Not only must he be willing to go down where God puts him, but he must go up where God puts him. While it is a fact that this term shows the under-rower on the boat works down below, it also shows he is handling the oars at the command of Jesus Christ, and not at the com- mand of this or that man, or of the world. And while therefore we ought to know that as a servant of God there 46 , THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. is nothing too low for us to reach down and help lift up, we must understand on the other hand that there is no man can stand above us and lord it over us when we are dealing with the heritage of God. It is not uian that has placed me here ; it is not man that has placed a pastor — a truly called pastor — in any church, but it is God that has placed him there, through the voice of His people, and he is responsible, not to any man, but to the Captain of our salvation, God Almighty, and if that is not true, then we have got an old babe in the pulpit. 2. It is just as true when they do not preach ;is they should. "Ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.'' — stewards of the mysteries of God! Men come to me and say, I cannot understand at all what you teach about the Lord's Supper. You say. Take eat, this is My body; you say. Take drink, this is My blood; I cannot understand it, and unless you explain it to me I will never believe it. I want you to understand, my friends, that that minister of the Gospel Avho tries to explain to the people what God Himself never explained, is an old babe. Where did God ever tell you that any man with a head that will go into a seven and a quarter hat can comprehend God wlio can put all the worlds inside of the palm of 'His hand? It is time we are getting rid of those little ideas that, if we cannot comprehend what God says, tliat we will not believe it. I thank my God tliat I find very little in the Bible that I can comprehend. I am like Dwight L. Moody, if I could comprehend every- think I find in the Bible, I would say it is man's book. I have in my library no fewer than fifteen hundred volumes by men wlio have had great minds, and although I consider my mind small, I have never found a man^s mind yet that I could not comprehend, but I thank God for the one Book in my library when I have it there, which I ]iold in my hand now, that no man ever yet could com- prehend, and consequently no man on earth ever produced that Book, except by inspiration; it is the Book of the Holy Spirit; and I say again that the minister of the Gospel who stands around and apologizes for not being able to comprehend God, is an old babe, and the sooner THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT, 47 he teaches his i)eople that when God says a thing He means it, whether we comprehend it or not, the sooner we will all get the one mind of Jesus Clirist. Notice well, "...the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God." It is not my realm to explain mysteries; it is my realm to tell you what God says, and you believe it, and let the mysteries be mysteries. Tiie Lord's Supper is a mystery to me and I do not explain it ; I tell you what God says. The resurrection is a mystery ; you do not understand it. Regeneration is a mystery. How can this little babe be regenerated? Why, how in the name of common sense can an old babe be regenerated? Do you knoAV? It is a mystery. One thing I do know, that God will regenerate children. He says so. What are you going to do about it? I not only know it because He says so; I know I was regenerated myself as a child. Not only sliould they preach the mysteries of God, those who are not old babes, but I say, on the other hand, that they sliould be faithful, and the man that is not faith- ful to his Master is another old babe in the pulpit. "More- over it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful." The question should not arise at all whether our preacher can preach like Paul, or Peter, or Apollos; the question should arise. Do the things he preaches come from God's Word? Are the things he tells us true? Is the message from God? Are the things he tells us, whether we are willing to hear them or not. Gospel, or are they law? If so, the thing to do is to know that that man is faithful, and faithful to his Master; if not, he is an old babe in the pulpit. 3. The third uiark by which you may know an old babe in the pulpit is that he fears man more than he fears his God. "But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment; yea, I judge not mine own self, for I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified : but He that judgeth me Is the Lord." Henry AVard Beecher made the statement one time that when he was ordained to the ministry of the Gospel, he did not ordain his manhood away. It seems sometimes, some men, the moment they become ministers 48 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. of the Gospel, seem to think they are not men any more^ that they may not walk nor talk nor look like other men,^ but have got to be about half angels on earth, and walk around and listen to what everybody says, and try to act in such a way, that they will just hop and dance as other people pull the string, like the monkey at the corner of the street. I pity the old babe in the pulpit that is constantly listening to what somebody thinks or says. Every day in my visits I am informed how my name is discussed, my preaching discussed in the shops, one man fights for me, and the other is giving me — I don't know what, neither do I care. If I were an old babe I would run down to the shop and find out what you are talking about. What do I care for your judgment? What do I care about what you say? An old babe, I repeat it, would run around and try to find out Avhat this one says and that one says, but a man who is a real genuine man and knows the message he is delivering is true, will deliver it, and when it is de- livered, the result is with the people and with their God. The word here called "man's judgment" more literally translated means man's day. "But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or in man's day." This is only man's day. I am willing to have these sermons that I am preaching in Mansfield, put off for judgment until that day when the graves are all opened and we stand before our Lord and God, and on that day it does not make any difference what they said down in the shops, or what they said on the street, or what any- body said; God will settle matters on that day. And so I say with the Apostle Paul that I do not care what the people say or think, when I have done Avhat I believe is right and my conscience tells me is right. Furthermore, we need not even trust to our own conscience at all times. The apostle says here : "For I know nothing by myself ; yet am I not hereby justified : but He that judgeth me, is the Lord." I hear so many people say: If we just live according to conscience, we will be all right. Those poor old mothers of the Moabites, take their dear little children from their OAvn breasts and lay them into the red-hot arms THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT. 49 of Moloch to satisfy conscience. Is it right? There are men right here in this city who would think they were committing an unpardonable crime if they were to eat meat on Friday. Is that right? I would have you to re- member that while no man should do anything contrary to conscience, that, on the other hand, conscience is often in error and may be educated to wrong as well as right. The Apostle Paul said, I am not going to be judged by you Corinthians; I am not going to be judged by the people in this day; my Judge is coming on that last great day, and when we stand before Him, the question will not be. Is it Appollos, or is it Paul, or is it Peter; on that day the question will be. Did you repent of your sins, and did you believe in Christ, and were you faithful unto Him until death? Paul virtually says to those Corinthians, I have little patience with you old babes; you have been quarreling and having your strife to tear down the kingdom of God instead of repenting and trying to build it up, and my message not only to this congrega- tion to-night, but to every congregation in the world, is this, instead of trying to find a little party here and a little party there, to stir up a faction here and a faction there to hurt Christ, the thing to do is to get dOAvn on your knees, look into your own hearts through the law of God, and find your own faults and 3'Our own sins, and repent of them, and pray for the rest of us and help to work together for the spreading of God's kingdom on earth, instead of stirring up strife against the Lord and Master who died to purchase His church. In conclusion, let me call attention to the fifth verse of our text : ^'Therefore judge nothing before the time^ until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hid- den things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts : and then shall every man have praise of God." Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, for then all deeds will come to light; all thoughts will become visible, and all will get all the praise they deserve. Oh, what a thought to take home with you. This as Advent. We are not only thinking now of tne 4 50 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. Christ that shall be born, but we are thinking now of the Christ that has been born and we commemorate His birth and think of His coming to judge the quick and the dead; and when that day comes, I tell you, my friends, there will be some deeds uncovered that Avill astonish us all. On that day it will be seen how men looked up to in the world have gone to the euchre party and there have won the affections of other men's wives, and today are living in adultery with them. On that day we Avill discover what it means to have the public dance in the hands and in the realm of associations in which there are preachers and professed Christians; and we will discover on that day how preachers and deacons and members of churches were walking hand in hand, brother with brother, to help ruin and damn immortal souls. On that day it will be seen how skeletons will be brought out of closets that will make men tremble and weak, and make them ask the question, Will not the mountains fall over us and cover us? But on that great Judgment Day, when death has been con- quered forever, what good would it do if the mountains did fall on you, if under them you could never die? On that day there will be revelations made of which you never dreamed. Oh, what foolishness for people to act in such -a way as to think it will never be seen. The whole life is going to be uncovered on that day, and the ungodly, damnable deeds that men have done, Avill stand before our eyes. Nay, on that great day some things will come forth that you thought never could come forth, even on the judgment day — ^^ . . who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the liearts." There are counsels held to-day in upper rooms that are contrary to God's Holy Word ; there are counsels held in lower rooms that are contrary to the voice of the Holy Spirit; but the Avorst of all counsels are those tnat have the devil presiding over them in the hearts of men, and have never been uttered by the tongue; and on that day tliose counsels shall be exposed, and on that day, thanks be to God, you Avill all get the praise jou deserve. We are constantly fearing that Ave may have done some- THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT. 51 thing good and some one never heard it; we are afraid the world doesn't understand us, and does not understand how noble we are, and how good we are. The Lord assures us on that great day when He does come, He will give us all the praise we deserve. "And then shall every man have praise of God." I am glad to know there is no man on earth so low and so mean that there is not a good spot in him ; I am glad to know there is no one on earth, on the Judgment Day, no difference how mean and low he has been, that God will not hold up some little thing he said or did and sliow it to the whole universe, as much as to say, He did these things, and I give him credit for them ; but on that day the question Avill not be. What did you do, or what did you not do ; the question Avill be more largely this : You did sin and you know it ; by your omission and by your commission, and you did hear there was only one Savior, Jesus Christ, and I was preached to you, and you know that i^ou heard it, that only through Me could you find eternal life, and some of you know, you had the op- portunity to accept Me, and you rejected Me; and now you must all bow your knees before Me in heaven and on earth, and under the earth ; every knee shall how. And those that are saved shall bow before Him in heaven for- ever, and the lost shall bow their knees and take eternal farewell into hell, and that is the end of it. This is God's Word, and if you have never heard a sermon before and shall never hear another one, I say to you before you leave to-night, for the blood of your own skirts would be upon my shoulders if I did not tell 3^ou the truth, if you do not repent of your sins and trust wholly and solely in Jesus Christ and unite with His Church, purchased with His blood, you have no hope of salvation. This is Gospel ; this is not the storv of an old babe. Amen. FOURTH SUNDAY IN ADVENT. Precious Presents From Paul in Prison. Phil. 4:4-7. REJOICE in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing ; but in everything by prayer and supplica- tion with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Thy Word is truth. Amen. Dearly Beloved in Christ: That was a memorable night Avhen the Apostle Paul at Troas saw in a vision a man standing before him and €rying out : Come over into Macedonia and help us ! Up to that hour in the year 53 there was no Christian Church in all Europe. The apostle obeyed the voice, went over to Philippi, and there, through a woman, Lydia of Thya- tira, the door was opened for the Church of God in Europe. It was not long until the Apostle Paul and Silas were thrown into prison. A young lady who had been practicing divination for the financial support of her mas- ters, ran after the Apostle Paul until he turned around and cried to that spirit to come out of her, and from that moment her masters stirred up a riot, which resulted in the arrest and the throwing not only into prison, but into the inmost prison, and into the stocks, these two men of God. There they sat in the midnight hour with their feet fast in the stocks, happy as they could be in Christ, singing songs of praise until God Almighty shook the 52 FOURTH SUNDAY IN ADVENT. 53 jjrisou, threw the bars of the gates down and loosed the bauds. The jailer was awakened and cried out: What is wroug in this jail? Yea, he was about to take his own life, when Paul cried out: Do thyself no harm; we are iiU here. Then the jailer, recognizing that he was in the 1 lands of the Almighty God, fell down before Paul and Silas and said: Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they answered : Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. A few moments more, and the jailer Avas washing the stripes of the men, wlio had been whipped before they Avere put into the stocks, and in return Paul and Silas taught them the Word of God, and baptized them that same hour of the niglit. And there the Church of God was built and establislied on the Rock of Ages, in a prison, by the Apostle Paul, who heard the voice: Come over into Macedonia and help us. Ten years passed by, but these Pliilippians will never forget that first missionary. Paul was a most independent man. Although he taught as no other apostle did, the necessity of paying the ministry well, that they might give their whole time to the salva- tion of souls, yet himself, in order that the Church might receive no wrong impression, labored and toiled with his own hands for a living, and preached the Gospel when- ever opportunity was given, and only from churches like the one at Philippi did he ever accept presents. Ten years l)assed, and Paul was down in another prison, in Rome. The little Philippian church sent a messenger down there with gifts, and Paul was just as happy in the prison at Rome as he was in the prison at Philippi, and there he wrote this beautiful epistle, which is full of joy from l)eginning to end. The Avhole message to the Philippians can be summed up in a few words : I am happy in the prison at Rome, and I want you to be happy who were established in a prison when God Almighty shook it up there ten years ago. We are standing this evening before the threshold of another coming Christmas, and I want to give you tonight 54 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. PRECIOUS PRESENTS FROM PAUL IN PRISON. I am sure you would be glad to get two beautiful presents from the Apostle Paul, and here they are: I. A Christmas harp. II. A Christmas song. I. A Cliristmas harp. I would have you notice the strings and the strength of this harp. 1. ''And the peace of God, Avhich passeth all under- standing, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." The peace of God! In those words I find the strings to this beautiful Christmas liarp. A harp means music, and it means harmony, and perfect liarmony can never be found on earth until we have the peace of God ; and the peace of God is the peace that we have with God and with our fellow men. You will remember that when Isaiah spoke of the coming Savior, he said His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. He was known as the Prince of Peace long before Isaiah wrote those beautiful words. He was known as the Prince of Peace bv the angels when thev sang that song on the morning of creation. When the angels came and sang for the shepherds, each one did not sing his own song; they sang a song that Avas harmony; a song of tlie same words, and they ran like this : Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. In other words the angels knew that the little Child born in Bethlehem Avas the promised Prince of Peace; and they knew that He Avas the one Mediator betAA-een God and man ; they knew that He Avas the only one that ever was, or ever Avould be, Avho could make x>eace betAveen a just and righteous God and a lost and condemned sinner who has enmity against God. And so this one Mediator, this Prince of Peace, with His hand divine held to the Father, and with His hand human took hold of our race and said : The Son of man is come to seek and to saA e that which was lost. The Prince of Peace! You and I are by nature lost; you and I are by nature haters of everything-^ FOURTH SUNDAY IN ADVENT. 55 liiat 18 glorious and liol}^ in God's sight, but here comes tlu^ Prince of Peace and works faith in our hearts, and by that faitli we take hold of Jesus as the only Savior, and Avhen Ave have Him as our Savior, then we have got His righteousness, and having His righteousness we come home to the Father in Jesus Christ. We learn in the Word of God that when a man has been baptized into •Christ he has put on Christ. If it were possible for one of you to put on my child, you could come into my home and live with me as my child. The very moment you and I accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and are baptized in His name, we put Him on, and, having Him on, we come home, and His Father is now our Father, and we have peace AVitli God; and that is the first string on the harp that Paul sent as a Christmas gift to the Church at Phil- ippi, and it is the same string he sends on the harp to you and to me as a Christmas gift in 1904. But a harp with onh^ one string is not a good harp. The peace of God is a string also that brings peace be- tween man and man. In the dajs Avhen the angels sang: Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward men, the nations of the world Avere at war with each otlier; then every nation was trying to fight its Avay witli tlie sword and to win more territory by cutting into the wounds that let out the blood. You all know the history of the world has been Avritten with a pen dipped in blood; l)ut you also know that Avhere the Spirit of God reigns, man is opposed to Avar. They tell us that the Cliurch itself has had a thirty years' AA^ar. Suppose it lias. T will tell you in the first place that that thirty years- war Avas not carried on by the people who kncAv the Gospel of Christ, but aa as carried on by people Avho had mixed their religion with paganism. But suppose it Avere true that the Christian Church had a thirty years' war, Avhat is that in comparison with the six thou- sand years' Avar that the devil and the world have had? The Lord, our God, I repeat it, wherever He can plant His Spirit in the souls of men, plants there a conscience that is noAv Aoid of offense and can go home to the Father; bur by that same conscience, when God has made peace 56 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. between me and Him, I want peace with niv fellow-man. I know of no better test of true Christianity than simph' the desire for peace. Whenever you find me trying to make war with my brother, you can make up your mind I am at war with God. Whenever you can show me am^ one desiring to stir up anything else but peace, you can make up your mind, there is something wrong between that one yet and God. A true child of God wants peace with the Father, and peace with his fellow-men. I do not mean to say by this that when we are true Christians that everybody loves us. Indeed that is not true. The Lord Jesus Christ said to His disciples that they should be hated; that they should be persecuted; and Jesus Christ Himself was hated and persecuted, and was killed by people who had false religions; consequently I tonight come to you with this admonition : Let us not enter upon the following Christmas with hatred in our hearts toward any one; let us get rid of the spirit of revenge. Oh, may the Apostle Paul from his prison in Rome send you his harp tonight, and that harp is peace with God and peace with your fellow-men. 2. We have now noticed the strings of this harp; let us notice its strength. "And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." The keeper is always sup- posed to be stronger than the thing kept, and here we- are told that this peace of God is so strong, that it shall keep our hearts and keep our minds, and all this through Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ being the Son of God, is the Almighty God : and this peace coming from the Prince of Peace, is as Almighty as Christ Himself; therefore if you have got the peace of God of which I speak, you liave got a harp so strong that it holds the heart and holds the mind, and when it holds the heart, it holds a very slippery thing. As I have told you often, the heart of man is very deceitful; the heart of man is one of the hardest things in the world to hold, but the peace of God can hold it, and the peace of God through Jesus Christ can keep it pure and keep it undivided, and make it rich. When temptations come to the one who has peace with God, he FOURTH SUNDAY IN ADVENT. 57 ssays. Away with your temptations; there was a time when I coukl have been tempted with this or with that offer, but now I have the peace of God in my heart; away with your offer; luy lieart now says away with anything that will disturb the peace that I have with my God. Not only does it keep the heart pure, but it keeps it undivided. A man who has not got the peace of God is v; when it comes to the things of this Avorld, dealing with differ- ent individuals, under different environments, learn ta be all things to all men; learn to be moderate in all things, and let this moderation be known unto all men. In other, words, let yourself down joyfully, and do not stand up as the only lord of lords and king of kings, but rather as a poor humble sinner saved by the grace and mercy of (jod, with your heart and mind held h}y His peace, and if you do so, then you will have a joy that will make you sing; that will make you happy forever and forever. And right in this connection I will say that the way^ to be really happy, is always to lift your cares up by prayer. ''Be careful for nothing; but in everything hj prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your re- quests be made known unto God. '' There are so many people in the present day calling themselves Christians who seem to even boast of being in trouble; full of cares; wondering why God did this and why He did that; weep- ing and moaning and finding fault with Providence. I have called attention to this matter before, but whenever the Word of God presents it again, I shall present it again. There is nothing that has hurt the church of God so much as the inconsistency of professed Christians. AFinisters of the Gospel, who proclaim the everlasting Gospel of peace, when they are in trouble sometimes act lik(» little children; and some times professed Christians, 64 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. who all their lives have sung, "When we cannot see the way, let us trust and still obey'' the first time they are in trouble they are downhearted, believing that God has forsaken them, worried about this and that; and I say again, nothing has ever hurt the church more than the inconsistent actions of professed Christians. Why is it that some Christians have got so much trouble all the time? It is because they are trying to put their troubles down, and whenever you try to put your troubles down they will rise again. Troubles are like rubber balls; when you knock them down, they will bounce up. There is only one way to get rid of troubles, and that is to push them in the direction they want to go. They want to rise. Then lift them up, and hold them up to the throne 'Of God and keep them there forever. "Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." The Christmas song must have that thought in it : Whatever your trials and troubles are, lift them up to the throne of God. There are four expressions in that verse I would have you remember: The one is prayer in general. Commune with your God. God talks to you through His Word. You talk to Him with your prayers in general. But, my friends, there is more in this than simply a prayer. "But in everything by prayer and supplica- tion.'' Prayer is talking with God; supplication is plead- ing with God; prayer is conversing pleasantly with God; supplication is begging with tears of God. The way to lift those troubles away from you forever is to thank God that you saw them and had them. I know from my OAvn personal experience, and I proclaim this as the rule for every Christian: No difference what your trials are, whether sickness, financial loss, or death, the first thing you must do is to remember that God intended that aifiic- tion for a purpose. It was a training for you; it was to lead you nearer heaven. The first thing you must do with your troubles is to get down on your knees in order to get unSer them, thank God for them, and rise with them and supplicate them to heaven, and keep them there. And then; as a final act in your prayers, tell God just FOURTH SUNDAY IN ADVENT. 65 exactly what you want, and let your requests be made known unto God. Whatever trials and troubles you have got, whatever prayers you have that you desire answered, go to Him in all simplicity and say : O my God, this is the thing that troubles me; this is the thing I want light on; show me day by day how to go, how to live, how to pray, and I will trust Thee day by day; and then, when you pray as I have told you tonight, with the peace of God all around your heart and all around your mind, surpass- ing all understanding, you will rise with a new life and a new joy, and you will be happy — happy through your life, and after death happy forever. This, my friends, is another present from Paul in prison. In conclusion, I see as I look back in history a beau- tiful constellation of three bright stars, that may help you and me to receive these presents joyfully. I see in history the names of three mothers : Nonna, Monica, and Anthusa. Nonna is a star in the constellation of history that will help every mother to know how to live. She was the wife of a heathen of Capadocia; her desire was that she might some time or other give to the world a noble son; she believed it was all wrong as a Christian to mourn. Her prayer for a son was answered. She not only received a son, but a daughter and tw^o sons. The first one she called Gregory and the second she named Caesar. When little Gregory was born, she ran to the temple where her own heathen husband had become a minister of the Gos- pel, and laid his little hands on the Word of God, and prayed that he might be a mighty man of God. Little Gregory had all the traits of his mother; Caesar the traits of his father. These two boys grew^ up, and one became a mighty statesman and physician; the other became one of our great church fathers. When Gregory the father died, after whom the son was named, this son preached liis funeral sermon; the mother went to the funeral, not with black on her hat; not with a black dress on, but she clothed herself in white; she did not shed tears; she sang songs of praise to the heavenly Father. Her impress on 5 66 . THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. her cliildren and on the nation was so great that her name has come down in history as one of the great Godly moth- ers. When her hour came to die there was only one of the family left besides herself, and that Avas the one whoS(t little hands were laid on the Bible and he himself dedi- cated to God. When her last hour came, she went to the temple and held to the altar with one hand and w^th tha other lifted up said: '^God be merciful to me, my King Jesus," and went home — A bright star in the constella- tion of mothers. Right in this same connection let us not forget Mon ica, the woman born in Africa in the year 332, who mar- ried a man who was rich and famous — Patricius. Her prayer Avas that she might give to the world a son who might be a great power. Early in the boy's career the father died, himself having been brought to Christ by this Godly wife. This boy, at the age of seventeen, plunged into sin. He was a brainy young man, but in- stead of supporting his mother as Ave Avould expect a young man to do when the father is dead, he deserted her and plunged deeper and deeper into sin. Monica prayed for that boy day and night, and at last she Avas so dis- couraged that she felt like giving him up as a lost man. Standing one day in the presence of a great bishop, the tears rolling doAvn oA^er her face, she said : ''I have just about given up praying for uia^ boy ;" but the bishop said, ''Monica, no son of those tears can ever be lost," and she took new courage. But time passed on, and she gave up a second time. That night she went to bed and she had a dream, and in that dream she AA^as crying bitterly; she saw the vision of a young man coming up to her bed saying to her: ''Woman, why Aveepest thou?" She answered: "I have a son ; his father is in heaven, and the boy is lost, and I can not help but weep." The vision said: "Weep not, thy son standeth here," and she opened her eyes, and there stood Augustine by the side of her bed. She took new courage and prayed again, and again and again, for nine long years she followed that boy Avith her prayers. At last at the age of tAA^enty-seven he said : "I am going to leave you, mother; I can stand your prayers no longer; FOURTH SUNDAY IN ADVENT. 67 I am going to Kome," and started dowYi to the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, but who was standing by his side but Mother Monica. "I will follow you wherever jou go." Evening came, and the boy, in order to deceive his mother, said, "I am not going to Rome,'' and the mother went over to the temple and thanked God that the boy now had returned ; and while she was in the tem- ple praying, he jumped on board and crossed the big water to Home. She came back, and the boy was gone, but her prayers had not ceased; she prayed God to show her the way, and the mother gathered up her money and went from Africa to Rome, followed him day by day until, at the age of thirty-three, and her age of fity-six, she had brought liim to the Savior, and, baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, they had resolved to go back to Africa. A fever overtook the mother; nine days «he lay there helpless; the boy, a child of God, watching over her — the same l)oy that God showed her in a vision long before — this son of prayer, who became the great- est church father; and on tlie ninth day, instead of going to Africa, she went home to her God. — Another star in the constellation of Christian mothers. I have in mind still one more, and that is Anthusa. Anthusa was tlie wife of the great General Secundus, who, jilso a heathen, was brought to the Savior by this praying mother. Her prayer was: ''O God, give me a son of this great General Secundus." Soon after the general died, and when she looked down into his grave she said : ''I shall love thee, my htisband, in thy son," and from that day she took that son to her bosom, and prayed for liim day and night until lie was fifteen years of age, and then she was called home. This son never forgot that mother's prayers; he became the patriarch of Constantinople; he became the greatest orator of the age; he proclaimed the Odspel of Christ with power such as was not proclaimed to the days of Luther, and the world said he is golden- uiouthed, and consequently gave him that beautiful name — Chrysostomus. Let us learn from these mothers how to live; let us learn from them how to pray ; let ns learn from these 68 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. mothers how to celebrate Christmas, and how to rejoice. Let us learn from Nonna, if we mnst i^o to the fnneral, to go dressed in white; if we mnst go to the fnneral, take the hymn-book and praise God for the higher life of those who have passed beyond. Oh, the darkness of the faith that will moan when the kind hand of God has lifted our dear ones to the throne on high! May the day soon come when the Christian Church will rise above the low level of the heathen, when we will tear off the black robes of sorrow, and put on the white garment of peace, and rise, with songs of praise, at the graves of our dead. Amen. PRAYER. O God, our heavenly Father, we thank Thee for that great Christ- mas gift, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and the Son of man, the one Mediator between God and man. We th'ank Thee for the peace which we have through justification in Him. And now we pray Thee, O Lord and God, that Thou wilt impress the message of the evening upon the hearts of all those who have heard it. Lord forbid that any who have heard this message tonight, should pass this Christmas as a child of the devil. Do Thou give us Thy Holy Spirit, and convince us of sin, and of righteousness and of judgment. Help us to see that there is a better way to live and an only right way to live, and that is as a true child of God. Oh, do Thou help that we may all at this coming Christmas have Christ as ours, in our homes and in our hearts, and as the message to proclaim to our fellow-men. Lord God, do Thou visit the homes of the poor and the needy everywhere, and move Thy children to be kind to all who need special kindness. Help us, heavenly Father, to remember that it makes no difference whether the skin is black or white, whether from noble or fallen famihes, that the soul is precious, and that 1o care for one of these is to care for Christ Himself. Give us a fullness of faith, such as we never possessed before. Lift us into the realm of Thy spirituality which shall enable us to accept the gifts of Paul, the Christmas harp, and the Christmas song ; help us to play it with deft fingers and to sing it with a heart full of praise. We ask this all in the name of Jesus, who taught us to pray: Our Father who art in heaven ; Hallov/ed be Thy name ; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven; Give us this day our daily bread ; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for- give those who trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation; But deliver us from evil; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. CHRISTMAS. The Wonder of All Wonders. Titus 2 :11-14. fOR the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world ; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ ; who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Thv Word is truth. Amen. Beloi't'd in Christ: To st'e the number of people who have come here this icy evening into the temple of God would, in itself be very wonderful, were it not for the great truth that Jesus Christ is more wonderful. The prophet said : "His name sliall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace;" and when 3M)u. reuuMuber that all these names fit the newly born Christ-child in the crib of Bethlehem, it is not surprising tliat people should make a special effort to come to God's house, not only on Christmas, but any other day, to wor- ship Him, who is the only Savior of the Avorld. God is wonderful in every attribute. Creation is wonderful. Just imagine nothing in space but darkness, and God saying: Let tliere be light; and there was light. Wonderful! Imagine no earth in space and God saying. Let there be a world; and there are the hills and the mountains and that globe rolling in space, and nothing to hold it but the Word of God. Wonderful! Not only is creation wonder- 69 70 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. fill, but Providence is ANonderful. Some things have lost their wonder because of their ever-presence. When a man takes a grain of corn and plants it in the field, and from that one grain brings home in the fall an ear with a thousand grains, we seem to think there is nothing wonder- ful about that, and yet it is wonderful. If, this evening, I were to take some shot and plant them in a field, and in a few months b^- watering and hoeing those shot, you would discover a shot-gun groAving up, you would say that is wonderful ; and yet it would not be any more wonderful than for a grain of corn to bring a thousand grains of corn. We have not solved the mysteries around us any more than the mysteries imaginary. A man who sows his wheat and reaps his harvest, is reaping just as much a Avonder of God as he would if he planted Jews-harps and reaped pianos. We see the little bird as it sits on the nest in the tree over the little blue eggs, and in a short time Ave notice the mother-bird feeding the open mouths of her litle ones; and in a short time these little ones, Avitli feathers on their Avings, fly from branch to branch, and sing, and we forget that this is just as Avonaerful as that the planting of a violin should bring forth a piano to fly from Avorld to Avorld. Not only is Providence wonderful, but regeneration is Avonderful. When man by nature is an enemy of God, and yet, AAdthout any perceptible action on God^s part, he becomes a newly born man, loves God, and would die for him, it is AA^onderful. It has Avell been said by some theologians that regeneration is the greatest wonder there ever Avas; and yet there is another AVonder that possibly is even greater than regeneration. Before I give you the great Avonder of all wonders, I would call your attention to the fact that all the great acts of Christ Avere Avonderful. That the God-man should die on Cal- vary's hill is Avonderful. That the Rock of Ages, that plays with the stars on the ends of His fingers, should sleep in a rock is A\ onderful. That He should rise from the dead is NNonderf ul. That God, with outstretched hands should begin to ascend, higher and higher, until He goes home to the Father on Ascension Day, to sit on the right hand of ihe I'lither, there to remain and rule the universe until He CHRISTMAS. 71 shall come to judge the quick and the dead, is wonderful. That on the day of Pentecost one hundred and twenty in prayer should hear a rushing and a sound as of a mighty storm, and tongues of fire sitting upon them, and in a sliort time these men should speak the languages of the world, and a few thousand of people should have been brought to the feet of Jesus, is wondei-ful. But, my friends, there never Avould have been a Pentecost; there never \>'()uld have been an ascension; there never w^ould have been a resurrection; there never would have been a crucifixion of Christ, had it not been for tlie Avonder of all wonders, the Incarnation of God. I invite you this morning to the manger of Bethlehem, to show you THE WONDER OF ALL AVONDERS; and the Avonder is this, that in that little box you find all the (/race (ind all the greatness of God. ^^For the grace of God, that bringeth sah^ation, hath appeared to all men;" and that same grace is called in another verse, the great God. ''Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.^' NoAv the fact that Jesus Christ has in His little body in that little manger at Bethlehem all the grace of the great God, and the greatness of God in Himself, is the A\^onder of all wonders. Let us this morning go to that AVonder of all vsonders, and there L Li\e. IL Learn. TIL Look. IV. Labor. L Let us go there to live. "For the grace of God tliat bringeth salvation, hath appeared to all men.'' Jesus Christ, Avho lies in the crib at Bethlehem is the only way to heaven; He is the only Savior of the loorld; and He is in essenee the means of grace. 1. I say, first of all, He is the only way to heaven. Wiien Jacob had taken the birthright from his brother Esau and slept Avith his head upon a stone, he saAv a ladder '72 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. reaching from earth to heaven and the angels of God ascending and descending, and we are told by one of the evangelists that that ladder was a type of Jesus Christ, with His two natures, on whom the angels of God ascend and descend, the only way to heaven. Christ Himself described that way when He said : I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, and no man cometh to the Father but by Me. Wonder of wonders ! A little child, in a little manger, in a little stable, in little Bethlehem, the great ladder that reaches to heaven! Is not that wonderful? Not only is He the only way to heaven, but He is tne only Savior of the world. "For the grace of God, that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men." There is a difference of opinion as to whether "all men'' ought to depend on "appeared" or upon "bringeth," but it makes little difference which way we construct the sentence. In the one sentence it would read this way: For the grace of God that bringeth salvation to all men hath appeared; otherwise it would read as in our text : "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation liatli appeared to all men." In essence it is all the same. Tlie grace of God which has been from all eternity, before the foundation of the world was laid, exhibiting itself in the promise that a Savior would come, now has appeared. Here this grace lies in that little crib, and this grace is the salvation of all men, for every man that can be saved. The Apostle Paul, recognizing this fact, looked into tliat crib one time and wrote down words that never can be erased, because God said : Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My Word shall not pass away ; Avhen He said : There Is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby a man can be saved. At another time, looking into that crib and then up to the very throne of God, he said : Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other Gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. Why? Because there is no other salvation for any man on earth than this wonder of all wonders, the Christ-child, born at Bethlehem. Now, my friends, in that crib, when you look again, vou see the essence of the means of s^race. Lutherans have CHRISTMAS. 73 no trouble in knowing what we mean when we say ''mean^ of grace/' No man has ever been saved except by tiie- Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit never saved any man except through the means of grace. The means of grace are the Word of God and the holy sacraments — in the Old Testament circumcision and the passover ; in the New Testament, baptism and the Lord's supper; and of the means of grace it is said, there are three that bear record on eartli, the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree in one. These three agree in the one Word. These three agree in the one little Child that lies in the crib of Bethlehem — the little God-man — for with- out Him there would be no Bible. Take Christ out of the prophecies and there is no Old Testament left. Take Christ out of the evangels and you have no evangels left. Take Christ out of the Acts of the Apostles and the mes- sengers of God are gone. Take Christ out of the Epistles and there is nothing left but empty words. Take Christ out of the Book of Kevelation and there is no revelation there. In other Avords, in the little crib at Bethlehem lies the Word of God that became flesh and dwelt among us, and without Him Avas not anything made that was made. AVonder of wonders ! There lies the very substance of holy baptism. That little Child, eight days old, is circumcised because He is still under the Old Testament laAv. When that little Child enters the ministry He is baptized because He enters the new covenant. In Him circumcision and baptism unite. In that little crib of Bethlehem the Paschal lamb and the Lord's Supper unite in this one Savior of the world. Tliere can be no baptism without Christ. Did you ever stop to think that AA^hen the Apostle Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, he ncA^er men- tioned the name of the Father at all, and did not mention tlie name of the Holy Spirit when he said: Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. In other Avords, the Apostle Peter recog- nized the fact that there could not possibly be a baptism without Jesus Christ in it, wlio lies in the crib of Bethle- hem. And tlie same is true with reaard to the Lord's- 74 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. Slipper. If the Lord's Supper were nothing but bread and wine, you could have it without Christ ; but in that little crib lies tlie God-man; in that little crib lies the One that gives Himself to you in the Lord's Supper; in that little crib lies the One that was in the Paschal lamb; in that little crib lies the One that comes to you and says, Take eat, this is My body; take drink, this is My blood. This is the AYonder of all wonders, that you can have all the means of grace, the way to heaven and the salvation of the whole world combined in that little manger at Bethlehem. My dear friends, this is the place to live. Up to the present time I have not even wished you a Merry Christmas as a congregation. One reason I have not done so before is this: Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year amounts to nothing if you will not step up to this crib and look at the wonder of all wonders, and live. In other words, how can you Avish a man a Merry Christmas if you do not at the same time invite him where lie can live? How can a man be happy on Christmas when he is living the life of a child of the devil? Hoav can you have a Merry Christmas when you do not knoAv the only way that leads to heaven? How can a man be happy on Christmas when he does not know if he should die before the next day, whether he dies a child of the devil or a child of God. As I look around me to-day, I do not wish to leave this part of my sermon without a personal examination in every soul. I want every father in this house this evening, and every mother, and every son, and every daughter, to ask themselves this question: Do I live? Have I in me this morning the assurance of eternal life? As I look into the little manger and see the wonder of all wonders, is this Christ mine, and am I His? Wonder of wonders! We Avant to lii^e. I do not Avant a single soul to go out of this house this eA^ening, and then go out into the world, and go up to the Judgment, lost. For the sake of the mother who gave you birth; for the sake of your father Avho begat you ; for the sake of your wife in heaven ; for the sake of your dear little children on high ; for the sake of the prayers of the millions of people to-day for your CHRISTMAS. i O' salvation; for your own souFs sake, let me ask you now to come Avith me to the crib of Bethlehem and look at the little Child — the Wonder of all wonders. There lies all the grace of God and all the greatness of God, and if you cannot be saved there, 3^ou cannot be saved anywhere, for in that little crib lies the Child that is to die on Calvary's hill. He is your Savior. Accept Him. Loot and live. Look unto Me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, saith the Lord, for I am God, and besides Me there is none else. As I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked should turn from his evil ways and live. II. And now that we live, let us also learn. "Teacii- ing us that, denying ungodliness and Avorldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.'' When you step up to this little crib of Bethlehem, remember that there lies the Teacher of all teachers ; the honest Teacher; the Teacher that wants you to hate sin; to love righteousness; and to live aright in this present world. 1. Denying ungodliness and Avorldly lusts, is the message of the Christ-child; and should Ave not learn to deny ourseh'es of sin and lust when this little Christ- child was Avilling to deny Himself heaA^en and all His glory to become our Savior? Oh, let me ask you this even- ing to hate sin. It Avas sin that compelled this holy Son of God to die for you and for me. Hoav can you love it? You may love a knife, but if you know that that knife has been murdering people in the past, you do not Avant to carry it in your pocket. Sin has murdered my Savior. Will you still loA^e it? Oh, hate sin. Learn this cA^ening, Avhile you behold this Wonder of wonders. Look and learn there, not only to hate sin, but to hate lust in all its forms. You say, I haA^e such a desire to do this, and to do that, ^\ hich are wrong. EA^er^^ man on earth has his pet sins, the very sins that he loves best; those are the very sins that are the sins of lust, and these sins must be hated until you can separate yourself from them by the grace of God in the little crib of Betlilehem. Lust Avill never ijroAv at 76 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ. There are some plants that will grow nearly everywhere, but you cannot plant lust by the side of the cross and let it vine arouna and through the wounded hands of the Savior crucified. Oh, Avhenever you feel that this passion is getting ahead of 3^ou and leading you on to your special sin, whatever it may be, go quickly and learn of the great Teacher to despise lust and to hate it. On the other hand, learn of Him to love the things that are good and holy. We should live soberly and right- eously and godly. The word here translated "soberly," really means wise. Live wisely, live righteously and live godly. They were wise men who came from the east to behold the new born King. You were wise this evening for coming to God's house and hearing of this Wonder of Avonders. Only wise people will be saved. Those who reject salvation can never be called wise in this world, nor on the Judgment day, nor in hell. Live wisely, then. Do the right thing in the right time, every time. Live soberly and live righteously. The Psalmist sang : The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul : He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. That is the path I want you to walk on — the path of righteousness. Be- lieve in the new born King; accept His righteousness as your own, and then living, learn; learn to walk in His path, led by His hand, with one question before your eyes day and night. Is it right? Is it right? I know of no better advice to give you all on this. Christmas evening than, first of all, to live in Christ, and then put the ques- tion before you in everything that is to be determined in the future. Is it right? If it is not right, don't do it, for God's sake, don't do it. If you are not sure whether it is right or not, don't do it; the very fact that you are not sure, is an evidence that it is wrong. When a man does absolutely right, he knows it, and there is no question about it. These debatable questions are all wrong, just because they are debatable. We do not debate whether it is right to murder or not ; we do not debate whether it is right to CHRISTMAS. 77 honor father and mother or not ; we do not debate whether it is right to lie or not. Right is plain, and the answer comes back, Is it right? Yes, it is right. In God's name do it. If it isn't right, for God's salve quit it. Look at the Wonder of wonders this evening, and learn. And Avliile voii learn to liate sin, and to love righteous- ness and live godly, remember the time to do it is now. A kind of notion has come through false teachers, all over the world, that there is a great eternal progress beyond this life, and that no difference how we live, nor how we die, away out beyond the grave somewhere, sometime, Ave are going to reach the perfection of God Himself, and it is by the false lie that the devil has planted into the hearts of the people that hundreds and thousands are going down to hell day after day. This little Savior lying in the crib of Bethlehem would never have made His bed with tne cattle if there had been a salvation after the judgment. He never Avould have come here and appointed His apostles to preach the Gospel to the ends of the world saying, then shall the end come, if all this were only the beginning, and the end should come after a while. The Apostle Paul, recognizing this great truth, wrote to Titus saying: Live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this pi-esent world. Now is the time to live right, not in a thousand years from now. Now, the present world. Do you recognize the fact that right now there is a power in you to live others to hell or to heaven, by your very actions? Look at the Lord Jesus Christ; Pontius Pilate sitting before Him, our Savior a prisoner there, in perfect silence; the king with all his soldiers and all the powers of government back of him, stands and trembles. What makes Pilate tremble? Look at Daniel Webster making the greatest speech of his life. Edward Hale says that literally sparks emitted from his eyes. Where did those sparks come from? Look at the Apostle Paul, a prisoner, with chains on his hands, standing before king Agrippa, nnd Felix, and other rulers. Why should they fear this little, curley haired, hump shouldered, ugly, little Jew? Why should any government on earth be afraid of that little Paul? Felix trembled because Paul recognized the 78 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. fact that he is living in the present world. In "1848 the cannon were staked on the main streets of Paris; a mot> was coming down the street; the mob did not fear the mouth of the cannon, nor the soldiers of France, but ran down into the face of the fire, killed the soldiers and turned the cannon the other wa}^, and were going on further down. At yonder square stands a little man with his hat off his head, his hand up-lifted. He stopped the Avhole mob. The captain said : "Stop, down there stands a man who has lived a righteous life for sixty lears. Let's hear what he has to say." That little man drove the whole mob back because he recognized the fact that sixty years of righteousness is more powerful than any mob. Tlie Apostle Paul has these facts in mind when he says to Titus: Lead the people to the crib of Bethlehem; show them all the grace of God and all the greatness of (xod, and fill them with that greatness until they become a power. A man who has love in his heart, will warm up everybody around him ; a man who has nothing but frozen icicles in his heart, will chill everybody. A man who is filled with light, is showing others how to live ; a man who is filled with darkness, is showing others how to go to destruction. And so I invite you all this evening to step up to this crib and hate sin, and love righteousness, and get -filled with a divine enthusiasm that shall make itself felt. And this divine enthusiasm is sometimes found in men who do not know it. We are told in history, that when the great Caesar Avas taken captive, they took him out on a vessel conducted by pirates; they took Caesar, the young man, put the chain around his arm, and tied him down to the oar of the galley. Caesar began his first day's work on that pirate ship laughing, telling jokes, declaiming and making liimself merry and all around him, until that evening they loosed his chains and permitted him to eat supper with the captain. The next day by his actions already he was the first mate of that little vessel. ' By showing the people that he understood more about the currents and about the sliores and about the paths to the vessels of wealth, I say, they made him mate of that vessel. CHRISTMAS. ' 79 The third day he had won over all the soldiers and taken the captain, had taken the chain from his arm and put it around the arm of the captain and tied liim down to the galley oar. On the fourth day, as captain of that vessel, he took it as a prize into the Roman harbor. My friends, stop and think what that means. A boy, with nothing ex- cept the power that is within him, con<|U(^red the pirates on the seas and led them captive into the very harbor of Ivome. Caesar as a child of God would h ive been a power that would have shaken the world. We have some of these powers, if we would simply gather around this Wonder of wonders and live as God wants us to live, and learn as God wants us to learn. III. And tlien we ought to look as God wants us ro look. ^Xooking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ." Looking for the blessed hope. There is nothing that helps a man along in this world so much as a blessed hope, one great philosopher said: "Yesterday I did not live; To- morrow I cannot live; to-day I do live." My friends, we do not live in the tomorrow ; we do not live in the yester- day; we live now, and in the now we are monarchs of three kingdoms: We are kings of the past by memory; we are kings of the present by reason; we are kings of the future by hope. Oh, that blessed hope! Where sDall we get it? 1. Look at the Wonder of all wonders. The fact that God made the world and gave His only Son to sleep in the crib of Bethlehem, is an evidence that the plan of God will not be perfected until tlie future, and that this Child shall go home and prepare a home for us. Oh, blessed hope. You may remember to-day when you were a poor man, with nothing in the world but the dear wife who had united witli you for the future. You may remember how, before that marriage day,, you looked forward and saw the little home that you would call your own ; you saw the vines that you would plant; you saw the clusters of grapes that would grow there; you saw the little cradle that would rock that cliild that should be born, flesh of your flesh, bone of your bone; and seeing all that in hope, you rolled 80 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. up your sleeves and went to work. Life would have been a failure, had it not been for the blessed hope that led you onward and upward. 2. If you want the blessed hope of eternal life, I say again, you must come to the crib of Bethlehem and see the Wonder of all wonders, and then, w^hen you look at' that child, look not only there for the source of all hope, but look there and find Him who is coming to judge the quick and the dead. Paul could not help but glance from the crib to heaven. He thought of the little Child lying here to-day 'a span long; and then thought of that Child as a grown up man, entering the ministry, djdng on Cal- vary, ascending to heaven where He is, on the right liand of God ; he thought of His coming again with all His holy angels, to raise up all the dead, when we shall stand before him on that glorious day, and he said, Now when you celebrate Christmas do not forget that day. 3. "Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.'^ And He is the great God. Oh, Wonder of wonders ! Lud- wig Harmes said : "I don't know which is the greater won- der, the fact that God is so great, or because He became so little.'' I do not know whether to feel the more surprised at knowing that God is greater than all the firmaments, or to know that He became so small that His mother held Him on her hand. Here lies all the grace and greatness of God, and tliis grace and greatness of God has done wonders. What did that little Child do? Heaven so far off that the Avorld could never have found it, those little bands bring heaven down to earth. What has this little Wonaer done? The world full of selfishness, by His own denying Himself, and His own immortality. He has made the world go out and say: What can 1 do for my Master? This Cliristmas spirit that you see upon the streets, the people thronging up and down the streets of traffic, into the stores, buying and selling, is all but a spark of that great gift of the Son of God, and the unselfishness that His Spirit is bound to plant into the world. He is the great God. What has He done? He has made the impossible possible. God said : The soul that sinneth, it shall die. God cannot lie. CHRISTMAS. 81 Man did sin. Before the human reason of the world it is absolutely impossible that Adam and Eve could be saved, or their off-spring, born in sin, and yet this little Wonder of wonders, who cannot lie, can take the truth that the soul that sinneth, it shall die, and can make it possible for the world to be saved, and that is the reason, it is said that the grace of God hath appeared bringing something the world knows nothing about; but the Lord Jesus Christ paid the penalty for your death and mine on Calvary. He was worth it. And now those little hands come and say : Don't be afraid of Me; I am your God; I am great, but you never are afraid of a little child. Did you ever see a person afraid of a little child? Did you ever see a per- son afraid of a little babe? Come, ye fatliers and mothers. Come, ye fearful and fearless. Come all and gather around this crib. Do not be afraid. Here lies the grace of God,, a little babe. Take hold of it ; it is the Almighty God, but you don't need to be afraid. The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. Here is your hope, your life. Come live ; come learn ; come look ; come labor. lY. Come labor. "Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us all from iniquity, and purify unto Him- self a peculiar people, zealous of good works." The Lord Jesus Christ is not a little, lazy Lord. The fact that He sleeps in the little crib of Bethlehem is no sign that He did not come to work. He did come to labor. The apostle says here, "He gave Himself for us.' Oh, the labor of the Son of God, when He sweat, not only drops of perspira- tion, as you and I have, but drops of blood. You see tne feet of Him who toiled for our salvation, bleeding; you see the hands of Jesus Christ, wounded, so that you can look through them. That is what He did for you and for me. Have you seen the breast pierced with the sword for your salvation and mine? Have you heard His moans and groans on Calvary's hill, there treading the winepress of God's wrath all alone? Have you heard Him wooing you with voice of love, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heav;\^ laden, and I will give you rest?" Have^ 6 82 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. you got the meaning of the words : "God so, so, so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that who- soever believeth in Him should not perish, but have ever- lasting life?" Have you heard that cry, after that hard day's work for all eternity, "It is finished?'' What was finished? Your redemption and mine. God labored, my friends. The Wonder of all wonders. 2. The Apostle Paul does not refrain from calling attention to himself in connection with others. Who gave Himself for us — for you, Titus, and for me, Paul, and for many other servants of God. He gave this all for us. In other words, they tell me, Titus, that I work too hard, says Paul, in this message this evening, they tell me that I might have escaped this prison if I had simply confessed that I would reject my Savior ; I might have been a lawyer successful financially and otherwise; I might have been a teacher in one of the great universities; it isn't lack of learning nor lack of opportunities that has made me this prisoner; they tell me I should not toil as I am toiling, but I cannot forget, Titus, that my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ bled and died for me, and I cannot help but work; I must work; I am determined to know nothing but Christ and Him crucified; all the powers of hell cannot keep me from working. They say I am peculiar. So are all Christians. "Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." I hope every one in this house will grasp the voice of the Holy Spirit in this, that a Christian is a peculiar man, a peculiar woman. A Christian is a newly born creature in this world. A Christian recognizes that Jesus Christ worked, and w^orked our salvation out for us; recognizes that he is saved alone by grace; recognizes that in him- self he can do absolutely nothing to save himself, and when he gets himself filled with this great truth, saved by all the grace and greatness of the Wonder of wonders, he becomes enthusiastic to do something for the glory of God and for the welfare of man, without any worthiness on Ids part, and that is the peculiarity of the children of God. Zealous of good works. How can I leave this subject CHRISTMAS. SS' this evening without asking you the question : Are you really this evening a child of the Wonder of wonders, and if so, are you really engaged in doing something for God's glory? Are you one of the peculiar people of God, tnat is working as if his very souPs salvation depended upon his works, and at the same time trusting in God for salvation as if his works amounted to nothing? Now I could not be a Christian, to say nothing of being a minister, unless 1 would do all that I possibly could for the upbuilding of God's kingdom. That is the message that I want to bring to you this evening. If you have been living a lazy, worth- less, good-for-nothing life; if you have been living a kind of a treacherous life; if you have been living on the chair of ease and on the pillow of sleep instead of being wide awake and doing Avhatever God gave you the power and the gifts to do for the kingdom of heaven, I still doubt whether you are a child of God. Do not misunderstand me. Your works are not going to save you, but your doing nothing may damn you. That is what I want to say. Your works will not save you, but your bad deeds may damn you. Kemember, my friends, that the law of God not only tells us what to do, but what not to do, and if you do not do what God says you shall do, you are just as big a sinner as if you do what He said you shall not do. I have almost more respect for an ungodly man who fights for his ungodliness, than I have for a goody-goody Christian who does nothing. The fire of the Holy Spirit and the sparks that came in the grace and the greatness of God at Bethle- hem, are enough to kindle the soul, and the brain, and the heart of every man on God's earth, if he simply lets it burn. And now I wish you all a Merry Christmas, and I wish you the Christ-child, the Wonder of wonders, as you live, love, learn, look and labor until your day's worK is done, and God sliall call you home. Amen. PRAYER. O God, our heavenly Father, we thank Thee for this beautiful even- ing in the temple of God, and for this opportunity which we have had to feast at this holy manger at Bethlehem, and for this great lesson that 84 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. we have learned at the feet of the great Teacher of all teachers. O Lord, our God, we pray Thee this evening to help us to live as true children of God; help us to look, and to learn, and to labor, as it is Thy will that we should do these things. And we pray Thee, heavenly Father, now that we are going to our respective homes, to remember that we are spending the last Sunday of nineteen hundred and four, and help us to remember that we are now spending the last week for many who shall fall asleep before the bells of the new year shall ring, and if there are any in this house this evening who have heard their last message of God, Oh, do Thou help them to hold fast to this message with all its fullness of the grace and the greatness of God. We pray Thee that Thou wilt lead those who shall live in the coming year, through the threshold of that year as dear children of God, zealous of good works. Give us a strong and living faith in the merits of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and may this Savior occupy our hearts and there make His throne, and rule us in all our thoughts, words and ■deeds, and when finally our daj^'s work on earth is all done, not for anything that we have done, but alone for Thy mercy's sake, accept us in the name of the beloved Jesus Christ. Amen. SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS. Looking Backward. Gal. 5:1-7. "1^X0 W I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth noth- I ^j ing from a servant, though he be lord of all ; but is under / tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world ; but when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Thv Word is truth. Amen. Dearly Beloved in Christ : — A Happy New Year to you all! Not often do we find that there is no Sunday between Christmas and New Year's Day. The Churcli of God has selected a text for rlie Sunday between Christmas and New Year. This time that text falls also on New Year's Day. I shall therefore meditate and speak today on the text for the Sunday after Christmas, as well as on the text for New Year's Day. In the first text we will learn how to look backward, and this evenino^, in the regular New Year's text, we will learn how to look forward. May the Holy Spirit then enlighten us this morning while we con- sider t]i(* theme: TX)OKIXG BACKWARD. I shall ask you a number of questions — three main questions and possibly eight or nine others under these main questions. 85 86 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. I. Looking backward, have you served your God as you should the past year? "Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; but is under tutors and govern- ors until the time appointed of the Father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the ele- ments of the world.'' The Apostle Paul Avants to show the Galatians that there was a time Avhen the Church of God was under the law, and was looking forward to that time when they should cease to be servants of the law, and become true children of the Gospel. Nevertheless, says he, we must not forget that as children we are under that law and should try to obey it, and therefore I put the question this morning, Looking backw^ard, have you tried to serve your God the past year as you should? 1. Have you known the law of God? How can we be true servants under the law^ if we do not know what that law is? The Psalmist began that beautiful first Psalm by saying: Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. Yes, a true Christian delights in the law of the Lord. I grant that that word "law" in that Psalm does not refer simply to the moral law, but to the teachings of God, but we all do know that the moral law is very comprehensive, and consequently I shall ask you again. In the past year did you know the moral law? Is it true that there may be some sitting before me who cannot repeat the Ten Commandments if asked? It does not seem possible in this enlightened age that that should be true, but I find it true right along. While I was engaged in college work, I was frequently called upon to address the graduating classes in Higli School, and more than once I found classes with diplomas in their hands who did not know the Ten Commandments. And if the graduates of our high schools in the present day, can so graduate without even knowing the moral law, I am sure that I am safe in asking the question of a large congregation like this, Did you, in 1904, know this law under which you are to serve your God? Did you SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS. 87 know that the first three commandments tell you how you are to love your God, w^ith all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength? Did you know that the last seven commandments tell you that you are to love your neighbor as yourself? And did you know that the first table of the law told you not only who God was, but hoAV you should not take His name in vain; and on the other hand, how you should try to keep the Sabbath Day holy? Did you know your duty to your father and to your mother? Did you know your duty to those older than you? Did j^ou know that you were to love everybody and not hate any one, and if you did, that you were a murderer? Did you know that you should live a pure life, so that on the Judgment Day you need not stand before your own Avife and children in shame? Did you know that you were not to take things not your own? Did you know it was wrong to tell a single thing that is not true? Did you know that even the desire to have what you never should have, is all wrong in God's siglit? Did you know that if jou are living an ungodly life you are bringing a curse down upon your children for three or four generations to come; and on the other hand, if you are living a righteous life, you are bringing down a blessing on your children for thousands of gen- erations? Did you know that you yourself may have a curse resting upon j^ou that was brought down b}^ an ungodly great-great-grandf ather ; and that on the other hand, you may have a blessing resting upon you that came from your father and mother, or jour grandfather and grandmother, for two hundred and fifty years back, yea, for a thousand generations? Looking backward, did you know God's moral laAv? 2. Not only do I want to know whether you knew it, but whether you meditated on that law. In that Psalm which I just quoted, it is said that the Godly man medi- tates upon that law day and night. How could he medi- tate on that law in the dark if he did not know it? Why did he meditate on that laAv? Because he knew it was just; because he knew it was right; because he knew it would help to make him a better man. I am afraid too 88 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. many people do not think of the Ten Commandments enough. We even have trouble to get our Sunday Schools to say them once a week. It would seem we have forgot- ten that God wants that law said, not only once a week, but every day, on the ends of our fingers, on the door posts, everywhere. I am afraid we are not meditating, enough on God's holy law. The other day I stepped into our county jail and saw three boys sitting on a bench. I said: ''Good morning, boys, what's the matter? Been going to Sunday School too much?" and then they laughed. ''No," one said, "that is just the trouble; we didn't go enough." But one said, "I used to go to Brother Gamber's class." I said "Did Brother Gamber teacli you to come here and spend your time behind these bars?" "No sir, he taught us better." "Why didn't you stay in his class?" "We didn't want to." What liad they been doing? Robbing the Salvation i^rm^^ boxes. They did not meditate on God's law enough. That was the trou- ble. I want you to understand that if you have got the Ten Commandments in your homes, repeated every morn- ing at the table, repeated ever}'^ day by your children; if they will sit there at home for ten or twelve years and say every day that God says Thou slialt not steal, con- science Avill not allow the boy to go and rob the church boxes of the First Lutheran Church, or the Salvation Army boxes. The great trouble of the present day is that we are not paying enough attention to the Ten Com- mandments; we do not meditate on that holy law; we let the world go on and think the children are smart because they go to high school, and the high school has many corrupt boys and girls, and the world knows it. They are not meditating on God's holy law enough. How have you spent the year 1904, meditating on God^s holy law? 3. Not only do I ask you how you meditated on it, but how did you keep that law? What effort did you make in the past year to keep the law perfectly as you could? When the great ruler of England was knoAvn as the little Prince of Wales, he was put under a govern- ess; at the age of six years he had a little lesson to learn everv dav. The governess said to him one day : "Edward. SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS. 89 have you got your lesson?'' "No/' He was playing. She said : ''You go right to work and get your lesson first, and then you can play.'' Little Edward said: "I don't want to study today/' but the governess said, ''You must study, Edward." "But I don't want to study." "Y^ou go and stand right in that corner." "I will not stand in the corner." She said, "Y^ou uiust stand in the corner." Lit- tle Edward got angry and struck through the window and broke the glass, and said, "1 want you to understand that I aui tlie Prince of AVales.'' Then the governess called in his fatlier; the father took the little boy and led him over to the table, opened the Bible and read the first two verses of (Jalatians 4 : "Now I say that the heir, as long as lie is a child, dilfereth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all ; but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father." Then the father took the little ruler and scutched him well, handed him over to the governess and said, "Y^ou give him another scutch- ing," then placed him in the corner and said, "I want you to understand there is no difference between you and a serv- ant, though you are the Prince of Wales ; you stand there and study your lesson, and when you get to be king, I want you to understand you are still under God's law." Y'^ou understand what I mean Avhen I say to you this morning. Have you tried to keep God's holy law throughout the ])ast year, or have you, like the little stubborn Prince of Wales, thought you could do as you pleased with God's holy law? Exauiine yourselves this morning. Looking backward, has God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost been your only God^ or have you been wor- shipping Baal? Have you uttered an oath during the past year? If so, let us stop a moment and ask God to forgive you. How have you spent the fifty-two Sundays of 1904? WJicre have you been? Have you kept the Sab- bath Day holy? Have you helped to spread God's king- dom? YVm tell me. that you only missed now and then l»ecause you were tired. Tired ! Others of us are not tired, are we? Others of us are not doing anything, are we? Who in this church has labored more hours in 1904 than your pastor? Did you find him away from the pulpit 90 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. because he was tired? Did you find him sleeping because it was Sunday morning? The President of the United States last Thursday evening went to prayer meeting. He runs the United States and has got time to go to prayer meeting, but you, with your little peanut stand, cannot find time. Shame on you. How have you spent your Lord's Days? How have you treated your father and mother? Last night I was trying to meditate more fully on this text, and the thought came to me. When did you write your step-mother last? Do you know I could not do another thing with my sermon until I wrote her a letter, and then the Lord hel^jed me again. It may be that you have left your old father and mother sit down and worry for weeks because you wouldn't even write. What have you done with God's law in 1904? How often have you had a feeling even toward those that have been pray- ing for you, a feeling that hasn't been right, a feeling of hatred, of wishing they wer^ out of the way? Oh, the treacherous hearts that dwell in our breasts. We are not to kill, and yet we think that we can have murder in our hearts and love that murder. How have you kept God's law? Has your life been pure? Have you sinned against your husband? Have you sinned against your wife? Have you sinned against your fellow men? Have you lived chaste and pure in word and deed? Is all that you possess yours by right, or did you simply take it be- cause the law allowed it? Have you told the truth? Ex- amine yourselves this morning. Have you kept God's holy law in 1904? II. This leads me to another question. Were you God's true children in the past y^ar? "But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." 1. I ask you the question on the basis of these two verses: Were you true children of God during the past year? Did you know that Jesus Christ was born under the very law that condemns you? I know every one • of you feels condemned this morning. I feel condemned SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS. 91 inyself. This law that I have been speaking to you about this morning is so holy and so perfect that no man on earth can say I have kept it fully. There is not a just man on earth that doeth good and sinneth not, says the Hol}^ 'Word. I^^eeling that we are condemned under that law, did you know that Jesus Christ was born under that very law that condemns you? Did you know that when the holy angels sang over the crib of Bethlehem, Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will toward men, that not only the angels were over that crib, but the law of God was over it, and Christ Himself was born under the law that He Himself gave, which demanded perfec- tion? 2. Let me ask you another question : Did you know that Jesus Christ, born under that law, died under that law that you might live? It is said here ''to redeem them that were under the law.-' Jesus Christ was born under that laAv, that He might bear that law for you and for me, and in as much as that Holy laAv on you and on me said of every one of us, They are guilty, we are condemned, Christ with us, not because the sin was His, but because He put His shoulder under your sins and under mine, and that law which condemns you and me, drove Him to Cal- vary; that law put the crown of thorns upon His head; that law scourged His back; that law pierced His hands and His feet ; that law hanged Him up between heaven and earth ; His feet dared not touch the earth, because the earth did not want Him; His crown did not dare to reach lieaven because the curse of God was on Him ; the law over Him and the curse under Him and around Him, held Him fast on Calvary's hill. Did you know in 1904 that Jesus Christ, born in the crib of Bethlehem, was held fast by His own law, and paid the debt for your sins and for mine, and thus redeemed us? "To redeem them that were under the law.'' 3. Let me ask you : Did you permit Jesus Christ in the past year to fully adopt you as His dear children? What kind of a life have you been living the past year? There is a great difference after all between a servant and a son. In one respect, says the Apostle Paul, there 92 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. is no difference. A son, as long as he is a child, is like the servant, under tutors and governors, but the time comes, my friends, when there is a difference between Isaac and Ishmael. The time comes when Ishmael must be thrown out because he is not a true son of Sarah; the time when Isaac stays in the home because he is a true child; and so I come to you this morning and ask you, Did the Lord Jesus Christ fully adopt you as His child? "That we might receive the adoption of sons." AVhen you were baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, then Jesus Christ adopted you, and from that moment until this you have been an adopted child. I do not say you have been a good child. Sometimes adopted children act very ugly, but they are still adopted children. The moment I adopt a son Iw law he is my son, no difference what he does, and so the moment you were baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, you were adopted by the Lord, and He thereby made a covenant that He will be a Father to you, and He will care for you and watch over you, and if you have gone away you must come back, and repent, and He will ac- cept the adopted son again. My question is. In 1904 Avere you adopted or were you not? Must you still say, I have no covenant with God at all ; I am still loose from Him ; I am still ungodly? Look backward this morning and ask yourself the question. How have I lived in the three hun- dred and sixty -five days of 1904? III. I come to you with a third question, and it is this: Were you, in the past year, true heirs of all of God's riches? "And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wlierefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.'^ Oh, what riches God has in store for us! If we cease to be servants and become sons, then we shall fall heir with elesus Christ to all the riches of God. I ask you therefore the question again : Were you heirs of all of God's riches ' I. They will abhor that which is evil. II. They Avill cleave to that AAiiich is good. I. ''Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that AA'hich is evil; cleaA^e to that which is good." That verse is the key to the text of the CA^ening. There are certain things that every Christian in Christ must abhor, and the first that I Avould mention is jealousy. 1. ''Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, Avhether prophecy, let us pro- phesy according to the proportion of faith; or ministry, let us wait on our ministering; or he that teacheth, on teaching; or he that exhorteth, on exhortation; he that giA^eth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth with diligence; he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness." We 160 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. find that Christians have different gifts, and, having these different gifts, they are very apt to become just a little jealous of each other. You cannot imagine that any mem- ber of the human body is in conflict with the other. My right arm is not in conflict with my left ; my eye is not in conflict with my ear, nor the ear with the eye. Not one member in a human body can be in conflict with the other, or dare to be jealous of the other's action, and any one member refusing to do its part, throws a burden on the other parts of that body. Just so it is with regard to the Christian. He is a member of the body of Christ, and every Christian is a member of the body of Christ. If one member is not satisfied with his position in life, with the gift that God has given him, and becomes jealous of others that have higher positions, he is not ready to do as it is said here he should do, to give honor to another. If there is any one thing in the world that a man must despise and abhor, if he lives in Christ Jesus, it is jealousy. You cannot imagine Jesus Christ jealous of any one. Did you ever see Him angry and envious because some one prospered more than He did? No. And yet there are people who call themselves professed Christians who can- not bear to see any one prosper. I have often thought if there is any one person in the world that ought to be free from jealousy, it is the minister of the Gospel, and yet I must confess that I have found just as much jealousy .among ministers of the Gospel as among doctors or law- yers. The whole world is full of jealousy. Sin has brought pride into the world, and pride has planted jeal- ousy into the hearts of the people, and even those best gifted are sometimes guilty of this great crime. How much harm has been done in this world by jealousy! Look at the great battle fought down at Balaklava, which has been made the subject of Tennyson\s song, sung of the Six Hundred who rode down to death : "Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them, Cannon in front of them Voleyed and thundered; Storm'd at with shot and shell. SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. 161 Boldly they rode and well, Into the jaws of Death Into the mouth of Hell Rode the six hundred." But, my friends, four hundred and fifty of that six hundred fell upon that battlefield; and only one hundred and fifty came back. Why were there so many men slaugh- tered that day? All on account of one man being jealous of another. Had it not been that Lord Lucan was jealous of Lord Cardigton, Tennyson would not have written that poem, and four hundred and fifty men would not have been slaughtered on that field of death. And thus we can look at the very death of Jesus Christ. It was the jealousy of the religious Pharisees, who could not bear to see a greater teacher than they in the city of Jerusalem. How many times we find in the Christian Church that just when everything seems to prosper most, there are hearts so full of jealousy they almost run over. They cannot be in Christ and have that jealous heart. Let us ask ourselves the question tonight, are we in Christ Jesus? If so, let us abhor that spirit that is apt to creep into each one of our hearts, and down it Avith all the power that God can give us. 2. Another thing we must abhor, if we are Chris- tians in Christ, is hypocrisy. "Let love be without dis- simulation." Or, according to most translators, "Let love be without hypocrisy." You cannot imagine Jesus Christ hypocritical ; you cannot imagine He ever pretended to be anything He was not. He never stood up boldly and boasted that He was the Son of God, but rather said, "I am the Son of man," and yet He could have said, "I am the Son of God" without boasting, and He did say it at times to give glory to the Father; but we find the Lord Jesus Christ putting the girdle around Him, and washing the feet of His disciples, teaching true humility. — Always humble, always the same Savior, because He is the God- man. How can you and I put on Christ and pretend to be what we are not? How can people pretend to be professed Christians when they are after all children of the devil? 11 162 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. How can we pretend to be followers of the humble Naza- rene and be filled with pride? How can we pretend to walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ on Sunday, and all week walk on paths He has forbidden? Let us abhor hypocrisy. Let us appear to be just what we are, nothing more, and nothing less. 3. Another thing we must abhor if we are Christians in Christ is hatred. "Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. Be kindly aff ectioned one to another with brotherly love f Our Lord Jesus Christ loved every one. "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that who- soever believeth in Him should not perish, but have ever- lasting life.'' Jesus said, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are hea^^ laden, and I will give you rest." He sat down among sinners and ate with them. He said Him- self, "The Son of man is come to seek and save that which was lost. I love thee with an everlasting love." How can any one be in Christ Jesus and not have love for his fellowmen? In other words, how can any one be in Christ Jesus and have hatred in his heart toward this one or that one? It sometimes occurs even in the Christian Church that when a certain one proposes anything, there are others who will fight it, just because they have hatred in their hearts toward that one. We cannot have that disposition and be in Christ Jesus. It is impossible. You might just as well expect the devil to live in the heart of Jesus Christ as to expect a man to dwell in Christ and have hatred in his heart toward any person on earth. The Word of God says love your enemies and do good to them which despite- tViWj use you. How can you, dear hearer, have the spirit of hatred in your heart against your brother, against any person on earth, against your enemy, and live in Christ Jesus? It is impossible. 4. Christians in Christ must also abhor laziness. "He that ruleth, Avith diligence .... not slothful ,in business." You cannot find that Jesus Christ ever was lazy; wherever you find Him, He is doing something; even when He sits down on the well for a moment to rest. He there converts the Samaritan woman. When the even- SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. 163 ing comes, and His disciples fall asleep, He goes up on the mountain to pray. When Peter, and James, and John, cannot keep awake any longer. He goes out into the garden of Gethsemane and sweats drops of blood. Even before He began His ministry He took His tools in His hand and helped His foster father to build houses and barns. Always working, always doing something. Without Me, He says, ye can do nothing. I cannot imagine any one in the world, living in Christ Jesus, sitting down, slothful in business, not diligent in his work. A man may be lazy as long as He is not ^iritually alive ; but how a man can become a real, genuine Christian; how a man can actually believe, as we confess in the Creed, that there is an ever- lasting life, and everlasting punishment; how a man can believe that Jesus is the only way to heaven, and that there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby man can be saved; how a man can know there are eight hundred and fifty millions of people in the world that never heard of this Only W^ay ; how a man can know that by the thousands they are perishing every moment, and can then sit down and idly say, I am a child of God, and I am in Christ, if everything else goes to destruction, I cannot understand. When a man is in Christ Jesus he must wake up and stop being slothful in business, in re- ligion, in anything he may engage in. Ask yourself the question: Am I diligent or not? Am I busy or not? Am I in Christ Jesus? That will settle it. The feet of Jesus were walking, not resting ; the hands of Jesus were bless- ing, not resting ; He was busy all the time, and even when He awoke from the dead He went to the gates of hell and cried, "Speak, hell, speak, where is thy victory? Behold, Satan, behold thy kingdom crushed!" He was out of the grave and was busy; He did not lose one moment; one hour at Emmaus ; the next up in the little room with His disciples saying, "Peace be unto you." Wherever you find Him, He is doing good. You cannot put on Jesus Christ and sit down and do nothing. Christians must be busy people; they cannot be otherwise; they must abhor lazi- ness. 5. Again, they must abhor cursing. "Bless them 164 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. which persecute you; bless and curse not.'' Once in a while we find professed Christians who do not deny but that they may now and then utter a word that may be called by the best definition cursing; they call it a weak- ness; but I would have you understand that you cannot live in Christ Jesus and have that weakness; you cannot be in Christ and curse. Imagine Jesus Christ standing before this altar tonight, and I in Christ Jesus and I begin to curse; every one of you would say that is not Christ. How then can you, as professed Christians, dwell in Christ Jesus and have a cursing tongue in your mouths? The second commandment says, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, and that is the Word of Christ in whom the Christian dwells. 6. Not only is it true that we must abhor cursing, but we should also abhor pride. "Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate.'' How often we find even professed Christians trying to live a life away above the average people. How many there are that are ashamed to as- sociate with the common people. How many there are that would never go down into the slums, or work among the poor, or offer to assist them. How manj^ there are who seem to think it is wise to use big words which no one can understand ; who seem to think it is a good thing to belong to a church that is called ^.ristocratic ; who seem to think it is wise to appear high headed. My dear friends, Jesus Christ never belonged to any aristocratic church; Jesus- Christ never walked around dressed in pride; Jesus Christ was not ashamed to take the poor by the hand and assist them ; Jesus Christ Avas not willing to stone a poor woman because she had made a mistake; He was perfectly willing to get right down at the feet of the disciples and wash them, teaching them to be truly humble. When Jesus Christ was willing to do those things, how can you think you are so much better than any one else? How can you be proud? Remember that pride was the fall of the angel that became the devil; he fell on account of his pride; and he planted that pride into the heart of the natural man. If we stop to think that we are but SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. 165 dust; that before long we will be at the cemetery, going down into a hole five feet deep, and some poor mortal will say at the head of that grave, "Earth to earth; ashes to ashes; dust to dust;" remembering that we are becoming food for worms ; remembering the sins we have committed ; remembering that we have not a single gift that God can- not take away from us in a single moment, then why is there anything in us that should make any of us proud? If we live in Christ Jesus, we must abhor pride as we abhor the devil himself. 7. And thus I might go on, but any one who has read that text T\'ill realize at once that it admonishes against sin in any form. "Abhor that which is evil," says the Apostle Paul. It is not hard to knoAv what evil is. Evil is sin, and sin is the transgression of tlie law. God's law says that He is the true and living God and we should have no other gods before Him; therefore abhor idolatry and Christless religions. The law of God says we shall not take His name in vain; therefore if you find your child cursing and using God's name in vain, punish that child so that it will be the last time it will ever be guilty of that sin. The law of God demands of us that we re- member the Sabbath Day to keep it holy. If you find that you are living on Sunday as though there were no Lord's Day ; if you find that you are lounging around instead of going to God's house; if you find that some daily paper is more interesting to you than God's Holy Word, remember that God said. Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy ; and if you find that God's Word is not your highest treasure you are there loving an evil that you ought to abhor. If you are not treating father and mother as you ought to, abhor that evil. If you do not love humanity, then you are a murderer; abhor that hatred. If you are not living a pure life, abhor yourself on account of that adultery. If you have taken one thing that is not your own, abhor yourself as a thief. If you have been guilty of telling things that are not true, abhor the lie for it is evil. If you are setting your heart upon things that ought not to belong to you, abhor that heart of covetousness. And so I would have you look over the category of all 166 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. God's commandments, and whenever you disobey them, look upon those things as evils which you must abhor, if you would be a Christian in Christ. II. The other side of the same great truth is this: "Cleave to that which is good.'' The verses previous to the text will show us what we are to cleave to. "So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another." Your right arm must cleave to your body; your left arm must cleave to your body; all your members must cleave to your body, or you will cease to be a complete man, and therefore, I say, we must all cleave to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Oh, cling to Him! Cling to Him while you live ; cling to Him in the hour of death ; cling to Him in all eternity I "Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee ! Let the water and the blood. From Thy riven side that flowed, Be of sin the double cure. Save me. Lord, and make me pure." Cling to Him ! "But drops of blood can ne'er repay The debt of love I owe ; Here Lord, I give myself away ; 'Tis all that I can do." Cling to Him ! "Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life," says Jesus. Cling to Him! "Him that Cometh unto Me I Avill in no wise cast out." Cling to Him! "As I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked should turn from his evil Avay and live." Cling to Him! 2. Not only should we cling to Jesus, but to the Word of God. "Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith ; or ministry, let us wait on our ministering; or he that teacheth, on teaching; or he that exhorteth, on exhortation." You will notice all these words pertain to the searching of God's SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. 167 Word in one form or another. "Cleave to that which is good.'' If I were to leave it to a vote tonight which is the best Book in the world, ninety-eight out of a hundred persons would say the Bible is the best Book in the world. We all know it is the best Book. You sometimes hear peo- ple say the Word of God teaches things that are bad. If that Book taught things that are bad, every bad boy in Mansfield would want one. I never saw a bad boy in my , life that wanted a Bible. I never saw a bad boy in my life that did not want bad books. I never saw a bad man in my life that did not want bad books. If some man were to run down street tonight, with some one crying, Stop, thief! and he were to drop a book, and some one picking it up vrould say, it is a Bible, very few people Vv'ould be- lieve either that it was a Bible, or that the man was a thief. If the same man should run down street, and they would cry out "Horse thief,'' and he would drop a bottle, every one would believe it. You do not find this Book in the pocket of a thief. The Word of God is a good Book. I know that this world is bad enough, my friends, but what vrould it be without this Book? What would you and I be without this Book? I am willing to confess to- night that if it had not been for this Book, and some good people that this Book has made, that I for one, would be the worst man in the world. Whenever I do a bad deed I do not care to look into my Bible for the next hour. Whenever I do the best deed that I can do, I love to look into the Bible. My friends, this is the great Book that we want when we are born ; it is the Book we want along the path of life; it is the Book, O mothers and fathers, that you must put into the trunk of your boys and girls when they go away from home ; it is the Book that you must place on the table and the altar of the hom^; it is the Book the words of which must be put into the minds of our children. These catechumens coming to me every Saturday afternoon, most of whom have already learned the Sermon on the Mount, cannot be lost without their OAvn responsibility. What I want is to make people feel their responsibility. I used to think, when I first entered the ministry that if people were lost it was my fault. No, 168 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. it is not. But it is my fault if I do not show them the way to be saved. After they have heard the words of this good Book, how to repent of their sins, how to believe in Christ and to find salvation, then the responsibility rests with them and not with me. Hold to the old Word of God! 3. Not only hold to the Word of God, but I would have you hold to the Divine service. Paul said to these Komans, who had different gifts, that they should all do something. " . . whether prophecy, let us prophesy accord- ing to the proportion of faith." Some were to explain the Scriptures. Some had other work to do around the church ". .or ministry, let us wait on our ministering." Some were to teach the Scriptures ''. . . or he that teacheth, on teaching" ". . . . or he that exhorteth, on exhortation." Some were to attend to the distribution of gifts, "he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity." Some were to have special authority "... he that ruleth, with diligence." Some were to labor with hands of mercy "he that soweth mercy, with cheerfulness." In other words, the Apostle Paul says there is something for every church member to do; there is something for every Christian to do who is in Christ, and the thing for him to do is to come to the Divine service and hear God's Word, and help sing songs of praise to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; to join in the confession of faith. You take one coal and lay it by itself, and it is soon black; but take a number of them, and put them together, and a flame will start up that will burn. And so if you stay at home, in a short time your heart will become black with sin ; but meet with God's people, as you have to-day, and join voice to voice, until like one great flame the hearts of men all look upward, and there is an inspiration in a Christian con- gregation and in a Divine service that you can never overthrow. God said, "Where two or three are gathered together in My name, I will be in the midst of them." Hold, therefore, to the Divine service. 4. Furthermore, I would have you all hold to God's mercy. ". .he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness." How merciful Jesus Christ Avas when those men came with SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. 169 stones in their hands, ready to kill the woman who had been caught in sin. Jesus said, the first one that has not sinned, may stone her ; then He went and wrote in the sand; and you remember what tradition says about that writing; He began to write in the sand the sins committed by the first one who was ready to throw the stone; then what the second man had done; and then what the third had done, and, looking over His shoulder, they saw He was writing their own sins, and they vanished away; He looked around; they were not there. Where are the men ready to kill this woman? Did Jesus Christ take up a stone and kill her? No. He said. Go and sin no more. Oh, what mercy! What mercy He had upon her! The thief on the cross who had been cursing and abusing Him for being one of their own number, hears a voice, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do ;" in a short time he notices he is hanging by the side of the Son of God, and cries out, "Kemember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom!'^ Did Jesus say, I will show you? did He say, 1 ^411 have revenge on you? did He say, I will damn you? No. "To-day thou shalt be with Me in paradise." Oh, the mercy of Christ! The mercy of Christ, my friends, ought to move us to have mercy on each other. The mercy of Christ, if we are in Him, should move our hands to stretch out and take hold of a fallen woman and lift her up; to take hold of a fallen man and lift him up. I am here to say the fallen woman is just as welcome to my class as the best people in the world ; that the fallen boy is the one I would love to reach down and lift up; and when we get the spirit and the mercy of Christ in us, then we will find something good to hold to. 5. Hold not only to His good mercy but to His brotherly love. "Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love." When we come to weigh the reasons why some people hate each other, what insignificant reasons they are. Why does any man hate me? I often ask that question. Is it because I do not work hard enough? Is that the reason? Is it because I am not praying enough for you? Is that the reason? Is it because I am not faithful to my God? Is that the reason? I sometimes 170 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. wonder what it is. What is it? Oh, what a comfort it would be if I could just know why it is some people do not like me. I am not worrying, my friends, for myself, not at all, but I worry for you; I worry for the man that hates anybody; I worry for the man that has not got brotherly love for his fellowmen. Oh, if some one were murdering your own family, even then God would say to you, pray for him and bless him ; but when one is try- ing with all his might and power to save immortal soui«, to save you, what is it? What is it? What is it that you are hating? O God, what is it? What is it? Isn't it time that we are asking the question, are we in Christ Jesus? If we are in Christ Jesus we ought to love whom Jesus loves; but Jesus loves us all, and how could we be in Christ Jesus and not love everybody? Hold fast to the brotherly love of Christ. 6. If you are in Christ Jesus, you should cling also to Divine enthusiasm ". . . not slothful in business; fer- vent in spirit; serving the Lord." This word fervent means, literally, boiling; in another sense it means burn- ing. — Have a burning, a boiling, spirit within you. In other words, be filled Avith the spirit of enthusiasm. Jesus Christ was enthusiastic. Notice the spirit of Christ when He comes to the, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!'' Notice the enthusiasm with which He goes into His work in all His sermons. He spoke with an enthusiasm that held the people from the time He be- gan until He closed. No difference where He went, into the desert, or upon the mountain, or on some little vessel along the shore, the multitudes crowded upon Him, be- cause til ere was a Divine enthusiasm that held them spell- bound. W ought to hold fast to Divine enthusiasm. I say Divine. There is a fanatical enthusiasm which leads people astray ; but Divine enthusiasm seeks out the will of God, and having found the will of God, you pray over it, and keep on praying until the flame burns in the heart. Savonarola of old said, "I must speak, and save Florence, or the very marrow in my bones will burn." If these things are true that we find in the Word of God, it should not only make us diligent, but it should SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. 171 make us burn in soul and heart for the salvation of im- mortal souls. If you love your enemy, pray for him. If he despitefully uses you, reach out your hand of love. If there is a man on earth whom you can bring to Christ Jesus with a burning heart, reach out and bring him to the Master, and you have done a work that you ought to encourage, which shall give you joy, in the midst of tribulation ". . . . rejoicing in hope; patient in tribula- tion; continuing instant in prayer; distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality. Bless them which persecute you; bless and curse not. Eejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep." The Savior was enthusiastic. In the midst of joy He rejoiced; in the midst of tears, with Mary and Martha, He wept. In the midst of joy let us rejoice; when we come to those who are mourning and in trouble, let us be m sympathy with them ; show that our hearts are weeping with theirs. Let us show to those deeply afflicted that our hearts are with them, and stand by them as Christ would stand by them. Kejoicing as Christ would rejoice, let us go forth, holding fast to Divine enthusiasm. 7. Last of all, hold fast to the spirit of liberality. "According to the grace that is given us. .he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity." When the Lord Jesus gave to any one, he did not make them feel under obligations. How many times we find when people do a good act, they do it in such a way as to publish it to the world ; in such a Avay as to make one feel it, and feel it, and feel it, that now we have done something for you. Let us learn to be in Christ Jesus, and, being in Him, no difference what we give to any one, give it with such little ostentation and such sympathy that they hardly feel they are getting it, and yet gain a great benefit. That is the way we should cultivate the spirit of liberality, and hold fast to it. "Distributing to the necessity of saints." How many Christians there are in the world that need help, to say nothing of the people who are living a sinful life, and are simply reaping their harvest by having nothing when old age comes on; I am speaking of people who are honest, upright, saving and working every day, but they meet with 172 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. misfortune; the time comes when they may not, on ac- count of sickness or otherwise, provide for their families. The Christian Church ought to recognize that we are one family. In a large family we do not find that when the daughter is sick, she is allowed to starve; the sisters and brothers that are well, work the harder, because there is one lying at home with typhoid fever. In the Church of God we are all one family ; then how can we see a brother sick for a year and simply say, Let him go to his lodge, or to his own family, when sometimes his own family cannot help? I claim that if we are in Christ we will do as Christ would do; we will go to the other mem- ber and help. If my right hand is sore and cannot work, my left hand must do the work. If we are all members in Christ, then let not one member suffer without the others helping. And this should not only be true with regard to saints^ this should be true with regard to our conduct in our owii homes — "given to hospitality.'' It does seem to me that we are losing just what the x4.postle Paul meant when he said, "given to hospitality;" we are losing even what our fathers had. I cannot forget one old home where nearly every day some one vras sitting down at the table and eat- ing with us; I cannot forget, either, how little trouble it was for mother to do these things ; she knew just how to entertain many people without much trouble. In these days we imagine that unless Ave can have a very fine feast we cannot have any one to sit down at our table, and we are losing hospitality and getting more and more selfish. Oh, that the days would return when we could go into a house at any time at meal time and sit down and eat a bite of bread and drink a cup of water and thank God for them, and restore the old hospitality. Jesus did not an- nounce beforehand that He was coming to see Mary and Martha ; He was welcome any hour ; and this spirit that He had for them and they for Him, we should have in -our- selves. Jesus was so hospitable that when He saw His dis- ciples out on the water, He already had the bread and fish prepared for them when they came to the shore. When- ever He had a bite He divided it among His disciples. SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. 173 When a great number of His disciples were very hungry, and He had only a few loaves and fishes, He did not satisfy His own hunger first, but blessed the food, handed it to His disciples and told them to carry it out to the people, and He fed them all, and gathered up the crumbs, and we do not know that He even took a bite. How hospitable Jesus Avas! If we are in Christ Jesus we ought to have that hospitality in our own homes. Oh, let us cultivate liberality and love for the poor, wherever we can do them good. I have in mind this morning a certain rich man who was always praying for the poor, praying that God might by all means keep them from freezing in the winter and from starving. This rich man had his own granaries full of grain, and when a poor man would come to him and ask for a little of this or of that, he would always answer, ^^I have just provided enough for myself," and send him away, and yet he kept on praying, "O God, feed the poor; feed the poor." This man was not in Christ to the same extent that his little son was. One morning, when his father was praying, and praying, and praying for the poor, so earnestly, after he had said Amen, the little boy said, ^Tather, I do wish I owned all the barns you do." "Why, my son?" "Oh, if I did, I would just answer your prayers." Amen. PRAYER. O God, our heavenly Father, we thank Thee that Thou hast given us this blessed Word, which is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our patTi. We thank Thee that we are permitted to live in Christ Jesus, and, living in Him, that we can walk in His footsteps, and that we can be lights in the world. We thank Thee that the great Light of the world has said to His disciples,. "Ye are the light of the world," and now we pray Thee, make every Christian in this house tonight a real light that shall shine with abhorring that which is evil, and cleaving to that which is good. O Father in heaven, if there be any jealousy, hypocrisy, hatred, slothfulness, cursing, pride, any sin of any kind in our hearts, help us tonight to abhor that evil ; on the other hand, help us to cling to Jesus Christ, cling to His Word and the means of grace, to cling to the Divine service, to cleave to God's mercy, to hold to His brotherl}^ love, to cling with Divine enthusiasm, and to be filled with the spirit of liberality; and thus^ heavenly Father, help us to be instant in prayer, constantly calling upon Thee, and with our hands doing what 174 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. we can for Thy glory and for the welfare of humanity. Give Thy blessing to this Targe congregation tonight, and as we go out of the doors of this church, may we all, if we have not already, enter the doors of eternal life. Jesus, do Thou receive us into Thine heart, and walk with us through life, protect us, with Thy righteousness cover our sins, and lead us home to the Father as Thy beloved children. Hear this, our prayer, for the sake of the Christ who taught us to pray: Our Father who art in heaven; Hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven; Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for- give those who trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation; But deliver us from evil; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. The Conflict of the Christian in Christ. Rom. 12:16-21. BE not wise in your own conceits. Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath : for it is written, Vengeance is mine ; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him ; if he thirst, give him drink : for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Thy Word is truth. Amen. Dearly Beloved: — This text, as you will perceive, is only a continua- tion of the texts of the last two Sundays, found in the twelfth chapter of Komans. Last Sunday evening we heard how the Christian in Christ must abhor evil and cleave to that which is good. The Christian in Christ must not only abhor the evil and cleave to the good, but he must enter the conflict that takes place between good and evil. It is impossible for good and evil to dwell together, just as much as it is for darkness and light to remain in the same room; the one must expel the other, and consequently Christianity in its truth and purity is a battle. The apostle Paul said, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.'' We sang just a few moments ago that beautiful hymn : "Am I a soldier of the Cross, A follower of the Lamb; And shall I fear to own His cause, Or blush to speak His name?" 175 176 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. And now that you have sung that first stanza, I wonder what your answer is to the question, i^re you a soldier of the Cross, or are you a soldier of the devil? Are you a follower of the Lamb, or a follower of Satan? Are you on the narrow way, battling for righteousness toward heaven, or are you on the broad way that leads to de- struction? There is no question about what a Christian's attitude ought to be if he is in Christ. ''Sure I must fight if I would reign : Increase my courage, Lord; I'll bear the toil, endure the pain, Supported by Thy Word." I call your attention this morning to THE CONFLICT OF THE CHRISTIAN IN CHRIST. The conflict is mentioned in the last verse of our text when it is said, "Be not overcome of evil, but over- come evil with good.'' I. The Christian in Christ must not let evil over- come him, for this may be done according to the words of our text, in three different ways: By thinking he is too smart to learn anything; by seeking revenge, and by selling truth for peace. 1. "Be not wise in your own conceits." The human mind is prone to think itself very wise, and one of the reasons so many people think they are wise is because their minds are so poorly developed that they fail to see the many things concerning which they know nothing. When you were small, you imagined that your house was a very large house; you imagined that the hills around your home were very large hills, but when you began to travel around in the world, you saw the Rpcky Mount- ains, and then you came home and were surprised to find what little banks those were that you formerly thought were such great hills; and when you have gone into the larger buildings of the world, you were surprised to find how little the rooms were where you were born. When 1 stood in my old home the other day and looked up at the THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. 177 ceiling, I could not imagine that was the same house I used to live in; my head nearly touched the plastering, and we used to think that was a big house. So it is with regard to the human mind; when one imagines he know& it all, and there is nothing for him to learn any more, he is filled with his own conceit, and instead of permitting evil to be overcome, evil has overcome him. The one thing we should all learn is to know ourselves. The old Greek motto, "Know Thyself,'^ was written over the door, that the children might read it every day, and nothing has ever been able to make us know ourselves as the revelation of God, the Word w^hich we hear from day to day out of the old Book. Let me then advise you in this evening hour, not to get, as the apostle Paul calls it, "heady;'' do not get such a big head on your shoulders that you imagine what you do not know is not worth knowing, and that for you it is impossible to learn anything more. Oh, Avhat a fool the man is in the home when he thinks the wife knows nothing, and that even the children never knoAV anything. What a fool the woman is in the home when she imagines that she knows; it all, and the husband and father knows nothing at alL What a fool a servant is in the home when he imagines he knows more than his master or mistress ; and what a fool a young man or woman is when they think they know so much more than their parents. Let us beware that we are not overcome of evil, and I know of no way that one can be overcome of evil sooner ' than simply to get con- ceity, and think, for me there is nothing to learn ; T know it all, and Avhen I die wisdom will die with me. This life is too short and our human minds are too small ever to be throughly convinced that we are right on everything. Even as ministers of the Gospel we sometimes make the mistake to think we are absolutely sure that we are right and cannot be mistaken. There are men who will hold their hands up to heaven and say, I know that Jesus Christ Avas immersed, and they do not know anything about it; there are men who will hold their hands up toward heaven and say, I know my church is absolutely 12 178 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. right in all things, and the rest are wrong where they differ with us. While I believe that, I want to tell you that I would be a conceited fool if I held my hand up to heaven and said, it is absolutely impossible that we might be in error on some things. If you want evil to overcome you, then simply get that big head that thinks nothing can go into it any more, and you have won one victory, you have got a head that nothing will go into any more ; there is no room for it. 2. We must not let evil overcome us by seeking re- venge. "Recompense to no man evil for evil. . . . Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath, for it is written, Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.'' That spirit of revenge is just as natural as it is to be born a sinner. The little child is hardly old enough to sit on its mother's lap before it is ready to slap her in the face. The little boy or the little girl does not need to be old until they watch for a chance to throw stones at the one that threw at them. If there is anything that is heathenish, anything positively sinful, anything that makes one to be overcome instead of overcoming, it is that spirit of revenge that dwells in the heart of the natural man. We may think that if we can just find an opportunity to say a hard, cutting thing concerning the one that said a hard cutting thing about us, or to strike the one that struck us, that we have shown our- selves to be manly, or that we have won a glorious vic- tory, but the real truth is, when any man on earth does a mean act toward me, if he can get me to do just as mean an act toward him, I am conquered instead of conquer- ing; just in that moment I cease to be a true man. A man does not need to be much of a man to strike back at the one that struck him. I think one of the homeliest animals that ever lived is noted for being one of the worst kickers, and about every time you hit him, he strikes back ; and you can be just that kind of an animal by seeking re- venge, and instead of overcoming evil, evil has overcome you. How little one becomes when he is simply watch- ing for an opportunity to say something hateful, and do some dastardly deed toward the man that has harmed THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. 179 him. Not many years ago in heathen Africa, a mission- ary witnessed this scene. Two neighbors were at variance with each other; both of them too cowardly to meet face to face ; but one knew that the little daughter of his enemy was going along the way to school, and, hiding along the pathway, when the little girl came along, he caught her, held her arms down on a block, took his axe and cut her hands off; sent her home, bleeding, and he cried out to his neighbor, "Now I am avenged!" Oh, horrible pic- ture! and yet a true picture of every one who is trying to recompense evil for evil, of one who is not willing to let vengeance be in the hands of God. My dear friends, there is One who has all things in His power; there is One who is going to bring about a Judgment Day that will settle all wrongs. If you wrong me, God knows it, and if 1 wrong you, God knows it, and there is a day coming when God will make all things right. There is no use in my worrying about anything that you have done to wrong me ; I am willing to leave that in the hands of my great and loving Master. When the little child has told its father what the neighbor's child did, that father, if he is a father, will see that justice is done, and nothing nlore,. and so the apostle Paul says, "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath; for it is written, Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.'' 3. The conflict of the Christian in Christ would furthermore lead him not to sacrifice truth for peace. "If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men." This epistle has often been called the epistle of peace. If there was any one thing the apostle Paul loved, being a Christian in Christ, it was peace, and yet he knew there were some people in this world with whom it is simply impossible to be at peace ; there are some people who cannot bear peace; they do not love it, and they absolutely will not have it. AVith some people we are not commanded to always have peace. In other words, it is said here, "If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men." It is my duty as a Christian in Christ to be at peace with all men, but it is not my 180 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. duty as a Christian in Christ to make every man be at peace with me. If there are soDie people who do not want peace, I cannot help it. When we look at the men of old, who were real Christians, we find that they never had peace with everybody. Look at the old prophets. Moses was a man of God, and yet when he went down into Egypt to deliver the children of Israel, Pharaoh re- belled against him. God Almighty showed which one was in the right; one plague after the other came, demonstrat- ing that Moses was right and Pharaoh Avrong. When the locusts came and ate every vine and every green thing, until it was such a curse as he had never felt before, Pharaoh came to Moses and said, "I have sinned. I pray of thee ask God to take this great plague away." Did Moses say, I will not do it? Did Moses glory in the fact that now he had revenge on Pharaoh? No. He prayed God to let a strong wind come to take the locusts away from his enemy. He tried to be at peace, but could not. This is not only true of Moses, it is true of Elijah. Elijah was a man of God such as there were few in the Old Tes- tament times. There was a great king who was bound to have peace, on a wrong basis. There were eight hundred and fifty false preachers on that day that were bound to have peace, on a false basis. Elijah said, I am glad to have peace with you, but I want peace on the basis of right; I am not going to sell truth for peace, if all the world is against me; and he stood on Mt. Carmel that day, a man of God, all alone, as far as human eyes could see, but he stood there as a man of God who would not sacrifice truth for all the world, even if it cost his life. He wanted to demonstrate on that mountain that Jehovah is the true and living God, and not Baal. Elijah could have no peace with Jezebel; he could have no peace with Ahab; he could have no peace with the ungodly worship- pers of idols. And thus we may go on down through history. Look at Jesus Christ, Himself. He was the Prince of Peace, and yet He Himself could not have peace with all people. I call attention to Matt. 10:35: "For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter- THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. 181 in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household." A Christian in a heathen family means war in that family. I call attention again to Luke 14 :26 where the Savior shows the difference be- tween human love and our love to our Savior : "If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple." I wonder how many of us would stand the test on the basis of that remark of Christ. How many of us would follow Christ even if father says no, even if mother says no, even if brothers and sisters say no. How many of us love Christ so much that our great love to our parents com- pared with our love to Christ, is as hatred? That is Avhat Jesus demands of His disciples. So you see that even Christ Himself could not be at peace with all people. There was Peter, who drew the sword and cut off the ear of Malchus. Did the Lord Jesus Christ go on and say, that is right; I am glad of it? No. He took the ear and held it to his head, and healed it, to show us how to treat our enemies. Did Jesus Christ have peace with the Pharisees, and with the Sanhedrin? No. He could not afford to sell truth and have it sacrificed on account of principle. It was principle that made Jesus Christ die on Calvary. Look at Luther. Dr. Luther might have had peace with John Calvin, and with Zwingli, and with all the reformers; they held out their hands and said. Dr. Luther, we are willing to admit that you are the hero of the Keformation, but there are one or two points upon which we disagree, and now we ask of you to extend the hand and we will call it all right; it is only a difference of opinion. Dr. Luther said, I cannot afford to sell truth for peace. I cannot afford to sacrifice the truth in this great work of the Reformation. The real truth of it is, if you are right, then we have no Lord's Supper, and if I am right, then you have none; consequently the truth must stand at my cost ; I will stand alone rather than sell the truth. And so we need men in the present day that will not let themselves be overcome of evil. It becomes 182 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. our duty to know the teachings of God's Word and as we understand them, to stand b}^ them at any cost. II. In the conflict of the Christian in Christ, he must not only not let evil overcome him, but he must overcome evil with good. 1. First of all, by living a strictly honest life. "Pro- vide things honest in the sight of all men." How often we must hear it said in the best circles, there are church members who do not pay their grocery bills; that there are church members who go home drunk; that there are church members that will curse and swear like heathen; that there are Sunday School teachers that are living just as worldly as the world itself ; that there are preach- ers of the Gospel that are not living as they preach. My dear friends, there is nothing that so hurts the church of God as inconsistent Christian membership. As I said last Sunday evening, how can you be in Christ and live a life like a child of the devil? He that is baptized into Christ puts on Christ. If I am a Christian in Christ, my conflict must be the conflict of Christ Himself. If I were to say that man staggering up street, drunk, is Jesus Christ, who would believe me? No man on earth would believe me. If I were to say that Jesus Christ does not pay His grocery bills, who would believe me? If I were to say that man standing among his fellow laboring men cursing and swearing, is Jesus Christ, who would be- lieve me? Not one. The Christian in Christ dare not do what would put his Savior to shame. We have a word here translated honest that means good, upright, living such a life that no man can question as to what he really is. I make a plea this morning for a conflict in Christ, to overcome evil, and to overcome it by a life that must substantially ask the question, what would Jesus do to- day and what can I do for Him? Give me five hundred members in a church who are living as Christ wants them to live, and I will show you a power that is bound to make the whole city quake. Do you want to know why we are so weak in all our different churches? It is be- cause the world can see one inconsistent member quicker than a hundred consistent ones. One man in a church THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. 183 complaining, makes more fuss than a hundred who keep quiet. One man cursing and swearing makes more of an impression against the church than five hundred prayers for it. I would, therefore, make a plea this morning for every professed Christian to remember that he has a con- flict, a conflict against the devil, a conflict against his own flesh, a conflict with the world, and this conflict must be carried on in such a way that whatever else may be said against a man, it cannot be said he is dishonest; it cannot be said he is not trying to live a righteous life. Oh, dear friends, when we have tried our best, I know we will all blunder, I know we will all make mistakes, but there is one thing, God helping me, I do not want said after I am dead, and that is that I did not try to live a righteous life. I do not want it said when this tongue is silent that he did not even try to live as a Christian should live in Christ, and I hope that may be said of none of us. 2. So we must overcome evil with good by carrying the very cross of peace with us. "If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men." I call your attention especially to that little phrase, "as much as lieth in you." Do not go home and say our pastor said we cannot live at peace with some of our neighbors, there- fore, we are not going to speak to them; therefore, we are going to live right on, like we did. I want to ask you this question, if you have any foe in the world today, have you done all that you could to have peace? I want it distinctly understood that God's Word does not toler- ate hatred in the heart of the Christian. God's Word does demand of me that I do all in my power to have peace with all my foes and with all my fellowmen. On the 3rd of last December morning it was just one hundred and five years that a great battle took place between the Aus- trians and the French. That morning the parents sent their little children to school to the great Klausner; that morning little did the parents dream that before school was out the path of those children would be running red with the blood of two armies. When the cannon began to roar and the swords bes^an to flash, the teacher and the 184 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. children gathered in the school house and saw what was going on. The question in that teacher's mind was how to take those children home, how to take them over that battlefield between the school house and their homes. He went to the chapel and took down a large wooden cross, placed the little children two b}^ two in a line, and at the head of them he walked across tlie center of that battlefield. When they saw that great teacher, with the little ones, with the cross of Christ uplifted, the cannons stopped their roaring and the swords were sheathed, and he took safely home every little child. It w^as the cross of Christ that stayed the power of the cannons and guns between the French and the Ausfrians, and there you have a picture of the cross of peace. If we want peace with all men, as much as lieth in us, let us pray God to take revenge out of our hearts, and take up the cross of Christ, and live so close to Jesus that wherever we go we hold up that cross. I want to tell you there is nothing in all the world that will produce harmony and peace like the cross of Christ. Up until the time that cross was planted on Calvary, men had the courage to walk up and slap Jesus in the face; they had the courage to scourge His back; they had the courage to spit in His face, but when once He was nailed on that cross, bearing the sins of the world, the great commander at the head of a hundred men, stood there and smote upon his breast and said, Surely this is the Son of God. From that time on no hand touched Jesus to murder Him; no hand touched Him to slap Him, and never will. The cross of Christ has sub- dued more enemies than any power there ever was or ever will be. 3. This leads me to say that in the confiict of the Christian in Christ, he must overcome evil with good by conquering his enemy with kindnests. ^'Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink, for in so doing thou slialt heap coals of fire on his head." The Lord Jesus taught in the sermon on the mount that we should pray for our enemies, bless them that curse us and pray for them which despitefully use us. It is not an easy matter to carry that out practically. When a man THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. 185 comes up to me and strikes me in the face, the first thing I will think of is to strike back. It takes a wonderful training for a man to pray for the one who strikes him in the face, but I want it distinctly understood that God does give Christians the power to pray for their enemies ; He does give them power to treat them well ; and when you do that, you are heaping coals of fire on their heads. Of course there are some irons so hot that you cannot make them any hotter by heaping coals over them, and there are some fools so full of hell that even coals of fire on their heads are not felt. There are some people you cannot even conquer with kindness, but I want to say right here that the greatest power on earth to con- quer an enemy is simply to treat him well. Look at Jos- eph. His jealous brothers took him, and sold him; some were even ready to murder him; but when they ran out of corn and came back to Egypt, they were very glad to be fed by their brother whom they had sold, and when the great conflict was over, and old father Jacob was dead, those eleven brothers said, now we have got to go and fix this thing up or he will take our lives; father is dead; and there is no telling what he may do. So they sent a messenger ahead to tell him that father said before he died that he should forgwe them for having sold him. Then w^hen they saw the countenance of Joseph, they came themselves and fell down before him, fulfilling the dream of the sheaves that should bow before him, and Joseph in all* his kindness said, '^Ye meant it unto evil, but God meant it unto good," and he heaped coals of fire upon the heads of his brothers. This was not only done by Joseph, it was done by Stephen. You remember how they stoned that good man to death. Oh, the his- tory of the world, what a shame it is! Good Stephen, the man looking out for the poor; the man who hunted up those in trouble and helped them; the sinful world could not bear it, and so they picked up stones and began to hurl them at good Stephen, until he fell down, and, like his Master, prayed, "Father, lay this sin not to their charge;" he prayed for his enemies and he heaped coals of fire on their heads. Look at Jesus Christ Himself, on 186 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. the cross, praying, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.'' There was another man hanging on the cross by His side that just then felt a coal burning on the top of his head, and it burned down into his con- science, and burned down into his heart, and made him cry out, "Kemember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom! O my Savior, Thou hast burned my heart with Thy kindness! Save me!" and Jesus saved him — heaped coals of fire upon his head. During the beginning of the great Christian era there was one heathen named Milas, and his wife, who not only were opposed to the Christian Church, but hired themselves out as agents to hunt, up Christians that they might be sacrificed in the arena and killed on account of their faith. These two people had gathered in more Chris- tians to be eaten by the lions and to be slaughtered, than any heathen of that day. One time this heathen got very sick, and ran out of provisions; the Christians heard about it, and went to his little house, walked in and pre- sented him with the things necessary for this life, and told him how they loved him. He simply moaned and groaned when he saw the faces of those Christians whom he had sought that they might be eaten by the lions. The wife began to moan and groan, and cried "Ye gods, I see the faces of those whom we have tried to bear to the lions to be slaughtered! How came they here, and how can they treat us so kindly?'' The Christians gave them their gifts, had a prayer, and started home. The old heathen moaned and groaned; he felt the power of the fiery coals, but his time was short and he passed into eternity. After he was buried the Christians came back and said to the widow, "We will take care of you, and of your children; we will love you though you have persecuted us;" then she fell doAvn on her face and cried, "O my God, how can I stand it, and how can I give thanks to these people, and what shall I do?" "Then one of the leaders lifted her up and said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house," and she was saved, and her whole house was saved, but she never could forget the power of the burning coals upon her head. THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. 187 You will remember I told you a few moments ago about that heathen in Africa who cut off the hands of the little girl, and said "Now I am avenged!'' There is another side to that picture, I want to give you now. Time passed on and that man got very poor, and as a beggar went from house to house. The little girl's life was spared and she grew to womanhood. One day a beggar came to her home and asked for something to eat. Holding her arms under her apron, she invited him to the table, asked him to sit down, and ordered placed before him a good warm meal, that he might eat. After he had eaten, and stood up, and said, ''I haven't had such a good meal for a long time, and I thank you for A^our kindness," she held her mutilated arms up to his face and said, "Now I am avenged' Now I am avenged! I am the little girl whose hands you cut off because you hated my father, but I love you, and pray you to give your heart to God and be saved,'' and there was a burning coal entered that man's conscience and soul that won him to the little girl's Savior. We are told by the German Missionary Society in Southern Africa that there was a young negro slave there one time, who became so interested in God's Word that every evening he begged of his master that he might go and hear these missionaries. The master, himself a hea- then, said "No, I want you to remain here; you are my slave and you dare not go," but the little boy had already learned that we must obey God rather than man, and when his day's work was done he started off, went to the missionary and heard the glorious news of Christ and Him crucified. The master, when the boy came home, said "I will put an end to this thing of going to those mission- aries." He had him tied to a post, gave to one of the other servants a lash and said, "Now lash him tw^enty- five times, as hard as you can strike, across his bared back." The lash cut the wounds across his back, and after the twenty-fifth lash Avas given, the master said, "Now, I want to ask you, what can Jesus do for you?" The little slave looked up into his master's face and said, "He can help me to bear these burdens." "Give him twenty-five 188 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. more!" and the lashes cut across the bleeding furrows twenty-five times more. "Now/' said the master, "what can Jesus do for you?" "He can help me to reach a home where there is no sorrow and no pain." "Give him tAventy-five more!" One after the other the twenty-five lashes cut across his bleeding back until he slowly sank down and when the last lash w^as given he fell exhausted and dying upon the ground; the master, with revenge in his heart, walked up to him and said, "Now, what can Jesus do for you?" The little slave looked up and said distinctly and clearly with his dying voice, "My Savior can still help me to pray for my master!" Amen. PRAYER. O God, our heavenly Father, we thank Thee for the message of the morning, and we pray Thee, O' God, that Thou wilt help us to live in Christ and to carry on the conflict in Him with Satan and the world and our own fleshly desires. O Father in heaven, do Thou help us to realize more and more the difference between simply religion and true Christianity. Help us to understand the difference between having our names on the church record and on the Book of Life. Help us to understand the difference between being stumbling blocks in the way of others, and being true servants of God. O Father in heaven, if Thy servant by thought, or by word, or by deed, has ever wronged any one on earth, he prays' Thee now for forgiveness ; and O God, he prays Thee in this hour to give us all the spirit of forgiveness and of kindness, and of love unfeigned, for such a love as Jesus Christ would have for His enemies. O God, do Thou help that the message of the morning will prepare us the better for the lives that we have to live in this sinful world, and give us a glorious victory in Jesus Christ. All these favors we ask in the name of the blessed Master, who taught us to pray : Our Father who art in heaven ; Hallowed be Thy name ; Thy kingdom come ; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven ; Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for- give those who trespass against us ; And lead us not into temptation ; But deliver us from evil; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY, A Double Debt. EOM. 13:8-10. OWE no man anything, but to love one another : for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not com- mit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness. Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely,. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor : therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Th}^ Word is truth. Amen. Dear Christian Friends: Our debt to God is so great that we never can pay it^ In Matt. 18:23-35 we read of that great king who de- manded an account to be given by his steward, and we re- member that the steward owed him ten thousand talents, and, being unable to x)ay the vast amount, the great king^ simply forgave the debt; and afterwards we find that this same steward went out and choked his fellow servant be- cause he owed him a little sum of money, and threw him into prison; then you will remember his own friends re- ported him to the king who had forgiven him, and he him- self had to be thrown into prison until he could pay the last dollar — a thing he could never do. In other words, in that parable we have the forgiving spirit of our Lord and Master, who is willing to forgive us all our sins, but at the same time puts us under the obligation to our fellow men, showing us also that it is impossible that we should ever be able to pay the debt we owe Him. Do not imagine you can ever pay the debt that you owe your God. Even 189 190 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. though He forgives jour sins, you are still under obliga- tions to Him, and you are still under obligations to your fellowmen. That debt which Jesus Christ paid for us was an enormous debt. It is said that one soul is worth more than all the world; every soul lost is more than a world lost. Just think of the value of the souls that are in this church this morning! Where is the king on earth that can pay the price for your souls and mine? Jesus Christ on Calvary not only paid that debt for your soul and mine, but paid the debt of all the souls that ever were or ever shall be. Ye are bought with a price, says the apostle, and no man has ever yet been able to tell us what that price is. It is true, we are told that Christ purchased us with His blood, but where is the living person on earth that knows the value of the blood of the Son of God? Having paid such an enormous debt for us, as I said a moment ago, we are put under obligations to our God and to our fellowmen. The text of the evening is the second table of the law and not the first, showing us especially that we have a double debt. I call your attention briefly then this evening to the theme : A DOUBLE DEBT. I. Debts you must not owe. II. Debts you must let grow. There are two kinds of debts : There are some debts wTiich we must not owe as Christians; and then there are other debts which, as Christians, we ought to let grow. Both of these debts are hinted at in the first verse of our text : "Owe no man anything but to love one another." In these first few words, "Owe no man anything," we have the principle laid down, debts you must not owe. I. There are a great many debts in this world we should not owe, but let me call your attention to seven debts that we must not owe, and to seven which we should let grow. The seven debts which we ought not to owe, are : 1. The one that is larger than your deed. Every man is supposed in this world to own his own home, to have a little possession. There is no excuse under heaven FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. 191 for any man being so poor that he cannot own a foot of ground. At the rate of fifty dollars per acre, one stogie worth a cent will buy eight square feet of ground. Is there any man on earth so poor that he can never spend one cent? Every man who smokes a ^Ye cent cigar smokes up forty square feet of good ground, four and a half thousand miles deep. Every man that drinks ten cents' worth of whiskej a day for fifty years drinks up over $11,660.00 of a bank account. When the Lord said in His Word, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house. He took it for granted the neighbor was to own a house, and, as I have said before, I have no patience with that kind of poverty that runs around all through life and says, I never could own a foot of ground. Poor as I am, if you will come to me I will give you enough to buy forty square feet of ground before tomorrow evening. The great trouble Avith some people is^ that they do not knoAV how to make money grow ; they do not know that God ever intended for them that they should have a home of their own, and when they do get a home of their own, they are not careful to keep the debt smaller than the warranty deed. There is nothing wrong in young people going into debt, but let us be careful that we under- stand exactly what a debt is. If I buy your home for four tlionsand dollars and pay down one thousand, with the uuderstanding that I keep the interest paid up, and pay you five hundred dollars a year until that home is paid for, as soon as I make my first payment, I do not owe you one cent until the next interest is due. A debt is not that A\hich I am obligated to pay at some future time, but a debt is what I owe you or my God to-day, and just as long as you keep your obligations to your fellowmen smaller than your deed, you can pay your debt, and just as soon as you make your debt larger than your deed, you are owing n debt that you cannot pay, and you are dishonest before the world. And so my first advice to you, on the basis of my text this evening is, owe no man a larger debt than your security. 2. In the second place I would say, owe no man any- thing down at the court house. This text is taken out of that same chapter where the Apostle Paul exhorts the 192 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. Komans to be subject to the higher powers, telling them to pay tribute unto whom tribute is due, and custom to whom custom is due. Some of the Eomans began to think that when they became Christians they need not be subject to Eome or to the government any more. The Apostle Paul wanted them to understand that a good citizen is a man who is obedient to the laws of his country; that a good citizen will pay his taxes, as well as his contribution for the extension of God's kingdom. God said, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's." I say if a man is a true child of God he will no more think of trying to hold money without paying taxes, or trying to escape his obligations to the govern- ment, than he would try to escape a duty toward his God, for the government is of God. Pray tell me, how shall OUT bridges be built and how shall our roads be improved, .and how shall our schools be supported, if we are not loyal citizens and pay every dollar of taxes we owe? 3. Not only should we pay all the debts we owe at the court house, we slioud pay all we owe down at the store. How many people there are who will walk into a store and buy just as long as they are trusted, thinking they will pay at some future time, and it is that very principle that has made many people dishonest. It would be a great accommodation to the poor as well as to the rich if no merchant would sell a single yard of dry goods unless the cash is laid on the counter. It is no accommodation to me to sell my family goods that are not paid for until they are worn out, and if I cannot pay for one dress or one suit of clothing this year, how can I pay for two suits next year? If I cannot pay for the table upon which we eat, had we not better get a few boards and lay them across a barrel, and eat our meals from that, asking God's blessing upon a table that is paid for, instead of a debt that we cannot pay? In other words, the most of people are poor and will always remain poor because they are not afraid to make debts in the stores, and store debts are a detriment to all people. 4. What I say with regard to store debts in general, I would especially say with regard to those two places FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. 193 which are frequented the most by all people in order to live, — I mean the meat shop and the grocery store. We think we must have good steak to eat ; we must have good meat on the table. Nevertheless, this has been discovered by a great many people, that we are not necessarily carniv- orous animals, that we need not have these things if we cannot pay for them. It is far better to be honest with a dry crust of bread on the table than to run bills which we are not certain we can pay in the future. And this is especially true of the grocery store. Think of the men who are starting in the grocery business, and breaking up, for no other reason than because they have fed family after family and never received their pay, and if there is one bill that is hard to pay, it is an old account. 5. I go further and say we should not owe anything to the church. The church of God, as well as every family, needs money. It took money in the very beginning of the world, to build the first altar; it took money to get the first skin of the animals with which God could clothe the people. I do not say it took gold or silver, but it took the value of an animal, and it took labor, and the labor and the value of the thing salable is money. It takes money to build churches ; it takes money to make fires to keep you warm when you are in church ; it takes money to buy hymn books; it takes money to have a man live in your midst who is to give his entire service to the ex- tension of God's kingdom. It takes no long exhortation to show intelligent people that if it takes money for a little family of three or five, it certainly takes more money for a great family of fifteen hundred or two thousand. The question arises, do we pay our debts to the church as we should? God not only said, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, but to God the things that are God's. In our own local church we are approaching the beginning of a new financial church year, beginning on the first of April, and we know that in the coming year it will require $1,661.00 for this congregation to pay its obligation to the different benevolences of our church, or an average of fl.33 per communicant. It not only takes money for 13 194 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. benevolence at large, but it takes money for our own cur- rent expenses. The question arises, what are we doing? A few iDeople are doing more than they should, some are hardly doing Avhat they should, and some are doing noth- ing. As I said a moment ago with regard to the home, so I say with regard to the church. I do not believe there is a Christian under God's heaven that ever felt so poor that he or she felt satisfied not to give one cent for the extension of God's kingdom. I know the Avorld is full of poverty, and I believe that I understand that as well as the average man does, but, on the other hand, I do know that the poorest Christians I have ever met have been those that said, I cannot be satisfied unless I do something for my Savior who laid down His life for me. I know of one very poor woman, who was so poor that she could not rent a room on the lower floor, nor on the second, nor on the third, but had her little room up in the attic, and made her living wih her needle, not only supi^orting herself but be- cause she loved her Savior, sent six young men out into the mission field, and supported them, so that she might, through them, preach the Gospel with the end of a needle. Why did she do this? Because some one asked her? No. Bcause she loved her Savior; because she felt that if He Avere willing to die on Calvary for her, she was willing to live in an attic and send at least six messengers out into the world to preach the Gospel of Christ. That woman Avas Sarah Hosmer. Let me urge upon you all, then, not to have church debts. 6. I am glad that people are getting their eyes opened on fraternal insurance. About 1700 have gone bankrupt. Young men join a lodge for cheap insurance and when they are old their money and protection are gone. If you want insurance at all, buy any old line in- surance and pay for it. 7. I even go a step further, and tliis may surprise some of you, I say if you owe a debt at the saloon, go and pay it. About three years ago I Avas appointed adminis- trator of a large estate. One of the bills that came in was 1184.00 of a saloon bill; the heirs said to the adminis- trator, "You must not pay that, it is a saloon bill." The FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. 195 administrator said, "Did the man drink the beer and the whisky?'' "Yes/' "Then in the name of common sense why not pay for it?" If the law were to say that you could buy a horse and not pay for it, would you keep the horse and not pay the bill? Where did God ever say that you can go into a saloon and buy a hundred dollars worth of whisky and beer and then beat the man out of that money? Many people seem to think yet that if the law says we may sin, Ave may go and sin and it is all right. Pay what you owe. Owe no man anything, saloon-keeper or no saloon-keeper ; grocery keeper or no grocery keeper ; owe no man anything, is the command that comes from God to every one of us. I know it is a hard bill to pay. Just during the past week I discovered one professed Christian in MansfieJd who never walked home at night without stopping in a certain saloon not very far from here, and I discovered his bill in that saloon alone every year is |84.00 — over 70 glasses of whisky a month — 70 glasses of w^hisky going down the throat of a man that stands at communion and partakes of Christ in the Holy Supper — 70 glasses of whisky a month to burn the lining out of his stomach, to saturate his body with poison, so that when he becomes sick no doctor can help him — 70 glasses of whisky a month to saturate his brain, so that if you were to take it out of his head and set a match to it, it would burn — 70 glasses of whisky a month, not only to kindle a fire in his body, but to emphasize this great truth on the Judgment Day, that no drunkard shall enter the kingdom of heaven. It is a terrible thing, but, my friend, pay the bill; you have no right to rob a man even of fire and not pay the bill. Owe no man anything, and I would say to every one in tliis house to-night, stop robbing your own soul; stop robbing your own body of its health; stop robbing your Avife of your earnings; stop robbing your children of their bread; stop robbing the church of her glory ; I would say this A^ery evening, stop robbing heaven of your soul and body. If you owe one dollar to any saloon in this country, go tomorroAv and pay the bill, and forever afterwards stop making those bills. If there is any one 196 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. thing clearly set forth in God's Word, it is this, that no drunkard shall enter the kingdom of heaven. A drunkard is not simply a man who must be hauled home in a cab; not simply a man that can hardly walk from being drunk. The moment that I have enough of any strong drink in me not to be totally myself, I am drunk, and a drunkard shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. What right have I to take God's gold, God's money and purchase that Avhich will be the means of my soul's damnation. Mark well, I do not call Avhisky damnation ; I do not call beer damnation. There is not a word said in this Bible from beginning to end that would intimate the least that there is any damnation in anything on earth, except in man and in the devil and the bad angels. Whisky is made of grain, and grain is used to make bread; the one is just as good as the other in its place. Steel will make in- struments of use and instruments of danger. Do not lay the blame anywhere else than where it belongs — it is on man. Man is by nature bad ; he is thoroughly bad ; he is going wrong just as sure as he is not on the side of God and righteousness. There must be a new creation take place in our hearts. Unless. we are born again we cannot see the kingdom of heaven. May God help us all this even- ing to owe no man anything, and at the same time to owe him everything. II. There are, in the second place, debts that we must let grow. "Owe no man anything but to love one another." There is the debt that you do not need to pay off; let it grow. Here we see in what manner the Apostle Paul wants that to grow : "For he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this. Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Thou shalt not covet ; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly compre- hended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neigh- bor as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor : there- fore love is the fulfilling of the law." Love is the debt you want to let grow. Oh, may God help it to grow in our hearts to-night toward all our fellowmen. It is not hard to see that the Apostle Paul is quoting largely here from FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. 197 the second table of the law, and not only largely, but com- prehensively, for he says it is briefly comprehended in this saying. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. When God gave the law to Moses, He wrote that law with His own finger ; it is the only part of the Bible that God wrote with His own finger, and with that finger of His, He wrote, Love your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength, and your neighbor as yourself. 1. This second table of the law demands that we should let our love to our parents grow. It is the common complaint todaj^, not only in secular papers, but also in religious journals, that love and respect for parents and old age is growing colder and colder. It does seem to me that our youth have not got that respect and that love for father and mother, and for aged people, that the youth once had; it seems to me we are living in a very, very dangerous time when children are called smart for saying ugly things about their superiors. If there is any one thing we all ought to pray for; if there is any one thing that we ought to try to educate our youth for, it is the great love thej should have for father and mother. Let us not forget that the very first words God wrote on the second table of the law, with His own finger, were, "Honor thy father and thy mother, that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.'' I cannot help seeing as I look back into my own family that my duty to my father and mother has always been to my conscience exactly as I saw them treat my grandfather. Every youth must see that. Just as your father and mother treated your grandfather and grandmother, you will try your best to treat them. If your own father and mother mistreated your grandparents, you Avill not try to improve very much over your parents. On the other hand, when they do all they possibly can for old age and for those that were placed over them, it is just as natural as it is for the water to fall from the clouds to the earth, that you follow in their footsteps. Let us have that debt grow. Oh, feel your responsibility to-day, dear father, and dear mother, 198 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. as yon never did before, and pray God that this debt may grow. 2. This love not only should grow with regard to our parents, but with regard to the suffering. "Thou shalt not kill.'' How many people tliere are all around us, isoino of them sick, some of them suffering; what are we doing to alleviate their pain; what are we doing to make their lives more happy; Avhat are we doing to try to get God to deliver them in His own good way? Let us not forget that he that hatetli his brother is a murderer, and that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Ask your- self the question this morning, what is my relation to my parents, to my brothers, to my sisters, to my nearest neighbors? How are we living in the neighborhood where we abide? What is my relation to my fellowmen, to my teacher, to my superintendent, to my pastor? Do Ave love each other as God asks us to love each other? What is our relation especially to our worst enemy? Are we wishing our enemies out of the way, or do we wish they were here? How often do we hear intimations of joy at the death of an enemy, or the removal of one. Oh, if I have the love of God in my heart, and my love to my fellow man is what it ought to be, if it has not been diminishing, but growing, I will regret to see my worst enemy move out of the house next door to me. If we have not got the love to our fellowmen that we ought to have, for their health and for their eternal good, let us pray that this debt may grow. 3. How about social purity? It does seem to me that right on that point hinges many a question of the present day. The question is often asked, is it wrong to dance? I do not believe that one person out of ten thousand actually believes the act itself of dancing is Avrong; I do not think one minister in ten thousand believes it, but what Ave do mean Ave generally call dance, when Ave do not mean dance at all. Do you suppose those four hun- dred and fifty people last Friday niglit AA^ho Avent to a certain place to dance, AA^ent simply because they loved to dance? I will promise to make a room warm and keep up the fires until three o'clock in the morning tomorrow night, for any one of those persons to come at ten and FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. 199 dance until three in the morning just for dancing's sake. Not one will come. It is not that that we mean. Why do we not say just what we mean? The real truth is this, that what the people love is to obey lust, and there are thous- ands of people hiding lust behind the dance, and some- times the wrong is not done while dancing, but before and afterwards, and that period is only used for preparation for what follows. There are homes right in this city that have been ruined, totally ruined two weeks after the dance, by men that were called the gentlemen of the dance. It was not the dancing that was wrong. The real wrong of our country today is social impurity, hidden behind pro- gressive euchre parties, hidden behind many a game that is called innocent, hidden behind the courtships of young people, who are too young to be aAvay from home, hidden behind thousands of things that are all right in them- selves and all wrong according to their application. What we ought to aim for in the present day is a strict demand for social purity. In every home the cords should be drawn closer around our children that are in the hands of un- godly young men that are not safe in any community. I know there is an age when girls think the preacher does not know what he is talking about, when young men think, we know how to control ourselves, but Ave as pastors know some things that other people do not know, and we knoAv Avhat it means for a young girl's life to be ruined, and we know more of these ruined homes than you think of, and my plea to-night to all in this congregation is to pray and Avork for the support of social purity in every home, and in every city, and let that love grow. 4. "Thou Shalt not steal." The love for strict honesty should grow. When that young man ran down the street Avith his loaf of bread, having stolen it, saying to Dr. Luther, "We must live," you remember the reply was, "Take that loaf back; you must die!" There are some people in the present day who think it does not make any difference if they get a dollar here or there in an un- righteous Avay, because they must live. Do not forget He who wrote with His OAvn finger, "Thou shalt not steal," is the One before whom we will stand on the Judgment Day, 200 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. and let us not forget that before Him we will close our eyes in death, and the question for us to answer in every family is, are we honest? The child who steals a slate pencil ought to be made to take it back and apologize. The young man who rode with me on the train through Joliet, 111., pointed to the institution and said, "I spent seven years there, and I began by stealing a two-cent stamp in a store in Chicago." If that young man had put his two-cent stamp back instead of keeping it, he would have been an honest man. The thing for us to do is to insist upon every child that steals anything, having one hard whipping. I know in this day of what the Germans call ''monkey love," there are a great many people who think it is unkind to even touch a child with a rod. If there is anything in this world that is unkind, it is the abuse of children, but understand, it is a great deal better to .take a little cord and once in a child's life let it know what honesty means, than in after life have a bigger rope break the neck of that boy. Un- derstand that it is far better to take a child when he shows he is stubborn, and break his stubborn will when he is little, than to have him grow up and die in the electric chair. There is a time coming in every man's life, old or young, when he must have his stubborn will broken, and the sooner a child learns that, the better for his immortal soul. I can take the little twig and bend it easily, and make it grow as I want it, but when that tree gets large, before it will bend it will break ; and just so it is with hu- manity. Let us learn this morning to love strict honesty, and pray that is may grow. 5. The same is true with regard to truth. "Thou shalt not bear false witness." Oh, how many little lies are laughed at as if they amounted to nothing! You cannot afford to let your child tell one lie and laugh at it; you cannot afford to let that child believe it is smart to tell a thing that is not true. It was onlv one little lie that damned the whole world, and when you stop to think that every pain and every ache and every death in all the world has been caused by what the world to-day would call a little white lie, what are your black lies going to do for the world in the future? Let us hate the untruth as we FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. 201 hate the devil, remembering that he is the father of it. Love the truth, and let that love for truth grow. 6. Yes, I would sa}^, love the beautiful homes of your fellowmen. How many wives, when they visit a neighbor's home and find something they have not got, find a more beautiful home than their own, will come home dis- satisfied, and grumble and murmur, and then they wonder why their husbands do not stay at home. Why, my dear friends, if I had a wife like some people have wives, I would not try to stay at home. If there is anything in the world that will drive a man from home, it is the constant murmuring and grumbling because we have not got things like some one else. In these days of high prices, the question arises in my mind every day, how do men provide for their families? My own income is not the smallest, yet I know that I haven't one dollar a year to spend on myself foolishly, and when, with all the economy I can practice, I cannot possibly get one cent ahead, I ask myself the question, how do men, who sometimes are out of work several days in the week, provide for their families? And if, when they come home, after doing their very best, they can hear nothing but grumbling and murmuring, and dis- satisfaction, I say, what are you doing with your husbands but driving them to the gambling den, driving them out to lodges, and away from home, instead of having them at home, where they ought to be? When we are told to have love in our hearts for the prosperity of other peoples' homes, ^^Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house," thank the Lord if your neighbor has a better piano than you have; thank the Lord if he has a better home than you have; thank the Lord if he is prospering, and let that love grow. 7. Not only should we have this love for his home, but for his prosperity in general. The Lord God made a difference between the ninth and the tenth commandments. In the ninth He said, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house; in the tenth He referred not to things immovable, but to things that are movable; not to things that have no life, but to things that have life ; not to things to which you must go, but to things you can coax after you, and 202 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. therefore He said, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his cattle, nor anything that is thy neighbor's. In other words, if your neighbor has anything in the world that can walk, and can follow you, and you would be glad to have it, Oh, tell those things to stay at home, cattle or whatever it may be, and rejoice in his prosperity, and do not love to covet the things movable. In other words, let us have love in our hearts to our fellowmen, and love them as our- selves, and then we will find that this love will grow, and keep on growing as long as we live. One thing never can grow, and that is the thing that has reached perfection. You cannot imagine for a moment that God can grow any more. God is perfect. Did you ever stop to think that we are so imperfect that as long as we live there is always room to grow? You can love God more to-day than you ever did before. Can you not love your fellowmen better to-day than you ever did be- fore? Let that love grow, and let that love be a debt that shall keep on growing as long as you live. In conclusion, let me give you three thoughts to take home with you: 1. God is love. There is no more beautiful definition in your Bible than simply that God is love. Could it be otherwise than that the law and the Gospel should be love? 2. The first table of the law is love to God; the second table is love to man. How could God, who is love, take a pen and write the law without the ink of love? How could God, who is love, pour out His heart into the law without pouring love into that law? 3. And how could God, who is love, give to you a Son that was love, and how could that Son, who died on Calvary for your sins, proclaim a Gospel that was not a Gospel of love? And the Gospel of love is this, that He hates sin, but loves the sinner. As you are sitting before me this evening I am sure you feel, at least to a degree, what mj own soul feels. Oh, how we have sinned agaist our God ! Our sins are not loved by our God, my friends. How can a God of love, FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. 203 love sin, which is the transgression of the law? But do not fail to remember that He who hates our sins loves the sinner. Do not forget that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Christ has given His life for you and for me, and comes to us this morning and says, ^^Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." I do be- lieve; do you? I am baptized; are you? "Be thou faith- ful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." Oh God, what can I do for Thee? Thou hast done so much for me. Help us all to pay the debts we owe to our fellowmen, and then to let the debt of love grow. This is our prayer, and may God bless this service to our eternal good. Amen. PRAYER. Heavenly Father, give Thy rich blessing to the service of the evening. We thank Thee that Thou hast watched over us throughout this hour. We thank Thee that Thou hast given Thy servant strength for the hour, and we pray Thee, O God, that this message may be sanctified with power from on high. Oh, Thou knowest our weaknesses and frailties, and Thou knowest that without Thy grace we could not be sustained a single day. Thou knowest the battles that are being fought in human breasts. O heavenly Father, do Thou help this morn- ing that we may look around us and pay every dollar of debt that we owe to our fellowmen in the form of money debts, and the debt of love, may it grow larger and larger toward our fellowmen. We ask Thee especially to forgive us for any sins that we have ever committed against our parents or neightbors. We ask Thee to help the world to become socially more pure day by day. We pray Thee, heavenly Father that Thou wilt help us to have a great desire to be honest in Thy sight, to love truth and to despise lies. We pray Thee that Thou wilt give us real love toward our fellowmen and their prosperity in the home and outside of the home, and in order that we may drink more deeply of this great fountain, hold before us Thy love, Thy love in essence, Thy love in Thy law, Thy love in Thy Gospel, and now may that love surround us and press us to Thy heart, while we sing the prayer that Thou hast taught us : Our Father who art in heaven ; Hallowed be Thy name ; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven; Give us this day our daily bread ; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for- 204 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. give those who trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation; But deliver us from evil; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. A Stranger in the Sanctuary. Col. 3:12-17. PUT on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any : even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of per- fectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom ; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him. Sanctify us, O ,Lord, through Thy truth: Th}^ Word is truth. Amen. Beloved in Christ: I believe it was Carlyle who said there were so many millions in England — mostly fools. It is no strange as- sertion. Great thinkers have always declared that men are very scarce, even in the midst of the multitude. You have often heard that story of God himself, in the city of Jerusalem, sending out men and saying, "Kun ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and knoAv, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man.'' Jer. 5 :1. In that large city of Jerusalem God himself was sending messengers to find a man. That sounds a good deal like the story of Diogenes, who used to walk on the streets of Athens with a lantern at noon; when stopped or asked what he was looking for, he re- plied that he was hunting a good man. Herodotus said, in that familiar language of the day, "Homines permulti, 205 206 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. viri perpauci," or, in our own language, "Human beings very many ; men very few.'' At one time a cynic was sent out to call good men to appear before the Eoman censor. This man walked out to the graveyard, stood on a new grave and said, "Get up, you dead." SoDie people wanted to know what he meant. "Why," he said, "I am sent out to find good men and they are all under the ground." The lesson of the evening pictures to us a new man, a stranger in the sanctuary. It is no trouble in these days to find congregations, no trouble to find multitudes in the church when the weather is nice, but the question that presents itself to every man of God is this, who are Chris- tians? and the more we compare the average man with the demands of God's Holy Word, the more we are led to believe that there are church members many. Chris- tians few. "Many are called," says God, "but few are chosen." A STRANGER IN THE SANCTUARY. Can you help me find him tonight? Let me describe him: I. He is a very highly favored man. The Lord says of him that he is elect of God, holy and beloved. Some- times we feel our own sins until we are almost compelled to cry out, with Paul, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me? But let us not forget that if we are true children of God, if we have been called by His Gos- pel, enlightened by His gift, if we have repented of our sins and believe on Christ, and have had our sins washed aAvay with the blood of the Lamb, and have been baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and en- tered into the covenant of God, and have made up our minds to be faithful to Him until death : remember God says of us, we are elect. It is a great blessing and an honor to be elected as the best friend even of a ruler of a country like our own; it is an honor to be elected to the cabinet of our own president, but, my friends, when the King of kings and Lord of lords elects a man, it is a dou- ble honor, the highest that man can receive in this world. This stranger in the sanctuary is an elect man. FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. 207 He is not only elect, but he is also holy. "Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved." Not that we are holy in ourselves, nor that this man never sinned, not that this man is so perfect now he can not sin, but he has a holy Kedeemer; he has accepted the holy righteousness of his Savior; he has the Holy Spirit within him; he is cleansed of his sin and is walking in the way of his Master, and, having Jesus Christ by faith, God says this, my stranger in the sanctuary is holy, and just because he is elect and holy, God calls him His be- loved. It is a great thing to be loved by the Lord our God as His child. God loves even His enemies; He loves the whole world. "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." There is therefore no man on earth who can say God does not love me, and there will be no man in hell who can say, God did not love me; but when we, loved of God, accept Him as our Savior, become His children in the covenant of holy baptism, are faithful to Him until death, we are not only loved, but we are His beloved children; so is the stranger in the sanctuary. II. He wears a good warm suit. We are hunting tonight for this stranger in the sanctuary. What kind of clothing does he wear? He wears the garment of Christ's righteousness, and Christ's Spirit, and Christ's love. The very fact that he is elect of God shows that he is justitied by faith, and, when he is justified by faith, the righteousness of Jesus Christ becomes his righteous- ness. Understand what justification by faith is. When I, as a poor sinner, look at the cross of Calvary and see my Savior bleeding and dying, and acknowledge that He is bleeding and dying for me, a poor, lost, condemned sinner, accept Him then as my substitute, as the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world, then the Father in heaven, on account of the righteousness of Jesus Christ, declares me justified, not on account of any- thing I have done or merited, but alone out of pure mercy. When I, therefore, accept the righteousness of Jesus 208 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. Christ, I am elect, and that is the dress that this stranger in the sanctuary Avears, the righteousness of his own Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He wears not only His righteousness, but he wears also the very spirit of Christ. ^Tut on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, boAvels of mercies, kind- ness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuff ering ; for- bearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye." In other words, this most beautiful garment is the dress of the stranger in the sanctuary. Too many people who call themselves Christians are none. Ask yourself the question tonight, as I read, whether you are wearing these garments. "Bowels of mercies" — an Hebrew expression which in our language Avould mean full of mercy, a heart of mercy. Do you always have mercy on j^our fellowmen as Christ did? Are you wear- ing His spirit? "Kindness" — Are you watching out for opportunities to do some one a kind act? Are you always looking for opportunities to lend a helping hand to all Avho are in need? This garment is worn by the stranger in the sanctuary. "Humbleness of mind" — Jesus Christ was humble; He loved to be the servant even of poor sinners ; He loved to go and wash their feet, in order to show them how to serve their fellowmen. He was so humble that He slept, not in a grave of His own, but in the borrowed grave of Joseph of Arimathaea. Have you the spirit of that Christ that slept in a borrowed grave? Are you humble enough to say to your fellowmen, take the highest seat and let me sit down lower? x\re you worrying because some one has a higher position? If so, you have not got the garment worn by the stranger in the sanctuary. "Meekness, long suffering;" The Lord our Savior is gentle and meek and God wants us to come to Him. Have you got the meekness of the Master? Oh, what patience God has with us. Some of us have not been serving God as we should. Some of you may have been walking in the paths of Satan all your lives; some of you may have been invited time and again by your Lord and Master to come into His service, to give your FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. 209 hearts to Him, but you have gone on in the path of de- struction further and further, and the Avonder is, even to us poor sinners, that God has not struck you dead long ago. The question in our minds is, how can He have such patience? How can He let the sun shine upon the evil as well as upon the good? How can He let you sleep and rest day after day, night after night, and treat you as if you were the very best of His children, when He knows you are His enemy? Oh, the long-suffering of Jesus Christ. And now, my friends, when we are the stranger in the sanctuary, the new man spoken of in this chapter, we have the spirit of that long-suffering. And when people will not do as we want them to do, this week, or this year, we will wait another month or another year, and say, God may yet have mercy upon him. Such, my friends, is the dress of the man who is a stranger in the sanctuary. "Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as^ Christ forgave you, so also do ye." The unforgiving spirit of the professed Christian is seen on all hands. There are some professed Christians who live almost in the same yard, who never speak to each other; there are professed Christians in the same church who never shake hands; who never take a step toward their fellowmen ; who never care to know any one outside of their little circle. I am not referring to any special persons, but the spirit of charity, love and forgiveness as found in Jesus Christ is found in so few people, even in the Christian church, that the man who has the spirit of Christ is a stranger even in the sanctuary. We might call these garments internal, or under-gar- ments, but there is another garment which this stranger wears over all the rest. "And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness." A man may have ever so beautiful a coat, but if he has no but- tons and no way to fasten it, it is not complete. The apostle Paul pictures this stranger in the sanctuary, this new man, as having a garment drawn around the garment of election, and the garment of the spirit of Christ, as 14 210 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. the garment of love, and even as one would take a girdle and tie it around his garments that they may all fit, or as he may take the buttons or the hooks and fasten the garments just as they should be, so says this apostle, this stranger in the sanctuary is a man who has dwelt so close to Christ, as John did wiien he laid his head on the Mas- ter's breast, that he has drunk in the love of Calvary until he is so filled with it that he must go out, and Christ like, try to offer himself for the good people of the world. Have you got that garment on tonight? Do you know the stranger in the sanctuary who is wearing these three gar- ments as a child of God, the new man, should? III. This stranger in the sanctuary has a good sound heart. "With grace in your heart to the Lord," says the apostle. Not only has he got grace in the heart, he has peace in the heart. "And let the peace of God rule in your hearts." Not only has he peace in the heart, but he has gratitude there as well. "And be ye thankful, giv- ing thanks to God and the Father by Him." So I say this stranger in the sanctuary is not one who has the heart disease; he has in his heart first of all the grace of God. If there is any one thing we all need in our hearts, it is an abundance of the grace of God, and to have His grace we should make good use of the means of grace. The Word of God and the Holy Sacraments are the channels through which the Holy Spirit operates on man; they are the channels through which He conveys His grace to us, and if, therefore, we desire to have good sound hearts, we must hear God's Word; we must think of our baptismal convenant prayerfully every day, and as Jesus went down, not into the river Jordan, but into His grave, and arose again from the dead, so we should daily walk in newness of life. As Paul says in Rom. 6 :4 : "We are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." The question arises tonight, are you making good use of the means of grace? Are you hearing God's Word? Are you going to the Lord's Supper as you should, and are you getting Jesus Christ Himself in that supper, FIFTH SUNDAY AFTEE EPIPHANY. 211 as He Himself promised? Have you got the grace of God in your heart? If not, you are not the stranger in the sanctuary who is here described as the new man. And not only grace, but peace we must have in our hearts. "And let the peace of God rule in your hearts.'^ Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace, and this the angels in heaven knew when they sang at His birth, "Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will toward men." That little Savior that slept in the crib of Bethlehem was Peace from heaven, the Prince of Peace. Before He came into the world all nations were at war with each other, and all people were at war with their God, but when the Prince of Peace came. He made peace between man and man, and God and man, and He made peace between na- tions which were truly Christian. Do not misunderstand me ; the Prince of Peace never declared that war dare not go on in this world; He never said that ungodly men should become saints unless they became Christians. Let us not think for a single moment that the Lord Jesus Christ will allow Satan so to sleep that children of the devil can really be children of God without being born again. When men have not got the peace of God in their hearts they want war and they are going to have war, and they are going to demonstrate to the world that they are murderers, as they are, whether they carry the sword or not. He that is an enemy against God must be an enemy against his fellowmen, but remember, the moment we accept the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, the moment we make peace with God, we want peace with our fellow- men, and this stranger in the sanctuary has the grace of God in his heart, he has peace with God, and he wants peace with all his fellowmen. He not only has peace in his heart, but he becomes thankful. I tell you the more a man realizes what God has done for him, Avhat He did for him on Calvary's hill, the more thankful he becomes. A man is really an un- thankful wretch who can enjoy all the blessings God is continually showering down upon him and never say, I thank Thee, O, my God. Oh, let the sound heart be filled with thankfulness! Let the sound heart realize that God 212 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. is King, and that He knows what He is doing, and no dif- ference what befalls us, if we have love to God, all things work together for good to them that love God. Any- heathen can thank God for gold and for good health; it takes a child of God, a Christian, to thank God for the loss of gold, and loss of health, for death. The thing for us to do, if we are the stranger in God's sanctuary, being the new man, is to say, my God, I thank Thee for the beautiful evening, though it is thundering and lightning. Thank God for the beautiful weather though the c^^clone sweeps over the city; thank God for all things being done by the hand of the Almighty. IV. This stranger not only has a sound heart, but he is a great student of God's Word. "Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms." From these words and others that I might quote in this lesson, we find that this new man, this stranger in the sanctuary, is one who loves to have the Word of Christ or the Word of God dwell richly in his heart. This new man never stays out of the Church of God unless he is sick and cannot reach the temple ; you always find him in God's house ; this new man wants to hear the exposition of every Bible text; he wants to learn something more of the great deep of God's Holy Word, and just as one who is accustomed to sitting at a good table and eating from the hands of a good cook, is not satisfied with anything that is poorly prepared, just so this new man wants the very best that he can get out of God's holy Word, and he never is satisfied; the more he eats of this great truth the more he wants, and the more he eats the healthier he gets, and the healthier he gets, the more he wants of this great truth, so that he actually hungers for the Word of God in the Divine service. He not only hungers for this Word in the Divine service, but he lias this Word in his home. This new man, this stranger in the sanctuary, has family worship, reads the Word of God daily in his home, the Word dwells in him; it not only comes to him once a week, or once a month, but it so dwells in him that every day he Avants FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. 213 to know more of God's Word. This stranger therefore, does not sit down at the table and eat without prayer; he does not go home day after day and never see the Bible; he does not rear his family like a set of heathen; he wants his Bible on the altar just the same as he wants his bread on the table. This stranger wants his family fed on the Word of the eternal God; he wants to attend every conference and every meeting in his church, for the purpose of learning and teaching. "Let the Word of God dwell in you richly in all wisdom ; teaching and admonishing one another." It seems to me the apostle Paul had in mind something like a good teacher's meeting, where they all come together, and if one man knows something the other does not, he gives that idea and that truth to the others. In other words, this stranger would not miss a teachers' meeting unless he is sick ; he would be w^here he can learn of others, and teach. He is a great student of God's Word. V. He is a great man to sing. "Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spir- itual songs, singing Avith grace in your hearts to the Lord." He does not sing for show; he does not sing for peo- ple, but he sings to get other people to sing from the heart to heaven. When he rises to sing he does not care about the position of his hands; he does not care where he stands; he does not care whether people can see him or not; there is no show about this new man. This stranger in the sanctuary has in mind that there is a God who deserves all the glory, who deserves all the praise, and therefore you find him usually with a Bible in his hand; if he has not got a Bible in his hand he has the Psalms in his head; he has so many of the old songs of the Bible either before his eyes or in his head and in his heart that wherever he goes he is making melody to the Father in heaven, through the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Holy Spirit. You find this new man coming to church with a hymn- book in his hand; you cannot hire him to sit down like a block ; you cannot hire him to sit down in a church to be 214 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. entertained; this new man is going to have a hjmn-book if he has to sell the garment off of his back to get it; he is going to open it up to the very hymn and read it over, remembering that the hymn is a prayer, and when the congregation is singing he is going to sing along in his heart, if not with his lips ; he is going to take p^rt in that prayer; he cannot help it; he would feel like a rebel in the house of God, unless he took part in the songs as well as in the psalms. If a new hymnal is out he wants it; he will not only praise God with psalms, but with hymns — hymns of the olden times and hymns of modern times, and if a new hymn is introduced that is as good as the old, he says, let us sing the new hymn, for every day we are enjoying new blessings of our heavenly Father. If "Lead, Kindly Light," is not in the old hymnal, let us put it into the new, and sing. If there is another hymn in the world as good as "Eock of Ages," let us sing it. If there is a new hymn, no difference who penned it, that will give special glory to my God, I want that hymn. He is a won- derful singer; he sings as a child of God; he sings no difference whether he knows the notes or not; no dif- ference whether he can carry the melody or not, nothing in the world can deter him from being a singer. When- ever people come into his home who can sing, he says, let us sing; when the congregation meets he says, let us have good congregational music; he is constant in singing, "Praise God from whom all blessings flow." In these words you have the picture of a new man, so new that you can hardly find him in the First Lutheran Church; that you can hardly find him in any church. "A man wanted," was the cry on the streets of Jerusalem ; "A man wanted," was the cry on the streets of Athens; "A man wanted," is the cry today in the house of God, a new man, a stranger in the sanctuary, one that has the dress on that God wants him to wear, that has the spirit that Christ had; that will sing the songs of praise that God wants him to sing; he does not confine himself to the Psalms, nor to the church hymnal; lie is willing to sing any good sacred music. "Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. 215 grace in your hearts to the Lord." Spiritual songs. How foolish it is to teach our children all the nonsensical songs they are singing these days, no substance to them, noth- ing to them worth remembering, when the world is so full of good sacred music ; so full of music that is worth sing- ing on our dying beds. What use is there teaching our children to sing the little ditties that have neither sense nor music in them? This new man says we ought to have good songs in the public schools and in the singing schools, that our books ought to be filled with songs with Christ in them. VI. You will be a little surprised when I tell you that this new man is a great society man. I do not think he belongs to any secret societies, for in the 17th verse we read : '^And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.'' In other words, this new man never goes anywhere unless lie can take Jesus Christ right Avith him. All he thinks and says, and all that he does must have Christ in it. It is Jesus that makes his society so great. In my examination of eighteen years I have only found two secret orders that had Christ in them, and the one is hardly worth calling a secret order; the other you cannot find Christ until you get away up in the highest degree and pay at least four or five hundred dollars. You do not have to pay four or five hundred dollars to find the Christ that I worship. Then the order that has Christ in the highest degree demands of a man that he drink some wine out of a human skull, with a drawn sword, as heathen did in ancient times, but I do not believe the Christ I worship demands of any man that he get' a human skull to drink wine from. So, I say, I do not believe this new man belongs to any secret order; I do not believe he is an Elk, either. You see here that he is elect, but it does not say one word about him being an Elk. Why do I mention Elk tonight? A few weeks ago, there was printed in the papers of Mansfield, Ohio, the laws on gambling, the laws against selling tickets for an automobile. I say the law against that is just as firm, just as plain and strict as the law. Thou shalt not 216 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. kill. Every man in this citj^ knows that this gambling has been going on. Day before yesterday one of our city papers came out and announced that on a certain night the drawing would take place for the automobile. In other words, the gambling was going on. We are told that this Avas done by the "Best People On Earth;" my friends, in all kindness, if these are tlie best people on earth, God deliver us from the worst. I have nothing to say about individuals, but I do say that after yesterday morning. Dr. Meese of the Presbyterian Church, Dr. Baltzley of the St. Luke's Lutheran Church and mj^self, as chairman, of the committee for the good of this city, went to the mayor, showed him the law and got him to promise that he would do all he could to stop that gamb- ling. After a man from Cleveland drew an automobile from the Elks of this city last* night, in the face of the laws of Ohio, in the face of everything that is just and right, teaching our young men to gamble, carrying on a system that should not be tolerated in any civilized land, I wish publicly to declare tonight, showing that I have done my duty as a member of this committee, that surely the curse of God must rest upon such actions, and I do hope if there is any man here tonight who belongs to that order, that he will demand, as a good citizen of Ohio, that that gambling business stop in the future. I do hope, if there are any young men here tonight who are out of the clutches of these organizations that they will stay out until they come out fully and wholly on the side of God. This new man is no Elk ; this new man is a man that never goes anywhere unless he can take Jesus Christ with him. I know, as well as I know anything, that Jesus Christ would not have spent the last three nights dancing until two and three o'clock in the morning; I know He would not have carried on the meeting last night into the holy Lord's Day, as Avas done this morning. The time has come that the pulpit must speak against every evil, whether it is in the church or out of tlie church, and I have no apology to make, no apology w hatever. What I say tonight is right, and every sensible man knows it, and when men who call themselves the best people on FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. 217 earth are going deliberately in the face of the laws of the state, are going to trample upon all laws of right, are going to break the Sabbath Day, then, I say, it is time that the people cry out against such institutions, no difference by what name they are knoAvn. This new man when he thinks, thinks of Jesus; when lie talks, he talks of things that pertain to the good of the world in time and forever; when he works, he works along by the side of tlie Lord Jesus Christ. "And what- ever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him." Why is it that some people do not understand such sermons as I am preaching tonight? In the first place, it is because they do not want to understand them, and, on the otlier hand, if they would want to, it is be- cause they are not trying to live as Christ wants us to live. When you once live as God wants you to live, when you think as God wants you to think, when you speak as God Avants you to speak, when you work as God wants you to work, you have absolutely no time to waste as so many people in tlie world are wasting time today. Who is this stranger in the sanctuary? There is only one answer to the question. It is the true Christian, the new man, who has put off the old man. "Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man, which is re- newed in knoAvledge after the image of Him that created him." Oh, what a beautiful man Adam must have been before he sinned! Created in the image of God, the new man puts off the old man of sin, and puts on the new man, and tries as near as possible to be like Adam be- fore he sinned. And now may God help us all tonight to keep the laws of God, the laws of our country, and, first of all, to be a good citizen of the kingdom of our God, and then a citizen of this state, and so live that on that last great day we may find ourselves to be citizens of the kingdom of heaven. May God bless this sermon tonight to our eternal good, is my prayer. Amen. 218 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. PRAYER. Our Father, we come before Thee in this evening hour asking Thee to awaken the conscience, not only of this congregation, but of all the congregations in this city and in the world; and we pray Thee, heavenly Father, do Thou waken the conscience of the people who are respected and looked up to, and yet are the means of leading others to break laws and leading them down the path of destruction, because they will not walk with Christ. We ask Thy special blessing this even- ing to rest upon each individual in this church. O Lord, as we go out of this temple tonight do Thou help us to go out as a stranger in the sanctuary, and yet as one who feels at home here, because he is the new man. Create in us clean hearts, O God, and renew right spirits within us. Go with us throughout the coming week and throughout the balance of life. Help that we may constantly be supplied with Thy grace in our hearts; lift us up on the plains of life into the very footprints of the Lord Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray : Our Father who art in heaven ; Hallowed be Thy name ; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven; Give us this day our daily bread ; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for- give those who trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation; But deliver us from evil ; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. Peter's Power. II Pet. 1 :16-21. fOR we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to Him from the excellent glory, This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with Him in the holy mount. We have also a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts ; knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation ; for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Thy Word is truth. Amen. Dear Brethren in Christ : I have always loved the character of the Apostle Peter, and one reason I have loved him possibly more than many other characters, is because I have always found my weaknesses so much like his. The Apostle Peter was one of those impetuous characters that was always plunging into things until he stirred up every- body around him, and once in a while he plunged into things he would gladly have plunged out of if he could have done so. We find so much of ourselves in the Apos- tle Peter that we love to study his character. There are two or three characteristics of the man that make him wonderful. One of the first is that he was always stirring up things around him. He says, in the 13th verse of this same chapter, ^'Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in 219 220 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remem- brance." He says in this same epistle, chapter 3 :1 : "This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you, in both which I stir up your minds by way of remembrance.'' You will remember that as a disciple of Christ he was always the spokesman, and when others were quiet you could depend upon it, Peter would be up and fight for his Master, even at the gate of Gethsemane. Not only was he getting things stirred up around him, but we find that he had absolutely no fear of death, and always spoke in such a way as if it were the mes- sage of a d^dng man to dying men. He spoke of death rather pleasantly. He says here in v. 14 : "Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shelved me." You remember the Lord prophesied he would not die a natural death, but that he would suffer martyrdom ; that never bothered Peter; he never worried anything about it; he simply looked upon his body as a house in which his soul dwelt, and he knew that when the day came for God to call his soul home, it was just like moving out of an old, rickety shanty into a great mansion, and that could not trouble him at all. Nevertheless, it made a wonderful impres- sion on his sermons and on his writings. If you knew this was your last day on earth, you would doubtless do some things you are lea^dng undone; if I knew this were my last sermon, I should say some things I am leaving unsaid. The Apostle Peter, realizing that he was not to die by sickness, but by a martyr's death, never knew what moment he would be offered, and consequently always spoke and wrote as if they were the last words the world would hear from him. That leads to another characteristic of the man, and that is that he always said and wrote those things that he need not be ashamed of after his death. He says in V. 15: "Moreover I will endeavor that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remem- brance." He was very close to death, no question about that, and he knew very well that when he was dead there would be trouble arising in the Church that needed cor- SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. 221 rection, and he wanted to leave a message back that the people might read after he had closed his eyes in death, and, therefore, I say he was always very careful to say just such things as he wanted said long after he was^ dead. My dear friends, the very text that I have tonight is the words of the Apostle Peter. Just notice how a man lives after his death if he is true to his God. I am satis- fied if the Apostle Peter were living today he would have reported every sermon that he preached, and he would preach in sucli a way that lie would not need to be ashamed of his sermons; and I claim that every minister of the Gospel should so preach that he need never be ashamed of the words he has spoken. Do you suppose that if I were ashamed of my sermons I would have them put in cold print to speak long after I am dead? The very sermon that has created the greatest stir in this city of possibly any that I have ever preached, I have had printed in my book, and I defy any man to show me one sentence in it that is wrong; 1 want it to stand in cold print long after this tongue is silent. A man has no business to preach from the pulpit what he cannot back up, and when he can back it up as the truth, he ought to be willing to have it go in cold print and stand for tliousands of years after his A^oice is silent. We are told in the text of the evening that these things are not fables. 'Tor we have not followed cun- ningly devised fables, when Ave made known unto you the poAver and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eypAvitnesses of His majesty." May the Holy Spirit bless us tonioht Avhile Ave are learninj? of This poAver is demonstrated in two ways: I. He positively knew tliat Jesus Avas the Savior of the world. II. He positiA^ely knew that the Bible was the inspired Word of God. 222 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. And these two thoughts made Peter a power, no differ- ence whether he wrote or preached. I. What did he know about Jesus Christ, and how did he know it? He tells us in this text of three things that he positively knew : "For we have not followed cun- ningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty." There are three words here that explain just what he knew about Jesus; he knew His power; he knew His coming; he knew His majesty, and those three things made Peter a great power. 1. He knew the power of the miracles of Christ. Peter was the man who had been fishing all night, and rowed out into the deep, and at the word of God threw out his net and drew in more fishes than they could haul in one little vessel, and there he recognized the power of Jesus Christ. He recognized His power not only in that miracle, but in many other miracles which He performed, Peter positively knew that Jesus could say to the water, "^^Be wine," and it was wine; he positively knew that Jesus Christ could step into the room where the little dead daughter lay, take her hand and say, "Arise," and she arose; he positively knew that Jesus Christ could go to the grave of a man that was buried four days, and say, ^^Lazarus, come forth," and he came forth. The Apostle Peter positively knew the power of the eye of Christ. You will remember that Peter, in his hour of weakness, denied the Master; he not only denied Him, but in that hour of weakness the old fisherman's spirit came back and he began to curse and swear in the presence of the ene- mies of Christ; and the Lord Jesus Christ was not very far away. He had told Peter before that before the cock crew twice he would deny Him thrice, and now Peter was carrying out that prophecy to the letter. Jesus Christ, looking down into the court, saw Peter; He did not scold him; He did not walk up and say, "Peter, didn't I tell you you would deny Me?" He did not say, "Peter, how does it come that you, My own follower, stand here and swear, and have thus disgrac-ed Me and all My disciples?" No. The Lord Jesus Christ simply walked past Peter and SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. 223 looked at him, and kept on looking at him until His eyes had penetrated him and made him feel his sins. He felt the power of the eye of God, and, feeling that power, he could stand it no longer, and Avalked out, and buried his face in his hands, and wept bitterly. Peter knew the power of Jesus Christ; there was no question about that; there was no fable about it. He not only knew His miraculous power, but he kncAv His saving power. The Apostle Peter said in that little ship, "Depart from me for I am a sinful man." He realized the fact that Jesus Christ, and a sinner and his sins could not all remain in the same little boat. In- stead, however, of Jesus Christ departing and leaving Peter and his sins in the vessel. He said, You stay here, and I will stay here, and we will make the sins depart, and He saved him in that little vessel more completely and fully than he ever had been before. And then, Avhen Peter had denied his Master, he remembered what Jesus had said, "When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." Peter's blunder made him repent, and when he repented he turned back, and when he turned back he was converted; and ever after that poor Peter was hum- ble, and he remembered the saving power of the Lord Jesus Christ. And not only the power that saved Peter, but he remembered the power that had saved the others; he remembered the power on Calvary's hill that saved that blasphemer, that malefactor, on the cross, and when he remembered all the saving power of Jesus Christ, he wanted it distinctly understood that he was not telling fables; he was telling something that he positively knew, and that is the power of Jesus Christ. He not only knew His power, but he also knew some- thing of the coming of Jesus Christ. He knew from the Old Testament, which was a light that shineth in a dark place, that there was a Savior to come; he knew that the Lord Jesus Christ had come; he knew that He was born in the crib of Bethlehem ; he knew that he had gone down into Egypt, and from there back to Nazareth, and began His ministry after being a carpenter; he knew that the 224 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. Lord and Savior Jesus Christ had come into the world, and by His miracles had demonstrated that He was the promised Messiah; he knew He had power over life and death; he positively knew, therefore, that He was the Messiah that was promised, and should come, and not only should come, but would come again. But remember, this was the same Apostle Peter who saw Jesus Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration; the same Apostle Peter who went out that day with the rest of His disciples when Jesus gave the last command, "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, and he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that helieveth not shall be damned,'' and, with hands uplifted, blessed them, and ascended higher and higher, past the stars and zones and whirling world systems until He went home in the presence of His Father; and when they looked around they saw^ two angels, who said, "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven." Peter knew that Christ Avas coming and that he was not telling a fable, a story, when he spoke of the coming of Jesus Christ, not only the first advent, but the second as well. He not only knew of the coming of Christ, but he knew of His majesty. "For we have not followed cun- ningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty." Oh, the majesty of the Son of God! You will not forget, my friends, that while Jesus Christ was in the state of humiliation, where He made no use of His divine power, that after all, He was the Son of God. Do not forget that when He was bap- tized, the Father from heaven said. This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Do not forget that when He was down in the garden of Gethsemane, sweat- ing drops of blood, when Judas and the soldiers came out to arrest Him, that He did not try to run away, but walked out to the gate and said to the soldiers standing around. Whom seek ye? They said, Jesus of Nazareth. SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. 225 He said, I am He; and every soldier dropped to the ground. What made them fall? It was not that Jesus Christ struck them. Yes, He struck them with His majesty and they could not touch him. Peter says here, ^'For we were eyewitnesses of His majesty." As you heard in the Gospel lesson for this same Sunday, he and eTohn and James went up into a certain mountain, with Jesus Christ, apart from the Avorld, and all at once they look, and behold, the face of Jesus Christ was like the ^un. His garments were as bright as the light and lo, and behold, there stands the man that stood on Mount Sinai and received the law from God I Moses is there. And there stands the man that took his flight to heaven in a chariot of fire — Elijah ! And Peter, the man that always stirred up things, said, Let us build here three taber- nacles : one for Thee, O Christ ; one for thee, O Moses, and one for thee, Elias, as he is called in the Septuagint; and then a brightness came over Him that struck Peter, and James and John to the ground, and a voice came down — the same voice that three years before this came dowm to the Jordan, and said, "This is My beloved Son; hear ye Him.'' You understand that the Apostle Peter saw the majesty of Christ; it was not a story or fable. 2. On what w^as his knowledge based? How did he know these things? I want to say right here that the Apostle Peter knew that Jesus Christ was the Savior of the world just as well as you and I know anything that we know^ in this life. Men have asked the question, How do you know that Jesus Christ is the Savior? Might not these witnesses have been mistaken? Might not the Bible be mistaken? Might not the Jews be right, who are still looking for a Savior? I say no, and everybody knows that they never will find another Savior. How do we know that? We know it this way: A record was kept in ancient times of the families of the Old Testament, and these records were deposited in the temple at Jerusalem. In those records you could trace any child that was born, back to the days of Abraham. After Christ was born God saw^ to it that the temple was burned and the records 15 226 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. destroyed, and there is no Jew on earth today would know whether any child born w^as a son of Abraham and a son of David, as prophesied in the Old Testament, no difference where or when he would be born. God has demonstrated the fact that the Savior has come. I say here tonight that we know just as positively that Jesus Christ is the only Savior of the world, as we know any- thing. How do you know there is a land of Egypt? How many of you have been there? If there is a man in this audience tonight who has ever been in Egypt, I wish he would stand up; I would like to look at him. Not one, and yet you say there is a land of Egypt. How do you know? Did you ever let the sands of Egypt run through your fingers? Did you ever see Egypt with your own eyes? Did you ever go and feel Egypt, or hear a voice there? You say you could. Possibly you could, but will you doubt there is such a place before you go to see? Every man in this audience tonight positively knows there is a land of Egypt. You positively know there was such a man as George Washington. Did you ever see him? I did not. Did you ever shake hands with him? I did not. Did you ever hear him speak? No. You never heard him; you never saw him, and yet you positively know there was a George Washington. I know just as positively that there is a Jesus Christ as I know there was a George Washington. .The Apostle Peter says. This is no fable I am telling you; I have felt and know the power of the Lord Jesus Christ ; I have seen Him with my ow^n eyes ; I am not telling you some little story that I cannot verify; I have heard with my own ears. If the Apostle Peter, a man who died for the truth, cannot be trusted, how can I trust you, and how can we trust the history of the United States? The Apostle Peter is as good a witness as the world ever had, among men; he was willing to be cruci- fied with his head down, that he might not dishonor his Master, who was crucified with His head up. Tradition tells us when his own wife was led to the martyr's pyre he said, "Pemember thy Lord, O wife!" He was not only willing himself to die, but that his family should die SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. 227 for the truth. If we cannot believe men who .die for the truth, how can we believe men who need not suffer to tell it? He knew it not only by his own testimony; he knew it by the testimony of others who were good witnesses. He does not say here, I saw Him with my own eyes, but he says, "For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewit- nesses of His majesty.'' In other words, he had in mind some other men who knew what he knew. James was a good man; he saw Christ; he felt His power; he heard the Father say, ''This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." There never was a better man on earth than John. John was up on the mount; John had his ear against the breast of thei Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; John had a vision that other men never had. I would take John, and Peter, and James as my witnesses against any three men that ever walked on God's earth. If what they say is not true, whom shall we believe? But we have not only got this testimony; we have the testimony of another great hero — Paul ; he saw Christ and he fought against Christ until God struck him down and said, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?" And the Lord called to Ananias and sent him to the street that is called Straight; and he said to Saul, "Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins," and the scales fell from his eyes, and he saw as he never saw before; and from that time he went out into the world and proclaimed the same Gospel he had been fighting against, and the same Savior he had been opposing, and tried to build up the same church that he had before been trying to tear down; and I would say to every one in this house to- night, if you have been fighting against the Church of God, against the Bible, against things good and holy, you have been fighting against the Almighty God and you will come out conquered just as sure as there is a God in heaven. The Apostle Peter refers us to a great many other witnesses when he says : "We have also a more sure 228 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts." He tells them that there are men who have been speaking for fifteen hundred years about this Savior, whose testimony they could take if they did not care to take his. He not only had the testimony of Jesus Christ and of good men, but he had the testimony of God himself. The voice that he heard was not the voice of men, nor of angels, it was the voice of the heavenly Father that saith : "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."" He heard Jesus ask the qestion, "Who do men say that I am?" And who stood up first and said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," but this same Peter? The Apostle Peter heard Jesus proclaim that He was the Son of God; he heard the Holy Spirit proclaim it by descent on the head of the Master at His baptism; he was the man who preached on the day of Pentecost; he was the man to demonstrate the power of the Holy Spirit; he was the man who saw the fiery tongues come down upon the waiting disciples; he was the man who preached a sermon that brought three thousand souls to the Savior in one day; he was a power because he knew positively that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. Right there lies the power of the ministry today. When a minister will just hold up Jesus Christ as a model man there is no power in it; the truth is, when you hold up Jesus Christ as a good man and not as the Son of God, it is all nonsense. Jesus Christ was either the Son of God, or he was the biggest rascal that ever walked on earth. W^hen a man claims to be the Son of God, and is not, he is a liar, and a liar is never a good man. If you think that Jesus Christ was not the only Savior of the world, and say that He was a good man, I am glad I was not educated in your home; I am glad that my mother and father had better morals; I have never been taught to call a liar a good man. Jesus Christ, I repeat it, was either the Son of God, the King of kings and Lord of lords, or He was one of the greatest impostors that the world has ever seen. So you must SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. 229 take either one horn or the other of the dilemma; either acknowledge that Jesus Christ was the only Savior of the world, or put Him down as a character unworthj^ to be held up before our children, or in our homes. There- fore away with the idea of Christ as an example simply of a good man ; it is all nonsense ; He was the Son of God ; we have the testimony from heaven; we have the testi- mony from good men, and we have the testimony of the great Apostle Peter as an eyewitness. The real power, therefore, of the ministry must lie in proclaiming, with- out a single doubt, that Jesus Christ is the only Savior of the world. II. The next step in the power of Peter lies in the fact that he recognized the Bible as the inspired Word of God. While it was a certainty in his mind that Jesus Christ was the only Savior of the world, it was no more of a certainty than that the Bible is the Word of God. *'We have also a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation: for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 1. There you have as beautiful a picture of the Scriptures as you will find within the lids of this Book. The Apostle Peter plainly declares that the Holy Ghost is the author of the Bible. "But holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." Your stenog- rapher writes as she is moved by you. When your stenog- rapher has finished her letter, dictated by you, it is not her letter; it is yours. Now, says the Apostle Peter, just so Ave are not authors of what we write. "Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." The Holy Ghost is, therefore, the author of the Bible. "Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eter- nal life, for they are thej which testify of Me." "And that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through 230 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. faith which is in Christ Jesus." In other words, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." This Holy Spirit has one mind running throughout the Bible. There is nothing more evident to the Bible student than that the same mind that speaks in the first chapter of Genesis is the same one that speaks in the third chapter of John, and the same that speaks in the last chapter of Kevelation. Any one who will study the Bible carefully must discover that this is the Book of one mind. Now, pray tell me, where is the man that can be- gin a book fifteen hundred years before he finishes it? Where is the man that can gather up the words of sixty- six authors, or sixty-six books written by half a hundred men, having the same mind? And yet I hold in my hands a Book that is made up of sixty-six books, and between forty and fifty authors, and all these authors tell us as one man, this word is not ours — thus saith the Lord. Ingersoll used to travel around over the country and say : "Is the Bible inspired? Yes. So is Milton; so is Shake- speare; so is my almanac.'' Hastings used to answer that very nicely : "Yes, Milton is inspired, but where did Milton ever say, ^Thus saith the Lord'? Yes, Shake- speare is inspired, but where did Shakespeare ever say, •Thus saith the Lord'? Yes, jour almanac is inspired, according to your definition, but where does your alma- nac, six hundred times, as Moses says, say ^Thus saith the Lord'?" The Apostle Peter is writing, but he de- clares it is not his writing. "Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." He not only knew there was one mind running throughout the Bible, and that is what made him a power, but . he also knew there is one light running throughout this Bible. "'We have also a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts." This Bible says of itself, "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. 281 unto my path." The first thing that God said, in the first chapter of Genesis, is this, "Let there be light, and there was light." This Book has done more to throw light into the world than all the other books put together. Every word in this world that has ever thrown light on the subject of man and his eternal destiny has got its light out of this Book. In this Book you will find a light shining forward for thirteen or fourteen hundred years, telling us the Light of the world is coming. The first four books of the New Testament tell us that Light has come, and the other books of the Bible tell us this Light shall be published to the world; and the last book says, I will show you what will happen until the Judgment Day; and thus the light shines from the morning of crea- tion until the Judgment Day, and the Holy Spirit shows thait light shining over every page of the Book, and when your dying hour comes, you will not want Shakespeare under your pillow; you will not care for Milton in that hour; what do you care, when your soul leaps into eter- nity, about the old almanac? What you want in that hour is the light of the eternal God. That is what made Peter a power. He kncAv not only that there was one mind running through this Book, and one light shining through it, but there was one life running through it. "A light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts." God begins with the heart when He makes a new man. "Create in me a clean heart, God, and renew a right spirit within me." When the Lord our God said. Let there be light, there was light; and when you study the law of God and find out your sins, and take your flight to Calvary and say. What shall 1 do, God speaks to your soul and says. Let there be light, and there is light, and when the light shines in on your soul, there is life there. In a few weeks to come the snow will all melt away, the sun will shine with greater power upon us, and when the light comes and dwells longer upon the earth during the long days, and the snow is melted away, then you will find that the little sprigs begin to come out of the earth, the light bringing them life; and 232 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. as you look into the Bible you will find life in God's Word. It is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. You will find the entire Old Testament is point- ing to Him who says, '^I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no man cometh unto the Father but by Me.'' You will find in the New Testament that this Life stood down by the side of death and said. Live, and the dead came back to life. You will find that this One who called Himself the Way, the Truth and the Life, stepped up to the sinners, and forgave them, and took them home with Him. Oh, the wonderful Life that runs throughout the Word of God! 2. The i^postle Peter not only knew that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, but he knew the Holy Ghost always said exactly what He meant. "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scrij)ture is of any private inter- pretation." When a man reads the Augsburg Confession and Luther's Catechism, and this twentieth verse of the first chapter of the second epistle of Peter, he cannot help but make up his mind that Peter was a Lutheran. ^^Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation." If there was any one thing that brought on the Reformation, it is the fact that God means what He says, and if there was any one thing that made a division between Dr. Luther and John Cal- vin, it was this, that you have absolutely no right to put your own private interpretation on God's Word; that the Holy Spirit means exactly what He says; and when it came to the doctrine of the Lord's Supper, Dr. Luther says. Are you going to believe the Holy Ghost, or Zwing- ley? Are you going to believe the Holy Ghost or John Calvin? Are you going to believe that "This is My body and this is My blood," or are you going to leave out the words of the Holy Spirit, and put in the word "repre- sents"? What are you going to do about it? What made the Apostle Peter such a powerful man is this, he says, God has spoken, and God means what He says; and that is what I will preach, let the world say what it will. If I have a right to step before this intelligent audience and say, Here is a chapter that says so and so, but God meant SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER. EPIPHANY. 238 something else; if I have the right to turn to another verse and say, It is true that God says so and so, but He did not mean it that way, He meant something else, pray tell me, what are the people to believe, and when do you know you are getting God's eternal truth? I maintain when God saj^s hell, He means liell ; when He says heaven. He means heaven; when He says repent, He means re- pent; when He says there is only one way to heaven He means it, and just as sure as you expect to go to heaven by any other way than through the Lord Jesus Christ you will be damned, as sure as there is a God in heaven. This is the truth, and that is what makes powder in the pulpit, and just as long as men are going to stand up and find fault with the Bible, and try to make them- selves appear wise because they think they have found a little mistake of the Holy Ghost somewhere, just so sure you are going to find that the pulpit is losing its power, the church its members, and the people their souls, and everything is going to destruction. How shall we fill the house of God? The only way I know is to preach the un- changeable Word of God in all its purity, and it is a power, just as sure as God in heaven is a power. God has said some things in this Book pretty hard to understand; in fact. He has said some things nobody can understand. He has said, Let there be light, and there was light, and you do not know today yet what light is. He said in this Book that a flood was coming that would reach fifteen cubits above the highest moun- tain. No man on earth today can understand how the water could be that high, and yet the little sea shells on top of the mountains tell us the water was there; you do not understand it. The people in the days of Noah did not understand why there was any sense in building an ark out on the dry ground. They did not understand in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah how a solid city could go down, but God said. It will. They did not understand in the days of Isaiah how it was possible for a virgin to conceive and bear a Son, and call His name Emmanuel, but God said she would. They did not under- stand in the days of Zechariah how God could come down 234 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. on earth and ride a colt into Jerusalem, but God said He would. They did not understand in the days when the Twenty-second Psalm was written how it should be pos- sible that the Savior should come and have His hands pierced, and His feet pierced, when the Jews killed men with stones ; but God said He would have His hands and His feet pierced. When Jesus walked out of the temple and they showed Him that large temple and those large walls, and He said, Not one stone shall remain on top of the other, they said that could not be. When He looked around and saAV the Jews, and said the time would come when they should scatter all over the world, and they should remain a separate nation until the Judgment Day, they said. How can that be? But I tell you the Holy Spirit means what He says. The flood did come; Sodom and Gomorrah did go down; Jerusalem was destroyed and the plow turned the furrow in the days of Titus where that wall stood; the Jews are scattered all over the world as God said they would be; Christ did ride into Jerusalem when the children sang: Hosannah to the Son of David! Blessed is He that Cometh in the name of the Lord!" It was a hard saying when God said, "I will not suffer Mine Holy One to see corruption." They did not understand how He could sleep in the grave and arise again, but He did arise; He did conquer death; and so I would have you to under- stand that Jesus means what He says through the Holy Spirit. Therefore, away Avith human opinions about this and about that. I have heard men say, "I admire the pastor of the First Lutheran church for having the courage to say what he believes, but I differ with him in opinion." I want you to understand that I have never preached opin- ions from this pulpit; it is not a question of opinion; I have absolutely no right to stand here and give you my opinion, for it is not worth any more than yours; we do not come to church to get opinions; I claim that I can back up every sermon I have preached, with the Word of God, and it is not my opinion nor yours, it is the eternal Word of God, and you will find it so on the Judg- SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. 235 ment day. I have nothing to take back, and I never will ; God does not want me to. What is the power of the pulpit? It is the power of the Apostle Peter; it is God's Word. Christ is the only Savior of the w^orld. Eepent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved, and your household, and that is the only hope. If this were my last sermon, as the Apostle Peter felt it was his last when he w^rote this epistle, I would say to- night, come to the catechetical lectures and study God's Word, learn the plan of salvation quickly, before you are lost; and then I would say, when you know the right faith, stick to it until you die. What we need in the present day is more catechetical instruction, better in- doctrination of the Bible, in order that we may know what we believe, and then stand by it until we die. If this were my last sermon I would say, you people of God, when you call a minister into this pulpit, if he insists on giving you his opinion, put him out just as quickly as you possibly can; call a man of God who will not find fault w^ith the Bible; who will not find fault with Jesus Christ, but hold Him up as the only hope; and the Bible as the only inspired W^ord of God; the Word by which we live and the Word by which we die ; the Word that will show us the way to heaven. May God bless the message of the hour to your eternal good is my prayer. Amen. SEPTUAGESIMA SUNDAY. Paul's Power. I Cor. 9 :24-10 :5. KNOW ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air; but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection; lest that by any means, when I have preacHed to others, I myself should be a castaway. Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and did all eat the same spiritual meat; and did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them : and that Rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased : for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Thy Word is truth. Amen. Beloved in Christ: Last Sunday evening we had the pleasure of listen- ing to the power of Peter. I showed 3^ou from God's Word that the poAver of that great apostle lay in two things: First, that he positively knew that Jesus Christ was the only Savior of the world; and, in the second place, he positively knew that the Bible was the inspired Word of God; and, having settled those two facts in his mind, he went into the world with a power that God blessed. There is one other apostle who undoubtedly was a su- perior of all the rest in many ways, and that was the apostle Paul. I shall therefore, direct your attention this evening to 236 SEPTUAGESIMA SUNDAY. 237 PAUL'S POWER. And may the Holy Spirit give power to bring your souls nearer to Jesus, your Savior, Peter's Savior, PauFs Savior, the Savior of the world. I. I remark that the apostle Paul would have been a power no difference what his calling. 1. The first thought that struck me in reading this text was, what would Paul have been if he had been a robber. Just imagine a man with all the fire, and all the energy that Paul had, a bad man, a thief, in a com- munity. Why, there is not a man in American history, great as our robbers have been — even a Jesse James could not begin to be what Paul might have been if he liad served the devil fully instead of his God. Paul would not have been one of those sneaking little thieves going from house to house and plundering home after home. If Pan] had been a thief instead of a Christian minister, he would have been at the head of the great movements of' the world to rob people. If he had lived in our day he would have been at the head of some Standard Oil Com- pany ; he would have been at the head of some great trust ; he would have been the champion among the world's financiers, and he would have robbed the people at the greatest rate possible. 2. I not only see him in the capacity of sin as a great power, but I see him even a great man if he had been a farmer. It is often said in the country when a I)oy is a little Aveak in the back or has not got the ability to hold a ploAv, or to stand a good deal of hard work, that he will do for a preacher, seeming to think that in the pulpit any kind of a back will do; there any kind of a tongue Avill do; there any kind of a phy- sical structure will do. If you think the apostle Paul went into the ministry because he was a weak man phy- sically, you are mistaken, and if you think any man weak physically will make a good preacher, you are mistaken. It takes as much physical force to preach one sermon as it does to handle the cradle for four hours; it takes as much physical force to work in this church as it does 238 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. to run a one-hundred-and-sixty-acre farm alone, I want it simply understood that if you have got a son who is not able to make the best showing with regard to strength ; who isn't able to make one of the very best carpenters; who isn't able to handle the hardest labor in this world, never try to make a preacher of him. We have enough of preachers that would not make good farmers, that would not make good mechanics, and they make very, very poor preachers. The apostle Paul was one of those men who went through trials that no physically weak man could ever go through with. He tells us he w^as whipped by the Jews five times, receiving forty stripes less one; in other words, he received one hundred and ninety-five cuts across his back, that you and I never would have stood; he tells us he was out in the deep, in the w^ater twenty-four hours, and yet did not drown; he was stoned and dragged out of the city for dead, but there was too much vital force in him to die; he arose again; he was whipped, and scourged, and persecuted, not only outside of the church, but in the church ; he went through many trials, sometimes having the very clothing torn ofp of his back; out in the winter, freezing, hungry, wanting a drink and getting none, wanting something to eat, and nothing for him; that man went through trials that no man could go through with unless he had the strength to do any kind of labor to be done in the world. 3. The apostle Paul would have been a great power as a lawyer. When he and Silas were put into prison, having been scourged and their feet fastened in the stocks, they began to sing songs of praise at midnight. God Al- mighty shook that old prison until the people found them- selves loose, and the jailer was ready to commit suicide. Paul cried out, "Do thyself no harm; we are all here." Paul could have escaped in that moment. No, he would not; he remained there, and when the jailer came ask- ing, "What shall we do to be saved," he taught him God's Word; he taught him that he must be baptized, and bap- tized him in the same hour of the night. Not only that, we find when the morning came word was sent to him by the jailer, Now, Paul you can go. No, sir; I did not SEPTUAGESIMA SUNDAY. 239 put myself here and I do not intend to put myself out, and I want you as a jailer to understand that you have no control whatever over me. The very moment they con- demned me without a hearing they condemned a Roman, and I demand of them that they come here themselves and lead me out and give me liberty. No man but a lawyer could have done that. Paul knew the law, and, knowing the law, he made those men his prisoners, instead of being theirs. When he stood before Felix and made him tremble, he showed his ability as a lawyer. As an orator he could have held the highest position in the world; as a lecturer he could have gone around and won the ears of all the people. Oh, this man was a wonderful power. 4. He was not only a power as a lawyer; he would have been a j)ower as a politician. It is said, preceding our text: "For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all that I might gain the more. And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; to them that are without law, as without law (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ), that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak. I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some." In those words that I have read you find one of the most beautiful pictures of a true pastor, that can be found in the Word of God. The apostle Paul had the ability of working among common men, and when he found a weak man, he was weak ; when he found a strong man, he was strong; when he found a man versed in one line of knowledge, Paul was versed in that line; he could always accommodate himself to any kind of a man he met, and consequently was a great power as a missionary, and he always did that to save souls. All you have to do is to put this man in politics, and you have what pol- iticians call a "good mixer" — a man that can shake hands and win votes anywhere. If Paul had been a politician instead of a man of God, he would have carried the office, 240 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. no difference for what he ran. If in Mansfield, he would have been elected mayor, if in Ohio, governor, and he would have become President of the United States. In his place he was a power, and he would have been a power as a politician. 5. I not only see him as a power in politics, but he would have been a power as a detective. ''Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown ; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air." How did Paul know about this beating the air? How did Paul know all about these races? We have a good many men in the present dsij, so good they have never seen a race at all; never been inside of a saloon ; never seen a gambling den ; never seen the world as it is, and the consequence is that they do not know how to preach the Gospel. We have some parents who do not know how to raise their chil- dren; they have sons, and the very first thing they say to them is, If I ever catch you in a saloon, watch out! If I ever catch you at a race, watch out ! If I ever catch you playing pool, watch out! If I ever catch you doing this, or that, watch out ! And it is not very long until the boy is watching out, and just waiting an opportunity to get away from mother, to get away from father, and if that boy does not go to the races, I do not know one who will ; if he does not go to the saloon, I do not know one who will. The great trouble is so many people do not train their children rightly. The apostle Paul went to the races to see what was going on ; he went to the Olympian games and watched the men, how they would train for months; watched their muscles and watched them run with all the power within them, and thousands of people from all around Rome had come to the nortli portion of Corinth that they might see the races, and when they were over they brought the winner back with great applause and great cries of joy, and put a little crown of myrtle on his head, and he went home so proud of that crown that SEPTUAGESIMA SUNDAY. 241 he never forgot it; and then this great thinker said, if I can just get men to run like that for the crown of heaven, then I have made a point; he noticed that. these men that go into the races do not drink anything; they are tem- perate; they are very careful not to eat nor drink too much; they must win the race, and they must be pre- pared for the race; and he applied that to souls, and preaclied to the world such a temperance sermon as they never heard before. This apostle Paul would have made a good detective; they all acknowledged that. Why did they send him to Damascus to catch Christians? He was one of the best detectives ; he could follow out any clue ; he could find a Christian if there was one to be found; he knew the world. If my boy had lived, I would have said to him, wait until you are twelve years old and I will take you to Chicago ; I am going to take you through the lowest dives and dens ; I am going to show you the worst people in the world; I am going to show you through all the saloons, through all the places that I would not care to mention at home, to show you the world as it is; and I would have made that boy so sick of the lost, condemned world, that he never could have been induced to enter such places. There is a wrong way and a right way to bring up children. You do not want to say, if you touch this beer I will whip you; if you touch this whisky I will whip you. No. Say, here is whisky; it is a good thing in its place but never was made to drink; it will make you thirsty ; you might just as well eat salt ; it is a good thing for medical purposes, but do not drink it. Then take that boy into a room where a man has delirium tremens and tell him that is what whisky did, and that boy will never touch it. You want to have the detective spirit that the apostle Paul had. He was a power as a policeman, and when they wanted to prosecute Christians they could not find a better man than Paul, and they sent him to Damascus to find them. 6. And I believe, from the description given of him in another chapter that if he had gone into the Olympian games for the purpose of winning the race, I think he 16 242 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. would have won it. A man that could run over the world, as Paul did, as a missionary, was no ordinary runner. Not only that, but I believe the x4.postle Paul, if he had prepared himself for the ring, w^ould have been as great a pugilist as we have in this country. He refers to that w^hen he says, ^'So fight I, not as one that beateth the air.'' Paul would never have missed a man if he had struck at him; he would have hit him, and hit him hard. A man that could be out in the w^ater for twenty-four hours without going down ; a man that could have one hundred and ninety-five stripes across his back and never wither; a man that could be stoned, and dragged out for dead, and rise again, would not find a fist in any enemy's hand that would down him. The Apostle Paul was a pow^er. II. What then did he do? He took all these powers that God gave him and concentrated them into himself as a missionary of the Gospel, and thereby proved that he was the greatest preacher the world has ever seen. 1. No one ever felt his Divine call more keenly than Saul did; no one was ever more certain of his call. As I stated a moment ago, he started up to Dainascus as a policeman to persecute Christians; the Lord God knew that there is a power; He knew that there is a con- scientious man ; He knew that if that man knew the truth he W' ould fight for it until he died, consequently He wanted to teach that man one thing he did not know, and that was that Jesus of Nazareth w^as the Son of God, the One prophesied in the Old Testament; therefore He unhorses him, throws him down, and cries from heaven : "Saul, Saul, wiiy persecutest thou Me?" — and Saul fell into another world; Saul realized that he had been mistaken. Saul said, "Lord, what wouldst Thou have me to do?" "Arise, and go to a certain street that is called Straight, and I wall send a man there, and he will tell you what to do." In other words, Jesus Christ w^anted to teach Saul there that he had to be converted, not by power from heaven, but by the Gospel in the hands of man; so He sent Ananias to the street called Straight; and to Ananias, who went, God said, "Look, behold, he prayeth." There you see the policeman on his knees praying God SEPTUAGESIMA SUNDAY. 243 to have mercy on him. His eyes were blinded, and this man Ananias tells him the wonderful truths of the Gospel ; tells him to arise, and be baptized, and to wash away his sins, and there fell from his eyes as it w^ere scales, and he saw a new world; he saAv a new avenue for his power,, and he started out to preach the Gospel to the world. 2. Not only Avas he Divinely called — there is no question about that — but he was as conscientious as a man could be. In this same chapter I would call atten- tion to the fact that he could have earned a living in many w^ays without being a minister of the Gospel; I would further call your attention to the fact that he might have been a married man and enjoyed his family like other men; I call your attention to the fact that according to the Old Testament teaching that every minister of the Gospel should be paid for his preaching, but he had made such a blunder that he made up his mind he would never give the world a chance to say that he w^as in the ministry for the money that was in it, and therefore, instead of taking a salary, he made tents, he worked and earned money at night, that he might go and preach the Gospel on the Sabbath day. He was so conscientious that he said : "But I have used none of these things : neither have I written these things that it should so be done unto me : for it were better for me to die, than that any man should make my glorying void. For though I preach the Gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the Gospel!" The great Spurgeon one time said to a young man who desired to study for the ministry, "If you can help it, don't preach.'' That may look like wrong advice, but he meant it just as he said it. When a man is Divinely called to preach, no power under heaven can keep him from it, and so he said to the young man, "If you can help preach- ing, don't preach." When the Apostle Paul was con- verted, no power in the w^orld could keep him from preach- ing. "Woe is unto me if I preach not the Gospel." He was so conscientious that he gave his services and his life for the ministry. 3. He was willing to make any sacrifice; nothing 244 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. was too much for him, no road too stony, no sea too wide; the heathen were not too far away for him ; wherever God said go, he went. I often think of that little song we sing in the Young People's meeting, "I'll go where you want me to go," and here we sit and do not go; it is easy to sing but harder to do. The Apostle Paul not only sang, but he did these things; if God said go to Europe, he went to Europe; if He said to go to Macedonia, he went to Macedonia; if God said go to Eome, he went to Rome; if God said you will be crucified, he said, so be it; when God said die, he died; there was nothing too much for Paul; he was a power in the ministry, and one of the greatest missionaries the world has ever known. 4. "I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air." The Apostle Paul was a very plain preacher, a very striking preacher ; he never said a sentence that did not hit somebody ; when he struck, he struck with the intention of hitting something. You know sometimes in training these pugilists, they must stand and strike in the air, and keep on fighting; to the Apostle Paul that looked like foolishness, and it does to me when I see young men going to the gymnasium over here trying to develop their muscle. In a man's life there is so much to do in the way of really doing something, that he should make every blow count; there is so much to be accomplished for the good of our fellowmen that we ought to hit something every time we strike. That is the kind of a preacher Paul was, and he struck at himself as well as others. Paul calls attention to the fact that the world was lost by nature and that he himself must be very careful or he would be lost. "Lest that by any means when I have preached to others, I myself should be a cast- away." One thing that made him such a powerful preacher was that he studied his own heart, his own conscience, his own soul, and whenever he found himself in the wrong he struck at Paul, and in striking at Paul, he struck all. Hardly a week passes that some one does not come to me and say, hoAv did you know that I did this, and that, when the truth is I did not know it until then, but the reason I can hit you so well is that I hit myself every day, and SEPTUAGESIMA SUNDAY. 245 ■v\'e are just alike; you are thinking just as I am and you are acting just as I am ; whenever you hit one man real hard you have hit the whole congregation. God knows how to find us out. 5. Not only do we find that he was a very con- scientious man, Avhose call was Divine, and a great mis- sionary, willing to make any sacrifice, but we find, further- more, that he was a man who preached with the wonder- ful power of a good doctrine. As far as his doctrine was concerned, he was no perfectionist, nor was he an im- mersion ist, nor do I find that he was a moralist, nor a Universalist. I say that this man was not a perfectionist. The AiDostle Paul did not say, I do not need to fight any more ; he did not say, 1 have reached perfection. No, he said if these men will run as they run and fight as they fight for a little crown of myrtle, then I must fight and I must run, and ye must fight and ye must run, that we receive the crown of eternal life, and consequently he laid down the doctrine of a true Christian on sanctification. No dif- ference how old we get and how much progress we make in religion, there is always a day before us that will allow us to grow. Walking through the woods with my brother the other day he showed me seven or eight trees that he had sold. I said, "Don't you know that timber is going to be very expensive and that it is a mistake to sell off your trees these days?" He said, "You do not understand : those trees are done growing and will decay." You see I had not thought about that. Whenever a tree stops groAving it will decay, and whenever a man reaches a point in life that he does not grow any more, he begins to decay. These people who are talking about perfection, who are so perfect that they cannot get any more so, are dying from decay. The thing we must learn as true Christians is this, no difference how perfect we get, there is a Savior before us more perfect; and I appeal to you who are sitting before me to-night, who have been trying to serve the Lord, haven't you found every day of your lives that there was a growth possible, and that you never have attained perfection? And thus you will go on 246 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. through life, striving to come nearer and nearer per- fection, and when jou breathe your last breath, your last words ought to be, in the language of this great fighter: ^^I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness." The Apostle Paul never forgot that race he witnessed; he never forgot the race of life; he never forgot the race of a Christian. May God help us all to-night to walk on the path of Jesus Christ, dressed alone in His righteousness, being faithful unto death, that we may receive the crown of eternal life. I said a moment ago that Paul was not an immer- sionist. "Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea ; and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea.'' We hear it said by immersionists that if we are not immersed we are not baj)tized, and some people are even led to question themselves, whether they had not better go down to the river, or to the tank where fifteen or twenty others have been in the same water, and be put under. I want you to be satisfied in your own minds to-night^ satisfied from the Scriptures, that the Apostle Paul was not an immersionist. I do not say he did not believe im- mersion Avas baptism; I simply mean to say he did not believe the word baptism meant immersion and nothing else. What is the story referred to in the Old Testament? You will understand that when Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt, he at last came to the shores of the sea; Pharoah was coming behind with the six hundred chosen chariots; the cloud went before them in the day time, and at night a pillar of fire, and as Pharoah followed He swung the cloud behind the Israelites as a protection, and the winds bleAv all that night, and the waters separated, and the Word of God tells us distinctly that Moses and the children of Israel walked over on dry land, with the waters up on either side of them; then, when they came across, Moses held his rod over the sea again, and the waters came together and Pharoah and all his host were drowned. There is no question about two SEPTUAGESIMA SUNDAY. 247 things : One is that Moses and the children of Israel were not in the water; and the other is that Pharoah and his host were all immersed, and the only water that possibly could have touched Moses and the children of Israel was the spray from the walls of water beside them. Now, Paul says : 'Mnd all were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea.'' The children of Israel were baptized without walking into a drop of water, and he never said one word about Pharaoh and the host that followed him being baptized, yet we do know they were all immersed. If going under water is immersion, and immersion is bap- tism, then Pharoah was immersed and baptized. No. Paul taught us very distinctly here that baptism may mean simpl}' moistening with water that came upon them as they came through between the separated waters. Another thing we must not overlook, that not only were the adults baptized, but all were baptized. The Bible tells us that there were six hundred thousand soldiers, besides the women and children ; Paul says that all of them were baptized; and we are told in another place in the Word of God that as they were saved, so we are saved by baptism. There are two things taught in this text tonight that I want all Lutherans and all others never to forget, and that is that there was a baptism without immersion, and that all, from the smallest to the largest were baptized, and that is good old Bible doctrine. I go further and say that the Apostle Paul was not a moralist. A great many people in these days think if they keep the ten commandments and treat their neigh- bors about half decent, that when they come to die every- thing will be all right, whether they are members of God's Church or not, whether they are baptized or not, whether they go to the Lord's Supper or not, whether they have faith in Jesus Christ or not; they are moralists. The Apostle Paul was no moralist. "And did all eat the same spiritual meat; and did all drink the same spiritual drink; for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.'' You Avill remember that the Children of Israel crossed the sea and went out a few days into the wilderness ; they became thirsty and could find 248 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. nothing to drink, and they murmured against Moses, and Moses said, Lord, what shall I do? God said, You go and speak to the Book — at another time, strike the Rock — and the water will flow. And so he took his rod and struck the Eock and the water flowed, and they drank that drink. And now, says Paul, that Rock was Christ, and the drink they got saved the whole race, Jesus Christ is the Rock of salvation, and the Rock of Ages, and you will remember that He had to be smitten on Calvary before the water flowed that gives us eternal life, from which we shall never thirst. You have there the picture of the Rock of Ages, our only Savior. The Apostle Paul had been a moralist until he heard the voice of this Rock from heaven saying, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?" So then we have a Rock that after it was smitten has given forth the waters from which we must drink, and that is our only hope of salvation. Paul was no moralist. Again I would call attention to the fact that he was not a Universalist. "But with many of them God was not well pleased ; for they were overthrown in the wilder- ness.'' Six hundred thousand soldiers, not to mention the women and the children, started across the Red Sea, were baptized as they crossed over, and in the desert they re- belled against God, and they carried on their rebellion until only two out of the six hundred thousand reached the promised land, and Moses, because he struck the Rock instead of speaking to it, was not permitted to enter the land of Canaan. If only tAvo out of the six hundred thous- and reached the land of Canaan, I Avouder AA^hy so many think we are all going to reach heaven? When the Lord Jesus Christ said, "He that believeth not shall be damned, hoAv do you expect to go to heaven if you reject Him? When the Word of God distinctly teaches, too, that many are called but fcAv are chosen, how do you expect every- body to reach heaA^en? When the Word says, "Enter ye in at the strait gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be AA^hich go in thereat. Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the Avav which leadeth unto life, and fcAv there be that find SEPTUAGESIMA SUNDAY. 249 it/' how do you expect everybody is going to heaven? When Jesus Christ Himself said the rich man who would not even feed Lazarus at his table was in hell and cried out that he must have a drop of water to cool his burning tongue, how do you say there is no hell hereafter? The Apostle Paul would have been the biggest fool the world ever saw if he had given his life for missionarj^ purposes, if missionaries were not necessary, and if I grant once that everybody is going to be saved no difference what they do nor how they live, I say the most foolish thing in all the Avorld is to build churches. The most inconsistent thing in the world is for Universalists to put up a church building and pay out their money to save people who were never lost. If a man sliould come running up street and say, I was just down to the river and saved a man; you would say. Where is the river? and he w^ould reply, Tliere isn't any, you would think his proper place was in a lunatic asylum. The Apostle Paul never struck unless he hit something, and if Universalism is not true, the harder. you strike it the better, and I want to strike it just as hard as I can, because it is doing more to damn souls to-day than anything I knoAv of. Grant me a uni- versal salvation for the world, instead of belief in Christ, and our bo^^s and girls will go to the devil just as fast as they can. The thing for us to learn from God's eternal Word is that when God speaks he means it. What made I*aiil sucli a wonderful power was that he preached the truth. He knew that men were not perfect and therefore told them to fight for it ; he knew tliat God wanted every- body baptized, young and old, and therefore spoke of a baptism for all; he knew that people could be baptized with water Avhether they Avere put under it or not, and therefore said those that Avalked over on dry ground were baptized; he knew that people needed to drink of the Avater of the Pock of Ages, and therefore called attention to justification by faith Avithout the deeds of the laAv; he Icnew that many would be lost unless they were saved while living, and therefore called attention to the falling of many in the wilderness. In this same chapter we cannot help but notice the 250 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. Lutheran doctrine in the Lord's Supper. "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?" I am not here to- night to say that Paul was a Lutheran, but I do say that Luther was Pauline ; I do say every doctrine that Luther taught to the world is exactly what the Apostle Paul taught in all his epistles, and if you can show me one doctrine in Luther's Catechism that I cannot harmonize with the writings of the Apostle Paul, I will give up. What I do say is that if ever a man was doctrinal, and gave to the world much information, it was Paul. Stop and think of the great fact that Paul gave all these epistles to the world, with possibly the exception of eight. You cannot do better than to read his epistles carefully, for he was a power that is felt to-day all over the world. May God bless these promises and help us all to think as He would have us think ; to act as He would have us act ; and to give our hearts to the Rock, which, smitten, will give forth the waters of eternal life, is my prayer. Amen. PRAYER. • O God, our heavenly Father, we thank Thee for the privilege of giving Thy Word to these immortal souls. We pray that Thou wilt help us to appreciate Thy great gift to the world in giving the Apostle Paul to us. Father in heaven, if one man with the grace of God in him can so change the very face of the world, and all theology as that man Saul did, converted by Thee, what a power we might all be if we would simply let Thee do with us as it is Thy will. We ask Thee, heavenly Father, that Thou wilt bless the service of this evening hour; we pray that we may all drink in these beautiful words, and hold fast to them and never give them up. We ask Thee to give us a life that is growing. Do Thou help us to fight for right and truth and to defend it until we die. We pray Thee to bless us not only as we are standing here, but as we go to our respective homes, and may every one in this house this evening become a messenger of the Gospel we have heard, so that this Word may not only reach the many who are assembled here, but through them reach the many that ought to hear Thy Word and do hot. Father in heaven, even as one little spark can start a great con- flagration, so we pray Thee that each one, as he or she goes home tonight, may be a spark of love and truth in that home to bring Thy Gospel to every one under each roof ; and we pray Thee that each home again may carry the flame to other homes, until all the people SEPTUAGESIMA SUNDAY. 251 shall know the great truth as it is in the Rock that was mitten, through whom we obtain the water of eternal life. Hear this, our prayer, for the sake of Jesus, who taught us to pray : Our Father who art in heaven ; Hallowed be Thy name ; Thy kingdom come ; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven ; Give us this day our daily bread ; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for- give those who trespass against us ; And lead us not into temptation ; But deliver us from evil ; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. SEXAGESIMA SUNDAY. Paul's Path. 2 Cor. 11:19-12:9. fOR ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise. For ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face. I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak. Howbeit whereinsoever any is bold, (I speak foolishly), I am bold also. Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I. Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren ; in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended and I burn not? If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed forevermore, knoweth that I lie not. In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to appre- hend me : and through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands. It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) how that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for man to utter. Of such an one will I glory : yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities. For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool; for I will say the truth: but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me. And lest I should be exalted above measure through 252 SEXAGESIMA SUNDAY. 253 the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might de- part from me. And He said unto me. My grace is sufficient for thee : for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Thy Word is truth. Amen. Beloved in Christ : — If there is an}^ one thing the apostle Paul would have done, it was to die for the truth. He declares here, "The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for ever more, knoweth that I lie not." What a glorious thing it would be if ererj man in the world todaj' could say that God knows that I lie not. He not only tried his best to tell the truth at all times, but he always spoke as in the presence of God. He not only re- garded it a great weakness to tell a falsehood and to exaggerate, but he regarded it as a great weakness even to compare the truths which he uttered, with the truths of God's Word. In the parable which we heard this morning we learned tlie great power of the eternal Word of God, what a good seed it is, and how it brings forth a harvest unto eternal life if it is sown on good ground. The Lord Jesus Christ gave the apostle Paul a wonderful revelation about fourteen years before he wrote this epistle ; during all those fourteen years he kept that revel- ation to himself; he never said a word to his best friends about it; in fact, he felt it would be dangerous to say anything about it for fear the people would put his word on a level with Word of God. In order, therefore, that the honor might be given to the Book of Kevelation, he kept that great revelation to himself, as stated before, a period of exactly fourteen years. When we read this lesson we cannot help thinking what a path of life Paul had to travel. Last Sunday I spoke to you of Paul's Power, and tonight I will call your attention to 254 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. and may we, walking on the path that Paul walked, walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. While this text is lengthy, the whole truth may be summed up in two thoughts : I. Paul's path was a perilous one; and II. Paul's path was a prosperous one. I. Paul's path was a perilous one. He tells us in one of the verses of this text that Satan buffeted him, struck the thorn in the flesh until he cried three times to God to take that thorn away. In the chapter preceding, he calls attention to the fact that Satan in his day was transforming himself into an angel of light. In other words, the apostle Paul never failed to recognize that the path over which he was going was perilous because he had to fight Satan every inch of the way. He found Satan in the church; in the elements; in the world, and in his own body. 1. He found him in the church. It is said that his letters were mighty and powerful, but his bodily presence was weak and his speech contemptible. These things were said by members of his own congregation. The apostle Paul, as we heard last Sunday evening, was a man of power. No man lacking physical power could en- dure the trials through which he passed, but because he was not big, like some men are, because he was a little hump-shouldered and not as straight as some men are, the people at Corinth began to think, we better get a •different pastor; we better get a man that makes a better personal appearance, his bodily presence is weak, and as •far as his speech is concerned, it is contemptible. These things w^ere said by people who were Christians, brought to the Lord by the apostle Paul, himself. Not only did they say that, but there were false teach- ers coming up every day. ^^But what I do, that will I do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we. For such are false apostles, deceitful workers. SEXAGESIMA SUNDAY. 255 transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel, for Satan, himself, is transformed into an angel of light.-' In other words, there were people in the days of the apostle Paul that were just watching for a chance to say something about him; they were looking out for occasion; they Avanted to compare him with other men, and tried their best to get the Corinthians to frown on the apostle Paul. He Avas perfectly Avilling to bear that as far as he himself was concerned, but he knew^ these men Avere not true ministers of the Gospel; he knew they Avere not there to bring the truth he had taught, and for the sake of the church, and for the glory of God, it became necessary for him to defend liioiself ; it became necessary for him to fight the devil in the church. Not only did he find that some people behind his back Avere trying to belittle him, and that false teachers were trying to teach false doctrines, but he found even among the good people of the church a certain class that would tolerate anything, no difference Avliat, that AA^as said against him, and he refers to them in the words of our text : ''For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are Avise. For ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt hiuiself, if a man smite you on the face. I speak as con- cerning reproach, as though Ave had been weak." In other AA^ords, the people would say. Look at Paul; the man has a weak body, his speech is contemptible ; the thing for you to do is to. get a smarter and a better man here to pro- claim the Gospel. The apostle Paul, said. You think you are Avise; I want to tell you that you suffer these men because you are really a set of fools, but I tell you sar- castically that you are a bright set of people. I do not know of better irony in God's Word than this: "For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise." Just about as much irony as when Job said to the officers who AAxre standing around him reproving him, "Wisdom will die with you." It was in the same spirit that the apostle Paul said, you aa^ouM let people come right up to you and make slaves of you; you will let men swalloAV you; you will let men take you prisoners; you will let men stand in 256 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. your presence and swell up with pride; you will actually let men come up to you and slap you in the face, and think you are wise, but you stand there like a set of dumb fools and let the church of God suffer, and you never defend your church ; you never defend me ; I have been away quite a while, and have endured and suff'ered, and fought my own battles, and done all I possibly could for you, but like a set of dumb sheep, you have kept your mouths closed and let the wolves come and slap our very church in the face. It does seem to me that we ought to ask ourselves the question, as a congregation, no difference where we are, do we defend the truth as we ought? Do we defend our church as we ought? It is one thing to sit here in the pew and listen to God's Word; it is another thing tomorrow night in some worldly circle to hear some people run down your pastor, and stand there like dumb oxen and never say a word, even help the world along in saying something against the minister, or the Sunday School superintend- ent, or the officers of the church. If you are true children of God, you ought to stand up and fight for the church of your Lord and Master; it is not built on your pastor, or on any man ; it rests on tlie Rock of Ages, — there is the church of your Lord Jesus Christ, and when you fail to stand up and defend those that are working for that cause, you fail to defend your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Himself. Paul needed no defense; he was too great a man to need any little man to defend him. There are men right in our own church council that do not need any defense; there are officers in this church that do not need any defense; we need not be ashamed of our congrega- tion, but there is always some enemy glad to run down the best people that live, no difference who they are, and it becomes our duty not to let the devil have his own way. Paul recognized this on the path of life, and consequently writes a very sharp letter and says. Beware that you do not consider yourselves wise, and at the same time suffer yourselves to be made slaves, to be devoured, to be taken into bondage, to let others exalt themselves over you and smite you in the face. No man in Mansfield can strike a blow at any good church member in this church without SEXAGESIMA SUNDAY. 257 striking at you. No man can attack the service here for God. without striking at the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and the devil is back of it all, do not forget that. Do not expect to see the devil coming around with big horns and cloven feet, standing in your midst, and shouting. Watch out, I am the devil ! No. He comes with religious talk, his false religion, and tries to devour you, and upset everything that rests alone upon Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. No wonder the apostle Paul wrote sentences like these: "In perils among false brethren"; "Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches." The apostle Paul then stood in a place where he had to fight the devil right in the church, and that is what you and I must do every day of our lives. 2. Not only did he fight the devil in the church, but also had to fight him in the elements, in the very storms. "Thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeyings often, in perils of waters." So we find, my dear friends, that the same Satan who did blow the house and home of Job down in a storm, the same Satan Avho tried to wreck the little ship and drown Jesus Christ, was the same Satan that tried different times to drown Paul in the Mediterranean Sea. Eemember, the apostle Paul had not yet passed through that wonder- ful storm which brought him to Mileta; that occurred at least two years after this. Four times the apostle Paul was shipwrecked and thrown out into the deep; once for tweny-four long hours he was battling with the waters, and perhaps many a time the question came to him, Shall I give up and drown, or shall I not? But he kept on fighting, realizing that the same Satan that brought about the storm on the sea of Galilee, is the same Satan that could not bear to have Paul preach the Gospel to the world, and he fought for life amidst all the elements, and won, to the glory of God. 3. And not only did Paul fight the devil in the storm, but in the world at large. "In labors more abundant ; in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths 17 258 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.'' Stop and think of that path ! It just seems as if all the poAvers of hell were turned loose and put on the path of Paul to see how they might abuse him; it made no difference whether Jew or Gentile; whether on water or on land; whether he was in the city or out in the country; whether it was day or night; whether winter or summer, there was not, seemingly, a single place on God's earth that Paul could go that the devil was not there ; if nothing better, they would whijD him — five times thirty -nine stripes on his back; stoned three times; thrown out by robbers ; caught and abused and almost murdered ; we find him in the summer time almost dying of thirst; in the winter time not enough clothing to keep him warm — freezing ; if he is in the city, with a room in which to stay at night, the soldiers are watching and guarding the stairway, and there is no way of escape but to be let down in a basket by a rope ; wherever he goes he finds the devil trying to conquer him ; the whole world was against him ; the civil government was against him; his own country- men were against him ; his own friends were against him. If any man in the history of the world could say God and I are all alone, it was Paul. Oh, it was a perilous path he traveled over. 4. He not only found that Satan was in the world; he found the devil was right in himself, trying to conquer him, "And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the. messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure." What this thorn in the flesh was I do not suppose we will know before the Judgment Day. All kinds of conjectures have been SEXAGESIMA SUNDAY. 259 given; some think his eyes were so sore he could hardly see; some think he had some physical trouble such as Luther himself had, at times so painful that he had to shriek for help; no difference what it was, it is generally conceded it was some kind of physical trouble, some kind of a disease that took hold of his body, and in spite of all his work, this disease would at times take hold of him, and as nearly as he could describe it, it was like a large thorn in the flesh, with Satan striking that thorn, buffeting, hitting it with his fist, driving it deeper and deeper, until he felt he could stand it no longer, and three times he cried out, O God, take this thorn out ! I have been stoned and I have been whipped; I have fought the waves in the sea; I have battled with robbers at night, but, O God, I have never had anything like this thorn! Take Satan away, for he is striking it! God, take it away! Help me ! Help me ! It Avas a perilous path over which he was traveling, but we learn that God allowed the thorn to remain. What a blow that is to Christian Science! We have in the present day, people who seem to think that after all, pain is only imaginary; that after all, we are simply mind, and that if we could think as God would have us think, we could think all pain out of existence. I met a lady in the city of Columbus a few months ago who called me to her home, pretending that she had some busi- ness to attend to, but she wanted to let me know that she was a Christian Scientist, and was trying to make me one; it was not very long until she said, "The real truth is that pain is only found in people who have sinned and do not know how to think. Why,'' said she, "we are nothing at all, and consequently there cannot be pain in nothing." I never like to say anything harsh to a lady, but after talk- ing to her about an hour, I said, "I now fully agree with you; I have discovered that you are nothing." These people actually think the physical body is only a sort of a thing that we imagine, and therefore pain is only imagin- ary, and that the way to get well is simply to say, I am well, and that is the end of it. If you break a limb, of course you just think of the bones and say, They are nothing, and put them together. Oh, nonsense! They tell 260 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. US the reason we have sickness is because we are guilty of some great sin. Let us not forget, my dear friends, that when the young man was let down through the roof at the feet of Jesus to be healed, Christ said to him, "Thy sins are forgiven thee,'' and when Christ says the sins are forgiven, they are forgiven, but the young man is still just as sick as he was before; it was not until the people doubted whether He had the right to forgive, that He said, "Take up thy bed and walk." The man was just as much forgiven before he got up to walk as after he had carried his bed. The apostle Paul said three times, Lord, take this thorn away from me; God said. No, you keep that thorn; My grace is sufficient for thee. Paul was not a Christian Scientist, and I want to warn my people today to beware of Christian Science! Like all other isms, it is trying to rob you of the sacraments. Quite innocently people turn to Christian Science, and do not know that Christian Science has no baptism, no Lord's Supper, and no Christ on Calvary dying for the sins of the world. If the devil can only get people to believe that they are Chris- tians, and get rid of Christ bleeding on Calvary, then he has won the victory, and I warn you to be careful that you do not go to dabbling in any kind of Christianity that has not got Jesus Christ in it as the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world, for just as sure as you do, that religion is of the devil, I care not by what name it is known. The test of a true religion is Jesus Christ, my Eedeemer, my Savior, the Lamb of God that taketh away ni}^ sins. I say that for the encouragement of the sick. Some of the best people of this church this evening are at home with sad hearts because they cannot be in the house of God, and I want no angel of the devil in the form of an angel of light to step into these homes and burden their consciences, and make them believe that if they just thought rightly they are not sick at all. When a man has a fever, he is sick ; when he has a broken limb, it is broken; there is a bone there that is broken, and every man knows it, and let us beware that we do not let the devil make us believe there is nothing where something exists, and that there is something where there is nothing. SEXAGESIMA SUNDAY. 261 II. The apostle Paul liad to fight every inch of the perilous path of life, and yet I bring you this day the glorious news that it was a prosperous path. If the apostle Paul had been told on the day that he was eon- verted, that he would have to pass through all that he did pass through. Oh, how he would have trembled, and tried, like Jonah, to flee away from his God! What a beautiful thought it is in Providence that God never tells us what is coming tomorrow; and what a beautiful thought it is to know that every time we fight one battle we get strength for the next. On this path of life the apostle Paul was led gloriously by the hand of God that was constantly around him, above him, below him, and in him. 1. I say the hand of God was around him. Do you suppose the apostle Paul could have passed through all these trials if it had not been that the hand of God was around him? I see him out in the deep for a whole day and a night. Why did he not go down? The arm of God was around him. I see him three times in shipwrecks, when the vessel sinks and men must flee for their lives, and I have no doubt that in those three times some men went down to death, but why was Paul saved? The arm of God Avas around him. I see them beating him with stripes, thirty-nine times — ^Ye times thirty-nine — enough to kill any man, but Paul lives on. How does he stand it all? The hand of God is around him. I see them stone him, and Avhen he is stoned, they take his body and throw it outside of the city on a pile of stones, but he does not die. The arm of God is around him. I see him in the winter, freezing, no hand to give him a garment to cover that cold body of his. Why does he not freeze? God's arm is around him. I see him in the midst of the church, fighting the devil in the church, fighting him in the storms, fighting him in the world, fighting him in his own body. How does he stand it? How does he, hold out? Where does he get his strength? The arm of God is around him every day, and whenever he has won one battle, the arm of God leads him to the next, and, remembering how he won the victor}^ out in the waters for twenty-four hours, 262 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. he says, what do I care for robbers? and he won the vic- tory there. Knowing how he endured when he fought the robbers, when he was cold he said, God's arm will keep me warm. And thus he goes through life, meeting one trial after the other, getting strength every time for the next battle, and the more he looks back, and the more he sees the battles he has fought, the more glorious his life becomes. Did you ever stop to think that the only man's life really worth having is the man with the victories be- hind him? The soldier who Avent to war and stayed there for four long years and came home without ever seeing a battle, we have forgotten long ago ; but the one soldier who has made more of an impression on me than any other I ever saw, is the man who showed me the mark on his fore- head where the bullet struck and glanced off ; who showed me the mark across his neck where the sword almost severed his head from his body; he showed me where his right arm had been removed ; and where his left arm had been removed ; and he showed me his limb with the bullet inside ; and there is a soldier I will never forget ; there was a soldier who did not regret at all that he had been to Avar. Wherever he went he was asked to tell his story. His arms AA^ere gone and his body scarred, but he had been loyal, and when he came home he was the pride of the nation. Only six men in the United States can say the same thing, that they have lost both of their arms and are still living. I Avant to tell you the trouble with most of us is, that we are cowards; we want to go through life Avith never a battle, and we never get strength because Ave have not fought the battles. Let us remember, the arm of God is around the true soldier of Christ. 2. Not only around Paul, but above him, was the arm of God. "In Damascus the governor under Aretas, the king, kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me; and through a window in a basket was I let down by the AA^all, and escaped his hands." There was a time when Paul started for Damascus as a policeman to arrest Christians; Paul became converted, and Damascus now hated him, AA^ho at one time was sent there to arrest Christians. A sjarrison is formed and the SEXAGESIMA SUNDAY. 263 order is given to watch him tonight, to apprehend him, put him in jail, and forever settle this question. But that night the hand of God comes to him, bringing a rope and a basket, and touches the brain of his friends and says, think I That night the hand of God came and lifted up the window, and placed Paul in the basket, fastened the rope securely, and said, Remember, Paul, My hand is above you; I will let you down; I will let you escape. There in the darkness of the night, Paul runs across the country and is free ! Who freed him? The hand that was over him. Oh, says some one,, that is all nonsense ; it was not God at all; God did not make the basket; God did not make the rope ; it was men that did .these things ; it was men that saved Paul. Dear friends, there were men on that Avail, and there were men down on the ground. Why did those men on the ground have their swords in their hands, while those at the window had the rope? Where did tbat rope come from? Who put it into the mind of one man to save Paul, while others were trying to kill him? I want you to understand it was God that made the basket; it was God that put into the hearts of men to save his life; it was God that put strength into the hand that held the rope that let Paul dOAvn, and so, after all, it is the hand of God above him on this perilous path that made Paul's path so glorious and prosperous. That same hand has been over you many a day and you did not know it; that same hand has permitted you to escape many a death trap, and you never thanked God for it. 3. That hand was not onl}'^ over him, but that hand of God was also under him. "It is not expedient for me, doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ about fourteen years ago, (whether in the body I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell; God knoweth) ; such an one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, (whether in th« body or out of the body, I cannot tell; God knoweth) : how that he was caught up into Paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter." It was a wonderful vision that Paul had. 264 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. Just when it took ])]ace, we do not know, except that it was just fourteen years before the day he wrote this letter. It was no dream. It made such a wonderful impression on Paul that he never could forget it, and yet he never dared tell it. He speaks of himself as a man, because he did not want to tell them directly that it was himself, but we all know who this man was. The probability is that it occurred about the time they stoned him. He tells us, himself, that he was beaten with rods, and once was he stoned. It may be when he was stoned the people picked him up and threw him out on that pile of rocks, thinking, there lie, you little preacher ; there lie and be food for the dogs of the city of Jerusalem ; but they did not recognize that when they threw him out on that pile of rocks that they threw him into the hand of the Eock of Ages, and while his body was lying there that Hand was under him and lifted him up, lifted him up into the skies, where the birds fly, through the first heaven, lifted him up above the bird's flight, past the stars and zones of stars and whirl- ing world systems, up, up, past the second heaven; and on that same Hand that started with him from the little pile of rocks near Jerusalem, that hand of the Rock of Ages, he went higher, further than eye had ever pene- trated? away up where the angels are in the presence of God, into Paradise! We often say, if only our dead could come back and tell us how it is over there; we often say, why did not God send some one back from beyond the veil? Dear friends. He did. That hand that lifted Paul up into the third heaven, into Paradise, that same Hand left him down again; but remember one thing; Paul said that he saw things there, and heard things there, that he could not tell on earth. Why, my dear friends, you might just as well take Luther's catechism and try to teach a drove of sheep as to try to teach us poor earthly mortals here about the glories that my boy and your girl, and my father and your mother, and our dear friends who have died in Christ, are seeing up there in Paradise. But how did they get there? The hand of God under them put them there; and that is the Hand that led Paul over the perilous path and made him prosperous. SEXAGESIMA SUNDAY. 265 4. Not only was the hand of God under him, but the hand of God was within him. "And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." The apostle Paul, as I said before, felt that thorn as he never felt anything else. Three times he prayed to the Father in heaven in this manner : Oh Father, remember me. Thy servant; remember how I struggled in the sea a night and a day; remember how three times I thought the sea would be my grave ;' remem- ber me when the robbers caught me, and how I was treated in the cities, in the prisons, how I was whip- ped and scourged until my body was covered with blood! Father in heaven, remember me when they hit me with the stones and my soul took its flight fourteen years ago to Paradise! O Father in heaven, all that I could bear so easily, but now I have a burden that I can bear no longer! O Father in heaven, this thorn! this thorn! this thorn ! Take it away, O Father, take it away ! O Father, take this thorn away! But the answer comes, Paul, I will leave that thorn just where it is; I have lifted you up to the third heaven, but for fear you will think on earth that you are no man any more, I will keep the thorn in your flesh ; I will put you down there and I will let the devil strike that thorn in order that you may not forget that there is a devil ; I will let him strike hard, but remem- ber one thing, Paul, while I will not take that thorn out of you, I will put My hand against the point inside, and 1 will help you to bear it. We will not take this thorn and throw it down, and walk away from it, but I will take My hand and put it inside of you, and I will take the thorn into My wounded hand and hold it, and I will help you to bear it, and I will help you to bear that thorn until you die. If you die with your head cut off, I will with My wounded hand pick up that head and put on it the crown of eternal life, and I will take your body and your soul and preserve them in these hands of Mine, and I will keep you until the Resurrection morning, when I will reunite you and bring you in all glory to stand in heaven 266 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. in the presence of the holy angels, as one who has traveled the most perilous path, and the most glorious and pros- perous path in life. Paul, Paul, remember one thing: My grace is sufficient for thee. Dear friends, I have just reached the point where now I would like to begin to preach the grace of God, sufficient for you and sufficient for me, but it is time to close. PRAYER. O Father in heaven, we thank Thee that there is no path in life hidden from Thee; no path so thorny that Thou hast not traveled over it; no thorn so sharp nor so lasting that Thou art not willing to put Thy hand against its sharpness, and with Thy grace help us to bear the burden. We thank Thee,, heavenly Father, for the life, and the struggles, and the glorious victories of the Apostle Paul. And we pray Thee, heavenly Father, that Thou wilt help us in this life to find com- fort for our own souls in this evening hour. We pray Thee to go with us this week in all our duties and may we each hour remember that Thy hand is sufficiently strong around us, above us, under us and in us, to lead us prosperously over the path of life. Father in heaven, remember this evening our public and our private prayers ; remember those that we pray in secret that need not be secret, and remember those prayers in secret that must be secret because Thou alone canst understand them. Father in heaven, may this day bring us twenty-four hours nearer to the consummation of that plan so glorious in Thy hands. Lord, make us defenders of the truth. Give us the spirit of a Paul, sanctified by Thy Holy Spirit on high. Hear this, our prayer, for Jesus sake, who taught us to pray : Our Father who art in heaven ; Hallowed be Thy name ; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven; Give us this day our daily bread ; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for- give those who trespass against us ; And lead us not into temptation ; But deliver us from evil; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. QUINQUAGESIMA SUNDAY. Paul's Poem. 1 Cor. 13. € HOUGH I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tink- ling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods' to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth long, and is kind, charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up. Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth : but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I .became a man, I put away childish things. For now 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. An now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three, but the greatest of these is charity. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Thy Word is truth. Amen. Beloved in Christ : The Apostle Paul was one of the greatest men that ever appeared in this world. He was great in every sense ; he was great simply as a man ; he was great as an apostle and did more than all the other eleven; he was great as a Christian ; he was great as a missionary ; he was great as a poet. If the Apostle Paul had been a German, he would 267 268 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. have surpassed Schiller and Goethe; if an Englishman, he would have surpassed Shakesi)eare and Milton. There is not one poem in the world that surpasses the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians. Peter was the apostle of hope; Paul the apostle of faith, the great theologian; and John was the apostle of love, but John never pro- claimed love Avith more puritv and with more sincerity than Paul did in this thirteenth chapter. We wish there- fore that the Holy Spirit may bless the message of the morning while Ave dwell on PAULAS POEM. I. Love's valuation. II. Love's operation. III. Love's duration. I. What is love worth? ^'Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knoAvledge ; and though I have all faith, so that I could remoA^e mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestoAv all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing." What a valua- tion of true love! 1. First of all we are reminded of the fact that it is Avorth more than all eloquence. "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and haA^e not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal." There haA^e been men in history who, by means of their eloquence haA^e changed the destiny of nations ; men who, by their eloquence have decided who sliall sit upon the throne and Avho shall not ; there have been men who have swayed the audience to and fro like the waves of the sea, by means of a gifted tongue, and yet, my friends, if Ave had tongues such as men never had on earth, if we had the tongues of angels, like tliose that sang on the plains of Judea when Christ Avas born, if we had the tongues of the QUINQUAGESIMA SUNDAY. 269 angel that swept over the valley of Sennacherib and slew one hundred and eighty-five thousand soldiers, if we had the eloquence of those that sing around the throne on high, and had not love in our hearts, Ave would be like sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. Brass will make music, but you never saw a brass instrument in all your life that had a heart in it. Any one may take cymbals and strike them together, and make a noise, but after it is all done it is only a noise; and when a man stands before his congre- gation, or before a public audience of any kind, and simply has an eloquent tongue, and no love for humanity, you might as well blow through a brass horn, or take cymbals, strike them together and make a noise. There is nothing in it. The Apostle Paul therefore calls attention to the fact that all eloquence amounts to nothing of there is no love in the heart of him who speaks. 2. Again, this love is worth more than great inspira- tion. How many mothers of old used to jjray that their sons might be prophets. A Pro]Dhet in the days of the Old Testament was far greater than a king. Elijah, the prophet, stood far above Ahab or his queen ; but though a man were a proj)het, if he had not love in his heart, he would be nothing. Jonah was a prophet ; he was sent out by the Lord God to tell Nineveh that that city must fall; when Mneveh failed to fall, because it repented, poor Jonah felt sad and sorrowful; he would rather have seen that wliole city, with all its women and children, go down to death, rather than to be humiliated in his prophecy not coming true. We are told here that if a man has the gift of prophecy; if God should select him to foretell what would happen under certain conditions, that honor amounts to nothing if he has no love in his heart. 3. Not only is it worth more than all prophecy, but it is worth more than even the best education. Education is a power. ''Knowledge is power," is an old phrase that we found in our readers thirty j^ears ago, and any one who will look at the difference between ignorance and knowl- edge, can at once see what a power it is to have a good education. There are men all around us who could wield a wonderful power if they had only received the proper 270 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. education. The old subject that has been discussed in many a college hall, "Intellect in rags," can be seen in every city. There are intellects, which, if they had been properJy developed, could have been a power in any com- munity. But suppose a man has a good intellect, suppose he has had all the opportunity in the world for a good education, and then fails to have love in his heart for humanity, what does that education amount to? It is as nothing, says the Apostle Paul. 4. "And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing." We are told by the Savior that if w^e had faith like a grain of mustard seed, we could say to yonder mountain, be removed into the sea, and it would be removed. Suppose we had that faith, says Paul, suppose we had the faith to say to a certain moun- tain, a tunnel shall go through you, it would go ; suppose we had the faith to say that a ship should plow from the Atlantic ocean to the Pacific, just as soon as a nation has the faith, it can be done. It is done. The United States has the faith to say that we are not going away around by the Cape, that we can cut off thousands of miles, that the Isthmus must be removed into the sea, and it is going to be done; but, after all, though we have a faith that can remove mountains, though we have a faith that can tunnel the Alx)s, Avhat is all that worth if we possess not love? Suppose that Strong should be right when he says, that after the canal is completed from the Atlantic to the Pacific, the surface of the earth shall be changed five thousand miles, and the last great battle of the world shall be between the Slavs on the one side and the Anglo-Saxons on the other; suppose he should be right, that the last great battle shall be a thousand times worse than the bat- tles we have been reading about between Russia and Japan, what good will all the fighting and cutting of canals do, if we simply mean murder instead of love, to make the world better? 5. Love is worth more than even the greatest be- nevolence. "And though I bestow all my goods to feed the QUINQUAGESIMA SUNDAY. 271 poor, and though I give mj body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.'' There are very few people in this world so charitable that they give up every- thing they have and themselves remain poor. We have men in the present day who are giving great gifts to the world, but if you notice closely, their capital is growing all the time; they are not giving of their own necessity; they are not giving of the principal ; they are only taking a part of the interest and giving it to the Avorld to build themselves monuments; but suppose there should be a man in this world as rich as Eockefeller, as rich as Car- negie, who would not only give his interest, but all his principal for institutions of mercy, and himself should put on the beggar's garments, and go about from home to home, having no house in which to live, no money in the bank, not the i)rice to stay all night at a hotel, the world would say. Did you ever see anything like that? But the great Apostle Paul says, if a man were so benevolent that he would give up all he had for the poor, if he has not love, it amounts to nothing. Dear Friends, the man that would give up all he had, if he did not 2.ive it from a spirit of love, but from a spirit of selfishness, not to the glory of God, but to the glory of himself, though he gives all he has, it amounts to nothing. 6. This love of which I speak is worth more than eloquence, more than inspiration, more than education, more than even a miraculous faith, worth more than all benevolence, worth more than even martyrdom. There have been men who laid down their lives for this cause or that; there are people to-day who are laying down their lives in heathen lands. Did you not read the other day how some of those Japanese followed their leader right in the face of the mouth of cannon, permitting themselves to be shot to death, knowing there was no possible escape? They were willing to die for what they considered a prin- ciple, and yet, after all, my friends, what sense is there in any man standing before a cannon when it is shot off? What sense is there in any man simply holding up his life and saying, Now take it! And even though we do, and it is not for love's sake, love for the Gospel, love for God, 272 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. after all it is only a kind of selfish way of committing suicide — it amounts to nothing. II. Not only does this great poem of PauFs show us the valuation, but also the operation of this love, and this operation, if you will notice carefully, is both negative and positive. 1. Negative. "Charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up; doth not -behave itself un- seemly; seeketh not her own; is not easily provoked; thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity." There you have the negative operation of true love. One of the first things we hold up before the world is that charity envieth not, is never jealous. I need not tell you how much jealousy there is in the world. I could not if I wanted to. The only person in the world that is not an object of jealousy, is the one that abso- lutely amounts to nothing. Even a drayman is jealous of a drayman that does more than he does. Saloon keepers are jealous of each other. Store keepers are jealous of each other. Lawyers are jealous of each other. Doctors are jealous of each other. Preachers are jealous of each other. There is not a man on earth, I do not care who he is or where he is, that is a success in anything, but that there are others all around who would be glad if that man should fail, glad if that one should not succeed. Now then, says Paul, if a man has love in his breast, he en- vieth not. A man who has love in his heart cannot pos- sibly rejoice at the downfall of another, cannot possibly feel bad because some one else is prospering. If you have love in your heart you cannot possibly find fault with him who can lead better than you can lead, who can do busi- ness better than you can do it, who can succeed better than you can. This love not only envieth not, but this love is not rash in forming judgment. "Charity vaunteth not itself," or, as stated in the margin, "is not rash." How many people there are that are always ready to form a judg- ment in a moment! The first thing they hear they are ready to draw the conclusion that it is true, and they are glad it is true, and therefore they will now condemn the QUIXQUAGESIMA SUNDAY. 273 inau unheard. If there is anything in the Avorld that is unjust, it is to take a man and hang him to the first tele- phone pole because he is supposed to be guilty of a crime. The laws of every country demand that criminals have a hearing and thej^ be not condemned unheard, but in our daily lives we are condemning people imheard all the time. The first little remark we liear is accepted as true, and without any iDersonal investigation whatever, we con- demn the man. Love cannot do that. True love will al- ways treat another as one would wish to be treated. How would 3^ou like to have every little gossip that goes around condemning you be accepted as truth itself? We say condemning you to be accepted as truth itself. We say again, this true love vaunteth not itself. It is not puffed up. Hoav could love be puffed up? And yet we find many such people all around us. We need not go very far to find them. Lay your hand on your own breast and you have found the first one that naturally is considerably puffed up. Every little success tends to make us proud, and whenever we are full of pride ^ye are ready to take a fall. True love never takes any glory to itself. True love, when it meets with suc- cess, gives the glory to God. True love cares nothing for flattery, and very little about rebuke. True love does its duty, and when it has done that, does not care one way or the other personally what the world thinks. When we use that word, "I do not care," we never mean as to what people do, or how they accept this truth, but it is simply a personal declaration that when we have done right we do not care whether the world flatters us, or whether the world rebukes us, it is right, and right re- mains right forever. Love is not puffed up. Again, love doth not behave itself unseemly. Some people think the only way to be truly polite is to buy some good book on etiquette, then read the rules, just how to act when somebody comes, and just how to act when they go aAvay: just how to act in public, and how to act in private, and we never see one of these students of an etiquette book, but that we think, the Lord have 18 274 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. mercy ou them! Oh, that they had love in their hearts, then they would always know just how to act. It is said of Robert Burns that he was the most polite man that Eu- rope ever had. Eobert Burns never read any book on etiquette. Kobert Burns never paid any attention to the actions of other people. Robert Burns loved the mice, and sang- of tlie mice; lie loved the flies and sang of the flies; he loved the little insects, and sang of them; he loved tlie little flowers, the daisies, and sang of them; he loved everything that God's hand ever touched, and he was so filled with love that he always acted just right, no diiference where you found him. He knew how to act on the farm; lie was the plowman's poet. He knew how to act because he loved, and love never makes very many mistakes — doth not beliave itself unseemlj'. Love seeketh not her own. Love is never selfish. Some people seem to think they are unselfish when they try to grasp as much of this Avorld as they can, and do not take of their oAvn and give it again. We have two kinds of very great selfishness in the world : The one is the kind that wants everything and holds to it; the otlier is the kind that wants as much as possible, and gives a little at a time to others. True love does not even make use of the opportunity of getting all that it can get. True love, I say, in the heart of man is not Avilling to accept everything that it can and call its own. The Lord Jesus Christ owned the heavens and the earth. He miglit have kept all those tilings as His own, but notice the grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, ho^^' He became poor that Ave through His poA^erty might become rich. The man that has IGO acres of land and wants to grasp another farm here and another farm there, witli tlie intention of getting that and holding it as his own, is selfish. The man that reaches out and gets eA^eiy- thing he can get, Avhether it is capital or ground, is sel- fish. The only truh^ unselfish man in the Avorld is the on(^ that might get more and more, and Avill not even take it, — the man that might grasp his thousands, but is satisfied Avith his hundreds, — the man that might OAvn what rightly belongs to his neighbor, but instead of that (JinNQUACJESIMA SUNDAY. 275 says, No, it inigiit be my own, but I will let it be. — SeeketU not her own. It does not say, Keepeth not her own, but Seeketh not her own. How man^' people there are in this Avorld that have not homes of their own, that might have had millions, that might have grasped here and there, but tliey see that life is more than sim]3ly a little dirt, that it is more than simply buildings, tliat it is more than sim]3ly bank ac- counts. The greatest lives that can be lived in this^ Avorld are those that Avant enougli to eat and enough to Avear, enough to do good liere and there, that see opportunities for grasping but let the opportunity go, not because it is not right to have Avhat God might put into our hands, but because Avhen there are two opportunities before us, and the one is good and the other is better, there is only one right thing to do, and tliat is to grasp the better and let the good go. It does not take a A-ery deep man to see that life is more than simply to grasp things; that life is more than simply to own things. It is more blessed to give than to receive, and sometimes it is more blessed not to take than to take. We Avant to find the real defini- tion of love this morning. LoA^e seeketh not her OAvn. Love only takes Avhat it can use for God's glory, and does not take eA^erything tliat it might possess. Love is not easily proA^oked. Some people are pro- A^oked at everything they hear. Some people cannot sit down and listen to a sermon, but they get half angry, and go home, and grumble and groAvl on the streets. Some people cannot go through a simple business trans- action Avithout having a fight on hands. Some people can- not be rebuked for anything but their temper arises and they are angr}^, ahvays provoked. If there is anything in the Avorld a man ought to tr^^ to get rid of, it is an uncontrolled temper; it is this thing of always getting provoked at everything he hears. Love has charity; love listens; love wants to be rebuked at times in order to be- come truly humble; love is glad to see the two sides of every question; love Avants instruction; love, after all is done, keeps cool, and says, I will make the best of it. Let us be very careful that we do not let that spirit which 276 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. is not from above, but from below, rule in our hearts. Let us rather have love. Again, Love thinketli no evil. How many people there are that are constantly suspicious, wondering whether this man is moral, wondering whether this wo- man is just as good as she ought to be, wondering whether this is just right and that just right, and they know nothing; all they know is that they have seen somebody talk to somebody, or seen somebody in somebody's com- I)any, and Avhen one is lively, they say that is a great sinner, and when one stands back in the corner and has nothing to say, that there is a great saint ; but mark what I tell you, the man that stands in the corner, never hav- ing very much to say, the Avoman that sits around and hasn't Diuch to say, those are the very people you can suspicion if you are going to suspect anybody; they are the ones that are going to sin a great deal more than those who are talking and having their pleasure. Do not misjudge people. Do not be suspicious. If 3^ou have any love in your heart, consider ever^^ person innocent until proven guilt}'. Consider every j)erson moral until you know they are not. Consider everybody good until they are proven evil. We are living in a time when the world considers a man guilty until he is proven innocent, and that is a damnable principle. That is a principle that will ruin any church; that Avill ruin any home; that Avill ruin the morals of all people. What right have I to think my brother is anything but a good man until it is demonstrated that he is bad? What right have I to think that any woman in the world is evil until it is pos- itively known that she is not good? For my part I have always believed that there are thousands and thousands of good Christian men all around us; I have always be- lieved that the world is full of good, virtuous women. If I believed that every man on earth is a bad man, he would have a perfect right to draw the conclusion that I am bad. Love must be charitable and love must consider innocent everything that is not known as guilty. Love thinketli no evil. Love rejoiceth not in iniquit>'. There you have the QUINQUAGESIMA SUNDAY. 277 reason why so many people are constantly feeding upon suspicion, constanth^ considering people guilty when they are innocent, because they rejoice in iniquity. There are some people absolutely not happy unless they can hear of some terrible crime that has been committed, unless they can run from house to house and gossip about the fall of this woman or that man; they do not want the things good, and holy, and right. True love rejoiceth not in iniquity. True love mourns when people fall. True love feels sad Avhen people go wrong. True love rejoiceth not in iniquity. There, dear friends, you get the nega- tive view of true love, as the great poet Paul sang in this Avonderful poem. 2. This operation is not only negative, but it is pos- itive. Love strikes out both ways and reaches in all di- rections. There is one verse in the Bible that has been very often misquoted, and we cannot blame the people, because the first translation was not right. I suppose every one of you can quote it : ^'We love Him because He first loved us." You find it in the catechism, you find it in King James' translation. How it ever got there I do not know; it is not in the original; it is not in the authorized version. The correct translation of that verse is, ''We love, because He first loved us" — not "We .love Him." I will grant that it is correct to say that we even love God because He first loved us, but it is all wrong to say that we love Him only, because He first loved us. The real truth that the Lord God wishes to teach us is this, that God in heaven loved us, and because He loved us we love, not only Him, but we love everything. We loVe because He first loved us. Edward Irving at one time walked into a room where a very sick boy was lying near the gate of death; the boy Avas too sick to talk to very long. Edward Irving had the good sense to walk in and lay his hand upon the feverish brow of the dying boy, and said "My boy, God loves you," and then walked out of the room. That boy lay there for hours meditat- ing upon the message of Edward Irving. At last he raised up in his bed, another move and he stepped out on the floor, stood up in the presence of his family and said, 278 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. "God loves me! God loves me!-' And not only did that boy get well, but there was created in his breast a new life. ''God loves me!" And he went out into the world and became a power. Why? Because there Avas not any- thing any more that he could not love, because God loved him. The secret of tliis beautiful poem is that Paul recognized that what God did for Saul made Paul love everytliing, and what made Paul love everything, should make you and me love everything. In other words, this loA^e is not onh^ negative, it is positive. ''Charity suffereth long." Look at Christ. Oh, how He felt the punishment of His disciples! How He bore with the ungodly world! How He patiently waited! Look at the apostle Paul. How they whipped him; how they -scourged him; how they did all they could to kill him, but he endured it all. Why? Because he loved the hand that threw the stone to kill him. He loved the hand that wielded the lash across his back. Why? We love because He loves us. Charity suffereth long, and is kind. Oh, what a power there is in kindness! And I sometimes wonder why it is that we are so dumb as not to see that. We think if we can say something ugly to some one that we have won a victory. We think that if we can show some ungodly act, that that is revenge, that that is power. There is no power in the world so great as true kindness. What a power a church like this could be if every mem- ber would spend every day looking around to see if he could not say something or do something that would cheer some broken heart. Oh, what a power there is in kindness! I tell you, a man will never forget the kind act you do him; he cannot forget it. That is love. Love has eyes in all directions. Be careful that you do not form the habit of walking on the street, seeing no one; be careful that you do not form the habit that you do not see your next door neighbor suffering, that you never see when there is nothing on the table of your neighbor. Be careful that you are not walking around in the world with your eyes closed. Look for an opportunity to say QUINQUAGESIMA SUNDAY. 279 something, and do something that will make the world better. That is love. Love rejoiceth in the truth. Nicodemus came to Christ at night because he wanted the truth. He found the truth; he rejoiced in it, and Avhen Christ was cruci- fied, he took the body and laid it in the grave. There was nothing he would not have loved to do for his Master, because he rejoiced in the truth. How mam^ people we have in the present day that do not want the truth ; they do not want that which strikes them. I hear it said every day b}' people, "I love the truth. I want something that strikes me." Nine times out of ten the people that say that, take offense when you strike them. The real truth is that very feAA' people love the things that hurt, but nevertheless, if we have love in our hearts as we ought to have it, we want the truth at any cost. May God help us to have that disposition of mind that we want every- thing investigated. God help us that eyerj plant which He hath not planted shall be rooted up, and everything that He has not planted needs rooting up, needs investiga- tion from all sides, and that is what love will do. "Bearetli all tilings." Just see Avhat Christ bore be- cause He loved the world! Just see what Paul bore be- cause he loved the world! Just see what Dr. Luther en- dured in the 16th century because he loved the world! ^'Love beareth all things and believeth all things." Not the things the devil says and the things the liar says, but believes everything that God says. When God speaks, love says it must be true; it cannot be otherwise. Love says, take God at His word. If there were a better way to say what ought to be said, God would have said it. When God says, ^'This is My body," He means it. When He says, ^'This is My blood," love says, believe it because God has spoken it. When God says, ''Thy sins are for- given thee," believe it. When God says, "Repent," be- lieve it. When God says there is a heaven, believe it. When God says there is a hell, believe it. Love never will doubt the*^ Word of God. "Hopeth all things." We are taught in the Word of 280 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. God that all things work together for good to them that love God. If you have that love of God in your hearty do not complain if you are sick. Do not complain when death comes into your home. Do not complain if you have done all you can to keep the old home and it gets aT^ay from you. Let it go. There will be some good in it some- where. Love hopeth all things. Love '^endureth all things." No difference what comes, be it friend or foe, be it bright and sunny or dark and stormy, whatever comes, says Paul, we will endure it all, because we have love. I tell you, my friends, this poem is not the result of a fifteen minutes' thought; it is not the result of the life of a da}^; it is a whole life of a great man under the hand and in the hand of a great God, bubbling forth the mighty springs of love in the heart. III. Let us notice the duration of this love. ^'Charity never faileth : but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I under- stood as a child, I thought as a child : but when I be- came a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I sliall knoAv even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope and charity, these three, but the greatest of these is charity." Charity never faileth. Love lasts. Oh, Avhat a beau- tiful theme! The immortal soul wants something that will last. All around us are things that are not going to last. In this Book we have some wonderful prophecies, but they have been fulfilled. These prophecies are not needed forever. They will not last. On the day of Pentecost God gave the apostles tongues with which to proclaim the Gospel to all nations, but, my friends, there is a time coming when we Avill not need all the languages am^ more. You will find no Greek QUINQUAGESIMA SUNDAY. 281 language spoken to-day correctly on earth. The Latin language is vanishing. Many languages of a thousand years ago are not heard any more. Our own mother tongue is vanishing. Some of your parents could not have talked English; some of your children cannot talk Ger- man to-day. If the grandfathers were living the grand- children could not talk to them. Languages vanish. Tongues vanish. Knowledge vanishes. The love of God is older than language, and the love which we are to have in our hearts will last long after knowledge is gone. You seem to thing that knowledge lasts? Why, no, it does not. During the past century nearly all the in- ventions in the world were discovered, but if you were to say that in the present century we are going to use the inventions of the last century, you would be mistaken. There are foundries where you will find the iron piled up high of machines that Avere made twenty-five years ago that cannot be used any more. We read in our mag- azines to-day that the steam engine will soon be a thing of the past. It Avas the glory of the 19th century. Simp- son, who discovered chloroform, was heralded to the world as a great scientist. His own neighbors 10 years later said, take the book out of the colleges; it isn't worth anything any more. Knowledge is vanish- ing. Not many years ago an old doctor supposed he had made a Avonderful discovery, that you could take poison out of a calf and put it into a man, and keep him from getting the smallpox. That man Avas given a trip around the world and lieralded as the very image of knowledge. To-day Ave discoA^er that the cells of coAv-pox and of can- cer belong to the same family, and you are wondering why there are so many cancers and so many diseases among the people. It Avill not be ^Ye years longer until the world Avill Avish that Dr. Jenner has never been born. KnoAvledge is vanishing. W^hat we know to-day will pass aAvay in ten years from now, but love abideth forever. Oh, notice the duration of this love! Even longer than all knoAvledge and science. "For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect 282 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man I put aAva}^ childish things. For now 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.'' And to-day, though we think we are men, Ave are only chil- dren. What Ave know to-day Avill be considered child's play in eternity. All that we knoAv to-day will vanisli, even our present sight. ^'For uoav aac see tlirough a glass, darkly, but then face to face.'' This morning Ave thank God for our eyes; Ave are so thankful that we can read His holy Word; we are so thankful that Ave can sing the songs of praise. If you and I should be struck blind this morning, Oh, how sad we Avould feel, and yet, my friends, these eyes of ours shall see in the presence of God in such a way that our present sight is as blindness. Present sight shall vanish away, but love ncA^er. And noAv abideth faith. Faith Avill last longer than knowledge ; faith will last longer than prophecy, but there is eA^en a time coming Avhen faith Avill be needed no more. When you and I stand before our God on the Judgment Day, there Avill not be one Avord said about faith. Hope AAdll last a long, long time. As long as there is life there is hope. But when the Judgment Day is past for those that are lost, for the damned, there Avill be absolutely no liope any more. It is gone forever. LoA^e will never die. And now abideth faith, liope, and cliarity, these three, but the greatest of these is charity. The greatest of these is love. Why? Because faith must die; hope must pass away, but for all .eternity love must reign, as long as there is a God, for God is love, and only Avlien Ave let that love reign in our hearts will Ave become cliildren of God. The thought came to me as I read this beautiful x>oem over and over, and prayed and meditated on it, I believe I know why it is such a beautiful poem. I believe I knoAv AA^hy Paul Avrote it so Avell. Because he dipped his pen into the blood of Christ On Caharv. Amen. QUINQUAGESIMA SUNDAY. 283 PRAYER. Lord, our God, do Thou give us a portion of that love in our hearts today that is worth more than eloquence, that is worth more than inspiration, that is worth more than education, or than even benevolence; that is worth more than even martyrdom without true love. We pray Thee, our heavenly Father, that Thou wilt help us to practice this love. We gain strength to walk by walking; we learn to speak by talking, and O God, do Thou help us to increase this love by loving, and by loving with Thy eternal love. We pray Thee, O God, that Thou wilt help us this morning to exercise this love in the church, in the home and in the State ; and while we are exercising this love, let us pray to Thee for more love, in Thine own prayer : Our Father who art in heaven; Hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven; Give us this day our daily bread ; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for- give those who trespass against us ; And lead us not into temptation ; But deliver us from evil; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. FIRST SUNPAY IN LENT. Paul's Plea. 2 Cor. 6 :1-10. 'jrMW E then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that mtlB ye receive not the grace of God in vain. (For He saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salva- tion have I succoured thee : behold, now is the accepted time ; behold^ now is the day of salvation). Giving no offense in anything, that the ministry be not blamed : but in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in dis- tresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watchings, in fastings ; by pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness, bv the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, by the Word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true ; as unknown, and yet well known ; as dying, and, behold, we live ; as chastened, and not killed ; as sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, 3'et making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Thy Word is truth. Amen. Beloved in Christ : — This is the first Siinda}^ in Lent. I wish you could hear the apostle Paul instead of me during this Lenten season. I have often thought I should like to hear him who said, "I am determined to know nothing among men but Christ and Him crucified/' preach a sermon on the sufferings and passion of Jesus. The apostle Paul was well versed in the Old Testament. He knew the story of the fall of man and of his determination to get away from the true and living God. He knew the story of the sacrifices which were types of the promised Savior. He knew the story of the uplifted brazen serpent, which was 284 FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT. 285 only a type of Jesus who should be lifted up on Calvary. He knew the stubborn Israel as well as any man that ever lived, because he himself was one of them, and he knew Avhat the grace of God had done for him. He knew that every man on earth needed salvation as much as he did, and therefore, he gave up all of this world that he might become an ambassador for the glory of Christ. "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath com- mitted unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us ; we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." In this last word you find the burden of the plea that Paul made to a dying world. Be ye reconciled to God! And I might cry out right now, to you as an individual standing before me. Are you reconciled with God? Have you made peace with your God, through the Lord Jesus Christ? THE PLEA OF PAUL. Paul's plea was made in behalf: I. Of souls. II. Of the Church. III. Of the truth. I. Paul's plea for souls. "We then as workers to- gether with Him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. (For He saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I suc- cored thee ; behold, now is the accepted time : behold, now is the day of salvation"). If there ever was a time, my friends when people ought to think of the salvation of their souls, above any other time, it is the Lenten season. In this season of the year the Church of God all over the world is considering the great passion and suffering of Christ on His way to Calvary and on the cross, and if it is a good thing to set apart a day to commemorate the birth of the father of our country, or to set apart a day in commemoration of the Declaration of Independence, 286 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. how 11 inch more should it be the duty of the Church of God to set apart a season of the year when we shall say farewell to the world, and meditate on the awful suffer- ings of Christ, that we might have eternal life, and when I speak of a passion season, and a season set apart for the purpose of meditating upon the crucifixion of Jesus, I do not mean that the balance of the year Ave should become worldly again, or that we should go back and away from that cross again, but I do mean to say that we ought to spend forty days in a year meditating upon the cross and upon Christ thereon, so that the whole year Ave may live nearer to Jesus. I, therefore, beg of you as a congrega- tion, do not sit at home on ThursdaA^ cA'Cning as if you did not knoAV that the house of God is here. I beg of you, do not stay away from the best serAice that the Church of God can give, when it holds up the passion of Christ. I make a special plea Avith the council of iua^ church, I beg of you, do not get careless. I haA^e rebuked you, I liaA^e begged of you, I would like to plead Avith you tonight, standing by the cross of Jesus; I say I beg of 3'Ou, by the cross of Jesus, stand close to your church and to your Savior, and meditate on the aAvful sufferings of Christ, I make a plea for souls and — '^ . . . . beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in A-ain." You know what it means to receiA^e bread in A^ain. If a hungry man comes to your door and you giA^e him bread, and he throAvs it to the dogs, he has receiA^ed it in vain. If a man is dying of thirst, and you giA'C him the water, and he spill's it out, he has received it in vain. If a man who is begging receives money for the support of his family, and goes down to a saloon and drinks until he is intoxicated and robbed of the gift that he received, surely he received that gift in vain. If salva- tion is offered to you tonight and you refuse to accept it, you receive the grace of God in A^ain. Paul's plea to a dying world Avas, Do not, as an immortal soul that might be saA^ed, hear the Gospel and reject it, and continue to reject it, for if you do, you are lost foreA^er, and the grace of God has been given to you in vain. He not onlv savs that some people will hear the Gos- FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT. 287 pel, and hear it and hear it, and at last be lost and damned, but he says that some people who have accepted Christ get careless and reckless, and they, too, receive the grace of God in vain. I picture before my mind tonight a young man who comes to catechetical instruc- tion, prepares himself to hear the Word of God, under- stands it and promises upon his knees before the altar to be faithful to his God until death, partakes of the bread and wine, and in God's mysterious way receives the body and blood of Christ, after the Sunday School closes hears the preaching of the Word, but sometime or other in his life he finds out that there is a path of sin which he would follow, and the more he follows that the less he wants the light; the more he follows in the footprints of Satan, the less he wants to hear of the Church; he drops out of the Sunday School class, he drops out of the Church serv- ice; he now, instead of coming up and shaking hands with his pastor, tries to avoid him; you can see him no more in sacred surroundings; he is going to destruction. He is sick and dies; his soul is lost. He has received the grace of God in vain. Paul made a plea for men not to receive the grace of God in vain, either by never accepting Christ, or, having accepted Him, by finally rejecting Him. There are others again who receive the grace of God in vain by putting off from day to day what ought to be done at once. '^I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation.'' There is a day to be born ; there is a day to be born again. There is a day to be saved, and that day lies somewhere between the hour of birth and the hour of death. That day is offered to every man. It does not come before birth; it cannot come after the words are said, "Ashes to ashes and dust to dust." Paul's plea was to living men not to pass by that day of salva- tion when offered to them, lest they receive the grace of God in vain. And how often we must see men putting off from winter to winter, and from season to season, what ought to be done today. It may be there is some one listening to me this night who thinks I am a little severe or in bad order, and making my plea too strong, but ir>v friends, I have been taught from my mother's lap 288 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. that God's house is God's house; I have been taught from my mother's knees that if I cannot behave nij^self in any church I must stay at home; I have been taught from my mother's knees that salvation is worth more than all the world, and consequently I made the plea, as Paul made it, be careful how you act in God's house; be care- ful not to consider that this is simply a meeting-house. It is a place where a plea comes from a man as an ambas- sador from God, pleading with you, Be ye reconciled with God. And that is nothing to laugh at; that is nothing to put off from day to day, for remember, when a man makes such a plea, he makes it as in God's own presence. ^'Now then, Ave are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us ; we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." If Jesus Christ were standing here tonight, with His wounded hands and bleeding breast, there would be nothing to joke about. If God Almighty were standing here tonight making a plea with you, you would say, now we must listen ; but, my friends, the Word that I am speaking to you tonight is the Word of Him whose hands and breast were bleeding. The words that I preach to you tonight are the words of the Almighty God. And so Paul made a plea that the people should not receive the grace of God in vain. Paul set up this great danger signal before the world that they might remember not only that there is a day of salvation, but there is an hour in the day when a man must be saved or lost forever. ''Behold, noAV is the ac- cepted time: behold, noAv is the day of sah^ation." Right now, right in this moment. Paul never had any use for the man that wanted to put off until tomorrow what ought to be done today, or to put off until evening Avhat ought to be done this morning; Paul never made a plea that said, do this before sundown. Paul's great plea was that now is now, and that noAv is the only opportunity that any man e\er did or ever Avill do anything. If we could sim- ply learn what time means Ave would not be so foolish as to put off into the future what never can be done in the future. If a man Avill ever be saA^ed, he must be saved in the present moment. If a man is eA-er going to be FIK8T SUNDAY IX LENT. 289 damned, lie must be damned in the present moment. There is not a thing eA er done that was done in the past, I do not care of what you speak. Here stands a great temple. Stone after stone was laid up on top of each other; at last it was completed and dedicated to the tri- une and living God; then soon after a man of God stood here where I stand and plead with you as I plead, plead for the same Savior and for the same cause that I plead with you tonight; but remember, every stone in that wall was laid up in the present; when one stone was placed ux)on the other, it was now, and only now; and every member of this church that was ever saved, was saved in the present; and when you die, it will not be tomor- row; when you breathe your last breath it will be just as much now as if you died this moment. Do you grasp the idea? Paul's plea was, now is the time to be saved. For fear that some of you may not live until the end of this sermon, I hold up before you noT\' Jesus Christ, dying on the cross in your stead, as a substitute for your sins. You were guilty and He was not. He is dying for you, wretched sinner, that you might have eternal life, and says, Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are lieavy laden, and I Avill give you rest. And, Him that cometli unto Me, I will in no wise cast out. He that believeth and is baptized sliall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned. That is true now; it will be true when the Judgment becomes the now; it will be ti-ue when eternity is now. I beseech you, therefore, as an ambassa- dor of God, make up your mind this moment that this Christ whom I preach to you tonight shall be your Savior, now. II. He not only made a plea for souls; PauFs plea was for the church. "Giving no offense in anything, that the ministry be not blamed; but in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in im- prisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watchings, in fast- ings; by pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned," When 19 290 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. that great mind of Paul begins to reach out, it seems as^ though He can reach from sky to sky. His love is won- derful. It reminds me of a little verse one time found on the wall in a cell of an insane asylum. The author of these words was not so insane when he wrote them : "Could we with ink the ocean fill And were the skies of parchment made, And every stalk on earth a quill, To write the love of God to man Would drain the ocean dry; Nor could the scroll contain the whole If stretched from sky to sky." When this great mind of Paul begins to write, one would 8uj)pose that a scroll from sky to sky could not contain the thoughts that are crowding themselves into the great pages of God'S Word. He has in mind the Church of God, and he saj^s, be careful in your Christian life that you do not give offense to the ministry ; that you do not give offense to the Church of God. I know of no better rule of life than to ask yourself the question every day, what influence are my actions now having on the Churcli of God? What Avould you think of me as a min- ister of the Gospel if I stood here tonight and preached purity of life, and tomorrow you find me staggering on the street as a drunkard? What would you think of me if I stood here tonigiit and prayed God the Holy Spirit to bless us, and tomorrow in my conversation began to curse and swear? What would you think of me as a minister of the Gospel if tonight I said to you, be ye rec- onciled with God, and tomorrow I show that I am walk- ing in the footprints of tlie devil? Oh, says the Apostle Paul, 1 make a plea for the Church. The Church is the bride of Christ, and tlierefore, as members of that bride, we should be very careful not to give offense in our lives. The question ought to arise tomorrow, what are those things that I am about to do, what kind of an impres- sion are they going to make on the world concerning my church; what are my actions in the church? I am satis- fied if every man would listen to this plea of Paul, he would not come to Sunday school and then run home, FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT. 291 and ghe offense to the Church of God. I am satisfied he would not give offense to the Cliurch of God by living an ungodly life, or by conducting himself in his business affairs in such a way as to hurt and harm the bride of Christ. A man that is a true Christian will ask himself the question, no difference what he does, what effect will this have upon the world as to my church? It ought to regulate marriage ; it ought to regulate the home ; it ought to regulate all the business affairs of life ; it ought to regu- late our conversation. How often I find mj self talking in public and in private, but not always in such a ^^ ay that eveiy sentence may be an honor to the Church which I so dearly love. Let us, therefore, not offend this church, but always come to her defense. How shall we do this? ''By pure- ness, by knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness, by the Hol}^ Ghost, by love unfeigned.-' The man that tries to live a pure life is coming to the defense of the church. The man that wants to know more of the Bible and more of his catechism is able to defend the truth which he confesses, and is coming to the defense of his church. The man that has much patience and long-suffering, like Paul, and like Christ, is coming to the defense of his church. The man that is always looking out for an oj)portunity to do some good, kind act for some poor, fallen, Avretched being, is coming to the defense of his church. Tlie man that depends wholly and solely upon the light of the Holy Spirit, that is filled with that love of which we heard so much last Sunday, is coming to the defense of his church. My dear friends, as Moses on Mount Sinai, dwelling with God, came down and had to veil his face because he was in the presence of God, so we should always live in such a way that to be in our presence makes people feel that they are in the presence of just such a character. That is the plea of the Apostle Paul. There are enough words in this text to make a thou- sand sermons, but let me say, in one word, never do a thing that will hurt your church. Christ purchased it with His blood on Caharv, and Avlien anv one savs anv- 292 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. tiling against your church, come to her defense. I pitT the poor children who live in homes where fathers have no more sense than to talk against the church; that live in homes Avhere mothers are fighting their preachers; where children are allowed to hear things that will re- flect upon the church, which Jesus Christ bled and died for on Calvar}^ I used to wonder why it was that every time we Avould say one woyd against our pastor our father would say, Now hush right there; hush. When the neighbors would say we needed a change of pastors, father would say, I don't see any need, as long as we have got God's Word i^reached in its purity, I do not see any need. My friends, I do not remember, in the fifteen years I Avas under the parental roof, that father or mother ever said one word against their pastor or against their cliurch. At the time I thought they could not see as well as some of the neighbors. We had another neighbor Avho was ahvays fighting the church, always found fault with this and with that, and hi,o children heard it. Today they have nearly all left the church. No Avonder. No a\ onder. When a parent in the home slaps the bride of Christ in the face, the children will fight her. Paul made a plea for the Church of God, that you do not offend her, and ahvays come to her defense. Til. He made a plea for truth, that stands like a mountain in the distance, which only the fingers of the rays of the sun can touch. ''By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left." Paul saw very well that the path of life can never be so draAvn as to suit CA^erybody. One of the most foolish men on earth is the man that tries to be so popular as to please everybody. It is sim- ply impossible. What pleases a child of the devil can neA'er please a child of God, and what pleases a child of God cannot please a child of the devil. The Apostle Paul recognized there is a path on AA^iich a man must go, and that must be the path of Him Avho said, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, and no man cometh to the Father bnt by ]\re," and he recognized that when a man takes FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT. 293 that path he has got to do some fighting, and continue until the end, and when he reached the end he changed not his mind, but he said, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith." On the right hand will be those who will defend us; on the left hand will be those who will find fault with us. And so he goes on this straight path and sees on both sides some fighting to be done. By the Word of Truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteous- ness on the right hand and on the left, by honor on the right and dishonor on the left, by evil report on the left hand and good report on the right hand ; as a deceiver on the left, and yet true on the right; as unknown on the left, well known on the right; as dying on the left, behold, we live on the right ; as chastened on the left, not killed on the right; as sorrowful on the left, yet always rejoicing on the right; as poor on the left, jet making many rich on the right; as having nothing on the left, and yet possessing all things on the riglit. A Avonderful path! When a man of God does his duty there will be those who will honor him for it and stand by him to the last; there will be others that will find all kinds of fault with him. When a man does his full duty, there are always those that want the truth and rejoice in it and pass good reports; there are others that cannot stand the good news, and, therefore, they i3ass evil reports. There are those that will stand by the truth and say it is true, no difference how hard it hits us, and there are cowards who will go out and say, he is a deceiver. Some when they hear the truth will say, we know him well and he is popular among us; and then a man that cannot bear the truth will go away and say, I do not know him at all; he is unknown. There are some who will say. Now there is the life in the church; and the man that does not like the truth will go away and say. The church is dying. There are some who will say, We will chasten him ; and the others say, But you cannot kill him. Some will find they are very sad; others are rejoicing. The man that proclaims the truth may be so poor as not to ,294 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. have au^^tliing but the soul, and the body, and the cloth- ing that he wears, but the man that preaches the truth, even if he has no home, is making his congregation rich, and giving them a home in heaven. He may have noth- ing, and yet if he has Christ and salvation, he possesses all things. Such, my friends, is the plea of the Apostle Paul, and noAV in conclusion let me urge upon you, yourself, to become co-workers with Christ in this great work. I conclude, therefore, with the first verse of my text : ''We then, as Avorkers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain." Do joii realize tonight how much is being done for your salvation? Do you realize that God is working for it? Do you realize that Paul gave his very life that you might be saved? Do you realize that many a minister of the Gospel is pleading with you that you might be saved? Do you realize that our Sunday school superintendent is giving his life, and his time, that you might be saved? Do you realize that these Sunday school teachers are coming to their teachers' meetings, studying the Word of God, in order that they may become more efficient and sufficient, to work hand in hand that you might be saved? Do you understand tonight that the very angels of heaven, the messengers of God, are watching over the saints, that they may be saved? Do you realize that tlie great Church of God all over the earth is praying, Thy kingdom come, that you might be saved? Do you understand that the very hand of the Almighty God is pushing down the Avails of China, is guiding the war between Russia and Japan, breaking down the walls everywhere, that the Gospel of Christ may have its Avay all over the world, that every nation on earth may be con^dnced that there is work being done, Avork by the hand of God Almighty, by the angels and the saints, and by the living men of God, that you might be saved, and then, when you are saved, you are supposed to take up your hand, as Saul took up the liand of Paul, and work together for the salvation df souls, tbat none may receiA^e the grace of God in vain? Amen. FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT. 295 PRAYER. Our Father in heaven, if we were to pray all night, we could not ask for more than Thou hast taught us in Thy prayer : Our Father who art in heaven ; Hallowed be Thy name ; Thy kingdom come ; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven ; Give us this day our daily bread ; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for- give those who trespass against us ; And lead us not into temptation ; But deliver us from evil ; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT. Know and Grow. I Thes. 4 :l-7. fURTHERMORE then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication; that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor ; not in the lust of con- cupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God : That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter; because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Thy Word is truth. Amen. Beloved in Christ: The celebrated missionary, Louis Harms, tells of an incident that took place in a hotel in Europe, which is worth remembering. A man who was skeptical stepped into that hotel one evening and found an old Book lying on the table, open. He read in that Book the wonderful story of the passion of Christ; he turned away with a kind of a sneer as if to say, this hotel is run by some religious fool that still clings to the old Bible; but the Holy Spirit had impressed the words on his mind, and as he turned aAvay from the old Bible and looked at the wall, he saw a picture Avhich made a deeper impression on his mind; it was the picture of the Savior, blood ooz- ing from his hands, and feet, and breast, and from the thorny crown, while His head was bowed in death, and it seemed that that picture preached a sermon, to him 296 SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT. 297 that brougiit the tears to his eyes, and as they fell they seemed to have the weight to pull his head down low enough to see written below that picture these words : 'This is what I have done for thee : What have you done for Me?" And when the landlord stepped into that room he saw there a man in tears, Aveeping like Peter of old. He went to him and asked him Avhat was the matter. He said, ''I read the old Bible and tried to sneer at it, but God has used that picture on the wall to show me what an unthankful Avretch I am. The Savior died for me and I have done nothing so far but ridicule Him and His Church, and now I feel that I must sink into the depths of hell. Oh, what shall I do? What shall I do?" That Christian landlord comforted him that night with the Word of God, showed him the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world, but with heavy heart the trav- eler Avent away. Six months later he returned and said, with joyful countenance, ''Your Lord is now my Lord; your Savior is uoav my Sa^aor; your salvation and peace are now my salvation and my peace; my home has be- come like your home; there is only one thing missing, and I Avant it. What will you take for the picture on the wall that brought me to salvation?" The more I consider the great sufferings of Jesus Christ, the more I am led to ask myself the question, What can I do for my Savior? And the more I ask my- self this question, the more I am troubled with the little doing of some professed Christians who might do more for their Savior. The Apostle Paul had taught the Thes- salonians the wonderful Gospel of grace; he had in- structed them in the foundation of true religion, then went away and sent Timothy back that he might see hoAv they were getting along. Timothy returned and told Paul that they were still sound in the faith, but that they had not learned sanctification, that they had not learned yet hoAv to conduct themselves, and, Avith regard to their finances that they were still taking adA^antage of their neighbors in ungodly ways, and the Apostle Paul felt hurt, and Avrote th^is epistle in order that they might learn to abound more and more in sanctification. "Fur- 298 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. thermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.'' In other words, Christianity is a growth. We cannot stand still. We are either better Christians today than we were last year, or we are not so good; we are either going forward in! the line of progress, or we are making retrogression. Let us ask ourselves the question this evening, are we growing in our faith and good works as a thank offering to the Lord Jesus, who laid down His life for us? I bring you this evening the beautiful message, KNOAV AND GROW. I. Know that you may grow. II. Grow that you may know. I. ^'Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us hoAv ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.-' 1. In other Avords, know, that you may grow. What is it that he wants them to know? 'Tor ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus." The Apostle Paul in this letter appeals twelve times to the Thessalonians to the great fact that they know, and building upon that Avhich they know, he wants to show them how to grow, and one of the things he calls their attention to in our text, is that they know the command- ments, and that is one thing that you and I must know if we ever expect to grow. We must know both tables of the law, and both uses of that law. So many people in the present time know so little about the first table of the law. Even the world knows something about the golden rule, Love your neighbor as yourself, but how many people are there who realize that our first duty is to know who God is, and how not to take His name in vain, and how to remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy. Paul had taught the Thessalonians SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT. 299 this great law; he held up before them that first table to show them hoAv they should love their God with all their heart, with all their soul, with all their mind, Avith all their strength. They had been worshipping idols, and by the preaching of Paul they had turned aAvay from their idols to the true and living God. He took his pen and wrote these Avords : ^Tor they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God." They not only knew the first table of the law, but he taught them also the second. He showed them it was their duty to be good and kind to their fathers and moth- ers; he showed them that hatred is murder, and that a murderer shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. He showed them it was necessary to lead pure lives. In the days when the Apostle Paul wrote this epistle there was a condition of affairs throughout that land that was abominable. The home had become like the homes were a fcAv years ago in France, and as they are becoming in our own country. In that day throughout that country it became a dishonor to raise children ; in that day it was considered honorable to be the finest lady in the world, as in France where virtue could be bought and sold; in that day men and women were not living a life of virtue; it was the crying sin of that country to which he refers in our text, and he calls their attention to the fact that that kind of a life is abominable, that it is ruining their bodies, and will ruin their souls in hell. He told them that they must not commit adultery; he told them that they must not steal; that they dare not take what does not belong to them by right ; that they must tell the truth, for to lie is devilish. He told them that to covet was idolatrj', and then, having taught them these command- ments, he says, knowing this, they should grow. Not only did he teach them the two tables of the law, but the two uses of the law. Tlie Ten Command- ments are given us for a double purpose. The first pur- pose is to show us our sins. How would you and I know we are sinners if we had not studied the Ten Command- 300 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. ments? The Apostle Paul tells us he would not have known sin had he not found the commandment, Thou shalt not covet. There were other commandments that Paul felt he had kept, but when he found that one little commandment that he should not covet, he discovered in his heart covetousness, and Avhen he once discovered that in his heart, it wasn't long until he discovered that he that offendeth in one point is guilty of all. You need not take a hammer and hit every finger on my hand to hurt me; when I hurt one finger I have hurt the whole man, and when you have broken one commandment, you have broken all, for every commandment has love run- ning through it, and Avhenever you cut love in two, you have cut the law in tAvo, you have injured the whole law. The Apostle Paul taught these people the use of the law. He told them that if they would examine these command- ments every day, and examine themselves in the light of the commandments, they would discover what was after- wards taught in the Bible, that sin is the transgression of the law. But we have got these commandments not only to show us our sins, but also to show us the road on which we should travel for sanctification. When we are trying to live a better life the question comes up. What shall we do? And the first answer is, Know your God, and grow. Stop cursing and swearing and taking God's name in vain, and grow. Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy and grow. Stop hating your fellowmen, but begin to pray for your enemies, and grow. Stop committing adultery, and live virtuous lives, and try to lead others to lead virtuous lives, and grow. Stop stealing, but rather give, and grow. Stop lying; tell the truth, and grow. Stop coveting, rather thank God that your neighbor is prospering, and grow. That is what God wants us to know, that we may grow. Know the whole law. 2. Not only shall we know the law, but we shall also know the Gospel. "Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk" — Re- ceived what of us? In this epistle he tells us in different SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT. 301 places what he gave them. ''For our Gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake." "For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and hoAv ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.'' Nothing but the Gos- pel of Christ could ever break down idolatry. ''For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because when je received the Word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe." It is these things to which Paul refe^f-^ when he says, "Ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more." In other words, they had heard the whole plan of the Gospel. He had told them of God the Father, the Almight}^ Maker of heaven and earth; he had told them of the good angels and of the bad angels; he had told them of Providence; he had told them IioaV this God who had created them was watching over them day and night ; that in Him they lived, and moved, and had their being. He quoted their own poet to show that there is a Provi- dence; he showed them how God is planning their lives and striving to lead them in the center of that path. He showed them that there is a Eedeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, that as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilder- ness for the people to look at, and live, that so the Son of God was lifted up that they might look at Him and have eternal life. He told them why this Savior had to be God in order that He might pay the debt for a lost world. He showed them how this Savior had to become man that He might, as a substitute, hang on Calvary's cross, and die, as the mighty God; he showed them what that song would mean, that might be penned afterwards : "Well might the sun in darkness hide And shut her glories in, When Christ, the mighty Maker, died, For man, the creature's sin." 302 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. He showed tlieiii how this Savior Avas King, and Prophet^ and High Priest. He sliOAved them how this King in His humiliation had gone doAvn from His conception to the Tery borroTNcd grave. He showed them how this mighty King had, in His exaltation, risen from His poAver as a conqueror in hell to the very throne of God, from Avhence He is coming to judge the quick and the dead. He showed them tlie i^ower of the Hoty Ghost. He showed them how this Holy Spirit comes to us through His Word and the Holy Sacraments. He taught them how this Holy Spirit AA'lien He does come, comes in the Church and offers forgiA'eness of sin to those Avho have faith in the dying Lamb. He told them hoAv this Holy Spirit is going to raise up these bodies by quickening them in the grave. He showed them how in the end the Judgment Avould come, and that there Avould be an eternal death for those AA^ho rejected Jesus Christ, and eternal life for those Avho accepted them. In otlier Avords, he taught them the sum and substance of the Apostle's Creed. That is the Gospel that he taught them, and they must knoAv this Gosj)el in order tliat the}' ma^^ grow. And I fear too many people are not studying their catechisms enough, are not dwell- ing enough on these great central doctrines of salvation. He taught them what prayer meant. '^We give thanks to God ahvays for you all, making mention of you in our prayers." Paul not only prayed, not only prayed Avithout ceasing, but whenever he did pray, he said, Lord God, bless all those Thessalonians whom I taught; bless all the Corinthians whom 1 taught; bless all the Komans aaIioui I taught; bless all the people who have lieard the teaching of the great Gospel. So he prayed. Paul had studied that prayer. Our Father who art in heaven; lie had studied that AA^onderful j)rayer that Jesus Christ taught, showing us hoAv we should pray six times as much for the soul as for the body; showing-^ us hoAv Ave should pray four times for God to give us good things, and three times to take bad things aAvay from us, shoAA^ng clearly to whom Ave shall pray, not to idols, not to some unknown God, but to the Father, Son and Holv Ghost, AAiiom we have learned to know in the SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT. 303 fcst commandment. He taught them how they should pray for every man, friend or foe; he showed them how they should pray for spiritual gifts and temporal gifts; furthermore, how they should pray in the only name that will avail before the throne, in the name of Jesus Christ. He taught them to pray in their closets; he taught them to pray everywhere, day and night, to live in constant communion, and all this that they may grow, groAv in communion with God. I used to think as a young man when I read of men that prayed three and four hours at a time, that it is simply impossible, that no one would know what to say for three or four hours at a time, but I am convinced that a man cannot only pray three or four hours a daj and enjoy it, but he can pray all the time, pray without ceasing, and this kind of j)rayer comes only when we know that we may grow. This thing of praying over the same little prayer that you prayed 25 years ago, and fjraying nothing more this year, is death instead of growth. This thing of believing just what you believed 25 years ago, and adding nothing to your knowledge, shows that you are making no progress. Let us know that Ave may grow, and see with a wider vision. Let our horizon get larger and larger, not finding fault with the man that may differ from us, not finding fault with the man that knoAvs little, but let us forever find fault with the man that is satisfied Avith what he knows, that ncA^er Avants to go deeper into things, that never w^ants to see wider nor look up higher. He taught them how to know the great subject of confession, hoAv to confess tlieir sins, how to belieA'e in Christ as the great ForgiA-er of our sins, through faith in Him. He taught them the wonderful doctrine of the Holy Supper, hoAv that the Lord God instituted a will and testament by which they might receive Him in, with, and under the emblems of bread and wine. He showed them how they should be faithful until death, that they might receive the crown of eternal life. He showed them how life was a battle, and that consequently every day should be nearer the A'ictory, that they would abound more and more. A dear brother in this church said to 304 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. me tlie other day, It does seem as if some people never want to grow; it does seem as if some people never want to know, and I believe he is right. Oh, that we all would look at things as he does. He wants to be a better man tomorrow than he is today. He wants to grow every day more and more. 3. Not only should we know the great law and the great Gospel, but if we want to grow we should also know our enemies. Paul says : "Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us.'' Satan hindered us. Paul wasn't running around in this world asking the question. Is there a devil? He saw too man}' of his footprints. When I go out in the winter and see along the fences many rabbit tracks, I know there are rabbits somewhere; and when we look around us in our homes, and all througli tlie city, eCnd see in the faces of men, and in our prisons, and in our hospitals, the footprints of the devil, there is no question in our minds about there being a devil, and until you notice this great fact that Satan is hindering us, you never can grow. Paul did not go wherever he wanted to go, because Satan hindered him. We learned in the Gospel lesson tliis morning how Satan had. possession of that dear mother's daughter and vexed her grievously. That same Satan is still on earth, and ever^^ sermon that is preached, he is trying to rob of its intention. If Satan can just draw your attention right now aAva^^ from the church, he has won a great victory. If Satan can right now put you to sleep, he has won a great victory. If Satan tonight can keep you out of the house of God, he has won a great victory. If he can in this moment make you misunderstand me, he has won a great victory, and I am convinced, that nine times out of ten when men misunderstand a sermon, it is nothing in the world but that Satan is trying to hin- der that sermon. Men have come to me and said, you said this and that, and I know I never said it; I know what I say; but I know, on the other hand, that there is one who can take a message and turn it and twist it in the minds of others. Let us be verv careful that we SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT. 305 do not overlook the fact that we have a great enemy ^ and if we do not know him, we will never grow. And this enemy is not only the devil himself, it is the world at large. Paul recognized another enemy. "For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judea are in Christ Jesus; for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us, and they please not God, and are contrary to all men; for- bidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway, for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost." In other words, the Apos- tle Paul knew very well that the world is trying to fight the Church all the time, that the world is doing all it can to lead young people astray, and unless we know this, we will never grow. If you think that the First Lutheran church can prosper without a battle, you are mistaken. If you think we can keep our young people on God's side without a battle, you are mistaken. If you think it is an easy thing to be a Christian, you are mistaken. Yes, it is an easy thing to have your name put on the church book; it is an easy think to pay a dollar and a quarter a year and then go and serve the devil all your life; it is an easy thing to have the preacher come to see you when you are sick, and to be buried with flowers on your coffin and a few words at the grave, but it is another thing to be a child of God^ to abound more and more, to live closer to your Mas- ter, and to say to the world. Farewell forever! It is another thing to be able to say to the comrades that stand by your side, fighting the truth. You are wrong; a far different thing than to stand and smile and say, I agree with you. Child of God, stop agreeing with the world! Stop walking on the paths that are fighting the Church of God! It is time that every man of God come out on God's side fully and wholly, and know, that you may grow. Not only must we know the enemy, the world, but 20 306 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. we must know the enemy, our own flesh. ''For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, even your sanctifieation, that ye should abstain from fornication." Why was it necessary for Paul to write so plainly? Why was it necessary for him to say to them "That every one of you should know how^ to possess his vessel in sanctifieation and honor"? Because he knew that the greatest gifts that God has given to man are the very gifts that man is abusing. He knew that there was one sin that was ruining more people than possibly all the others put together. And there has been no change in history. The same thing is going on today. You say, We do not like such plain sermons. I want to tell you the pulpit is going to be responsible on the Judgment day for the damnation of many a young man and many a young woman. The truth is that some ministers are trying these very days to say something that the people cannot understand, instead of saying the things they must un- derstand. And why should we make terms any more polite than the language of the Bible? Why should ser- mons in the pulpit be an}^ more polite than the life in the home? When young men with their names on the church book are going to destruction in bad places, it is time that the pulpit wakes up. And you will always find that the vouns: bov and vouno' airi are faithful to their church until they reach that age where they begin to break the sixth commandment, and then you will not find them in the church any more, and that is the sin that is ruining thousands of homes today. I have simply no respect whatever for these old bachelors living in this country among us as honorable men when we know that most of them are ungodly wretches, and are helping to damn homes and souls. I honor the unmarried lady, no difference what her age may be, but these men that will not take the responsibility of a home, that are sim- ply standing on the corners waiting for an opportunity to step into some home and ruin it, because they are not manly enough to support a family and a home, I say God have mercy upon them, and may the time soon come that SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT. 307 every man that has a well body and a sound mind and does not take the responsibility of a home upon him, will be looked down upon, as he ought to be. God gave him the command, and told him what his duty was. These are the sins of the times, and these are the ene- mies that we have got to know in order that the Church of God may grow. II. We not only should know that we may grow,, but we ought to grow that we may know. The little child, by its knowledge and the knowledge of its parents,, is taken care of, and it grows, but just as that child grows it also gets the power of knowing more; so there is a twofold action takes place in man. He knows that he may grow, and he grows that he may know, and this lies also in our text. "So ye Avould abound more and; more." It takes time to grow. As I said a while ago, the Apostle Paul had sent Timothy over to the Thessa- lonians in order that they might be better instructed,, and grow better in their sanctification. He came back and reported he had discovered two sins, the ones that I have mentioned, were taking hold among the Christian people again. And so Paul said, I would like to come to you again, but Satan has hindered me and I cannot lose the time ; I will write you a letter, and the result is that we have this beautiful letter, and thank God for it. We need it today just as much as they needed it in Thes- salonica, but he lost no time, and the thing we should do is to groAv that we may know the value of a moment. Learn how to use our moments^ and how to use our members, and hoAv to use our money. 1. First of all, that we may know how to use our moments. When New Year's Day comes, we usually form a resolution that this year we are going to do bet- ter, but did you ever stop to think that no man can do better a year? Did you ever stop to think you cannot act in a year, nor in a month, nor in a week? Just take hold of a year and hold it. Can you? Did you ever try to grasp a month and hold it? How can I do anything thirty days in the future? How can I do anything seven days in the future? How can I do anything twenty- 308 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. four hours in the future? It seems to me the time has come that we ought to grow, that we might know that the only time that is ours is the present moment. The Bible says in one place that we shall die in a moment, and the Apostle Paul said the same thing in the 15th chapter of I Cor., when he said that in the twinkling of an eye, in a moment, we shall be changed. Do you grasp the idea? My dear friends, did you ever try to divide a moment? A moment is like the point of a needle. Did jou ever try to split the point of a needle? Can you do it? This present moment — what am I doing with it? It is God's, and if it is God's moment what right have I to try to divide it? It seems to me that we ought to grow until we know that every moment is God's, and that it absolutely cannot be divided, and therefore, must be given to Him. No man is a thorough Christian who does not realize what I am trying to impress upon you this moment, that our time is absolutely God's and should be given to Him; and when you give it, you cannot hold it ; it is His. Ask yourself the question, not how did I spend yesterday, nor how did I spend last year, but how did I spend every moment every day when that moment was mine, and given over to God? Oh, these precious moments! how we have misspent them. Claimed them as our own, when they were God's! The value of a moment is seen when we study the history of great men. Luther's life was a wonderful life, but the greatness of that life lay in a moment — in that moment when he stood before kings and before enemies, and said, "Here I stand ; I cannot do otherwise. God help me!" It was that moment that made Luther great. You say, I remember a certain sermon, and it made a wonderful impression on me. 'Was it the sermon? Was it? I do not think it was. I think it was one thought in that sermon; it was one moment in that sermon that made the impression. The great things of the world have not been done in hours; the hours have passed by until God reaches a certain moment, and in that moment he struck an impression that all eternity can never erase. 2. Grow not only that you may know the use of SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT. 309 moments, but grow that you may know how to use your members. "For this is the will of God, even your sanc- tification, that ye should abstain from fornication; that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor." His vessel. What is meant by .that? Commentators have given us two different answers to that question. Some have said it is the body of the Christian which is the vessel in which God has placed his soul, and that this body itself should be pos- sessed in sanctification. Others have said this vessel refers to the spouse of the husband, or the wife, that the wife is the vessel of the husband, as the husband is the vessel of the wife, and that therefore they should live a life of sanctification with all their bodies. I believe that if the apostle Paul had meant bod}^, he would have said body. I believe that the inspired writer said just exactly what the Holy Spirit wanted him to say. It is not popular to mention such things in the pulpit, but, mj friends, you understand that when God said vessel, he means vessel, that every one of you should know to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor. It is time that we grow until we know that we must not only sanctify our hands and our feet, and our brain, but especially those parts of the body that are too delicate to mention, and yet so sacred that God uses them to give to the world the human race, — sanctification of the whole man. And it does seem to me that the time has come that we ought to grow until we know that there is not a bone in the body, nor a nerve in the body, nor a particle that should not be thoroughly consecrated to Jesus Christ. If people understood what I am trying to say, how differently they would act. As long as these hands are considered by myself as my hands, I will do with them Avhat I would do, but just as soon as I recognize that these hands shall be given to Jesus Christ, I will only do with them what Jesus Christ would do. Men go and visit each other in the evening — professed Christians — and they sit around the table with the old euchre deck in their hands, and say. Now I have a hand. Yes, you have got a hand. Whose is it? Whose hand is it, that is the question. If it is your hand, play. 310 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. If it is Christ's hand, drop it. You go to the dance and to the public hall and saj, I am a virtuous girl, or I am a pure minded man, and I can go there and pray if it is necessary, and can live a virtuous life, but, dear friends, you do know that about two-thirds of all the boys and girls that have ever been ruined, have started on the ball room floor, and if you can go there with your o^\'n feet, go and dance, but if you think you can go there and dance with the feet of Jesus Christ, try it. Xow, try it. A man can go and live an ungodly life just as long as his body is considered his own, but it is never his own. '^Ye are not your own.-' My body this very moment belongs to Jesus Christ or it belongs to the devil. If it is the devil- s, let the devil do with it what he pleases; if it is God's, then I want to do with it just what God would have me do. That is plain. You are not your own. You have got no more right to do with yourself as you please, than you have to say, Here, devil, take me and do what you please. So it seems to me the question is not so much, dare I do this, or dare I do that, as the other question, am I Christ's or am I not? Have I consecrated my body, my vessel, to Jesus Christ, or have I not? 3. We should not only know how to use our mem- bers better, but we also ought to grow that we might know how to use our money better. "That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter ; because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have fore- warned you and testified. For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness." Ever since the world has existed, and sin has come into the world, men have become selfish. In their selfishness they have tried not only to ruin other families by the sin mentioned before, but they have also tried to gain possession of things without giving^ an equivalent. As a result, we find many people calling themselves professed Christians who have gone out among their fellow men and have robbed them of that which they can never return. Let all those people remember that there is a God who is the avenger of all such; remember that there is a God who said. Thou shalt not steal. The man that does not take care of his money and look upon SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT. 311 that money as a gift of God to be used to His glory, does not understand what growth in sanctiflcation means. It seems to me that the money question is one that we ought to study more from a Scriptural standpoint. Do you mean to say, says some one, that I cannot take my own and use it for myself? That is just what I mean — just exactly what I mean. I claim that I have no more right to use that hand for mj^self, or that foot for myself, or my money for myself, than I have to use anything else for myself. Why, you say, how will you get anything to eat, how will you get anything to wear, or to clothe your fam- ily if you do not take your money and use it for yourself? My dear friend, that is very easily answered. All that you have and all that I have, by the act of consecration and sanctification belongs to God, and then, when I give it to my God, He appoints me to use it, not for myself but on myself, just as He expects me to use it on other things. Do not forget, my friend, that you, yourself, are an object of your OAvn care just as much as anything else is, and when God puts money into your hands, you are His stew- ard. It is all His. The Silver and the gold are Mine, saith the Lord, and I appoint you now as steward, and wiiile taking care of that stewardship, do not forget your- self; whenever you need clothing, buy it; whenever you need something to eat or to drink, buy those things; if you need a home to live in, buy it; if you need a little fund to take care of you in your old age, keep it ; do not use it for yourself, but on yourself. It is Mine. And just as you use this fund of God's on yourself, use it on other things. You must use this gold on God's poor. Remem- ber, my friends, that God has a church He purchased with His blood, and remember that that church needs funds as well as your own families. We are standing before the threshold of a new financial 3 ear in the First Lutheran Church. What are you going to do this coming year? Sit at home and say, the church is out of debt and we will do less than Ave did before? Has God helped you to get less than you were getting before? Are your wages smaller than they were before? Hasn't God been saying, abound more and more? Are we going to grow or go backward? 312 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. Just look around and see the things we need ; see whether we need money enough to balance up the treasury to date, and then stop and think what we will need throughout the coming year. We ought to have a bell on the church of God to call the little children in, so that they are not playing on the street Avlien they ought to be listening to God's Word. We ought to have a fund that can go out and do good work among the poor. , We need some of God's gifts to carry on the mission in our own city. We need some of God's gifts to carry on the appropriation due to the great church of God at large. Wherever we look, God has need for those things. Are Ave going to do less, or more? Let us be careful that we do not let our church run in debt again. We have a great work here, and let us all do more this year than we have ever done before. Let us grow and abound more and more, but remember, after all, these are God's gifts and not ours. I wish I had time to show you how we should conse- crate ourselves entirely to the Lord and Master. Oh, may the Holy Spirit help us this morning that we may know, that we may grow, and that we may grow that we may know. I will conclude Avhat I have to say by quoting a beautiful little poem which I found this week: Take my life and let it be Consecrated. Lord, to Thee. Take my moments and my days ; Let them flow in ceaseless praise. Take my hands and let them move At the impulse of Thy love. Take my feet and let them be Swift and beautiful, for Thee. Take my voice and let me sing Always, only, for my King. Take my lips and let them be Filled with messages from Thee. Take my silver and my gold ; Not a mite would I withhold. SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT. 313 Take my intellect and use Every power as Thou shalt choose. Take my will and make it Thine ; It shall be no longer mine. Take my heart; it is Thine own; It shall be Thy royal throne. Take my love, my God, I pour At Thv feet its treasure store. Take myself and I will be Ever, onl}^ all for Thee. PRAYER. Amen. O God, our heavenly Father, we thank Thee in this hour for Thy precious Word, so clear and so plain that we may not only see the things that we should know, but learn how we should grow. We ask Thee then that Thou wilt help us to make diligent use of Thy Word and the Holy Sacraments, that the Holy Spirit may work in us according to His wall. We pray Thee that Thou wilt help us all to consecrate ourselves, body and soul entirely to Thee and to Thy service. Help us to ask ourselves the question today, what are we doing for Thee, O Christ, Thou Lamb of God, that t'akest away the sin of the world. Heavenly Father accept us now, and lead us in paths selected by Thee, and. keep us in the center of those paths, and over hill and dale, until we get behind the veil, let us sing that prayerful song which Thou hast taught us : Our Father who art in heaven ; Hallowed be Thy name ; Thy kingdom come ; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven ; Give us this day our daily bread ; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for- give those who trespass against us ; And lead us not into temptation ; But deliver us from evil ; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glorv, forever and ever. Amen. THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT. Three Classes of Children. Eph. 5:1-9. BE ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor. But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints ; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man. who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the king- dom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words, for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord : walk as children of light. (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteous- ness and truth.) Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Thy Word is truth. x\men. Beloved in Christ: Life is too short and our knoAvledge too limited ever to think that we are beyond childhood. When people have passed the strong days of their lives and are going down the hill toward the Jordan, we sometimes say they have become childish. It seems to me that the oldest people in the world have lived such a short time that we have a j)erfect right to address them in the face of eternity as children. And when we compare that which we know with that which we do not know, surely we are always little children. Sometimes in the Word of God the Holy Spirit speaks of little children in distinction from older people, and sometimes He addresses all chidren of God as dear children. If you have noticed the reading of my text 314 THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT. 315 carefully you have found there are three casses of children mentioned here, and it is to these three classes that I now invite your attention, and may you as you sit before me this evening find yourselves surely in the second class, and also grow into the third; and may God, the Holy Spirit, prevent you staying in the first class if you should be there. THREE CLASSES OF CHILDREN. I. The children damned. II. The children delivered. III. The children dear. I. There are some children that are lost. "For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritarice in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words : for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience" — or, better translated, the children of unbelief. Now if such people as are mentioned in my text and in the verse just quoted shall have no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God, pray tell me, Avhere shall they dwell in all eternity? And if the wrath of God shall rest upon them, what are they but children damned? Who are these children dammed? Whoremongers, unclean persons, covetous people — all a result of unbelief. Look at it as you will, every crime in the world is a direct child of un- belief. On the great Judgment Day the question will not be asked, did you kill? did you murder? did you steal? did you lie? for all these things are only the children of a mother that will be mentioned. He that believeth not shall be damned. Why? Because unbelief is the mother of all uncleanness. Let a man confess to me that he does not believe in Christ, and it is only another step to show him that he does not believe in the Bible; it is only another step to show that he does not believe in the true and living God, and only another to show that he does not believe in a Judgment to come, and to show that that man, if it is necessary, Avill do anything mean and low if 316 . THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. the law does not catch him, for his own selfish ends. In other words, unbelief is the mother of all sin, and is the damning sin, and from this mother are born such il- legitimate children as wlioremongers, unclean persons and covetous people. 1. Some one might say, Avhy mention these people so often? Dear friends, when you read these epistles of Paul carefully, you will find that it was the crime and the sin among all the nations addressed, and it would be just as true to-day. If the Apostle Paul were to write a letter to the Clevelanders, and to the Cincinnatians, and to the Columbusites, or to the Chicagoans, lie would have to speak of these same sins that he did Avhen he wrote to the Ephesians and to the Thessalonians and to the Romans. A Avhoremonger is a man that will do anything to ruin families; he is a man that has no faith in God; lie is a man that does not care if he does pollute the family altar; he does not care if he does ruin your wife, your sister, your daughter; he is the meanest man in smj community, and that man will never enter the kingdom of God in the con- dition in which he is. I hope there are no such children sitting before me tonight. But let us not for a single moment imagine there is only one commandment in the world that makes a man unclean. "Nor unclean persons," it is said here. We all acknowledge that the man that has no respect for the family, and for virtue, is a thoroughly bad manj but how about the man that does not know who the true and living God is? How about the man that curses and swears? How about the man that does not keep the Sabbath Day holy? How about the man that does not treat his aged father and mother as he ought? How about the man that will take a dollar that is not his own? How about the man that will lie in order to make a bargain? How about the man that will covet that which belongs to his neigh- bor? My friends, I am afraid we are overlooking the fact that one commandment in God's sight is just as precious as the other, and there are people that are disobeying the third commandment all the time that are called respect- able, and in God's sight they are just as mean and low as THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT. 31 T a dirty whoremonger. A man has no right to do as her pleases on the Sabbath day. A man has no right to treat his father and mother as he pleases, unless he pleases to treat them rightly. A man has no right to curse and damn just because he is angry; he is guilty, and just as long as a man has sin in him, willful sin, and does not try to keep the commandments, so long he is an unclean person, and an uuclean person shall never enter the kingdom of lieaven. That is certain as God's Word is true. It is just as true of a covetous man. Oh, hoAv we pat some men on the back w^hen they liave a big bank ac- count, and big house and yard, and a great many farms, and are rich, and we say, that man has made a success; and the probability is that he has made a success to go right to hell; that is what he has done. What is a covetous man? ''For this ye know that no whoremonger, nor un- clean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.'' He is an idolater, a worshipper of false gods. I have a thousand times more respect for the poor Indian that wor- sliips the sun, than for a man that will get down before 160 acres of dirt and worshij) it; a thousand times more respect for the man that worships the unknown god on Mars' hill, than for the man that will run over his bank account year after 3'ear, gloat over the swelling account,, and refuse to help the poor and the needy. I say that man is an idolater of the worst kind. How often Ave take a man into church discipline Avhen he commits this wrongs or that Avrong, but he can be an idolater and Ave pat him on the back, and when he gives tAvo or three dollars, just about as much as the poor wash-woman, Ave pat him on the back and are thankful that Ave got them from the rascal that is going straight to hell, and Ave know it. He sliall not enter the kingdom of heaven. The great Gaspare said one time of an idolater that he has four rules by Avhich he Avill stand : The first is. Forget God, lest I be couA^erted ; the second is, Forget my neighbors, my friends, my good old father and mother, lest I might do an act of charity; the third is. Forget my conscience and my soul, lest I might change my mind; and the fourth is. Forget 318 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. death and the Judgment and heU fire, lest I go crazy. That is a great theologian's definition of a covetous man. Yes, he does not want to think of God, or he might yet be converted; he is an idolater; he wants to forget his fel- low men entirely, lest he might do some little kind act ; he wants to forget his conscience and his soul lest he might yet change his mind and give up his little God ; he must not think of death; it makes him shiver; he will not go to a funeral, for fear he might die. Oh, if there is anything he despises to hear, it is of the Judgment and of hell fire, for he knows he will go there. And so, rather than lose his mind, he bows down before his dirty dollars and worships them, and for him there is no room in the kingdom of heaven. That is the first class of children mentioned in our text tonight. Around all of them you will find one common band, one label — unbelievers in Christ! II. There is a second class of children spoken of in this text: "Be not ye therefore partakers with them. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord : walk as children of light. E'or the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth.'' Dear children are called children of light. They have been delivered from darkness unto light, and this de- liverance has been to goodness, righteousness and truth. Oh, what a wonderful thing it is to be delivered from the natural life to the Spiritual, from total darkness to the light of salvation ! What a great delivery it is for a man to come out from the bondage of Satan and the world, and his own flesh, into the glorious liberty of children of God. The Truth shall make you free, said Jesus. When the Son shall make you free, then you shall be free indeed. What a glorious liberty therefore it is for one to be de- livered from darkness to light, from darkness to the light of goodness ! When God takes a child of Satan and makes him a child of His own, He makes him a good child, and the desire of that child is to do good, because God has been so good to him. Let us not boast of our goodness, but when we have been delivered from darkness, let us re- member that as delivered children we have before us this THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT. 319^ mind, how can I do good, and where can I do good? What a glorious life it is when men have that in their minds! What a glorious city Mansfield would be if every man and every woman and every child would constantly look about and ask the question, what good thing can* I do to-day, and where can I find something good to do this hour? And there is so much to do everywhere — so many oppor- tunities are given to make the world better! How much good it does sometimes to help a man in a time of need,, and to take his hand just wlien he feels despondent and hardly knows what to do the next hour, meet him with a smile and a God bless you and help you to-day ! Brethren, let us be children of light, delivered from darkness to the glorious libert}^ of light. 1. And not only should we strive to do better and be kinder every day, but also strive as children of light to be delivered from darkness to the light of righteous- ness. For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness. The Lord Jesus Christ is righteous. As we heard this morning. He is full of grace and truth. He is a fountain that always runs over, is always waiting to cover us with His righteousness. He finds us poor, lost, condemned, helpless sinners, and when we lie there like a worm, helpless. He picks us up and says, the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which is lost ! And when He picks us up, He puts His garment of Righteousness on us, and clothes us carefully with that white garment of Righteousness, and then, when we have that garment on, a question comes into our minds, and we never can get away from it; it comes to our minds in the morning when we get up; it is in our minds at noon, and in the evening, and that question is always this. Is it right? The Lord is my Shepherd ; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness, and out of that path the child delivered from darkness to light never can stray, except he says. Lord, lead me back. I want to do right because Thou hast covered me with Thy righteousness! 2. The child delivered not onlv comes back from 320 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. darkness to the great light of goodness, and to the great light of righteousness, but to the great light of truth. Christ said of Satan that he is the father of lies. Christ said of Himself, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. There is as much difference between being lost, and being saved, as there is between darkness and light. There is as much difference between being lost and saved as there is between hell and heaven, as there is between Satan and Christ. Satan is the father of lies. Christ is the Truth. And when we are delivered from darkness to light, the question will arise every day, how can I tell the truth better than I have been telling it? A man absolutely cannot love lies and be a child of God. I believe one of the hardest things in the Avorld for a man to do, is to tell the exact truth every time, under all circumstances. How many people there are who think an exaggeration is all right. It is a lie, and nothing but a lie; it comes from Satan and from darkness, and not from God. Truth does not vary one iota from that which is exactly true, and that should be our aim, as children delivered. In one sense there is only one way of delivering us from darkness to light, and that is through the cross of Christ. It is said of a certain married woman who had been living in adultery with a single man, that her con- science one time was awakened and she made up her mind that that kind of a life must now cease. She took from the wall of her own home a picture of the Crucifixion of Christ and laid it down before the door of her parlor, and then, when the door was opened and the young man was about to step in, he started back and said, "What means this picture on the floor?" She said, "Step right on it, and come in." "I will never do it," said he. "Yes, but you and I have been stepping on Christ and Him crucified for years, and I made up my mind that if you ever came into this house again you have got to step right on that Crucifixion." He stepped back and never entered. He turned his attention to Christ and Him crucified, gave his heart to God, and asked Him to make him clean ; and the wife from that day on proved to be true to her husband and family, and lived a clean life. Brethren, there is THIED SUNDAY IN LENT. 321 absolutely no hope and no help except Christ and Him crucified for a dying world. III. These children delivered belong in a certain sense to the third class, which I shall now mention. In one sense there are only two classes of people; they are lost or saved; they are in darkness or light, but there is a difference between being delivered, and growing in grace, and consequently there is still a third class, the dear children: "Andw^alk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an Offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. But fornifica- tion, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it be not once named among you, as becometh saints ; neither filthi- ness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not con- venient : but rather giving of thanks." As I was reading this text over and over, meditating on it and praying over it throughout the past week, I wondered whether any of us belong to the third class or not. I do know that there are many children delivered, but how many of the de- livered children are dear children? How many Chris- tians are there to-day who loalk as Christ walked; who talk as Christ talked; who thank as Christ thanked? "And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor." 1. Did you ever notice how Christ walked? He walked for thirty-three years on this earth Avith the special in- tention of walking up to Calvary's hill, and there with bleeding feet pour out His life's blood for you and me because He loved us. He walked from heaven above, where all things were His, and lay down on earth Avithout a pillow, slept in a borrowed grave, that He might make us rich. How many children of God to-day are dear children, that are actually willing to suffer for the Word's sake and for their salvation? How many of us are living a life of sacrifice? We sing about missions. We sing that we will go Avhere Christ wants us to go, and we will do what Christ wants us to do, but how many of us are Avilling, if necessary, to wear the home spun that we may 21 322 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. help bring the Gospel to the ends of the world? How many of us are willing to take the little idol of monej^ and consecrate it to God until we feel it? I do not be- lieve one of us feels what we are doing. It does seem to me that there is a Christianity which is very strange to us Christians. It does seem to me that there is a life for a Christian that is away above your preacher, away above the average Christian. I am not sure but that it is above all of them. Where is the man on earth that is walking as Christ walked? 2. Where is the man on earth that is talking as Christ talked? Christ said some things that were very funny. When He pictures a man, the old Pharisee, walk- ing up to a little w^ater or wine and finding a little gnat, then pouring that water or wine through a sieve or strainer, in order that he might not touch the gnat, and then, 0]i the other hand, pictures that same Pharisee try- ing to swallow down a great big camel, hump and all, it makes one laugh. When the Lord Jesus Christ pictures to us the old Pharisee standing before us witli a large beam sharpened and run into one eye, and through his head, and the other end down on the ground like a log, trying to pick a little mote out of his neighbor's eye, if that were found in Puck it would make us laugh; but where do you ever find Christ saying a foolish thing? where do you ever find Christ sitting down and gloating over fornication, talking about bad people as if it were a joke? where do you ever find Him saying anything that was not for the bettering of humanity. We are taught as dear children, as follows : "But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints." In other words, we are to so live that these things are so foreign to us that they never enter into our conversation. "Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient." Did you ever analyze a joke carefully? Did you ever notice they never seem very funny unless they are a little bit filthy? And did you ever notice that things are not real funny unless they approach the sacred? Do you know why the theatre loves to have such a theme as "Our THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT. 323 Pastor?" Because the devil always makes a thing look funny if it just concerns the preacher, and if you will notice the joke books carefully, and the funny conversa- tions, you will notice that nine times out of ten it takes a certain amount of sinning to make the people laugh. Where are the Christians that are keeping up on that plane where God wants them to-day? Stop saying things that Jesus Christ would not say! I do not know of any text that I have preached on for a year that makes me feel more humble and more sinful than this text to- night. There isn't a week that this text does not push me down from the dear children to the children delivered, and let us beware that we are not pushed down to the children of darkness. 3. How many of us here tonight are thankful as Christ was thankful? When there were only five loaves of bread and two fishes among all that vast multitude, He thanked the Father in heaven. It made no difference where He was, He looked heavenward with thankful eyes. When He stood by the grave of Lazarus, His best friend, He thanked His Father in heaven. How many of you have stood by the graves of your dear ones and thanked God in heaven? How many of us are thankful as Paul was thankful? I am preaching tonight for the sole pur- 130se of bringing those that are in darkness into light, those that are out of the kingdom of God into the king- dom of God, those delivered from darkness into the light of great kindness and goodness, righteousness and truth ; my purpose is to lead those that are delivered into the higher life, and may we tonight, by the help of God, strive to get up on the high plane, into another mansion of God's great house. Let not your hearts be troubled, ye f)elieve in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and then I will come again and take you unto Myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. When you walk with Christ you walk from mansion to mansion ; when you talk as Christ talked, you go from mansion to mansion; when you thank as Christ thanked, you go from mansion to mansion, and thus 324 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. you will be led, as one who can occupy only a little space, into the great universe of God. In conclusion, let us become true to the King of heaven. It is said of a certain Prussian officer, that when he fell on the battlefield and was sorely wounded, Pastor Woerth came along and saw him ; he saw the blood oozing from the newly struck wound ; he saw the heaving breast ; he saAv the pale lips and the cold sweat on his face, and the glazing eyes; he saw there was life in him, and he bowed down in sympathy, and said, "Dear oflflcer of the army, how are you getting along?'' And with his dying breath he said, "I am always getting along well when I go where the king sends me," and in a few moments he went home to the King of kings, and Lord of lords. Oh, may God help us tonight, whatever our trials are, wherever we are sent, whatever befalls us, let us be happy in Him, realizing that we are always getting along well when we go where the King sends us. Amen. (Congregation, led by pastor, repeats in concert the Apostles' Creed:) I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost; born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried. He descended into hell; on the third day He arose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty ; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints ; the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. PRAYER. Our heavenly Father, we thank Thee for the blessing of the hour. We thank Thee for this eternal epistle written by Thy great servant, Paul. And we pray Thee, O God, that this message of the Holy Spirit may tonight take hold of our hearts and our souls and show us the difference between children damned and children delivered, and the THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT. 325 other difference between children dehvered and the children made dear. Do Thou help, heavenly Father, that our aim in life may be to walk in the foot-prints of our Savior, that we may talk as He talked, and thank as He thanked, and while we are now in the center of His footprints, may we pray the prayer which He so graciously taught us : Our Father who art in heaven ; Hallowed be Thy name ; Thy kingdom come ; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven ; Give us this day our daily bread ; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for- give those who trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation; But deliver us from evil; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT. An Allegory. Gal. 4 :21-31. y^^^ELL me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the ■ ^ law? For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one ^^^ by a bondmaid, the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory : for these are the two covenants ; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answerefh to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that barest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. Never- theless what saith the Scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son : for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bond- woman, but of the free. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Thy Word is truth. Amen. Beloved in the Lord : — Dr. Luther at one time said that he is a true Doctor of Divinity who is able to distinguish between the law and the Gospel. The law is the covenant of our God with regard to the duty that man has to Him and to his fellow men. The Gospel is the glad tidings that Jesus Christ has come into the world to save sinners, and through faith to make them forever blessed. It would seem at' first sight that it is a very easy matter to distinguish between law and Gospel, but the great truth is this, that the people 326 FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT. 327 In this world are always confounding the one with the otlier. There are few people who know exactly whether such and such a verse in the Bihle is law, or whether it is Gospel. If I were to ask the question this morning, is this law or Gospel: '^'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God,'- I will dare say ninety per cent, of all Christians would say that it is Gospel, and yet it is all law. ^"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." I said a moment ago the Gospel is the good news that Jesus Clirist has couie into the Avorld to save sinners and through faith to make them forever blessed, and you might say, isn't that good news, that blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God? Yes, that would be good news if you and I were pure in heart. Is it good news to the colored man to say that the white man is free? Is tluit auy comfort to a man whose skin is black? Is that any comfort to you and me to know that the pure in heart shall see God, when we are not pure? The law demands perfection. The laAv demands purity, and without purity tlie law will give salvation to no man. If you were per- fect, you would not need a Savior. If you Avere perfect, you would not need Christ and Him crucified. If you were perfect, you could be sa^ed by the law. Now the people in Galatia were under Jewish influences, and although Paul had preached to them the pure Gospel of grace, half the time they did not know whether they were under the law or under the grace, constantly becoming confused on these two great truths. God is the author of the law and the author of the Gospel, but the law con- demns and the Gospel brings salvation. Great as is the dilference, they are united in God, united in love, and it IS a blessed thing when we are able to distinguish the one from the other. In order that the i)eople might be clear on this great subject, the apostle Paul goes back to Old Testament history and gives them the story of Abraham, of Sarah, of Isaac and of Ishmael and Hagar, and through these different personages tries to make clear to them the great difference between the law and the Gospel. "Tell ijie, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written, that Aliraham had two sons, the 328 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. one by a bondmaid, the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman Avas born after the flesh ; but ho of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are ^n allegory." I desire by the help of the Holy Spirit this morning to present to you AN ALLEGORY. An allegory is one thing described under the picture of another, and may you this morning get a distinction as you never did before between the law and the Gospel by studying the family of Abraham. With regard to this allegory, I would say. I. That Abraham represents God. Abraham was most intimately related to his whole family. He was the dear husband of Sarah; he Avas the dear master of Hagar; he was the dear father of Isaac and he Axas the dear father of Ishmael, and there was the most intimate rela- tion between Abraham and all of these personages. Abra- ham loved Sarah, he loA^ed Hagar, he loved Isaac and he loA^ed Ishmael. Just so there is a most intimate relation between God, and the law, and the Gospel. God gave us the law. He AA^rote it on the heart of Adam. God wrote the law with His OAvn linger and gave it to Moses on Mount Sinai. God's love runs through CA^ery commandment. Love the Lord your God w^ith all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength, and your neighbor as yourself. You can see at once that the same relation obtains betAveen God and the Ten Commandments as existed between Abraham and his family. Not only is it true that God loves the law, and is the author of it, but he is also the author of the Gospel. It is said by a great theologian that the redemption of Jesus Christ and the doctrine of grace Avas the greatest discoA^ery that was ever made. Only God could have made that dis- covery for us, that man might be saved, solely by grace. The law comes and says, man, if you keep me perfectly, I will save you. God says, man, if you keep my law per- fectly by thought, word and deed. If you are sinless, heaven FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT. 829 is yours. It is a covenant between God and man, and between the law and man. Not so with regard to the Gospel. The Gospel is a covenant that God makes with Jesus Christ. He says, My Son, if Thou wilt fulfill the law for Me, if thou wilt go down on earth and become man, and put Thyself under the law, and suffer death instead of humanity, as if Thou wert guilty ; if Thou then wilt ask the people to come unto Thee, those that labor and are heavy laden, and Thou wilt give them rest; if Thou wilt accept them by faith, then I will accept them as if they were Thou alone. In other words, the covenant of the Gospel is between God and Jesus Christ for the salvation of poor sinners alone by grace. These are the two covenants. God loves the one just as He loves the other, the same as Abraham loved his whole family. II. This allegory represents Sarah as the Gospel. She was Abraham's original wife. Hagar was only a handmaid. The Gospel is older than the law. You might ask a gTeat many people which is the older. Why, they would say, didn't God write the law on Adam's heart, and wasn't the Gospel promised in the garden of Eden after Adam sinned? Oh, dear friends, long before there was a law written in the heart of Adam, God carried us in Jesns Christ, before the foundation of the world was laid, and as far as the written law is concerned, long before God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses, we were to be saved as a race by the promise of the seed of the woman that should crush the serpent's head. Just as Sarah was the only and original wife of Abraham, the Gospel is older than the law, and the Gospel is God's plan to save the world. Again, it can be said of Sarah that she never was a slave, never Avas a bondwoman. So it is with the Gospel. The Gospel never asked a man to put himself under law and be a slave. The Gospel never said, do this and thou shalt be saved. The Gospel said, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. Sarah never was a slave and she never became one. The Gospel never made slaves, and wants all people to be children of liberty. 330 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. Agaiii, we find that Sarah was extremely beautiful. When Abraham went down to Egypt the king was bound to take her for his own wife, not knowing that she was the wife of Abraham, and very much disappointed was he when he learned that it would be impossible to have Sarah as the queen. She was represented as one of the most beautiful of women, and the very name suggests that she was lovely in looks and in character. Just so it is with regard to the Gospel. How beautiful are the feet of them that publish the Gospel of peace! There isn't anything more beautiful in all the world than the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the sweetest news that man has ever heard on eartb. There is nothing so pleasant, nothing so beauti- ful as the message of peace. Let man feel the w^eight of his sins and the curse of God resting upon him, and oh, how beautiful it is to hear the voice, Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. When you feel that the curse of God ought to rest upon us, when we feel as if we ought to be going down deeper and deejDer under the awful burden that is holding us down, when we feel that God Himself certainly can never forgive us, then it is that we see the beauty in that beautiful invitation. Him that cometh unto Me, I will in no wise cast out. Oh, beautiful Sarah! Beautiful Gos- pd of Christ! Again we find that it took a long time before Sarah could have the child of promise. When the promise was fi rst given to Abraham that the seed of Sarah should mul- tiply and become like the stars in the heavens and the sands of the sea, they laughed for joy. Time passed on, year after year, and no son in the family. After ten years had passed by, Sarah became despondent and urged upon her own husband that at least half of the family might be represented, that he should take Hagar, and thereby bring into the family a son. This was fourteen years before Isaac was born. Ishmael was fourteen years old when the promised seed came into the world. Oh, how long, hoAv long it took before Abraham could look into the face of the promised son, Isaac! There we have a picture again of the Gospel. There FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT. 331 are islands in the South seas where the Gospefl was preached for twelve long years before there was a single convert. We have instances in mission work where the Gospel was preached and preached and preached, by men that lived and died in the field, before there was a single soul confessed Christ, but all at once it was announced that a certain king became a Christian, or possibly only a little child accepted Christ, and in a short time the island was covered with Christians. So, my dear friends, we have a picture again of Sarah. Just as she had to wait and wait until the promised son was born, just so we have got to labor and pray and toil with some people before they Avill ever accept Christ. Oh, let us not grow impatient because there is some one in the family who is putting these things off day after day. I know it is a sad condition. I know it is a long year to wait for little Isaac when he was promised long ago, but just have a little patience. The Gospel of Christ is just like Sarah, sometimes very slow to bring forth Isaac, but remember, my friends, that Isaac today has enough followers in the world, that the}^ are like the sands of the sea, and like the stars in the heavens, as God promised. Here is the allegory that Sarah, as the wife of Abraham, is the rep- resentative of the Gospel of Christ. III. On the other hand, Hagar represents the law. She is pictured here in our text as a bondmaid, and as a slave, as one whose very name, Hagar, means Arabia, Mount Sinai, or the law. She was a handmaid and she always remained a handmaid. Never could Hagar say truthfully that she was the wife of Abraham. She was not an equal with Sarah, but she was in the same home, a servant, waiting and helping Abraham and his wife, Sarah. Just so, my dear friends, it is with the law. God never intended that the law should be the wife. The law is the schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ. The law is the servant that shall open to us our sins and shall show us our misery and hold down to us our condemnation, and make us feel our guilt, and make us cry out, What shall I do? and then, as a handmaid, she takes us and 332 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. leads US to the cross of Calvary, leads us into the home of Sarah, leads us back to Abraham, and shows us the home of the Gospel. As long as the world stands, there- fore, the law will be only a handmaid and not the wife. Again, you will notice that although Sarah was the wife and Hagar was the handmaid, she bore the first child. Ishmael was born when Isaac had been promised ten years. In other words, he was born fourteen years before Isaac was. There, again, you have a picture of the law. The law has always got more children than the Gospel. The law always brings forth the family first. Every one of you were a legalist before you were a true Christian. The world today is full Qf legalists. Where- ever you look you will find the moralist that wants to be saved by his goodness, wants to be saved because he is so good and so much better than everybody else. When that Pharisee stood in the temple and thanked God that he Avas so much better than the poor publican, there you have a picture of the law's birth of a legalist. The world, I say, is full of these legalists today, and every man's own history shows that he is first an Ishmael before he becomes an Isaac. It is one of the hardest things for the Christian fully to settle, that he is saved alone by grace. That is the second birth, not the first. "Every man," said Whitefield, ''is born an Armenian.-' We might just as well truthfully say every man is born a moralist, a legal- ist, a Pharisee, and not until you get fully rid of self- righteousness can you be born an Isaac, a child of prom- ise. Again, we find that Hagar was always a slave, just as Sarah was always a true wife and never a slave. Hagar, on the contrary, was always a slave and never became a true wife. The laAv of God has always been making slaves, and always will. There are just as many people today trying to be slaves by the law as before; they are under bondage; they have no peace of conscience; they have no faith that will give them peace wherever they go. They are happy one day and depressed the next. Instead of trusting alone in the blood of Jesus Christ, they trust themselves. One day they think they are liv- FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT. 333 ing just about right, and the next day everything is wrong, and the consequence is that you can drive them out at four o'clock in the morning to go to church and hear the mass ; you can drive them to the house of God for forty days and forty nights ; you can make them stand in the snow as one man in Europe did before the Pope for days, trying to get forgiveness. When a man is a slave you can make him do anything. The question arises, why cannot the Protestant Church build temples and hos- pitals and all these expensive buildings that the Eoman Catholic Church can? The difference is simply this: Isaac is a free man and never can be forced to do what Ishmaelj the slave, can. Hagar, slave, is a servant, and you can drive the servant with a stick. The legalist, con- sequently, is alwaj'S a slave; always in thralldom. We find Hagar not only Avas alwa^^s a slave, but she was a representative of Sinai, itself. We are told here in this Word : "Which things are an allegory ; for these are the two covenants; the one from the Mount of Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jeru- salem which now is, and is in bondage with her children." In other words, in the land of Arabia Mount Sinai is called Agar, and Agar in our language means a rock, a rough- toothed rock, which as Sinai, was where God gave the law to Moses. She being a true representative of Mount Sinai is a true representative of the Ten Commandments, always in bondage, asking of the world to do this and to do that to be saved, but never able to offer salvation itself, only an handmaid to lead us to Christ. IV. In this allegor}^ you will please notice, further- more, that Ishmael represents the legalist. As Sarah rep- resents the Gospel and Hagar represents the law, so Ishmael, as a son of Hagar, represents the legalist, the moralist, Avhile on the other hand, Isaac, as a child of Sarah, represents the true Christian. With regard to Ishmael, we will notice that he had a good father. Ishmael had the same father that Isaac had, and yet what a difference! So you Avill recognize at once that the same law that had God for its Father, 334 THE ETERNAL JEPISTLE. also shows US the Father of the Gospel. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. That same God said : I am the Lord thy God ; thou shalt have no other gods before Me. Just as these two little boys, both in the same home, could look into the same face and both say ^'Father" at the same time, so the law on the one hand and the Gospel on the other, can look up into the face of God and say "My Father." Ishmael not only had a good father, but he appeared the same as the real son. If a stranger had gone into the home of Abraham and had seen those two boys he would have thought they are real brothers. Both Avere circum- cised; both said 'father" to Abraham; both of them ate at the same table ; both of them looked as if the}' belonged to the same family, and yet there was a world wide differ- ence, for one was a son of the Avife, and the other was a son of Hagar, the bondwoman; the one was a free child and the other was a slave; yet, I say, in appearance, you could not tell the difference, and in many of their forms you could not tell the difference. Just so it is with regard to the legalist today. There are men under the law in- stead of under the Gospel, that go to church just as well as Christians do. They are careful about their language. You cannot tell from their general appearance but what they are the best of Christians, but all this time they are under the law, they are under bondage, and though they appear like the best of Christians, they are no Christians at all. We find in examining this history closely that Ishmael, at the age of fourteen, when the little brother, Isaac, was having a great festival day on account of a certain age, this older boj^ stood and mocked the weaker boy. In other words, Ishmael, the strong boy of four- teen, mocks the little child just weaned by the mother on that great festival day. There you have a picture of the le- galist. The legalist is always finding fault with the church member; he is always finding fault with the one that is under grace. The legalist always looks as if he were the strongest man in the world; he looks big and large as if FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT. 335 he were far above the little child of promise. The legal- ist stands out before the world and says, See what I do! Watch my walk! Look at my strength, and then look at the confessed Christian, how weak and how little he is! It always has been so, that the legalist, the Ishmael, mocks the little weak Christian. Not only do we find that he is a mocker, but we find furthermore, that he could not be an heir and must be cast out. When that day came that Ishmael mocked Isaac, then Sarah arose as the mother of the home and said to Abraham, This thing has gone just far enough; Hagar despises me, your Avife, because she has got the big, strong boy, and that strong bo}^ despises our little Isaac; the time has come that you must let them know that Isaac is the only heir ; the time has come that you must take Ishmael and his mother and lead them out away from this home ; from today on there shall, be a separation. It hurt the father, Abraham. He loved little Ishmael; he loved Hagar, but the wife had the right in the home, and so he gathers up some bread and some water and puts it into tbe bottle made of skin in those days, laid that upon their shoulders and started them out into the wil- derness. In other words, they were not heirs; they were cast out. And just so, my friends, it will be with every legalist, no difference where he may be. The man that puts himself under the law instead of under the Gospel, has no peace, has no salvation, is not a child of promise, and the day will come when that man must be led away from God, on the Judgment Day, he must be cast out where tliere is no water; he must suffer as little Ishmael was suffering when the angel of God came and saved him from death. V. In this allegory we find, finally, that Isaac repre- sents the true Christian. Isaac was miraculously born. Sarah had reached that age where she had no right to expect a son, but God came and promised that in a cer- tain time she should bring forth a son, and that this son should be the father of a great multitude. Time passed on. This little child was born. His was a miraculous birth, and from that day forth he was to represent the 336 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. new birth of every Christian. You and I can be born into this world, and by being born into it we can see it, and can walk in it, but only by being born miraculously from on high can we ever enter the kingdom of heaven and become heirs. So, then, we have here a picture of the Gospel that offers us the grace of regeneration, the new birth, as miraculous as the birth of little Isaac. We find, furthermore, he was a child of promise. As I said, God came and promised this son twenty-five years before he was born, and when he was born they had the assurance that this is the child that God promised so long- ago. On the day of Pentecost, when Peter preached that great sermon, he said, "Arise and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sin, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and this promise is to you and to your children." There you find what a Christian is. He is a child of promise. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Oh, won- derful promise given to the children of God ! Furthermore, we find that Isaac was the only heir. When Abraham passed away, all that he had passed over into the hands of his only son, Isaac. And just so with the Christian. Though he may seem to be poor; though he at times may have no home of his own, he is neverthe- less very, very rich. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Oh, what riches for the child of God! "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved!" What more can we ask than to have salva- tion? Ye shall receive the crown of eternal life. Ye shall be the only heirs. Another beautiful thought we have in regard to Isaac is this, that he never left home; he was never cast out. As long as the father and mother lived, no one was more welcome than the little son, Isaac. Never did he have to take the bread and the water and dwell in the wilderness. He slept at home; stayed at home, and he is today yet at home with his Father in heaven. Thus you have a picture of the true Christian. The Lord accepts you as His child by grace; He takes you as His own; He takes you into the covenant which He never will break, nor do you need FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT. 337 to break it. Be thou faithful unto death and I will re- ceive thee, and thou shalt receive the crown of eternal life. Be thou faithful through death. He that endureth unto the end shall be saved. Now, dear friends, the question arises today, Will you be a child of promise, or will you be a slave? Will you try to live under the law or under the Gospel? Will you live under the covenant of the law or the covenant of grace? Do you want to live so that finally God must cast you out as Abraham did Hagar and Ishmael, or will you live as a child of promise, trusting alone in the grace and mercy of Jesus, that you may stay at home while 'you live, with your God, that you may stay in our little Christian home, that you may stay in the Christian Church, that you may stay at home in heaven with your God, forever more?' I am but a stranger here Heaven is my home ! Earth is a desert drear ; Heaven is my home ! Danger and sorrow stand 'Round me on every hand; Heaven is my Fatherland. Heaven is my home. What tho' the tempest rage? Heaven is my home Short is my pilgrimage, Heaven is my home Time's cold and wintry blast, Soon shall be overpast. I shall reach home at last. Heaven is my home ! Therefore I murmur not ; Heaven is my home ! Earth is but a dreary lot; Heaven is my home ! And I shall surely stand There at my Lord's right hand. Heaven is my Fatherland ! Heaven is my home ! Amen. 338 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. PRAYER. O God, our heavenly Father, we ask Thy rich and Divine blessing to rest upon the message of the hour. May we this morning, going back to Abraham's home, learn to know our Father better than we ever did before, and may we enter into that covenant of grace which shall make us a little Isaac instead of an Ishmael the son of the bond- woman. We pray Thee for the perfect liberty of the children of God, for the perfect peace that comes through justification by faith. Help us to trust alone in Jesus, the Son of God, who shall make us heirs of the heavenly Father's eternal life. Lord, our God, hear this prayer in the name of Him who taught us to pray: Our Father who art in heaven; Hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven; Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for- give those who trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation; But deliver us from evil; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT. The Spotless Sacrifice. Heb. 9 :11-15. BUT Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood' of bulls and goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause He is the Mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Thy Word is truth. Amen. Beloved Hearers in Christ: When we confess the second article of the Creed, we thereby acknowledge to the world Christ's person and Christ's office. As to His person, we confess that He is the God-man, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried. We not only confess His person, but we confess His office. The of- fice of Christ is hinted at in the last verse of my text when it is said. And for this cause He is the Mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death, for the redemp- tion of the transgressions that were under the first testa- ment, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. Jesus Christ has three official names : He is called the Prophet, the High Priest, and the King. 340 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. During the season of Epiphany and Trinity the Church of God emphasizes His prophetic office, teaching us the great will of the heavenly Father as to our salvation. During the season of Easter we emphasize the kingly office of Him who conquered death and hell and ascended on high. During the season of Lent we emphasize the suf- ferings of Christ, the priestly office. It is in this season of the year, if any, that we all ought to meditate day and night on Christ going to Gethsemane, and to Calvary, and there, as the great High Priest, pouring out His life's blood that the world might not perish, but have everlast- ing life; and in this sacrifice we find Him giving up, not sheep, nor doves, nor cattle, but offering Himself, the Spotless Sacrifice. "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?'' May the Holy Spirit belp us tonight to take a view of the Spotless Sacrifice that our consciences may be spotless, and that in eternity our souls and bodies may be spotless before Him who gave us THE SPOTLESS SACRIFICE. I. Let me invite your attention this evening to the Great High Priest. The High Priest of old was a man whom God had selected to stand between man and God, with a spotless garment, pleading and interceding for the forgiveness of his sins. God said further to choose a certain tribe of Levi, and from that family, the family of Aaron, among whom the eldest was to be the High Priest, and this High Priest was to wear a spotless white garment and plead for the forgiveness of the sins of the people, and with the blood of offerings go through the court, and through the Holy Place once a year into the Holy of Holies, and there at the ark of the covenant made with God, plead for the forgiveness of the sins of the world. Now, my friends, we have not only a high priest in the Old Testament, but we have a Spotless High Priest in the New Testament. No difference how perfect the sons of Aaron were, they were not spotless; they were FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT. 341 sinful men, born of sinful women, and had the same battles to fight that other professed Christians have; but in the New Testament we have the Great High Priest. We are told in different books of the Bible about this High Priest, but nowliere as in the book of Hebrews do we find Him pictured so beautifully. Jesus Christ Himself is the Great High Priest, the spotless character, the spot- less One who walked on earth, for three long years stood before the people, criticized on all sides by His foes and looked upon by His friends, and after two thousand years of investigation the world has still to find the first spot on this Great High Priest. He stands before the Avorld to-day not only as one of the best characters, but as a perfect character. Even the ungodly world is forced to admit that there never Avas such a character on earth as Jesus Christ; but Jesus Christ was either the Son of God, or He was a bad character. Jesus Christ was either the Great High Priest or He was not a good man. Jesus Christ was either the only Savior of the world, or the greatest impostor that the world has ever seen. He has told us that He is the Son of God. He has told us that He is the resurrection and the life. He has told us that without Him no man can come home to the Father. If these things are not true. He was not a great character. If these things are not true He did not tell the truth, and if He did not tell the truth He is a spotted character in- stead of a spotless one. But the world admits that Jesus Christ was the most perfect character in all the world, and the Christian must admit that He was certainly spot- less, because He was conceived of the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, and redeemed us, not with silver and gold, but with His holy, precious blood. This, my friends, is the Great High Priest that offered the spotless sacrifice. II. Let me invite your attention a few moments now to the Great Tabernacle. "But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more per- fect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building." You will not forget, my friends, that when Paul, or whoever wrote this epistle, penned these words, that the temple of Jerusalem was yet fresh in 342 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. his mind, and you will not forget that the first taber- nacle was built by the order of God Himself, that the plans were laid by Him who put yonder stars in space; that the plans of the first tabernacle were made by Him who said, Let there be light, and there was light. The first tabernacle had a court, and from the court you passed over into the holy place where the altar stood, and beyond that was a veil, and beyond the veil, once a year we find the High Priest going into the Holy of Holies, there to find the ark of the covenant, having in it the Ten Com- mandments and Aaron's rod, and a pot of manna, and there, on that mercy seat, the Lord God met the High Priest and talked with him, in order that the world might have communion with God. That was the first tabernacle. In time there was built in the city of Jerusalem that great temple, that wonder of the world, that great monument of marble as it stood there in the days of Christ; and around the inside of the wall was the court of the Gentiles, where much business was done, and where the traffic was carried on between the Jews and those others who came there to buy and sell, and it was inside of that court of the Gentiles that we find the other court where the women assembled; and from there we step into the place where the priest stood and offered sacrifice; and from there we go into the holy place which was about thirty by sixty feet; and from the holy place through a veil that was seven or eight inches thick, which was rent on the day that Christ was crucified, back into the Holy of Holies, where the High Priest went once a year. The apostle who wrote this epistle, knowing that these men all understood about that building, calls attention to the fact that the spotless sacrifice does not consist of sheep, nor of oxen, nor of doves,, nor of any animal that sheds its blood, but that this great Spotless Sacrifice must be offered in a temple far larger than any temple that ever stood in tlie holy land. Oh, what narrow views we sometimes have of our church, and of our religion! The people of those days imagined that God Avas so little that He could be met only within the temple in that city in the holy land. So narrow minded were thej in those days as to imagine FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT. 343 that the H0I3' Land contained about all the chil- dren of God that were in the world; but, says this great apostle, we have a great High Priest that has a far greater tabernacle than the one you see with your eyes and the one that you build with your hands ; I would have you to understand, says this great apostle, that there is a tabernacle so large that the court reaches out beyond the Mediterranean sea, the court reaches across the Atlantic ocean, crosses over to the America to be discovered, crosses the islands of the great Pacific, and comes on around through Asia and through all the nations of the earth, and extends from pole to pole. In other words, wherever you find a man on earth, wherever you find an immortal soul, this is but the court of the great tabernacle where the great High Priest is going to offer His Spotless Sacrifice. The old tabernacle had in the Holy Place a table on which they placed their shew bread every Sabbath, and on the other side the golden candle stick which was burn- ing day and night, with its seven branches; but, says the great apostle, I want you to understand that this great High Priest of whom I speak has already been in the court of the great temple for a period of thirty-three years, and there He started one day to offer the Spotless Sacri- fice, and passed, on His ascension day from the court through the holy place, and every star above the clouds, and every star beyond those that were seen by telescope, are nothing but the blazing lights of that great temple not built with hands. Oh, says this great apostle, the Son of God, the great High Priest, ascended on high, and passed the altar of sacrifice on Calvary's hill, and passed up, on ascension day, beyond the stars and zones of stars and whirling world systems; these are only the lamps of the great tabernacle ; He has gone up higher and higher, so high that when Paul was there one time in a vision he saw things that could not be mentioned here on earth. My dear friends, the tabernacle of the perfect Spot- less Sacrifice is the universe, and heaven is the Holy of Holies beyond the stars. For such an High Priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, 344 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. and made higher than the heavens ; who needeth not daily, as those high i)riests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's; for this He did once when He offered up Himself. For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated forevermore. III. Now that Ave have seen the great tabernacle, and the great High Priest, let me invite your attention to the great offering. '^Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead a\ orks to serve the liA'ing God?" Here we behold then the Spotless Sacri- fice! You remember that in Old Testament times it was necessary that they should take the lambs and pen them up at least fourteen days before the paschal lamb was offered in order that they might be inspected as to their perfection, but it is a question whether ever a lamb Avas offered on the altar before the old tabernacle or before the temple in Jerusalem that was entirely spotless; but here we have the spotless Lamb of God ; here AA^e have the spotless Christ offering Himself for the sins of the Avorld. You can now see why He is called the great High Priest. The old high priest was satisfied to saturate his hands with blood, but it wasn't his own blood, it aa asn't the blood of man; the old high priest put his hands upon the victim's head; he touched the blood, and with the blood on his fingers walked through the holy place into the holy of holies, and there plead Avith God, with the blood stains upon his hands, for the forgiveness of sins; but our great High Priest did not take the blood of animals; He took the blood of His OAvn body and Avent up to heaven, and there He pleads for the remission of the sins of the Avorld. We have an Advocate Avith the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He is the propitiation for our sins, and FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT. 345 Tiot for ours onl}-, but also for the sins of the whole world. Look at the Spotless Sacrifice! Jesus Christ goes down into the garden of Gethsemane, sweats drops of blood. What is the trouble with the Son of God? He is beginning to offer the spotless Lamb. He is the same One of whom John said after He was baptized, Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world! It is the spotless Lamb realizing that the time has come that He must bear the sin of the world. The lash is drawn across His back; he bears it all for the sins of the world. The officers of the Sanhedrin hit Him in the face with their fists ; He bears it all for the sins of the world. The minor officers come up and with open palms slap His face, but He bears it all for the sins of the world. Sin must act just as sinful as it can. The devil must act just as devilish as he can, and consequently he urges men to walk up and spit into the face of God, into the face of the very Lamb that is spotless, but He bears the crown of thorns, and takes the green tree and walks out, though He breaks down, in the state of His humiliation, because He is wil- ling to be offered for the sins of the world. He goes out on Calvary- s hill; one hand is nailed to the right, and the other to the left; His feet are drawn down and nails driven through Avhere the nerves center that the pain would be greater, and there, bearing the sins of the whole world, for all eternity, there He hangs for three long hours in the daylight, from nine o'clock until twelve, near the great city of Jerusalem, that the Avorld may see that this is the spotless Lamb of God, and hanging there during those three hours He prays for the forgiveness of those that nailed Him there; He prays for the salvation of him who hangs to the right; He there commends His own mother into the hands of John to watch over her until she comes home to Him. Then the sun went down at noon; then darkness spread over the earth; then it was that no one could see, because He was treading the wine- press of the wrath of God all alone ; there it was that He bore the sins and the hell of hells for all men, in order that we might escape. Was it for anything that He had done? No, He is the spotless Lamb. Was it for any crime 346 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. that He had committed? No, for there was no spot in His character, but He so loved the world that He gave His life for His sheep. He was a good shepherd. He was the spotless Lamb, and when He bowed His head in death after crying out, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?, after He had cried out. It is finished, He gave up His life as the Spotless Sacrifice, the Lamb of God that would make the Church of God sing in the future: "Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee Let the water and the blood From Thy riven side which flowed Be of sin the double cure — Save me. Lord, and make me pure." It was that Spotless Sacrifice that would make the Church of God sing in the future : "Alas ! and did my Savior bleed, And did my Sovereign die? Would He devote that sacred head For such a worm as I ? Was it for crimes that I have done He groaned upon the tree? Amazing pity, grace unknown. And love beyond degree ! Well might the sun in darkness hide And shut his glories in When Christ, the mighty Maker, died For man, the creature's sin. Yes, Christ, the mighty Maker, the spotless Lamb of God I Thus might I hide my blushing face When His dear cross appears. , Dissolve my heart in thankfulness And melt mine eyes to tears. But drops of grief can ne'er repay The debt of love I owe. Here, Lord, I give myself away 'Tis all that I can do." FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT. 347 It is all that I need to do. It is the spotless Lamb of God that has paid the debt. And now, in conclusion, this Spotless Sacrifice ought to make your conscience and my conscience spotless. •^How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself Avithout spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?""^ How many consciences there are that are not pure tonight! How many consciences there are that are troubling jou, and you have been trying to quiet that conscience for years; you have been trying to make your- self believe you are perfectly happy, but every now and then that conscience Avakens up again and says, you are of all men most dishonorable; you are going on through this world doing absolutely nothing for your Savior, ab- solutely nothing for the salvation of the world, you are letting everything go as it will, and you seem to think that after all it doesn't make any difference, when we come to die something Avill happen, something wonderful will be there, and Ave will at once be transposed from children of wrath to children of God. There is no use waiting for that last hour ; there is no use being imposed upon by the false teachings of all error; the thing for us to do is to remember that the Spotless Sacrifice on Cal- vary's hill was intended to purge us from our sins and to stir up conscience to do something, not because we shall be saved, but because Ave are saved. Paul, in another epistle said. Therefore Ave conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the laAv. Too many people in the present day are trying to get to heaven by their own works, trying to find their OAvn Avay up there, but those Avorks are dead. You might as well go out to yonder cemetery tonight and ask the dead people to come out on the streets tomorrow morning and walk, as to ask a man in his natural state to come to heaven; his works are dead ; he must become a new man ; he must have the Spotless Sacrifice to cleanse him of his sin ; he must under- stand that be is an object of mercy, saved alone by the spotless Lamb of God, through the eternal Spirit; and 348 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. then, when he realizes he is an object of mercy, saved alone through the mercy of Jesus Christ, he ought to have his conscience purged and cleaned and started up to do something for the Lord God, purely out of thankfulness. HoAY can you, my friend, accept the Savior as your Savior, and know that He died for you as He did die, and then sit down and say, I am so glad that God saved me, and I am so glad He did it all, and now I will sit down and do nothing more; it is all done. That simply cannot be; it dare not be. The man that knows what Christ did for him must arise and say, My God, what can I do for Thee? Oh, can we not all arise tliis evening and make up our minds to render God a service such as we never did before? Why should a few people in every church do all the work? Why should a few people only go out and try to gather Sunday School scholars or try to bring in new church members, or work to bring people into the classes? Why cannot every immortal soul, saved by the Spotless Sacrifice of the Lamb of God, arise and walk in the footprints of Jesus, and bear his cross, and with a clear conscience shout out to a dyiug world. Come to Christ and be saved before it is too late ! There are two little phrases in my text tonight that ought to make an impression on every man : ^'Eternal re- demption,'' and "Eternal inheritance." When Christ died on Calvary He did not die for a little short life ; He died for immortal souls, and that redemption is an eternal re- demption for the purpose of giving to you and to me an eternal life. We are just about to add half a hundred new members to this church by confirmation; one or two more evenings shall we be together to give a final review of the great things that God has done for us as taught in Luther's catechism. There are some churches that im- agine if they once a year take in new members, and then sit down for eleven months more and do nothing, they have done their full duty. As I said the first time I preached from this pulpit, I believe in a truly Lutheran revival, and that should begin on the first day of January and never end. I believe that a true church of God that is awake should have a class ready to be instructed every FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT. 849 time there is one confirmed. In one hour and a half 1 found six men who wanted to be instructed in the next class; there ought to be sixty as well as six, and I noAv send out the invitation already, for the first Friday even- ing after Easter, be ready to come into the new class, be ready no difference who you are. I tell you, my friends, this country has become too full of the liglit of the Gospel for a man to sit in his home as a heathen. This world of ours is too full of the demonstration of the power of God for any ^^'oman to be a heathen mother. The Word of (Jod has demonstrated its power too much, and life has demonstrated itself in our own city as too short for men to i)ut off from year to year their eternal salvation. What right has any sane man, in a city where three men have dropped over dead in twenty-four hours Avithout a warn- ing, to wait and wait and wait, and make an eternal mistake, when there has been wrought out an eternal re- demption for their eternal inheritance? If I were a lawyer I would fight for my client if he were in the right ; if I were a Christian preacher, or Christian layman, I would fight for the salvation of souls; and yet we sit around as if this were an entertainment, as if God were a liar, as if there were no judgment to come, and no heaven and no hell. Brethren, the time has come that every man who confesses Christ as his Savior, should arise with power from on high, and urge men to come and accept the eternal inheritance Avrought out by the Spotless Sacri- fice in an eternal redemption. Amen. PRAYER. O God, our heavenly Father, Thou knowest that Thy Son is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and that no man cometh to Thee but by Him. O Christ. Thou knowest that Thou art the only Savior of the world, and that the only way to be saved is by Thy redemption, or Thou wouldst not have died on Calvary's hill. O Holy Spirit, Thou knowest that there is no other hope, or Thou wouldst not plead the bleeding Christ to a dying world. Lord God, Thou knowest that it is a battle for a man by nature sinful to become a saved man and even to plead for the salvation of others. Are we not ourselves miracles of Thy mercy and grace ? Canst Thou not do for others what Thou 'hast done for us? Bless the message of the evening. Drive it deep into our hearts 350 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. and consciences, and help that no house in this city may in the future have anything but a Christian family in it. Hear this our prayer: We ask it in the name of Jesus, who taught us to pray: Our Father who art in heaven; Hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come ; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven ; Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for- give those who trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation; But deliver us from evil; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. PALM SUNDAY. God's Mind. Phil. 2 :5-ll. LET this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who,^ being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men ; and being found in fashion as a man. He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him. and given Him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in. heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth ; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Thy Word is truth. Amen. Beloved in Christ : — Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. All Scriptures given by inspiration of God is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. These two passages, and others which I might quote, sho^ us clearly that the whole Bible is the Word of the Holy Spirit. The first thing when you read a book is to find out the mind of the author; it isn't so much what is in this chapter or that chapter, on this page or that page, but when you have finished the book, what has the author intended to convey to the reader? In other words, you want the mind of the book, and when we study God's Word we do not study it with the view of finding out what Calvin's opinion was, or Zwingley's, or even Doctor Lu- ther's; we want to know exactly what the Holy 351 352 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. Spirit said ; we want the mind of God. In our text tonight the Holy Spirit directs us to the mind of God. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. May the Holy Spirit then help us this evening to behold THE MIND OF GOD. Let us get: I. The mind of God the Son; 11. The mind of God the Father. III. The mind of God the Holy Spirit. I. In order that w^e may follow the words of our text, let us look first at the mind of Jesus. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men ; and being found in fashion as a man. He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death ^f the cross. 1. What is the mind of Jesus Christ? We discover, first of all, that Jesus Christ knew He was the Son of God. Being in the form of God He thought it not robbery to be equal with God. There wasn't a time that Jesus Christ ever felt that He was robbing God if He said, I and the Father are One. Even as a little child in the crib of Bethleh'em, He knew that it was not robbery to say, Here lies the Son of God. What a glorious thought it is that Jesus Christ did not forget His Sonship, and what a glorious thing it is that you and I have the conviction from God's own Word that Jesus is the Son of God ! We know it from His names. None but God could be called Jesus, the Savior, Christ the Anointed, Lord of lords and King of kings. None but Jesus the Son of God could be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the ever- lasting Father, the Prince of peace! When Thomas stood before Him one week after that first Easter evening and said. My Lord and my God! he recognized it was not rob- bery for Jesus to be equal with the Father. PALM SUNDAY. 353 Not only do we know this from His names, but we tnow it from His attributes. Lo, I am with you always even unto the end of the world! None but God could say that. The Son of man hath power on earth to for- give sins I None but God could say that. The Father and I are One! None but God could say that. Not only do we know it from His attributes; we know it from His works. This Son of God who knew that it was not robbery to be equal with God, was the One that said to Lazarus, Come forth, and he came forth. He was the One that said to the man born blind. Be opened, and he saw. He was the One that said to the deaf. Hear, and he heard. His works demonstrate to the world that this is actually the Son of God, and that He did not assume any power He did not have, when He told us He and the Father are One. We know it from His honor. Twenty times in the New Testament honor is given to Him as the great Son of God. The grace that is to sustain us is to come from the Lord of glory. The mind, therefore, of Jesus, is that He is actually the Lord of lords and King of kings. 2. Not only is it true that we have from His own mind that He is the Son of God, but that 'He became man. But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. Born of the virgin Mary, of course He was man, called Immanuel, God is with us. Though He was born man, we find that Jesus Christ grew like a man. He was a child and afterwards grew in stature as well as wisdom. We find He had the infirmities of men; He looked like a man; was tired, hungry, thirsty, and slept, and when crucified He was numbered among the transgressors as a man. There is no question, therefore, at all about the fact that He did become man, and made Himself of no reputation. It is said of Peter of Eussia, when his country was in total ignorance of even many things she knows today, he went over to England, and Holland, and Ger- many, as a poor traveler, not letting the people know that he was Emperor. In Holland he put on a common laborer's 23 354 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. garments, took and axe, went to the woods and began to chop with the other laborers; but when his day's work was done and he would come in, then as Emperor he would write letters back to his own country. The fact that lie did not walk around in those foreign countries as emperor, did not rob. him of the truth that he was an emperor. An emperor is not made by clothing, nor does he lose his emperorship because he puts on an older gar- ment. Because Jesus Christ in all His glory came down on earth and made Himself of no reputation and took upon Himself the form of a servant, did not rob Him of divinity, but at the same time it does prove that He did become a man, and dwelt among men as a servant. 3. He became an obedient servant — obedient unto death, and in the state of His humiliation He goes on down from His conception, even to the grave. Was it not a humiliation on the part of Jesus Christ to be conceived of the Holy Ghost and born of the virgin Mary? Was it not a letting down of the Son of glory to lie in a little crib on the straw^, when He Himself held the stars in all their glory in His hand? Was it not a state of humilia- tion on the part of this great Son of God to become so little that He lies on His mother's bosom? Was it not a state of humiliation for Him to stand before Pontius Pilate, and before Herod, to be mocked and scourged? There are two ways of opposing Jesus. The one is to op- pose Him like the Jews did, and spit in His face, and buffet Him; but there is another way of mistreating the Savior, and that is to do as Pontius Pilate did, and look upon Him cowardly, or, like Herod tried to do, use Him for entertainment. I do not know which hurt the Savior more, to walk up and slap Him in the face, to spit in His face, to buffet Him, or to treat Him as Herod did. When He stood before the Sanhedrin, He answered their ques- tions; when He stood before Pontius Pilate, He gave an answer to the only question put to Him, as to whether He was the King of the Jews ; but when mocked and used simply to entertain before Herod, He stood perfectly silent. What pain must have passed through the very heart of Jesus when He saw how men were trying to play PALM SUNDAY. 355 fool with Him! He became a servant, humiliated more and more, until at last He hangs on the cross, and there, bleeding and dying, for six long hours, the Savior became the obedient servant that went down to death. 4. Not only do we find that this was the mind of Jesus, to become humiliated and to go down to the grave, but we find that He was willing to accept the cross as His monument. And being found in fashion as a man. He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. We generally say, in ex- plaining the Apostles' Creed, that the humiliation of Christ ended with His burial. The apostle here says nothing about the burial, nor is it necessary. When He said on the cross, It is finished! when Joseph of Arima- thaea, and Mcodemus came and took His body off of the cross and laid it down in a borrowed grave, the apostle looked upon that cross as the tombstone, as the monument, for the grave in which Jesus lay. True it was that in the grave ended His humiliation. It was a humiliating thing upon the part of Jesus Christ to allow Himself to be laid in a borrowed grave. I look into the faces of so many sitting before me tonight who, during the past years, have laid some oi their own dead away to sleep. How would you feel tonight if you knew that your hus- band, or your little daughter, ar your little son, were sleeping in a borroAved grave? You stand by the grave and weep, but you have the comfort of knowing that it is father's grave; it is mother's grave, it is my little daughter's grave, it is my little son's grave; but the world had to stand before the grave of Jesus and say, it is not His; it belongs to Joseph of Arimathaea. Oh, how poor our Savior became, that He might make us rich! And this, my friends, is the mind of Jesus. It was His good mind not only to remember that He was the Son of God, not only to become a man, but to become obedient unto death, and accept the cross as His monument, and where is there a more beautiful monument today in the world than the cross of Calvary, standing at the head of that I)orrowed grave? II. Now that we have the mind of the Lord Jesus, 356 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. let US ulso try to get the mind of His Father, namely, of God, our heavenly E'ather. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 1. Here we get the mind of our heavenly Father, and His mind is to exalt the Son who was humbled ; His mind is to lift up the Son Himself, and to exalt His name, that every tongue should confess Him, and every knee should bow before Him. It was the mind of the heavenly Father to take that Son that went on down to the bottom of the grave, and lift Him up. While Jesus said, I will go down to the world, and I will go down to death, and I will go down to the bottom of the borrowed grave to save human- ity, to show My love and pay the awful debt, the Father said, Son, let this be Thy mind, but My mind shall be to put My hand under Thy body and lift Thee out of the grave; My mind will be to take Thee after forty days on earth and lift Thee up, past the stars, and zones of stars and whirling world systems, past the very gates of heaven, up to the throne, and put Thee above every other being in all the universe. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him. Not only was it the mind of the Father that Jesus Christ in person as the God-man should ascend to the throne on high, but it was His mind that this exaltation should begin with His descent into hell, as we confess in the creed, and then ascend to heaven, and sit on the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. It was the mind of our Heavenly Father that His Son, though dying on Calvary, should stand at the gates of hell as a mighty King, conquer death and the devil and all hell. It was the mind of our heavenly Father that this Son of His should stand in the presence of His disciples, and, start- ing heavenward, should be seen as He passed out of sight. It was the Father's will that He should be the miglity PALM SUNDAY. 357 King, expressed by the Avords 'right-liand of God' and rule the whole world, and especially be King of grace and King of glory. It was His will that He should come with all His holy angels on the last great day to show that those that are still living, as well as those that are dead and in their graves should come before His last assize to be held on high. This is the mind of the Father. 2. But the mind of the Father was not only going to lift up the Son, but lift His name up. And give Him a name which is above every name. There was a time when the name of Jesus seemed to be ridiculed; there was a time when the people pointed at the cross and said, Here is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews! There was a time Avhen Pontius Pilate unconsciously wrote a prophecy that this King should be known and read in three languages, to show that the Gospel should be preached to all the world. There Avas a time when men like the Ai)ostle Peter did not have the courage to say that they were followers of this humble Christ; but God the Father said, I Avill take that name that some of you seem to be ashamed of, and I aaHI lift that name above every name. Oh, my dear friends, compare the name of Jesus tonifirht with anv other name in the world, and see hoAv it ascended away up on high. Who, for a mo- ment would think of comparing Alexander the Great with Jesus, or Caesar with Jesus, or any of the apostles with Jesus, or a Luther or any reformer, with Jesus ; who Avould think of comparing the name of any angel with the name of Jesus? That beautiful name stands high aboA^e every name in all the universe; and who put it there? God the Father. That was His mind. 3. Not only was it God's mind to lift that name above every other name and make it the sweetest name to be uttered by tongue or angel, but it Avas His mind that CA^ery knee should exalt His name and His person. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth. The word "things" is here in italics, and you know it is not in the original language. The strict read- ing- of this Averse would be, That at the name of Jesus 358 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. every knee in heaven and in earth and under the earth should bow. God the Father intended to bend as it were His own knees before His own Son, and say, I exalt Thee; He intended that Gabriel should come before Him, and all the hosts of angels, and they should bow their knees before Him, the mighty King that went down to death; it was His intention that every prophet, and every apostle, and every saint on high shall come before the King of kings and Lord of lords and boAv their knees be- fore Him; it is His intention that every living creature on earth, no difference how much they scoff now, no dif- ference how much they ridicule the Church or the people, or anything that is good and holy, it is the very mind of the heavenly Father that ever}^ knee, no difference how stubborn it may be today, shall bend before the mighty Christ, who humbled Himself and became obedi- ent unto death. It is the mind of our heavenly Father that men must bow before Him, and not only those that are on the earth, not only the living, but it is the mind of God that every knee that sleeps at the bottom of the sea, that every knee that sleeps down under the earth, in the grave, that every knee that has been reduced to ashes by fire, that every knee shall be raised up from the dead, and when it is raised up, shall bend before the mighty King of kings and Lord of lords. 4. We have in our text tonight this beautiful dem- onstration of the mind of God, our heavenly Father, that not only every knee shall exalt Him, but that every tongue shall do so, and that every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Notice well, it is not said that every knee shall acknowl- edge Him as Savior, or that every one shall bow before Him and say. Thou art my Redeemer and Savior and I am Thine; not that, but it is the mind of our heavenly Father that every knee shall bow before Him and con- fess that He is Lord, to the glory of the Father. It is the mind of our heavenly Father that the devil hiDiself must confess that Jesus Christ is Master. It is the mind of our heavenly Father that every fallen angel must not onlv bend the knee, but must sav in the hearino- of the PALM SUNDAY. 359 Avliole world, He is the only Lord of lords and King of kings. It is the mind of our heavenly Father that every Voltaire, every Ingersoll, every Hume, and every man that has ever said a word against Jesus Christ, shall stand before Him, and the Father will say, Bend your knees I and down they go. Now speak! and they must speak and say what they never said before, This is, after all, the Lord of lords and King of kings. Every tongue must exalt Jesus Christ, the Son of God. HI. We have also the mind of the Holy Spirit. Just previous to our text it is said: If there be, there- fore, any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfil ye uiy joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vain-glory ; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Here you discover that the mind of the Holy Spirit is that we as Christian peo- ple should have one heart, one mind, one love, and learn all this from the mind of Jesus Christ. As I said in the beginning of my sermon, I say again: Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. The hand that wrote these words, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, was moved by the Holy Spirit, and the mind of the Holy Spirit is that you and I shall have the mind of Jesus Christ. 1. Xow, if we have the mind of Jesus Christ, we must not forget our value. In all His humiliation Jesus Christ never forgot that He was the Son of God. He did not rob God of His glory when He said, I and the Father are one. In the same sense you and I must not forget Avhat we are — must not forget our value. Jesus said of you and of me. 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? Do you wonder why Jesus Christ poured out His blood on Cal- vary? Pray tell me, how else could we be redeemed? 360 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. You lost, as a single soul, means more than a world lost. If it were possible that tomorrow morning the papers would print that all Europe sank below the sea, the world would fall down on its knees and ask God for mercy, and yet if all Europe should sink, it would be nothing compared Avith your value as an individual soul ; and if Jesus Christ had to die to save you and to save me, and to save the fourteen hundred millions of people living tonight, to say nothing of the billions that have passed into eternity long ago, and the millions that shall yet be born, pray tell me, Avhere in all the universe is there a price able to pay this debt, outside of the only Son of God? Therefore, my friends, have the mind of Christ Jesus, and know your value, and never forget it. It is a terrible thing for a man to let himself go on with- out being saved ; it is a terrible thing for a man to forget what he is' worth ; it is a terrible thing for a man just because he has not got quite so much money as some one else, or because he has not got so much fame as another man, to think he amounts to nothing and let himself sink into hell. Have the mind of Christ Jesus, and in all humility do not forget what you are worth. 2. Also like the Savior, Jesus Christ, do not forget to be a servant. Hoav many people there are that want to be lords. So manj?^ young men in the present day seem to think if they can just sit in an office, touch a button and give some one a command, that it is great. How many young men in the present day seem to think it is so little to be a servant. The truth of it is that there isn't a real genuine man on earth that doesn't rec- ognize the grandeur of being a servant. The president of the United States is a servant of the people. There is not a man on earth that is not a servant, if he is a true man. I would, therefore, wish you to have the mind of Christ Jesus, and instead of asking yourself the ques- tion all the time, how can I lord it over this one or over that one, let the question be this, how can I serve this little child, or how can I serve this poor fallen being; how can I, like my Savior, lift up the world by going PALM SUNDAY. 361 down myself? The Holy Spirit's mind is that you and I shall have the mind of Jesus Christ. 3. Not only should we be servants, but should not forget to have our hearts filled with love. Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Oh, that we had a little more of the love of Jesus in our hearts! that we would all go down and served humanity with that love that drove Jesus from His rich throne on high to become an humble servant, ready to lie in a borrowed grave. Let us have the mind of Jesus Christ, and let us have some of the love of Christ in our hearts, and reach out, and down, and try to lift humanity. 4. Finally, Is it iDossible for a Christian church to have the mind of Jesus Christ and then try to be aristo- cratic? Isn't an aristocrat a nobleman? And where was there ever such a nohle nobleman as Jesus? Is it possible for a man to be a true Christian and then look around for a place where he can meet among people that are away up and are not willing to come down? For my part, I say the Christian church should have but one mind, and that one mind must be the mind of the Mas- ter, and the Master's mind was, I will go down, down, down, to the very gates of hell, that I may lift people up to heaven; and that same mind must be in the Chris- tian minister; that same mind must be in the Christian church, and just as soon as a Christian church overlooks this great truth that we must be the church that is will- ing to go down and lift up the people, that we are willing to make the poor feel at home in our midst, just so soon we get away from the mind of Jesus and cannot prosper. If, therefore, our own individual congregation is to pros- per, let us keep up the good spirit planted by those who have stood where I now stand and whose bodies sleep in the dust of the earth. Let us be the people's church. Let every man and every woman feel at home here, no difference how poor they may be, no difference what has been their past, let us not go down to them; they have immortal souls, valuable in the sight of God; and thus 362 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. we will get the mind of Christ as individuals, we will have it as a church, and, having it as a church, it will be like Christ Himself living in our midst. If Jesus Christ is the Light of the world, as He says He is, and if His children are the lights of the world, as He says they are, then they must be the reflection of the Master ; they must do what Jesus would do. What would Jesus do if He lived in Mansfield? What would Jesus do if He were a member of this church, or if pastor of this church? Oh, my dear friends, if we would all do as Jesus did, we would go on down, down, until God would lift us up and those that are with us. May God help us tonight to have the mind of Jesus Christ. May the Father in heaven show us the exaltation that will come to us hereafter by the exaltation that He gave to Jesus; and may the Holy Spirit pour down deep into our hearts the love of Jesus for humanity, and make us willing to suffer that all might live eternally. This is my prayer, and may God bless these words to our eternal good. Amen. PRAYER. Our Father in heaven, we thank Thee for the mind of Jesus Christ, who, though He was Son of God, was willing to become man, made Him- self of no reputation, but became a servant and was obedient unto death, and accepted the cross as the monument at the head of a bor- rowed grave that we might escape death, and have everlasting life. O Father in heaven, we thank Thee for Thy mind that has seen fit to lift up Jesus Christ and exalt Him in person, to exalt His name, and make every knee exalt Him and every tongue confess His exaltation. O Thou Holy Spirit, we thank Thee that Thou hast come into our midst and hast given us the command that we have the mind of Christ Jesus, and if each of us has this mind, we will all have the same mind, and we pray to Thee Father that this' mind may be one in heart and one in love, that the good of humanity may be in this mind, and that by Thy grace we may lead them all to Him who conquered death that we might have everlasting life. Heavenly Father, do Thou bless the service tonight; bless Thy servant in the message He has delivered, and may it find good ground in the hearts of all those who have come to this temple this evening. Lord our God, help us to sum up all in this, Thy prayer, when we pray: Our Father who art in heaven ; Hallowed be Thy name ; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven; Give PALM SUNDAY. 368 us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for- give those who trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation; But deliver us from evil; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. CONFIRMATION SERMON. Jesus' Jewels. Mal. 3:16-18. €HEN they that feared the Lord spake often one to another; and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return. and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not. • Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Thy Word is truth. Amen. Dear Class and Christian Hearers: The Lord Jesus Christ was so rich that He was the only heir of heaven and earth, and yet on that Palm Sunday He rode into Jerusalem as King without any golden rings on His fingers, Avithout any jewels about His neck, on a borrowed animal, and rode over borrowed clothing. The palms that were scattered before Him were palms of honor, given to Him by greater jewels than ever could be given to wear. Those people that cried out along the highway, Hosanna to the §on of David I Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord! were largely children and people who came to the Passover to offer sacrifice to the true and living God, and they had in them immortal souls. They were jewels for which God was looking. During the past year the largest diamond that has ever been discovered, has been found. It is estimated at four millions of dollars value. Oh, how many people would love to have a little piece of that diamond set in a 364 CONFIRMATION SERMON. 365 ring to wear on their fingers! In our own city a few weeks ago a great effort was made to obtain a ring that had a little diamond in it. Now what that little diamond was to the ring, your own souls are to the circle of this earth. Who cares for the ring if he can get the diamond, and who cares for a little ground in this Avorld if the im- mortal soul which in God's sight is called a jewel, shall be his? The Lord, speaking of these immortal souls says, And they shall be Mine, saith the Lord, in that day when I make up My jewels, and I Avill spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Dear class, I would have you to remember this morning that your own souls are more valuable than all the world, for what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the world and lose his own soul, or what shall he give in exchange for his soul? I address you therefore this morning as JESUS'' JEWELS. I. On earth. II. On the Judgment Day. III. In heaven. May God the Holy Spirit help me this morning to say a word that shall hold these jewels in their places in God's merciful hand until they shall be His on the other side of the Judgment, in heaven above, is my prayer, I. Usually the jewels that we see have been mined and marked. Whence come these jewels sitting before me to-day? They, too, have been mined, and God has put His mark on them by which they shall be known even on this earth. Whence have you been mined? Listen to the words just preceding my text: Your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord. Yet ye say. What have we spoken so much against Thee? Ye have said, It is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we have kept His ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully be- fore the Lord of hosts? And now we call the proud happy ; yea, they that work wickedness are set up ; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered. 366 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. 1. Ye have said, It is vain to serve God. Notice the black foil around these jewels. Usually we find that jewels are set forth the brighter because of the darker foil around them. The question arises this morning, Where did God get this large class? Where did He mine you? From what kind of a world did He bring you out? And the answer is, that back of these jewels lies the dark foil of sin, from which you have been brought out by the means of grace. You, yourself, have undoubtedly said many a time, it is vain to serve God. Let me ask you this morn- ing whether you have always been willing to study God's Word as you should. Have you always been willing to listen to God's Word and pray to have more knowledge of the truth, or has there not been a time in your own life — now be honest as you sit before me — has there not been a time in your own life when you have been rather care- less and reckless, putting off from day to day what should have been done long ago? Haven't there been times when you said, what is the use to be a church member? Haven't there been times in your life when you said, what is the use to go to God's house, and what is the use to hear God's Word, and what is the use to go to Sunday School, and what is the use to go to catechetical instruction? Boys, do you remember just a few months ago how glad you were to escape my class? Don't you remember how you would rather have played ball, or run and wasted your time, and even deceived your own parents, than to sit here and hear God's Word? Haven't there been times in your own history when you have even scoffed possibly a little bit at things that were good and holy? Haven't there been times in your life when you said, what is the use of this religion? Haven't there been times when you said, the church members are hypocrites, any way? Haven't there been times when you were rather going the road, that if we would all go that way there would be no church and no preaching of the Gospel, no holy baptism in our midst, no Lord's Supper? Brethren, if it is right for you or for any one else to sit at home on Sunday morning like this, in health and strength, and not hear God's Word, then it is right that I should be away from this pulpit; CONFIRMATION SERMON. 367 then it is right that all these Christians should take their hats and go home; then it is right that we should tear down God's house and stop praying and stop teaching, and all live like heathen and go to the devil. Whence did God mine these jewels? Oh, I am not surprised at all at what you have said and done in the past, born in sin, some- times surrounded Avith careless homes and careless en- vironments, with voices saying. Come, come out into the world, and eat, drink, and be merry, with a thousand forces trying to draw you to destruction; the miracle of miracles this morning is not that Jesus turned water into wine, not that He made blind men to see, not that He raised Lazarus from the dead, but the miracle of all mir- acles is this, that you as a class are sitting here today as God's mined jcAvels out of the dark and sin cursed world. And how has He mined you? How has He changed your mind about these things? He did it through the means of grace ; He did it through the Word of God. The Christian people prayed, and prayed, that God might bring you into His kingdom. You heard a sermon some time or other, some Avhere, that made an impression on you. Somewhere or other God's hand reached down and took hold of you as it never did before, and said, Now stop and think. SomeAvhere or other the pick went down into the ground and found the rich diamond that has been found within the past year, and God's eternal law thun- dered into your conscience and into your soul, and said. Now is the time to change; now is the time to turn; now is the time to serA^e God Almighty. Life is here, now ; to- morrow it may not be; the Judgment is coming; the priv- ilege is here now to serve my God and Master; and there was a moment in your life when you said, either aloud, or you thought it. My God, I am Avilling to be mined. It is God that quickeneth in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. And so He mined you as jewels out of the dark, sin cursed Avorld, and brought you step by step to the true life, so that you are now sitting here; you now love to give yourself entirely to God; you now love His Word and feed on it, and this Word to-dav is 368 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. as sweet to your souls as good bread is to your bodies when you are hungry. God has done it all. Praise to His holy name! God's jewels! 2. Notice the marks the Holy Spirit puts on His jeAvels. You have noticed, dear class, how people mark their silver and gold and precious gifts, so that they can ahvays identify them. Thus God marks His jewels that He can see them from heaven and they can be known on earth. He puts four marks on them. a. They fear God. A child that loves his parents fears every day that he might do something to otfend those parents. Such a filial fear God's jewels must al- ways have. The more you fear God the less you will fear man. It has well been said that one, with God on his side, is a majority. Dear children, wherever you are, whatever the world says, whoever opposes you, under all circumstances, and if it costs your lives, please God, and fear Him. 6. A second mark. They are not yoked to^etlier with unbelievers. God says, when the unbelievers were ridiculing the wishes of Him, Then they that feared the Lord spake often to one another. They could not bear to be in the company of scoffers. Dear class, mark what I say, you cannot have the company of children of the devil and be God's jeAvels. Preachers and church mem- bers may be yoked with unbelievers, but God's jewels never. We are living in a sinful Avorld, and among sin- ners, but jewels must remain jewels, and remain together. God expects you from this day to live in single or mar- ried life with His jewels. God does not want you to call a child of the devil your brother. c. A third mark. They come together often and en- courage each other to be faithful to God until death. How we love to meet our old schoolmates! But you are more than schoolmates; you have come together for nearly one year to prepare to remain together forever ; this is the be- ginning of an eternal school ; to-day you expect to make a vow to be faithful to God until death. You should be more than friends; you should take such an interest in each other on your heavenly journey that you will never CONFIRMATION SERMON. 369 lose sight of each other. Eemember your class. Let each one keep a constant watch over the rest. Let none fall back on his journey because he is weak in the faith. Last winter some hunters in the west left one of their number lie in the snow to die while they went on to save their own lives. They w^ere severely condemned by the press for not rescuing the weak one. Stand by each other until death. If one fails to come to the house of God; if one fails to be found at this altar when the Lord gives His supper, then go after him, and pray for him, and by no means let God's jewel be stolen by the devil. Do not treat each other like strangers. Do not forget to follow after the Lord Jesus. d. A fourth mark. They keep God in mind. They thought upon His name. If you do not think more of God, you have no right to think that you are God's jewels. Feed your mind on God; study His Word in the Sunday school; let nothing but a reason that would satisfy God keep you from His service; buy good Christian books and meditate on them; read them at home; read the name of God on every leaf and every blade of grass, on every flower, on every rock, in every star; think of God when you lie down to sleep, when you rise, when you work, when you rest, when you prosper, when you fail, when you suffer, when you enjoy yourself, when you die; think more of the Father's name; never forget that sweetest of all names, Jesus; always keep the door of grace open for that heavenly dove, the Holy Spirit. These four marks God has written not only on His jewels but on the book of His memory. And the Lord barkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them. God in heaven is listening to this day's service. He hears your vow. He marks His jewels and Avrites the marks down on His memory. II. Not only do we find that God's jewels are mined and marked on earth, but He wants these jewels also on the Judgment day. And they shall be Mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels. . . Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous 24 370 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not. 1. Dear class, there is a day coming when you will not assemble in the presence of fifteen hundred people as you do this morning; there is a day coming when you will stand in the presence of those that you have laid away in sleep in yonder little grave ; there is a day coming when the sea shall give up its dead, when all the graves shall give up their dead, when those who are on earth, in the twinkling of an eye shall be changed; the dsij is coming when the Son of God, your Savior, who cut you out of the sin cursed world will come with His holy angels in all His glory and will call upon you to stand up before Him, and on that day you shall be His, He says, ^'When I make up My jewels." Oh, what a blessed thought on that day, God will arrange His jewels, and engrave them. 2. He will engrave them. In this world we some- times do not know who are Christians and who are not. In the church it is said there are men who will beat their fellowmen as quick as any scoundrel on earth. Oh, what a pity I but I guess it is true, but what a great compliment it is to the church of God that a bad man is a hypocrite in a church. If the church were bad, a bad man could not be a hypocrite in the church. It is said that in tfte ehurch of God there are men who will not pay their debts. What a pity ! but if everybody in the church did not pay tlieir debts, nobody would say anything about it. They tell us there are men in the church of God that will curse and swear. Oh, what a pity! but they are not in God's invisible church; they are only in the congregation. They tell us there are people in the church living in fornication and adultery. God knows; I do not; but if they do, I want them to understand that there is a day coming when we Avill know just exactly who served God and avIio did Qot; there is a day coming when hypocrisy cannot stand a luoment; there is a day coming when the Lord God Al- miglit}^ shall sever the righteous from those that are lost and condemned in sin as the wind severs the chaff from tlie Avheat. Then shall ye return, and discern between tlie righteous and the wicked, between iiim tliat serveth CONFIRM ATIOX SEKMON. 371 God and liim that seryeth Him not. Then we will know the difference. On that great day there will be no such a thing as a man being a Christian and his wife a child of the devil, or a wife a Christian and her husband a child of the devil walking arm in arm. God will say, Apart, forever. On that day those that have walked hand in hand, some professing to be Christians and others not, will hear a voice that will say, To My right, ye children of God, and to the left, children of the devil. Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. These are My jewels. God will arrange that on that day, my dear friends. You go to your home and you Avill find a little spot somewhere, where you keep your little jewels. There is a time coming when the Lord God Almighty will take those that were baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and were faithful to Him until death, and arrange His jewels, and say. These are Mine; I have them arranged now forever. May God find every one of you arranged by His hand on that day. 3. And not only does He arrange them, but He en- graves them. I called your attention before to the fact that you are already marked here on earth, but on that day you will receive another mark. A book of remem- brance was written before Him of them that feared the Lord and thought upon His name. There is a book of life where the jewels are recorded, and on every jewel you will find these words: My jewels! Oh, may God this day stamp that mark on every one of your souls — My jewels ! III. Xot only do we knoAV that on that great day they shall be marked as His jewels and His forever, but He intends to keep His jewels in heaven after the Judg- ment day, and on that day they will be His own jewels, and He will use them, also. 1. And I will spare them as a man spare th his own son that serveth him. How would you spare your own son, father, that serves you? Suppose you had an only son, and he is good and faithful, works hard and does his duty in every way, when would you be ready to tell 372 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. that son, Now get out of my home, I am done with you? Where is the home that wants to get rid of a faithful boy that is true to father and true to mother, and not a lazy hair on his head? Now then, says our God, as to you. His jewels, I will spare you as a man spareth his own son that serveth him, and that is never. I tell you, my dear friends, you are God's jewels, and when you come before Him on that last great day, He will look upon each one of you as if you were the only jewel He had. He does not bunch the whole world together and say these millions of people are My jewels, but He takes your daughter. He takes your son. He takes your father, He takes your mother, and places you in the palm of His hand, and among all the people in all the world He says, You are My jewel, and as a father spareth his son (not sons) an only child, so will I spare you; you are Mine only. Oh, it means something, dear class, to be created in the image of God; it means something to have a soul that came out of the mouth of God; it means something to know your value. If I could onl}^ impress two thoughts upon you to-day, I know that you would be safe for life, on the Judgment day, and forever. The one is your great value; and the other is the eye of God in mercy open over you every moment. 2. When you have entered into the presence of your God as I hope you will forever. He not only will have you there as His own jewels, but He will have you there as useful jewels. As a man spareth his own son that serveth him. There are some sons that would be no loss to their families if they did leave them. I have in mind some men that I see in Mansfield; they wear good clothing all the time. Go up and down street when you please and you will see some of them standing on the corner, well dressed; they never do anything; we never see them working; they surely eat, for they are looking hearty. If the earth could just drop through a hole all of that class of people, there would be no loss to the world; but a son that serveth some one, a son that serveth a master, that works for the welfare of man and for the glory of God, he is a loss to any community when he leaves it. CONFIRMATION SERMON. 373 Now then, says God, I have no use for jewels to make a show. Jesus did not ride into Jerusalem on that memor- able occasion with golden rings and many jewels about Him, but still He had His real jewels with Him, for when the children sang Hosanna to the Son of David! the proud Pharisees said, make the children keep quiet, but God said if they kept quiet the very stones would have to speak, and the little jewels sang to the glory of God, and He used them. Do not think for a single moment that when you come to heaven you will sit down there and forever and ever enjoy heaven doing nothing, seeing nothing and being nothing. God will use you, and He will use you to His glory, and He will have you serve Him forever and ever. It is a good thing to have jewelry when you can make use of it. Where is the man in this audience to-day that would Avant to give up his watch? That is jewelry, but we use it, and every bit of jewelry that you can use, Avear it, and everything that you can not use, throw it away, sell it, get rid of it; let us just wear Avhat Ave haA^e got and use Avhat we have got, for that is the way God will do with you as His jewel. He neA^er has a useless jewel around Him, and if we are all children of God here and serA^e Him here on earth, in this world, and are faithful until death, He will give us the crown of eternal life. Not very long ago the Prince of Wales was presented with a very valuable time piece, given by the queen to the coming king. Surely it Avas a beautiful gift, but the strange thing about it was that when the Prince of Wales wore the watch it stopped and would not run ; something Avas Avrong with it. They took it to the best jeweler in London and when he opened it he found there was just one little thing wrong with it, one little jewel was lost, and when that was replaced the watch gave the time, and it is to-day the valuable gift of the great queen to her son, the king ; and I was thinking just a moment ago how I would feel on that last great day when we stand be- fore our heavenly Father, if one of these jewels should be lost. Dear class, it is not for personal honor that I have labored with you as I have throughout the past 374 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. year. I might sit at home with my family on an even- ing as other men do ; I have been tliere one evening since Christmas. Why would I spend my time with yon? Why would I run to your homes after you? Why would I pray for you and labor with you as I do? Why would I this very day spend a handsome sum of my own money that I might well use for others, just to give you a present? It isn't simply for the present's sake. There is something in this book that I shallhand you, a great message. It means something more than personal cost for me to instruct you and bring you into the church of God ; it means that you are to take these books home and remember in years to come, when this tongue is silent, when I can talk to you no more, Avhat your faithful pastor told you, and how he begged of you that you might be faithful and dear jewels until death, and receive the crown of eternal life. Can it be that any of you boys or any of you girls can go out into life now after having heard what you have, and lead a bad life and bring your parents to shame, disgrace your church, and try to comfort your- selves by saying, I did not know? Dear class, on that Judgment day I will testify against you if you do not serve God until death. You do know. You know God's truth, and you know how to live aright; you know how to live virtuous lives; you know how to be true to your fathers and mothers, true to your church and true to your government; you know your duty to God and man, and I beg of you to-day as in the presence of the great God on the Judgment day, do not let me find on that day one jewel lost among all these jewels. And may I say a word to you as parents and as friends of these jewels? Are you prating for their faithfulness to their God? Are you setting an example in your home to teach them to leave their religion in the church? I see the faces of some of you here to-day whom I have not seen before. Can it be that you expect these little children to lead you instead of your leading them? Can it be that you are setting an example that will possibly cause some of these jewels to be lost on that lagt great day? Does it mean nothing to you that God CONFIRMATION SERMON. 375 says that on that last great day of eternal destruction some will gnash their teeth and weep? Can it be that possibly one of these jewels will be lost and there in hell gnash his teeth at you, his father, and say, you are the cause of my damnation, or that you, mother, have caused me to live as I did? I will never allow you to gnash your teeth at me on that day. Oh, I beg of you as a class, follow my Savior, and let us walk in His footprints and be faithful until death, and at last receive the crown of eternal life; and from this day until you die, unless sickness of your own, or the sickness of some one else keeps you at home, never allow the Sunday to pass without being in God's house and hearing His Word. Never allow the holy communion to be celebrated without going to the altar and receiving the body and the blood of your Master. Never allow the day to pass without praying to your God. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned. Think over these things, and then, on that last great day when we all stand there before God, and I can be with you and you with me, all Christians and saints together, then we will hear God say. These are My jewels ! Thanks and praise be to Him who has mined us out of the sin cursed world, and with the means of grace has kept us, marked and i)olished, and here we stand, and we shall serve Him as an only son serves his loving Master. God bless you, my jewels! God bless you, God's jewels! Amen. H GOOD FRIDAY. The Serpent and the Savior. John 3:14-15. ND as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal hfe. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Thy Word is truth. Amen. Beloved in Christ: The first promise of a Savior was made to the old serpent, the devil. Gen. 3 :15. Side by side throughout the Bible and in universal history you will find the trail of the serpent and the path of the Savior. This morn- ing we stand on Calvary's hill and behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world, bleeding and dying on the cross, and the old serpent is there, too. Let us not lose sight of THE SERPENT AND THE SAVIOR. May God open our eyes now to behold both of these in the days of Moses, and the days of Nicodemus. I. Let us first behold the serpent and the Savior in the days of Moses. There were three kinds of serpents in the camp of Moses. When we read the history of the fall of man and of the conduct of the children of Israel in the wilderness, it is not hard to discover the trail of the same serpent in the garden of Eden and on the way from Egypt to Canaan. That same old serpent that caused Cain to kill 376 GOOD FRIDAY. 377 Abel also caused the children of Israel to rebel against Moses and God. As a result God sent fiery serpents to strike their deadly, poisonous fangs into the rebels until one by one they died in agony. Then they saw their mistake. Then they called for Moses to pray for them. Then they con- fessed their sins and begged for mercy. Why could they not see their wrongs when God was feeding them with bread from heaven? Why must God shake man over the abyss of hell before he will open his eyes to see? Why can we not see our duty when God blesses us? God saw their agony and heard their confession and prayers and then gave orders to Moses to make a serpent of brass and put it on a pole and lift it up in the wilderness and ask the bitten ones to look at it and be healed. This brazen serpent, says Jesus, Avas a type of Him- self. That brass could not help, but Jesus was there in the camp — ''Jesus Christ, yesterday, todaj', and forever." The Israelites rebelled against Moses and against God in the wilderness. In short, they rejected Jesus Christ Him- self at that time. Jesus taught them then and there that they must be saved b}^ death. Bitten by the serpents, they were filled with the poison of serpents and had to look at a dead serpent to get help. From a distance tne serpent of brass on the pole looked just like the serpents running along on the camp ground, but closer investiga- tion showed that it was a brazen serpent without life. Please remember right here that nothing could save the bitten people at this hour but a look at the serpent of death ! Just a look — nothing more and nothing else. If any one thought a look could do no good, and would not look, he died and there was no help for him. II. Now let us come over to the days of Mcodemus. In the days of this ruler the serpent and the Savior were in Jerusalem. The trail of the serpent and the promise of the Savior run side by side through the Old Testa- ment. At first Satan seems to be an ordinary serpent, but in the days of Job he is seen as Satan indeed. At first the promise of Jesus seems to point to an ordinary child, but in the davs of Job He is alreadv known as the 378 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. Kedeemer. In the days of Mcodemus Satan was no longer hiding his serpent nature. Then he was possess- ing men as never before. During the ministry of Jesus Christ the very powers of hell were turned loose. Then he not only possessed ordinary men, women and chil- dren, but the religious leaders. When the Pharisees, Sadducees and scribes fight Jesus during His ministry, when the hard-hearted mob stands around Jesus and spits in His face, and buffets Him, and slaps Him and scourges Him, and crowns Him with the crown of thorns, and cry out Crucify Him! Crucify Him! I say when we see and hear all this, we almost see the fiery serpents shoot out their tongues! As the serpent and the ser- pents were in the wilderness, so they were in Jerusalem that time when Jesus was teaching Nicodemus the neces- sity of the new birth. Nicodemus could not understand this great mystery. It was not necessary for him to un- derstand it. Israel did not understand either how look- ing at a serpent of brass upon a pole could help when they were dying of serpent bites, but it did help, and ^'so must the Son of man be lifted up that whosoever be- lieveth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." Jesus, too, looked much like another man, but He was no sinner. He was the God-man — God — ^ able to pay the debt of a lost world — sinless man — willing to die and be our Substitute. He was lifted up alive, but taken down dead, and Nicodemus helped. As the dead serpent of brass helped in the wilderness as a type of Christ, so we must look up at the dead Lamb of God to be saved. ^'Look unto Me, all the ends of the earth, and be ye saved, for I am God and there is none else.'' Not by our own merits, not by our own righteousness, not by anything that we can do are we saved, but alone by the look of faith at Christ on the cross. "And I, if I be lifted up, shall draw all men unto Me." "In my hands no price I bring; simply to Thy cross I cling." Like Bunyan's Pilgrim, look at the cross till the bundle of your sins falls off and rolls down into a deep grave — where Jesus slept, and rose again. Amen! Note : Read the author's Wounded Word. EASTER SUNDAY. The Lump Leavened. I Cor. 5:6-8. ^f ^ OUR glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven ^y leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, ^^ that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ, our passover, is sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wicked- ness ; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Thy Word is truth. Amen. Beloiied in Christ : Hail to the risen King — Jesus Christ! In Him there is joy! Joy in the heart of every true Christian! I cannot imagine how • any man who is a child of God can be sad and sorrowful on Easter morning. When we know that Christ rose from the dead and conquered death and made heaven sure for all believers in Him, why should we not rejoice? You may be surprised that the Church of God has selected a text like this for Eas- ter morning. The very first sentence seems to be ad- dressed to the people to make them sad instead of happy. "Your glorying is not good.'' Remember the Apostle Paul wrote this epistle to the church in which there was one man leading a very ungodly life, and the people, instead of putting him out, or taking him into discipline, simply gloried in his sin. Let us not forget that Easter morn- ing is not only a joy to the child of God, but is equally a message that ought to make a sinner trouble. If Jesus Christ had been crucified and never had risen from the dead, then might children of the devil be happy this 379 380 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. morning. But mark you, the very fact that Jesus Christ did conquer death, the very fact that He assured us by this resurrection that you and I shall rise again, and that every knee on earth shall come and bow before Him, ought to make a man trouble if he is not a Chris- tian. Easter morning, therefore, is a message of joy only to the Christian, and a message of sadness and sor- row to every man who is not prepared to meet his God. Oh, what a morning that will be Avhen you rise from the dead, because Jesus Christ rose from the dead, if you died unprepared to meet your God! "Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?" says the apos- tle. I call your attention this morning to THE LUMP LEAVENED. May the Holy Spirit show you this morning how the whole lump of the world has been leavened. I. By a little sin; II. By a little Son. I. By a little sin. It was a little sin, in the esti- mation of some people, that Eve committed in the gar- den of Eden. She just did one thing that God said she should not do. In comparison with our sins. Eve com- mitted a very little sin, but that little sin leavened her family; that little sin brought Adam to sin; that little sin brought Cain and Abel to sin; that little sin lifted up the club of Cain and killed Abel; that little sin, in other words, leavened the whole lump of her family, and not only of her family, but of every family. Am I wrong when I say there is no one in this house today who is not suffering on account of some special sin found some- where back in his own family? When we stop to think that God said, I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generations of them that hate Me, my friends, it ought to make us tremble to look into the future; it ought to make us ask ourselves the question, Is our conduct such as to leaven our families EASTER SUNDAY. 381 with sin or with righteousness? Yes, you are suffering this very morning on account of your own family leav- ened Avith some kind of a sin. It is not only true that a little sin leavens the whole lump of the family, but also of the church. The Cor- inthian church consisted of intelligent people. There were probably no people on God's earth in that day that were more acute in mind, more able quickly to grasp a thought, than the people of Corinth, but the Apostle Paul had not left that church very long until a certain man married his OAvn step-mother and was guilty of adulter}^, and the congregation having lived so long in heathendom and in this ver^^ sin, thought. Oh, well, it is a little weakness, let it pass; but the apostle wrote them a letter and said, Watch out : a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. One bad man in the church, tolerated there, without repentance, will affect every member of that church. Can jou have a sore finger on your hand, and be well? Can a congregation have a member in the church living an ungodly life, knowing it, and prosper? A little leaven will leaven the whole lump, and conse- quently it becomes our duty as a church to look around very carefully, and if we positively know that there is one member who is living an ungodly life, let his sin be what it Avill, let us not go around and throw some devil- ish suspicion Avhere it should not be thrown, let us not sit around and talk when Ave have no right to talk, but if we know anything, then let us go, as God says, to that person, and tell him, eye to eye, this is your sin, and you must repent of it and acknowledge it before God and ask His forgiA^eness, and stop, or I will be compelled by God's own order, to report 3^ou to another person, and that other person and I Avill come to you according to Matt. 18, and there tell you of it face to face, and if you will not listen to us, then tell it to the church, and if you will not listen to the church, then you must be put out, for a little leaven leaveneth the AA^hole lump. Not only does this little sin leaven the whole lump of the church, but it will leaven the whole community. 882 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. If I dared to mention names I could show jou what evil one man can do in the world; I could point you to a man who went into a little Tillage that was known for its good Christian people; I could show you how that one man's sin nearly drove to ruin another person in that village; I could show you how that one person accomplished Avhat he wanted, and how these two people ruined two more, and how those four ruined eight more, and that whole neighborhood in twenty -five years has become tainted by the poison of that ungodly wasp called man. I could show you how the offspring of that man has come to Mansfield, and I could shoAv you how that man in Mansfield has done more harm than any five preachers can do good. A whole community leavened by the little sin of one man. Not only do we find a whole community is some- times leavened by a little sin, but nations are leavened. It does not take a very intelligent reader to know what Wc! mean when we speak of the sin of the Orient. It does not take a very intelligent reader in history to know what we mean when we speak of the sin of Europe, or of the special sin of Germany, of France, of Paris, of London, the special sin of the British, or of the Ameri- cans. The whole nation leavened. Not only is it true that a little sin has leavened a nation, but it is true that it has leavened the whole world. Where is the man todaj^ on earth who is not tainted Avith the sin of Eve in the garden of Eden? Where is the human being breathing today among all the mul- titudes, all colors and races, who is not suffering on account of the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah? Where is the person on God's earth todsij who has not suffered bodily and mentally on account of the first sin that entered the world? Every graveyard, every battlefied, every moan and groan that is heard this morning in all the hospitals of the world, can be traced back to a little sin in the garden of Eden, from the little tongue of that old serpent, the devil, at one time an angel from heaven. II. On this Easter morning let us not forget how a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump of sin. "There- EASTER SUNDAY. 383 fore let us keep tlie feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." And how shall we have this new leaven of sincerity and truth, except in Him who here is called our Passover? "Purge out, therefore, the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as je are unleavened. For even Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us.'' In the German translation of the Bible, Doctor Luther has translated this word feast '^Ostern" or Easter. In other words, the passover of old is looked upon as only a type of Jesus Christ who went down to the grave and rose again, having died on Cal- vary as our great Easter Lamb, or our great Passover. Now, just as the little sin leavened the whole lump, so the little Son of God leavened the whole lump of righteousness, and purity, and salvation. Let us see how this was done in the ante-diluvian age. When Adam and Eve had sinned and God appeared on the scene. He stood before Satan and said, I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed, and it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise His heel. NoAv that little seed of the woman was the promise of the little Son that was to leaven the whole lump of the world, and that promise was none other than the promise of Jesus Christ, born of the virgin Mary, to crush the head of the serpent that was to crucify His heel, crucify and pierce His hands and His feet. That little leaven went on working in the ante-diluvian aga Some of the people were faithful. Noah and his family trusted in that seed; but then came the great flood; but even the flood could not wash that seed out of existence; the family was saved. Then came the prophetic age and throughout that prophetic age you find the little leaven leavening the whole lump. In time Abraham was chosen as the father of nations. There was a promise made to him that in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed. In other words, God showed Abraham how^ through Israel the time should come that this little Son, promised in the garden of Eden, should so leaven the world that 384 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. everywhere they should sing songs of praise to the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Time passed on and Isaiah saw the leaven working, and he put a stamp on it. His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. They saw the leaven working and the people of Israel cried out. Watchman, what of the night? How long, how long, until the King of Glory shall come? And Daniel saw the leaven working, and he looked out beyond even the present time and saw how the whole world should be blessed through Him who shall be born in seventy-two prophetic weeks. Time passed on and the very star of the east came and said, Look down into the crib of Bethlehem and there you will find the little Son. He was born. At the age of twelve He astonished the Doctors of Divinity. At the age of thirty He became that wonderful minister. The old serpent of hell now began to crawl over the earth and stretch herself out as she never did before, that old ser- pent now began to possess men, women and children, and the Son of God preached as He never preached before, and the louder He preached the more Satan roared, like a roaring lion, until the time came that this Seed was lifted up on the cross of Calvary. The great Passover was now hanging on Calvary's hill. The serpent struck the sting of death. Then He was carried to His grave and lying there sleeping in the grave from Friday after- noon over the Sabbath until Sunday morning. He arose from the dead. Then it was that the little Son stood before the gates of hell as the mighty Son of God, as the mighty Conqueror, the mighty Victor, and sang, O death, where is thy sting? — sang, in the language of Goethe, "Speak, hell, speak, where is thy victory? Be- hold, Satan, behold thy kingdom crushed!" And then the angels of God flew down from the realm of heaven and rolled the stone from the grave of the Son. Victory had come! The leaven was leavening the whole lump. Christ had risen from the dead ! A new power was com- ing. Pentecost was coming. The Holy Spirit was com- ing. The fiery tongues from heaven were to kindle a EASTER SUNDAY. 385 new flame on earth, and then the earth was beginning to feel the power of the leaven of the little Son. The Dark Ages came. The Middle Ages came. It looked for a while as if the seed was all buried ; it looked as if the wonderful Christ that rose from the dead was buried under the lava of a great eruption by the sin of the people. But, my dear friends, all the fires of perse- cution, all the darkness of the Middle Ages, could not keep the leaven from working. Your mothers know very well that that you set your yeast at night, and while you are sleeping it works, and in the morning it is ready ; and just so the Middle Ages was the dark night of his- tory, when the great leaven of the Son of God was work- ing on down in caves, down in dark places the world did not see. Mighty men of God held to the sacred truth and wrote with their pens dipped in the blood of the Lamb the mighty truths that shook the world in the great Reformation. We have not only this leaven working in the Middle Ages, but we have it working in the missionary age. When Doctor Luther arose on that morning of 1517 and nailed his ninety-five theses on the door of the church at Wit- tenberg, he sounded the trumpet that not only shook the seven hills of Eome, but the trumpet that shook all Eu- rope, and all nations are today enjoying a blessing on account of what took place in the Reformation. I would have you to understand that the last century was not the only missionary century in history. We sometimes talk about the last century as if the Church of God had done more in the last century than she ever did before. I want to say to this intelligent audience this morning that if the foundation had not been laid on Calvary's hill, and by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, if that had not been done which was done in the dark night of the Middle Ages, there would not have been a Reformation, and if there had not been the Reformation of the six- teenth century, Avhen theologians did not stand around with glasses on and say we think this, or that, when it was not popular to find fault with God's Word, but in 25 386 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. those days when by the Holy Spirit they got down ta the message of God's Word and said, what did God teach, and reduce it to a science; they laid the founda- tions strong in that century that made the last century possible and will bring about a greater reformation in the future than there ever Avas in the past, all because the leaven of the Middle Ages and of the Keformation is now Avorking — working its Avay into every city, work- ing its way into the Church; and the time is coming — mark what I tell you — that the ministers of the Gospel who find fault Avith the old Bible dare not preach in the Church of God any more. The time is coming when the leaven of the Eesurrection and of the Eeformation, the mighty leaA en that Ave feel today in our hearts and souls, will compel every stubborn man to do one of two things, either intelligently to go to hell, or to turn back to the true and liAang God. Such, my friends, is the little leaven of the little Son of God in the great lump of the Avorld today. "Your glorying is not good. KnoAV ye not that a little leaA^en leaveneth the Avhole lump? Purge out, there- fore, the old leaA^en, that ye may be a new lump as ye are unleaA ened. For even Christ, our Passover, is sacri- ficed for us. Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with old leaAcn, neither Avith the leaven of malice and wicked- ness, but with the nuleaA^ened bread of sincerity and truth.'' Purge out, thei-ef ore, the old leaven. That is the way to keep the feast. That is the Avay to celebrate Easter. Let me urge upon the .First Lutheran church this morning to carry out church discipline to the letter. It seems to me the time has passed that we can bear rottenness in our midst; the time has come that the old leaven must be purged out. Do not get scared because Ave lose a family now and then. We do not want to lose a single member, but thanks be to God, when we da lose those that do not want the truth. Thanks be to God when we do lose those that cannot bear the truth. I, for my part, am ahvays Avilling to clean house, not only at liome but in the church. Let us clean house this EASTER SUNDAY. 387 spring. Let us clean house this Easter morning. Let us make up our minds that it is far better to have that man out of the Church of Corinth if he does not live rightly than to have him in there, and make up our minds so to iDreach, so to testify, and so to live that a man that sins in the First Lutheran church, and I hope every other church, is compelled to do one of two things, either to live nearer to God every day or to stop pla3dng hypocrite. This leads me to saj^ furthermore, in conclusion, that tlie way for us to celebrate Easter is not only to purge out the old leaven, but to leaven our own families with Christians, and the whole Church of God. As I have already stated, it seems to me the time has come when we must do greater things. I find too many families connected with this church in which there is a father, or possibly a mother, or possibly a son or daughter, who are not yet Christians. How long are you going to live that way? How long shall this thing go on that way? Pray tell me, isn't it time that every family has enough Christianity in it to leaven the whole lump? Isn't it time that the Christians in every family have power enough from on high to bring all of them into the house of God and into the kingdom. I have a special request to make of you this morning : If you have got a member of your family that is not a Christian, come and ^et this card, or one like it. I am 2:oing to read it to you : WILL ONE OF YOUR FAMILY BE LOST ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST? Not if that one will spend seven Thursday evenings between Easter and Pentecost, from April 27th to June 8th. from 7:30 to 8:30 P. M. in the First Lutheran Church and hear seven talks on THE WAY MADE PLAIN. Jesus says, "Go work today in My vineyard !" Go right now and get all the adults of your family and among your friends who are not professed Christians to signify their intention to attend these seven meetings by signing this card. Let us have a real Pentecost June 11th. WORK AND PRAY. 388 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. Now, mj dear friends, if Peter and John, and the Marys could get up on the first Easter morning at sun- rise and run to the grave, if those two young men could go from Jerusalem to Emmaus, seven and a half miles away, and in a short time be back in that upper room where Christ was on that first Easter evening, can you not this afternoon go a mile, or two miles, or three miles, can you not go into your own family and say, my son, my daughter, you are now past the age of twelve or fifteen and I want you to be a Christian; we want to live together here and in heaven; put your name down here and simply promise that you will sit down seven evenings and listen to the AYay Made Plain, and if after you have heard those seven addresses and you know the way to heaven, if you are still bound to go to hell, I will still beg of you, Oh, don't go, but if you do go, I want you to go knowing that your father and mother prayed that you might be saved; that we did our duty? I appeal this morning for volunteers. I want 200 men and women to start out this afternoon, and stop putting off from month to month what you ought to do today. This command is not the command of your pastor, it is God Himself who says "Go" — do not sit down ; "work" — do not be lazy; "today" — not tomorrow; "in My vineyard" — it is God's vineyard in which we are working. We jnight just as well on the day of Pentecost have five hun- dred men brought into the kingdom of God as to have them sitting around w^here they are sitting this morning, lost and damned, and some do not know it. May God bless these words is my earnest prayer. Amen. PRAYER. O God, oiir heavenly Father, we thank Thee for this morning commemorative of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Savior of the world, our S'avior, my Savior. O Lord, I pray Thee this morning as Thy servant that Thou wilt impress the message of the morning on the heart of every hearer. If there are any in this house this morning who have been living a life of sin, O God, bring them back to Thee. Help them to repent. Help them to come to Him who alone can help, and that the old leaven may be purged out of the lump. We pray Thee furthermore that Thou wilt pour into our hearts EASTER SUNDAY. 389 the spirit of love, the missionary spirit, that reaches out to bring many into the kingdom of heaven, that lump, heavenly Father, that is growing and being leavened by the little Son of Man, the great Son of God who taught us to pray : Our Father who art in heaven ; Hallowed be Thy name ; Thy kingdom come ; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven ; Give us this day our daily bread ; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for- give those who trespass against us ; And lead us not into temptation ; But deliver us from evil; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. FIRST SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. What Would John Join? I John 5:4-12. fOR whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world : and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? This is He that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost : and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: 'and these three agree . in one. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater : for this is the witness of God which He h'ath testified of His Son. ' He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made Him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of His Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life ; and he that hath not the Son of God h'ath not life. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Thy Word is truth. Amen. Dear Christian Friends: John Avas the only one of the twelve disciples that died a natural death. He reached the age of about one hundred years, and the thought occurred to me as I read this text, what would John do if he Avere on earth to-day? Where Avould he actually be? What Avould he join? The Roman Catholic Church members tell us that Peter was a Catholic. Hoav about John? Would he be in the Lu- theran Church? Would he be in the Presbyterian Church? Would he be in the Jewish Church? Would he be in the Sah^ation Army? Would he be a Christian Scientist? 390 FIRST SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. 391 Would he join the Masons? Where would John be? I am glad for one thing that we have reached a period at least in this church, and I think in history, Avhen things that used to be considered questions not debatable, are now debatable. There was a time, not a hundred years ago, that if a man came to a city and said anything about Masonry, for instance, they would get some paint and paint him, and they Avould not let those men get off of the train any more; they would send them home as fast as they came. That day has passed. There was a time when, if you would say anything about the Lutheran Church the Lutherans were angry, or if you would say anything against the Catholic Church, the Catholics were angry. We are reaching a time in history when intelli- gent men are discovering that anything that is not worth discussing is not worth anything, and that things that are not worth testing are not worth anything. I may pay my respects this evening to the Lutheran Church, I may pay it to the Protestant Churches, I may pay it to the Jewish Church, may be to the Christian Scientists, may be to the Salvation Army, may be to the different things that come into my mind as I pass along. I simply wish to say tonight that this text is so full of good things that I wish I had ten evenings instead of one to expound it. It is so full of the real essence of true Christianity that I am led to ask the question WHAT WOULD JOHN JOIN? I. I shall pay my respects a few moments to the Eoman Catholic Church this evening, and the abuses there. The Roman Catholic Church has many things that are worthy of imitation. Her hospitals are so grand and so good that I can never think of the Roman Catholic Church Avithout praising her for taking care of her sick. The last evening I spent at Omaha I Avas called out at twelA^e o'clock at night to Adsit a sick one in a Roman Catholic hospital, and there I saAv those good, angelic nuns sitting there in that large liospital reading their words of prayer and giA^ng their lives for the good of hu- 392 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. inanity, and a man who just publicly and in a wholesale way denounces Catholicism is an ignoramus. When you see how the Roman Catholic church reaches down into its pocket and not only supports the priest but several good school teachers to educate their children the first twelve years, I say shame on the Protestant church that she doesn't take the same care of her children. But when I ask myself the question, Would John join the Roman Catholic Church, I find a little difficulty. For instance, I do not believe that you could ever get him to pray to the virgin Mary. I open my Roman Catholic catechism and I find these words : ^'I confess to Almighty God, to blessed Mary, ever Virgin, to blessed Michael the Archangel, to blessed John the Baptist, to the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and to all the Saints, that I have sinned exceedingly in thought, word and deed, through my fault, through my fault, through my most grevious fault. Therefore I beseech blessed Mary, ever Virgin, blessed Michael the Archangel, blessed John the Baptist, the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and all the Saints, to pray to the Lord our Cod for me.'' John would never utter those words. John had Mary in his own home for fifteen years. John heard Jesus Christ from the cross call Mary a woman. "Woman, be- hold thy son!" and "John, behold thy mother!" Now, if John heard Jesus call His own mother "Woman" instead of Mary, not only when He was hanging on the cross, but when He turned the water into wine, do you suppose that John would ever have prayed to the virgin Mary? Do you suppose he would call upon Paul to pray for him when Paul is dead and buried? Do you suppose he would call upon any saint when God said. Thou shalt worship the Lord Thy God and Him only shalt thou serve? No. John would find a little difficulty along that line. Again, John would insist most emphatically upon an open Bible for the laymen. He says here, And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree in one. Any one who reads tJie Bible carefullv will understand that FIRST SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. 393 John speaks in that verse of the Bible and Holy Baptism, and the Lord's Supper, as being the means of grace. He says that this record in earth is intended for the people. Therefore, if John were to find that any church on earth would not say to the masses, here is the Bible, read it, he would say. That is not what I want ; I want the Word of God to have free course; I want the Word of God to read; I want the people to know the message of the true and living God. Again, I find that John would not agree with the way the communion is distributed in the Roman Catholic Church, for there you all know that the priest gives only the bread — or, as they believe, the body — to the com- municant, while the priest only takes the wine, or the blood. Now then, says John, there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water and the blood, and these three agree in one. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. John was sitting at the table when the Lord's Supper was instituted, and he heard Jesus say. Take, eat, this is My body; and then he heard Jesus say. Take, drink ye all of it, this is My blood which was shed for you and for many for the re- mission of sin; and John, having heard and seen that Jesus Christ distributed both elements among the dis- ciples, would never be where he could not have the cup as well as the rest. So you see he would have trouble to be a Roman Catholic. 11. Would John belong to the Jewish Church? One thing is sure, he at one time did. There was a time when John belonged to the old Church of Israel; there was a time when he, like all others, was looking for the coming Savior; and then the Savior did come, and the Savior one day saw John and others and called him, and John followed Christ and stayed with Him for three long years, went with Him to His trial, stood by Him at the cross and took care of His mother for fifteen years, and learned many things in those fifteen years that doubtless the other disciples never learned about the private life of Jesus Christ in the first thirty years of His life. John never left the Jewish Church but the Jewish 394 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. Church left John. The Jewish Church was looking for Christ. Christ came. John remained true to the Jewish Church and accepted Christ, and many of the Jews left Israel, and left John, and left the Savior. Now, if you were to ask me to-day, would John follow the Jews that rejected Christ, I would positively say no. If you were to ask me, did he leave Israel, I would say no. John re- mained faithful to Israel, faithful to Jesus Christ, and would not to-day be found in any Jewish temple, and I will tell you why. He says here. Who is he that over- cometh the world but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? Again, And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hatli life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. We all know the Jewish Church today has not got Christ, consequently it hasn't got the Savior, the life, and if it hasn't got the life, how could you expect John to join the Jewish Church. No, the Jews would have to come and join with Christ in order to be with John. So you see very plainly that he would not join the Jewish Church. III. Would John be willing to join any Protestant Church? In others words, would it make no difference to John which church he would join? Surely it would. There are Protestant churches that deny the Trinity. How could John join the Unitarian church, when he says here, There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. Surely John believed in the Trinity of one God in three persons; consequently, if any Protestant church would deny the Trinity, John Avould say, I cannot go with you. If any Protestant church would deny that man might be lost, he would never join that church. John could never have joined the Universal ist churchy for he says here, He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. Now we know that thousands of people even in this Christian land today have not got Christ; they don't want Him; and at the same time the Universalist church will say that that man in some way or other, they never tell us just exactly how it is going to FIRST SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. 395 be done, but that he Avill get to heaven some way. I say it cannot be, for he hasn't got life. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater, for this is the witness of God which He hath testified of His Son, he that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself; he that believeth not God hath made Him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave of His Son. The man, therefore, that denies there is a heaven and a hell, or that there is no hell, if he acknowledges a heaven, has made God a liar. Are we going to believe what Doctor So-and-so says, or are we going to believe what the Son of God says? Are we going to believe what some man has tried to think out with his little brain, that only weighs a few ounces, or are we going to believe Him Avhb has a mind larger than the Universalist Church? Again, John would not join any Protestant church that would not make the right use of the means of grace. There are some churches that do not seem to know what the Lord's Supper is ; there are some churches that do not seem to know how the Holy Spirit comes to man; there are some churches that do not seem to know that the Holy Spirit has got channels through which He comes to man, just as the water has a channel to reach the sea, just as the stream comes down from the mountain. That channel is pictured most beautifully by John. There are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood, and these three agree in one. In other words here we have got the voice of the Holy Spirit. Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. When I write you a letter and you read that letter, I come to you through that letter. Here is the letter of the Holy Spirit. When you read that Word the Holy Spirit comes to you. He not only comes to you through the Word itself, but He comes to you through His Word connected with water in holy baptism, as He came to these two little children tonight. Xot only through His Word connected with water, but comes to man through His Word connected with bread and wine in the Lord's Supper when He says. Take, eat, tin's is My body, and, take, drink, this is My blood. Now then, says John, these 396 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. are the means of grace; that is the way the Holy Spirit comes to man. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and these three agree in one — one what? One Word ! Then there are Pro- testant churches that do not seem to think it is necessary to be baptized ; who do not ask the question. Are the chil- dren baptized? who change the words of the Lord's Sup- per, how could John join that church? And it is a well known fact that some Protestant churches find no fault whatever even with a minister if he begins to pick out one chapter or verse after another and says that does not belong to the Bible; there are even people who tell us that this very chapter I am reading now is an interpola- tion, that it slipped in some way and was afterwards copied, that it does not belong to the original manuscript. I would say on that kind of criticism of the Bible, if I hand you a paper to copy, and after the copy is given up I find on one paper something that is not on the othei", it surely is not a copy. A man cannot copy something that was not in the original, but if I should find some- thing in the original that is not in the copy, I should simply draw the conclusion that you skipped a sentence. The Word of God has been copied for centuries. Manu- scripts have been found all over the ancient world. Once in a while some man picks up some manuscript that was found and does not find a verse that belongs in the fifth chapter of John, and so he draws the conclusion that if it is found in the Bible it is an interpolation, or, in other words, the manuscript that has the verse is not as good as the one that has not got it. Common sense would teach a man that the manuscript that has something the other manuscript has not, is the better of the two ; consequenth^, if any manuscript in the world has this fifth chapter of John, I should say it is the best manuscript; and, after all, it is a very foolish man who will accept part of the Bible as God's Word and refuse another part; a man would be a fool to say that God made one-half of the sun but not the other; or to say that God made one-half of the moon but not the other; when God makes a moon He makes a moon; when He makes a sun He makes a sun; FIRST SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. 397 when He makes a world He makes a world ; and when He took it into His mind to give the AVord to the world He gave it, and no man nor devil can ever rob me of my faith in the Inspired Word of God, nor could he rob John, and if John found a church where any minister of the Gospel would begin to pick at this verse or that verse, at this chaptel' or tliat chapter, John would walk out and say: This is no place for me. IV. How about the Salvation Army? We have a great many people in the present da}^ that put the Salva- tion Army on a parallel with the church. Surely I would be the last man on earth to say anything harmful of what they do ; the Salvation Army has been doing a work that the Church of God should have been doing these many, many years, and I respect no people more than I do that Salvation Army man or woman who goes down into the slums and there helps some poor old drunken sot to stand up, or who helps to clothe the poor and does the good work that the Church of God ought to do; but there is one thing we must be very careful about and that is, not to call the Salvation Army a Church, for if we do, then, m}^ friends, I would be the last man on earth to have any- thing to do with it, and I will tell you why. The Salva- tion Army does not baptize any one; the Salvation Army does not give the Lord's Supper ; the Salvation Army does not give two parts of what John wrote in this verse. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the Avater, and the blood, and these three agree in one. The Salvation Army says, Ave will let the baptism to one side, and Ave will let the Lord's Supper to one side, and we Avill just take the Word of God and preach it. That sounds very logical and very nice, but really, my friends, could you preach the Word of God and leave out baptism, or leave out the Lord's Supper? There is the great Aveakness of the Salvation Army. What I say to you I have said to their captain and to them time and again as officers, you must do one of two things, you must either urge your members to go into the church and be baptized and get the Lord's Supper, or you must have baptism and the Lord's Supper, and not make the people 398 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. believe yon are preaching' God's Word when you are not preaching it all. That must be plain to every one. John, who wrote these words, And there are three that bear Avitness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood, and these three agree in one, would never be satisfied in an organization that does not make use of the full means of grace. V. How about the Christian Scientists? The Chris- tian Scientist is not half as bad as some people make him. The Christian Scientist has one thing I wish every church in the world had; the Christian Scientist does not go from house to house and say, How is your health to-day, or how are you feeling this morning? We have been asking that question around in our homes and as a rule in society, so long that every person is feeling around to find if there isn't something wrong somewhere, and we are talking about sickness until we actually think we are sick. If nine-tenths of the people that arise in the morning and have a little headache and don't feel well would go to work and sweat, they would feel all right. And if we had just enough of the Christian Science in us to stop talking about sickness all the time and think- ing about sickness, and just get out and Avork and try to help others, we Avould forget a good deal about our sickness. That is the secret of Christian Science and that is why some people are so taken up with it. They have been surrounded with an atmosphere of grumbling and murmuring so long that Avhen they get into a home where they are made to feel that Ave are all happy and all right,, they say, that is the kind of an organization I want to belong to. But after all, there is something about Chris- tian Science that would not suit John. They do not bap- tize any one; they do not have the Lord's Supper; tney are not making use of the means of grace; they are not making use of the command. Go ye into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, leaving out the essentials; they have not got the promise that you and I have got, that he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. John Avouldn't feel at FIRST SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. 399 liome in that kind of an organization, for on page 473 of Science and Health they actually deny that Jesns is God. YI. What would JoLn join? Would he join the se- cret orders? There are some yery good things about secret orders. I would be a fool if I thought eyery man that belonged to secret orders were not a good man. There are so many preachers in secret orders these days that I would haye to denounce the ministry if I did not haye something good to say of good men; but I am not talk- ing about men, about whether this man is good or that one; the question I propound tonight is this, would John join an oath-bound secret order? I am not talking about labor unions nor those organizations that simply haye an affirmation; I am talking about those organizations that demand an oatli when a man enters; those that have a religion — a religion with a chaplain ; a religion to bury the dead; that haye a religion for opening and closing with prayer. I am asking myself the question, would John join that kind of an organization? It seems to me that if John would remember what Jesus Christ preached in the sermon on the mount he would haye difficulty. For instance, Jesus says in Matt. 5 :33-36 : Again ye haye heard that it hath been said by them of old time. Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but thou shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths; but I say nnto you, Swear not at all; neitlier by heayen, for it is God's throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; neither by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt tliou swear by thy head, because thou canst not uiake one hair white or black. No man eyer joined an oath-bound secret order Ayithout breaking that law ; no man eyer joined an oath-bound secret order without for- swearing himself, and although the promise should not interfere with his family, nor his churcli, nor state, it -does interfere with his family. That night he goes home and his lips are nailed shut; he can talk oyer with some bloated wine bibber what he cannot tell his wife. It in- terferes with his church, for as soon as he dies those men, if asked, will stand around his graye and take the place of the church. And it does interfere with the state, as I 400 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. could show you from many, an unjust verdict of the jury. So I think John would have a little trouble in that line. He would not, if he would remember what he wrote in the third chapter of his own Gospel. John 3 : 19-21 : And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. I do not see how John could har- monize that with light trying to hide itself. Let your light so shine that men may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Again, I do not think that John would forget what he wrote in John 18:20 with his own pen concerning Jesus Christ. When they arrested Jesus He said : I spake openly to the world ; I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort ; and in secret have I said nothing. How could John go into that order? Furthermore, John wrote in this epistle: There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. The first thing that would be asked : John, do you believe in a Supreme Being? Why, surely I do; every fool believes that. But, John would say, what do you people believe here? Why, we don't define what we believe; we don't interfere with any church; a Jew can come in if he be- lieves in a Supreme Being; a Christian can come in if he believes in a Supreme Being; a Chinaman can come in if he believes in a Supreme Being ; any person if white, or not too dark, can come in if he just believes in a Su- preme Being, and he is welcome. But, says John, I wrote a letter in the old Bible, and I wrote there that the true God is the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Do you all be- lieve that here? No, sir; we do not. Well, I don't know whether I can come in here or not. But, another thing, you can just believe as you please about that ; we let every man believe as he pleases. I understand you have a chap- lain? Yes. What does he believe? Whatever he pleases ; FIRST SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. 401 he can deny Christ or not. Have you prayer in His name? No, sir; we cannot do that because the Jew would not like it, and some other men wouldn't like it, and so we leave Jesus out and put in the great Supreme Archi- tect of the Universe. Jesus can stay outside until you come out and then He can go home with you. Some people think this is only opinion, but I want you to un- derstand that God's Word is not opinion. An eighteen years' investigation of this question is not opinion. Every man that sits before me this evening, if he has any in- telligence whatever knoAvs, positively knows, that a man does not need to believe in Jesus Christ to be a master Mason, or to join any oath-bound organization, until he comes up to a certain degree of Masonry. You know that, and you know furthermore that when you come to your burial service of your friends there is no Christ in it. You know that. People say, why don't you come to the funerals as other preachers do? I do go. I want to explain myself tonight. I am willing to go to the funeral of any man that dies; I am willing to preach his: sermon; I am willing to go to his grave; I am willing there to give the service that he deserves; if a Christian I will give him a Christian burial; if no Christian I will not give him the Christian burial; but there is one thing I will not do and I want this congregation to understand it. I fear a great many people do not know what the blessing means. When I lift up my hands to pronounce the blessing at a grave, or anywhere else, it means that I sanction what is done here. If a man dies belonging to a secret order, if you want me to go to that grave and bury him, and pronounce the benediction, I will go ; but if you expect me to wait until another organization comes around that grave and has a service without Christ in it, and expect me to pronounce the blessing on that Christ- less service, I would rather have these arms torn from my shoulders than do that. The fault you have to find with me is that I stand up for Christ only as long as I live. I have no fault to find with men; I have no hatred toward any man on God's earth; I love everybody. Can 402 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. you find a man in this city whom I hate? You cannot do it. I love everybody ; but there is one thing that John would not do; there is one thing I will not do, if I have got to dig somewhere for a living; I will never in my life pronounce a benediction on a Christless service, and you know that I am right. You know that I am right! I am not around looking for funerals; I am around look- ing for living people. I am trying to save your souls. But now, in order that you may see that I am fair, I have no particular fault to find with one organization more than the other, it is only fair to ask the question, Would John join the Lutherans? and I am satisfied if he would come to some of these old German Lu- theran Churches — and I am a German — and he would find the pews filled with big, bloated up saloon- keepers, John would say, I will not join the Lutherans. John was too clean a man, too clean in his faith and too clean in his life, to feel at home with people who do not worship and live as God wants men to live. But there is one thing I will say for the Lutheran Church, so far as Lutheranism is concerned, John was a Lutheran and he would never have to join the Lutheran Church either. VYe hear a good deal about joining church; I never found in the Bible that any disciple ever joined any church. You cannot find a single instance. I do read in the Acts of the AiK)stles that God added to the church daily such as should be saved. I do find that Jesus Christ has said in the third chapter of John that a man is born into the church. I do find that John writes in this fifth chapter that a man must be born into the church : Whosoever believeth tliat Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and everyone that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. By this we know tliat we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep His com- mandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not grevious. For wliatsoever is born of God overcometh the world : and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. A man is born into the church, and, born into the church, lie lias got a faith in the true and living FIRST SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. 403 God, aud liaviug faith in the true and living God, he is a power that the devil and the world cannot overcome. After all, mv friends, it is faith that overcometh the world. It is faith that wins tlie victory, and faith must come from being born into the church, and not by join- ing. And so I will answer all my questions tonight by saying that John would not liave to join anything. When you were born at home you did not join your home; you were born there, and there is nothing in all the world that can take you away from the family in which you were born; you may Avalk away from it, but you are still a member of that family; your mother is your mother, and your father is your father, and you cannot get away from them because jow were born there; and so John was born into the Church of the Lord Jesus, and if he were living to-day yet he would be in that church, and that church would believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God ; that baptism is a command of God ; that the Lord's Supper is the gift of God's grace, as He says. That man would be faithful to the church in which he is born until he would breathe his last, and then he would overcome the world and the victory would be his, and he would pass home where all victory and death is left back, conquered forever. May God bless these words to- night, and put you all to thinking and praying, and render the best service to your Master that you can, is my prayer. Amen. PRAYER. O God, our heavenh- Father, we thank Thee for Thy glorious truth that is so powerful, and so plain, and so compelling. Lord God, we thank Thee that in a period of a little over two years Thine own servant has won a victory that the world cannot overthrow, by staying close to Jesus. We pra)^ Thee tonight that Thou wilt impress this message upon the hearts of all those that are here. We pray Thee that Thou wilt help that every father and mother, every son and daughter and every little child just born shall all come into Thy kingdom through the means of grace. Lord our God, give us Thy Holy Spirit; do Thou enlighten us, call us, sanctify us and keep us. We ask a special bless- ing this evening upon all who are in this house. O God, help them to remember that Thy Word is precious ; help them to remember that we come to the house of God to hear what Jesus has to say; to hear what 404 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. the Holy Spirit has to call; to hear of the Father's love; to learn more of the narrow way ; to live closer to the Master ; to live more intensely ; to find out our faults ; to hear more of the truth that will abide when the heavens fall. Lord, our God, do Thou bless the service of this hour, and now fill us with songs of praise and prayer to Thee. And especially do we ask Thee to bless all those that are broken-hearted; those that have recently laid to rest their dear ones. Watch over them; be with those that have their own dear ones afflicted at home. Heavpnly Father, be the physician of all the sick, of all the weary, of all the broken- hearted; heal them. Lead us all to true repentance; cleanse us of all our sins, in the name of Jesus Christ, and by His precious blood, O heavenly Father, may we pray more sweetly and earnestly His own prayer that He taught us : Our Father who art in heaven; Hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come ; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven ; Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for- give those who trespass against us ; And lead us not into temptation ; But deliver us from evil; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. The Shepherd and His Sheep. I Peter 2 :21-25. fOR even hereunto were ye called : because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps : who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth : who, when He was reviled, reviled not again ; when He suffered He threatened not ; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously: who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live into righteousness : by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Thy Word is truth. Amen. Beloved in Christ: What a change there would be in this world if some little thing that God made had never appeared! What a change there would be in the literature and in the his- tory of nations if the Lord had never made a sheep! What a blessing the sheep has been in creation! Many and many a poor traveler would have starved had it not been that God created sheep; many a person would have died of cold had God not wrapped him up in the warm fleece of the sheep. Little would we know of the relation of God to man had He not created the sheep. It has often occurred to me that the Lord, foreseeing all things and knowing that the time would come when Jesus Christ would have to have the relation to man such as could not be found or explained in any other way, said, I will make a sheep in order that the people may know the relation between the shepherd and his fold. The first good boy that was born into this sinful world was 405 406 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. a shepherd; the greatest poet that ever sang was a shep- herd, and the greatest poem lie ever penned was this : The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not Avant. The great- est prophet that ever lived said the most beautiful thing he ever said when in the 40th chapter and the 11th verse of Isaiah, he penned these words : He shall feed His flock like a shepherd; He shall gather the lambs with. His arm, and carrv them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. The great Prophet Eze- kiel, who soared upAvard in his language, called attention to that great Savior, Jesus Christ, in these words : Ezek, 34 :23. And I will set up one Shepherd oyer them, and he shall feed them, even My servant David; he shall feed them and he shall be their shepherd. In the Gospel les- son for this second Sunday after Easter, we find these beautiful words of Christ : I am the Good Shepherd and know My sheep and am known of Mine. As the Father knoweth Me, even so know^ I the Father, and I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, Avhich are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice, and there shall be one fold and one Shepherd. Notice Avell, my friends, that the sheep hear the voice of their Shepherd. That man that does not care to go to church does not care to hear the Gospel, does not care for the great Shepherd of souls yet. The author of the letter to the Hebrew^s, speaking of Jesus Christ, says ^'That great Shepherd of the sheep.'' In our own text this evening the Apostle Peter says. For ye were as sheep going astray; but are uoav returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls. In the 5th chapter of this same letter, and the 4th verse, he says: And when the Chief Shepherd shall appear, 3^e shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. I invite your attention this evening to THE SHEPHERD AND HIS SHEEP. I. The Shepherd's steps. II. The sheep's steps. SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. 407 I. Let US notice the steps of the Shepherd. "For even hereunto were ye called, because Christ also suf- fered for us, leaving us an example that ye should fol- low His steps.-' What were the steps of Jesus Christ? How shall we follow them? You can easily know the steps of the Savior by noticing that they are always full of goodness, full of suffering, and full of patience. 1. They are full of goodness. In the verse pre- vious to our text the apostle says : When ye do well and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. The Lord Jesus Christ did well. His footsteps were always filled with goodness. Nowhere in the foot- steps of Christ can you find that He ever did a wrong; everywhere He was doing good. Whatever else may be said of Jesus Christ, there is one thing that the world has long ago acknowledged, that there never was such a good character as Jesus. If I were to ask the intelligent world today, what was the greatest and best character that ever walked on earth, I believe the answer would be unanimous, it was Jesus of Nazareth, whose footsteps were always filled with goodness. The Apostle Peter sums it all up in four little words, "Who did not sin,-' and adds to it the compliment, "neither was guile found in His mouth." To whom can I point on earth and say, he never sinned? It is so well known that all men sin that when a man stands up and says, I never sinned, you can get a unanimous vote that that man is a liar. Sin is the transgression of the law, and he that offendeth in one point is guilty of all. One of the best men that ever walked on God's earth, who laid his head upon the breast of the Savior, said. If we say we have no sin we make Him a liar and the truth is not in us. But look at the footsteps of Jesus! no difference where you find Him, as a little child His footsteps are filled with goodness; as a child twelve years of age they find Him sitting in the temple among the doctors. His foot- steps were filled with goodness. At the age of thirty He began a three years' ministry, and in that ministry He was constantly looking for some one, some where, to do an act of kindness, no difference whether it was the 408 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. blind, or the deaf, or the crippled, or the fallen, His hands were always ready to do good, to lift up, to help heavenward, and wherever He stood. He stood in the footprints of goodness. Who, when He was reviled, re- viled not again; when He suffered He threatened not, but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously, who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto right- eousness. By whose stripes ye w^ere healed. Whether they spit in His face, or whether they scourged Him, whether they nail Him to the cross, or stand before that cross and revile Him, we find nothing bvit hands of blessing upon those that curse, a prayer for those that crucify Him. His feet stand in the footprints of goodness. 2. Not only is it true that his footprints are filled with goodness, but they are filled with suffering. Some- times we speak of the suff'erings of Christ as if they lasted only one day and one night, or sometimes as if they lasted only one week, and call it "Holy week"; some- times Ave speak of His suffering as lasting three long years; but, dear friends, did it ever occur to you that Jesus Christ suffered all the days of His life on earth? What suffering it w^ould be for you, a good moral man, to put you into a den of thieves and thugs, and keep you there for a period of thirty-three years! But when you are among thieves and thugs, it is only a man that is somewhat bad with men that are a good deal worse, but how would you feel if you were perfectly sinless, as Christ was, and were forced to come down on earth and dwell among devils and the possessed of devils? Why, as soon as Christ was born. His feet were thrown into the cold stable, and He began to suffer; His first trip was to Egypt, to escape the wrath of Herod; His walk to Jerusalem was over the pebbles and stones. Those blessed feet that could have walked on the stars — suf- fering! At the age of eight days He was called Jesus, and shed His first blood, and all through life, surrounded by ungodly men and women, looking forward and know- ing what is coming. He felt the pangs of death on the cross long before He died. You and I have escaped many SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. 409 a pain through our ignorance. If some of you knew what would happen in the next twelve months, you would shudder in this moment, but God in His wisdom has kept it back that you might not know it. The Son of God in His omniscience saw Himself bleeding and dying on the cross for not onh- thirty-three years, but those thirty-three years were the physical punishment of what He saw be- fore the foundation of the world was laid. And then, when we come to speak of those last days of His life! Look at them revile Him, and He reviled not again. Watch them buffet Him, but He gives no reply. Watch Him as they take Him before Pontius Pilate, and scourge Him, fulfilling the prophecy, with His stripes they should be healed. Watch Him as they select the place of sever- est pain, where the nerxes center, in His hands and in His feet, there in those nerve centers they drive the nails in, and make Him suffer. Watch them as they select the place where all the blood flows through, and thrust the spear into His heart; they find the brow that will have all the pain centered in the brain, and strike down the crown of thorns. If ever man suffered in all the world it was the God-man, and if ever nerves suffered in pain it was in the feet of the lowly Jesus as He hanged upon the cross. His fooprints were filled Avith suffering. 3. And not only were they filled with suffering, but they were filled with patience. When He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered He threatened not. Suppose you and I would have had almighty arms as Christ had when they spit in His face, what would we have done? Suppose 3^ou and I had been on that cross bleeding and dying, and men would have come around and thrust out their tongues and said. He helped others, let Him come down from the cross and help Himself, you and I would have come down, and never gone back. But the prophet said He should be like a lamb that is led to the slaughter. God knew Avhat kind of a Shepherd Jesus would be, and purposely created a sheep, into whose flesh you can cut and it never opens its mouth. God knew what would happen Christ, and consequently gave the little lamb as a tj-pe of the sufferings of Christ and 410 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. the patience that He should have. And John cried out^ Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world! Oh, what a wonderful fold! The Lamb becomes the Shepherd, and the great Shepherd the Lamb — the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world, and opened not His mouth ! Oh, the patience of Jesus Christ Is it any trouble, my friends, to find the footprints of the great Shepherd? For even hereunto were ye called, be- cause Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example^ that ye should folloAv His steps. IL Let us notice also the sheep's steps as well as the Shepherd's. With regard to the steps of the sheep we find that some of them led away from Christ , some of them lead hack to Christ, and some of them follow after Christ. 1. For ye were, as sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls. Ye were as sheep going astra}'. Oh, what a difference there is between the steps of the sheep and the steps of the Shepherd ! The sheep all Avent astray, and when they do go astray you remember they never come home of themselves. We are told in God's Word that no man can say that Jesus Christ is Lord but by the Holy Ghost. We are taught in God's AVord that the world as well as the individual, like a sheep has gone astray. Look at the history of the Avorld, if you please. Adam and Eve in tlie Garden of Eden knew their God, but in a short time Avhere is Cain? Out in the field Avith club lifted up ready to kill his good brother, out of jealousy. — Going astray. Look at the human race from that day until the flood. God gave them one hundred and twenty years to repent, but the sons of God Avent out and married the daughters of men. In other words, the family instead of remaining Godly and Christian, were bound to go out and follow the devil. Young men did not ask themselves the question, Is this bride of mine a Christian or not? Young Avomen did not ask themselves the question, Is this young man a Christian or not? I Avant to tell you young people right here tonight, the young woman that Avill marry an ungodly man is purchasing a hell on earth. SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. 411 The young man that will marry any one but a Christian wife is founding a home that means hell on earth. But that is what the world has been doing — going astray — and today there are nations on earth that do not know who the Shepherd is. Even the eight souls that were saved by the great flood, all of them around the altar, all praying to the true and living God, in a short time forgot the Shepherd and strayed away. It is not God's fault if there is a heathen on earth today. He told them who He was when He began the world; after the flood He showed them who He was a second time, and in the days of the apostles the Gospel was preached to the civi- lized world, but where Jerusalem stood is where a great class of heathen is dAvelling today, and the great land of Egypt where the church of God had the greatest reve- lation the ancient world knew, is covered today with men who do not know their God, and if the people of our own city will not be faithful to the old Bible, faithful to the Shepherd of souls, it will not be long until our young people will not know who their Shepherd is. The whole world, I say, has been going astray, and what the world has done, individuals have done. ATe talk about good people, and about bad people. My dear friends, I am making an assertion that I know is true, from God's Holy Word, and from my own experi- ence and the experience of the best men I have ever met. There is not one sitting before me tonight who has not, somewhere in his life, some place, some steps that he took that were not in the footprints of Jesus Christ. I am not saying that every man has been a thief; I am not saying that every man has been an impure man as the world calls impurity, but I do say in every man's life somewhere there has been something of which he would be glad if the world should never know. My friends, we have all gone astray. The footprints of man have been away from God, away from the great Shepherd. For ye were as sheep going astray. 2. But, my dear friends, thanks be to God, there is an opportunity for man to come back to the great Shep- lierd. "^But are now returned unto the Shepherd and 412 THjE ETERNAL EPISTLE. Bishop of your souls.'' The apostle Peter was writing to a class of people who had been heathen and became Chris- tian and had come home to their God again. Now we can find in history many a one has gotten the new life of re- generation, and the returning life in conversion. The starting point is the new life. Some people never seem to distinguish between regeneration and conversion. They talk about the time they were converted as if a man could only be converted once in his life. The great trouble with some people is that they never were converted but once, and consequently they are going to the devil today. Do you understand that? Do you understand, my friends, that when a man is converted and turns around and fol- lows God, the moment he goes wrong if he is only con- verted once he stays wrong? A man can be regenerated only once, as he can be born only once. No man has been born into this world tAvice, but only once, and so no Chris- tian has ever been regenerated twice, but only once. Ex- cept a man be born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. He must be born before he can come into the world and before he can see the world, and just so a man must be born again before he can see heaven or enter heaven. But when he is born again he is not in heaven yet, and when he is born again then he must also be nurtured, and on the way of the Christian life when he perchance strays off of the right path, God says, Come back to the Shepherd, and when he turns back he is converted. The apostle Peter was a Christian the day that Jesus said. Follow Me, and he followed Him; but the time came when the old fisher spirit ruled in his heart, just as the time sometimes comes in your heart when the old Satanic spirit gets the upper hand, and then Peter be- gan to curse and damn and reject Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ said. When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. He said, Peter, you are going to fall, and Satan will sift you like wheat, and he would have damned you, but I have prayed God to spare you. When you do fall, then come back, come back to Me again, Peter, and I will restore you, and, having fallen, you will have sympathy for other fallen people, and instead of pushing them down SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. 413 you will lift them njj and say, I thank my God that I have been so close to the gates of hell that I have mercy on the fallen man and love to lift him up ; and so the apostle Peter says you have gone astray, but you have returned and come back to the great Shepherd of your souls. Oh, let me call upon every one in this house tonight, if you have ever strayed away from Jesus Christ, come back tonight, come back to the great Shepherd of souls, and da not go any further astray. 3. And then when the wandering child of God has come back to the Savior, he is told to follow in His steps. "P'or even hereunto were 3^e called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps.'- And now since you know that the steps of Jesus Christ are filled with goodness, and filled with suffering, and filled with patience, you ought to know how to follow in His steps. ^'Do well, for so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. For this is thankw^orthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For wiiat gior}^ is it, if, w^hen ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God." AVhen ye do well. It is not hard to find Avhether a man is walking in the footsteps of Jesus. If Jesus spent His whole life doing good, there is only one way to follow in His steps, and that is to do good. Try to act out the life of Jesus Christ on earth. When He was reviled. He reviled not again; when He suffered He threatened not ; He was good all the time, doing just exactly what was right. Are we doing well? Are we doing our very best? I know that Jesus Christ was perfect and we are not ; I know that He never sinned, and we are by nature sinners; but is your object as you sit before me tonight, having been baptized into Jesus Christ, and put on Christ, to walk in His footprints? I am sure if you understand what I am trying to say tonight, you will know far better how to act in the future than you knew in the past. You say it is all right to go to the dance. None of us will take the position that dancing is wrong,. 414 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. but could you imagine Jesus Christ going to the ball dancing with his neighbor's wife, staying up until mid- night or three o'clock in the morning, riding home in a cab? Can you imagine Jesus Christ sitting down for three or four long hours i:)]aying cards, just the same as the gamblers down in the den? Can you imagine Jesus Christ so spending His time in His short life, Avith so much to do and vsuch a short time to do it? I am not going to say tonight what is wrong nor what is right. There are cer- tain questions that you never can draw the lines, but I am going to give you a rule that will be a guide for you and for me. What can I do, in the balance of my short life that will exhibit me to the world as near like Christ as possible? That is my path and must be yours if 3^ou walk in His footsteps. And we must not only do well, but if ye are going to walk in His footprints Ave must be willing to suffer for righteousness' sake. ^'For what glory is it if when ye be buffeted for faults ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God." Now then, if I do a wrong, and the law punishes me and I take it patiently, I do not know that there is anything rery manly about that. I have got to take it. But suppose that I do good, and only good, and men lie about me, as they have lied about me in Mansfield a thousand times, and I suffer for it, and bear it patiently, that is Avalking in the footprints of Jesus Christ. Some men, when they lose their homes, and their money; other men, Avhen they are suffering on account of sickness, try to comfort themselves by saying, well, we must bear the cross. Why, sickness is no cross; financial loss is no cross; a child of the devil can get sick just as well as a Christian. Any child of the devil can lose his money. That is not bearing the cross. I do not believe that one Christian out of a thousand knows what it means to bear the cross. Jesus Christ might have taken His cross and thrown it off His shoulder instead of breaking down, but He bore it, for truth's sake, and for redemp- tion's sake; He bore it because He did right and the sin- ful world punished Him for it. That is the cross. A man SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. 415 is not bearing the cross of Christ because he is suffering pain; but the man that bears the cross is the man that walks in the footprints of Jesus Christ when the world sneers at him; does right when the world damns him for it; does right when the world persecutes him for it, when he could throw that cross off in a moment if he would only walk with the world. You will never understand what it means to bear the cross until you remember that the w^orld and the flesh are ruled by the devil and as soon as a man comes out from that government and w^alks in the footprints of Jesus Christ, the world has no use for him any more, and consequently will scoff, and sneer, and abuse the man of God. And so you never know why so many professed Christians have no cross to bear any more? It is because they are good Christians on Sunday and the devil has no objection to that; they are good Christians on Monday, and the devil has no objection to that ; they are good Christians all week if there is noth- ing special going on, and the devil has no objections to that. The devil is willing that you and I shall be Chris- tians all the days of our lives, providing only for half an hour before we die, or a few minutes every week, we will walk with him. That is all he asks for. And oh, how many preachers of the Gospel there are today, and pro- fessed Christians w^ho are big talkers about Christ on Sun- day, in the Sunday School class and in the church, but if a band of men goes tramping around on the street with men who have no use for Christ, they will walk right along, and then they talk about bearing the cross. Those men W'Ould w^alk with the devil, no difference where he goes. That is the trouble with Christianity today. You show me a minister of the Gospel, or a Christian layman, who is going to walk right in the footprints of Jesus Christ, no difference what the world says, and I will show^ you a man that is going to be damned by the world, and that is w^hat it means to walk in the footprints of Jesus Christ, and that is what thousands of professed ministers of the Gospel, and professed Christians abso- lutely know nothing about today, and that is why we are sometimes misunderstood. Jesus was misunderstood. 416 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. The prominent men of the city said, Crucify Him! The prominent men of the city went out and hired men to cry out Crucify Him! Crucify Him! and were going to hang Him on the cross, no difference what He said; and Christ had sense enough to keep silent. "For ye were as slieep going astray, but are now re- turned (O God, that they might all return!) unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls." You must not only be willing to suffer for Christ's sake if you wish to walk in His footprints, but you must be patient. It is remark- able in the trial of Christ how often He kept perfectly silent. When He was reviled. He reviled not again ; when He suffered He threatened not, but He committed every- thing to the Judge of Whom He knew that all things would be judged righteously; and thus you and I must patiently go along, let the world say what it will. Little do I care what any man thinks, just so God knows I am right. What do I care for your opinion, or for any man's opinion? When God sets me straight I am straight and the whole Avorld cannot throw me over; and thus I say to all of you tonight, get into the footprints of Jesus Christ; walk in that path if you must suffer and bear the cross, and then, when you are in those footprints, bear the suffering patiently. Do all you can for the glory of the Master. Be happy in Him all the days of your life. What was meant by that beautiful verse in this morning's Sunday School lesson : My joy shall be in you, and your joy shall be full? Sometimes people have come to me and sympathized with me because of what the people said, as if they thought I was unhappy. I am never happier than when the devil stirs i3eople up. That convinces me that I have stated some truth, and that convinces me that before Sunday evening God will overrule the devil and bring some man to hear the Gospel and be saved. A young man came to my study this last week and said, "Can I get a copy of your last Sunday's Easter sermon?" "I guess so. Why do you want it?" "I want to see what you really did say about the Presbyterians." I said, "I don't think I honored the Presbyterians enough to say anything about them ; however, T did say a few things SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. 417 -about the Lutherans; but/' I said, '*if jou will just do two things, you will accommodate me, and that is, in the first place, when you meet these people on the street that tell you these lies, just tell them I said considerable about the Lutherans; and, in the second place, thank them for me for this free adTcrtising; I would be willing to pay them for it.'' What we want to learn is just to go straight along, tell the truth, and let the world talk. There is always one truth teller to straighten up every liar. This beautiful story was told and published not long ago, of Sister Dora. Sister Dora, having made a certain mistake in her life, made up her mind that she would just devote the balance of her life to the Lord Jesus Christ, her great Shepherd. So she went to a hospital and asked permission to wait upon the sick, to hand them water Avhen they were thirsty, to give them medicine when they needed it, and to be Avith them that she might do as Jesus would do. It was not long until they observed that at the head of her bed she had a bell, and that bell was con- nected with every cot in the hospital, and no difference what time of night it was, the patients would ring the bell» and Sister Dora A\'0uld leap from her bed and give to the one that was thirsty, a drink of water, to another, medicine; for those that were helpless she moved their hands and their feet, bathed their hot faces with the cool- ing water ; and thus she went on day after day, week after week, not an hour of the night was her own. When her friends came to her and said, How can you stand it? How can you be so patient? How can you be so happy? Oh, said she, I am walking in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, and every time I hear that little bell I think of that beautiful verse. The Master is come and calleth for thee. Let us rise in prayer. PRAYER. O God, our heavenly Father, we pray to Thee to give us the spirit of Sister Dora ; help us to be willing to be awakened any hour to do something for our fellow men, that we, too, may walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. We thank Thee for a free salvation. We thank Thee for a saving grace and mercy. We thank Thee for restoration and call- 27 418 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. mg back into the footsteps of the great Shepherd. And now, Thoir Shepherd of souls, Thou who hast seen us go astray and who hast again brought us back. Oh, take us by Thy hand and lead us day and night in Thy steps. Help, heavenl}'^ Father, that the older we grow the nearer we may draw to Thee, the more we may live in the very center of the footsteps of Him who said, Follow Me. Lord, forgive us for straying away from Thee so often, and forgive us for apologizing for our sins. We have sinned against better knowledge. We have known better. We have been reared somewhat better than we have acted. Lord do Thou help that we may now come back to Thee, acknowledging our sins, asking Thy forgiveness, walking in Thy way, calling upon Thee in the language of Thine own prayer : Our Father who art in heaven ; Hallowed be Thy name ; Thy kingdom come ; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven ; Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for- give those who trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation; But deliver us from evil; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power^ and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. The Dearly Beloved. I Peter 2 :ll-20. DEARLY Beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul ; having your con- versation honest among the Gentiles : that, whereas they speak against you as evil doers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake : whether it be to the king as supreme, or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers, and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men : as free, and not using j^our liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king. Servants, be sub- ject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the forward. For this is thankworth}^ if a man for con- science toward God endure grief, suffering wrongful^. For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Thy Word is truth. Amen. Beloved in Christ: It was a common expression of the great Tertnllian that when tlie world condemns ns, God forgives us. It is absolutely impossible for the world and the true Chris- tian church to be at love with each other. We are told distinctly that we are not to love the world, neither the things that are in the world, and the strange thing among many professed Christians in the present day is that they cannot understand at all why there should be any dif- ference between the church and the world; they seem to 419 420 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. think that that minister of the Gospel who is not popular Avith the world is not worth anything, while the truth is that the minister of the Gospel that is popular with the world is not worth having. There must be a strained re- lation between Christians and the world; there must be a strained relation not only between the church at large and the sinful world, but there must be one between the true Christians in the church and a false minister of the Gospel. It is absolutely impossible for a man to be in the pulpit, and be a worldly man and not have a strained relation with the people in the church Avho are true Chris- tians. And it is just as true that a faithful minister of the Gospel cannot live otherwise than in a strained rela- tion between himself and members of the church who are not true Christians. For just as surely as there is a strained relation between the world and the church at large, there must be between the Christian in the pew and the false preacher in the pulpit, as well as between the true preacher in the pulpit and the false Christian in the pew. While it is true that there must be a strained rela- tion between the world and the church, it is just as true on the other hand, that there must be the most pleasant relation between every true Christian and true Chris- tians ; there must be a beautiful relation between the true Christian in the church and every other true Christian in the church. You cannot imagine two true Christians at law with each other; you cannot imagine two true Christians not speaking to each other Avhen the oppor- tunity is given; you cannot imagine tAvo true Christians who would not look at each other. When this is true of Christians in the pew, it is doubly true of a faithful man of God in the pulpit and a faithful Christian in the pew. I maintain that there is no closer relation outside of the fam- ily in the world than betAveen a faithful man of God and a faithful people in the church. It is true sometimes it takes a certain amount of time for people to understand each other, but when we have once stood by the bedside of the dying, and when we have once entered into that closer relation that reveals the man to the man, I say THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. 421 the relation of a true servant of God and his people is so intimate that it never ceases. There is something of the fore-taste of that relation between Christ and His church when He calls Himself the Bridegroom and His Church the Bride. The apostle Peter has this relation in mind when he addresses the Christians in the heathen land in this general epistle, by the beautiful title, "Dearly be- loved." May the Holy Spirit this morning help us to understand what is meant by THE DEARLY BELOVED. I. Who are they? II. What must they do? are the two questions I desire to answer this morning. I. Who are these dearly beloved? In order to get the apostle's answer we must read the previous two verses : But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of Him who bath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Which in time past were not a peo- ple but are now the people of God: which had not ob- tained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Dearly be- loved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul. In these words we have the qualifications of the dearly beloved. In the first place he calls them a chosen gen- eration. The people of God are a chosen people. We call the children of Israel the chosen people. Ever since sin came into the world a man by nature is born in sin and is a child of wrath. In order to belong to the dearly beloved he must be called and chosen as a peculiar gen- eration. Never in the history of the world do we know of a single time that any man got to be a Christian by his birth. The children of Christian parents must be born again just as well as the children who are born of heathen. No man, even John the Baptist himself, could be born a Christian. He had to be born again, and there- fore became one of the proclaimers of the means of the new birth. 422 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. Not only are Ave a chosen generation, but as the dearly beloved, Ave belong to the royal priesthood. In ancient times the priest was considered the highest man in authority. A special family was chosen by the Lord to represent the priesthood. These Christians living in heathen lands, coming from the Jewish race, lay great stress upon the priesthood. They cannot imagine that now that people are born out of heathendom into the Christian church, that they Avould be on the same parallel Avith the Jew; nor could they understand hoAv one Chris- tian in the church could be as much a priest as the other. Living in the Old Testament dispensation thcA^ had made up their minds that one man, as priest, was far above the others. And do you know that same idea prevails largely to-day in mam^ Christian churches. How many ministers walk along the street as if to say, I am a greater man than you; I am far aboA-e you; while the real truth is that we are all priests, and we are all on the same com- mon level ; Ave are all a royal priesthood. Jesus is now our King, and as dearly beloA^ed, no one has a right to think himself far aboA^e the other, for we are all born in sin and are saved only by the one Eedeemer, eTesus Christ, and by the one Holy Spirit Avho calls and gathers us, and thereby makes us a chosen generation and a royal priesthood. Who are Ave, the dearly beloved? Not only are we a chosen generation and a royal priesthood, but an holy nation. A nation is usually judged by its ruler. Any nation that has a Christian ruler is usually classed as a Christian nation. When Ave talk about our oavu country being a Christian land, Ave do not mean that exerj citizen of America is a Christian, but we do rejoice in the fact that Ave haA^e in the president's chair of this country a man of God ; Ave do rejoice in the fact that we haA-e in the president's chair a man AA^ho loA^es the family, and loves the things that are good and holy, and everything that he says and does is Avorking for the one great object of making this land a Christian land. In this Christian land there may be many heathen; there are many heathen, there are scoffers, but the land as such, the nation is an THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. 423 holy nation, not because we are holy in ourselves, but because we are followers of Him who is holiness Him- self, Jesus Christ. Such are some of the characteristics of the dearly beloved, but the apostle goes on and gives some more. "A peculiar people ; that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.'' What is there so peculiar about this Christian nation? What is it that makes the Christian peculiar from all other people? Well, his peculiarity lies in this, that he is twice born. A man who is no Chris- tian has only been born once, has only been born of the flesh and is flesh, born into a sinful world and is nothing but a sinner, and all that he does is sin. Whatever is not of faith is sin. Do you know there are many people who seem to think that even ungodly people can do good. It is absolutely impossible in God's sight. A serpent, no difference what he does, is doing the act of a serpent. A man that is born in sin, until he is born again, has no faith in God, and whatever is not of faith is sin. I might possibly illustrate this to a certain extent by saying that if a boy of your family would go and do something very harmful to his own mother, and even deny that his father is his father, that boy might do what he pleased, he could not please that family; that boy could not do anything in that home that would give pleasure to the parents. How could a boy that slaps his own mother, denies his own father, no difference what he does, do good in that family? Noav then, a man that is born in sin and not born again is not a child of God, and whatever he does is un- godly, and consequently he does not belong to the peculiar people of the children of God. When this man is born again, then he believes in God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and whatever he does now he does to the glory of God instead of to his own glory, and whatever he does is pleasing to God because it is done by that new birth from on high that makes him a peculiar man, a peculiar Chris- tian, and the Christians together a peculiar people. Dearly beloved. They have come out of the darkness into the marvelous light; they are living no more the life 424 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. of sin and Satan, but have come out on the glorious path that leads to heaven. "Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy." Isn't that a wonderful statement? The Apostle Peter declares here that there was a time when the people were not a people ; that the people of God lived in a time when they were more like brutes than like men; that the people of God lived in a time when they were rightly called Satan's rebels instead of people, and it is not strange that the apostle should speak of this great fact. When God made man He made him in His own image. Now take the image away from man and what is he? He is no more what God made him. The consequence is that God divides the man who is not in the image of Himself from the man who is created in His image, or who, having lost the image, is brought back into that image. What is a man who is not a child of God? He is a rebel against heaven. Not only is he a rebel against heaven, he is a child of the devil, and how can a child of the devil be a child of God? and how can a child of the devil call a child of God brother? or how can a child of God call a child of the devil brother? A man has just as much right to go out and call his horse his brother, and even more so, than he has a child of the devil. Consequently the Apostle Peter says, I want you to understand that the dearly beloved are a people who at one time were not people at all, rebels against heaven; now you are children of God, and consequently the dearly beloved. Another qualification that he gives to these dearly beloved is that they are strangers and pilgrims. "I be- seech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul." It does seem to me that that is one of the hardest lessons that some people liave to learn, that they are strangers and pilgrims. If strangers here, then this is not our home; if pilgrims here, then this is no place to settle down, and yet how many people there are who are substantially living as if this were their eternal home, and some living as if they were tihvays to stay just where tliey are. Now a pilgrim moves THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. 425 onward. A stranger thinks of home. How many people there are that have got their minds constantly down on earth and earthly things, so that it becomes necessary for God to come down into our homes and with a terrible blow make us understand what words will never make us under- stand. I am not speaking now of any special visitation, but simply of the love of Providence that comes into our homes at times and teaches us the great fact that we will learn no other way, that we are strangers and pilgrims here. I know from my own experience that earth is no more to me what it was years ago, and I am satisfied when God comes into your home and takes your only son and lifts him up to heaven, you will learn a lesson that you never knew before, and when He comes into your home and begins to sever ties that have been so sacred, you will find out what the Apostle Peter meant when he said. Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul. A pilgrim and a stranger is one who should never be burdened. How many people there are that are burdening themselves in this world, and consequently make no progress. If I were to show you today a man who intended to go to California tomorrow morning, if I were to show you that man down here along the Pennsylvania railroad filling a whole freight car with all of his wealth because he wants to take a trip to San Francisco, you would say that man is a fool. If he wants to go on a visit as a pilgrim to California he does not want to take a whole freight load along. On the other hand, if I show you another man this morning who is ready to start for California, and you ask him. Have you got your ticket? No. Any money? No. Going to take anything with you? No. You would say, there is another fool. The one wants to go, taking nothing; the other wants to go and take everything with him. They do not know that nothing is a burden, on the one hand, and too much a burden on the other. The man who is a pilgrim on this earth must learn the great lesson that he does not want to take too many trunks, nor too many satchels, nor to start with empty pockets. Consequently if we want to be pilgrims 426 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. and strangers here on earth, and live the life of the dearly beloved, we have got to take our minds off of the wealth of the world as if that were our God; and on the other hand, stop living that kind of a life that makes us so poor that we do not know how we are going to pay the next grocery bill. We have got to stop living that kind of a life that when old age comes will leave us at the mercy of other people, but do as God taught us, work and save and pray, and just have enough to keep us comfortable, and do not take so much that it will be a burden, and in that way remember that our home is not on earth, but on high, and as pilgrims and strangers here on earth re- member that we are the dearly beloved. II. Having defined who these dearly beloved are, let us notice, What should they do? I would ansAver on the authority of my text that these pilgrims and strangers, these dearly beloved should fight a noble fight for the purity of the home. "I beseech you, as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul." The Apostle Peter did not say, Dearly beloved, you will have no fleshly lusts ; he did not say, When you are saved you will have no battles to fight an}^ more. We sometimes hear Christians talking as if they had no temptations any more, and when we hear that we are almost led to say, I Avish you would take your Avings and fly to heaven. The real fact is that we who are here upon earth are still living in our fleshly bodies, and the man or Avoman who has a good deal of brain and intelligence has the hardest battle to fight, and the thing for us as pilgrims and strangers to remember is that it is not an easy thing to live a Christian life; it is not an easy thing to be pure hearted, and the battle that Ave must fight and fight hard is to be pure ourselves, in thought, in mind, in order that Ave may not disgrace the home of Avhich Ave are a part. The man who Avants purity of home uiust first of all see to it himself that he is pure hearted and a Christian, and as I said before, this can only be done by a prayerful life, asking God to give us grace for every hour and strength for every moment. Therefore I A\onld say this morning, as dearly THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. 427 beloved do not imagine tJiat yon are going to get throngh life AA'itliont any strnggies, and do not imagine that it will not take a bitter fight to live aright. I know from my life that I haA^e fouglit the fight of purity, and I know that speaking from the world's standpoint I have no dis- grace hanging back of me. It takes a battle for purity, a battle for the purity of the home, a battle for the purity of the nation; and I would say right here, dear Christian friends, do not think it is smart to let your little boy and girl play beaux too young; they will play you to shame some of these days. Do not imagine that we can go right through this life and tliat everything is all right because it is style and tolerated. For my part I pray and beg for the purity of our children, and for the purity of our lionie, and in order to have pure homes we must have pure fathers, and pure mothers, and pure daughters^ and we must haA^e the arms of love and protection thrown around every one, and pray God that Avhen the tempta- tion is the greatest the opportunity may be the least, even then we pray God to remoA^e the temptation. Yes, there is a battle on hands for the dearly beloved. Not only must we pray and fight for the salvation of souls and purity of the home, but we must aim to be good citizens. HaAdng your conversation honest among the Gentiles, that Avhereas they speak against you as evil doers, they may by your good works, which they shall be- hold, glorify God in the day of visitation. Submit your- selves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, Avhether it be to the king as supreme; or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers, and for the praise of them that do well. We cannot OA^erlook the fact that Ave are here for good citizen- ship, and any professed Christian AA^ho does not remember at the polls as Avell as in his daily life that it is his duty to speak arid A^ote for the Avelfare and the purity of the nation, is not a good citizen. We ought to remember, my friends, as dearly beloved, that Caesar is always a heathen, no difference where you look in the Avorld. I know that Caesar stands for ruler, but it stands for more than that; it stands for government in all its ramifications, and the 428 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. government of every nation on earth as long as the world stands will be Caesar — Avill be heathen. These professed Christians were Jewish Christians, living in a heathen land, and they supposed they would have no right noAV to obey a heathen king, that their privilege was to obey the Lord as King of kings and Lord of lords, and to treat their under-subjects and governors as they pleased. Dear friends, the Apostle Peter calls their attention to the fact that government is of God, and that no difference if the government does make a mistake, it is to be honored and respected, and as good citizens we must obey the laws. If the laws are bad, full obeyance to the laws will overthrow them ; if good they must be obeyed. Any law except that absolutely contrary to the plain command of God must be obeyed for conscience' sake, and must be obeyed for the government's sake. Therefore let us remember that as dearly beloved we must be true citizens in this heathen land, the world. By our good works we must give an answer to the Gentiles. They will find fault with us, but the best answer you can give is to live a Godly life. Not only are we to be good citizens, but we are to be faithful servants. For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men; as free and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the ser\ ants of God. Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king. Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the forward. How often we find that young men think they are really to be the boss in a factory instead of obeying tlie foreman. How often in the home we find people who seem to think that the servant is the master, and the master and mistress are the servants. If there is any one thing that God wanted to teach us in the fourth commandment and throughout the Word, it is this, that the employed is to be obedient to the employer; that the servant is to be true to the master, and what a rebellion we are creating in our own country by thinking that a man is considered great when he stands up and says, I will let no man boss me. The real truth is that any man can be stubborn, and THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. 429 stubbornness is no proof of greatness. An animal not long ago went out on the railroad track when an engine was coming along^ and scratched the dust, and pawed, and said, Engine, get off the track. Well, the engine simply knocked him off. That animal was an emblem of the stubborn man that stands in the world and says, I will see whether I will be subject to any one. It is manly to be obedient. It is manly to give service; and there is no nobler work in all the world than to be a noble servant. The president of the United States is not our ruler; he is our servant. He is serving the people of the United States, and they that send him are greater than he that is sent. The people of the United States are greater than the president. The servant in the home by his obedience makes himself great. The scholar in the school that will rebel against a teacher, or a principal, or a superintendent, lias bad training at home. Honor those that are placed over you, is the commandment of our (xod. Let us learn, therefore, as dearly beloved, that the true mark of great- ness is obedience to those who are placed over us. Not only should we remember this as the dearly be- loved, but we should also remember that the privilege of liberty is sometimes overstepped. '^As free and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the ser- vants of God.'' There was a time in my own history when I was taught by the actions of many people that whenever we have got the liberty to do a thing, we must do it, in spite of T^']lat anybody thinks. I have seen men who were good, professed Christians, that just because somebody thought it was wrong to drink whisky, would go and buy «ome and stand up and drink it, to show they had the liberty. I have seen men who, just because they were told not to do certain tilings, to give offense, would do them, just to show that they had the liberty to do them. Some- times it becomes absolutely necessary to show that we have got the liberty to do certain things, but let us not forget that we are taught not to offend each other, and that it is absolutely wrong for every man to go to the limit of his liberty, because right at the edge of his liberty I)egins the liberty of the next man. John B. Goff, that 430 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. great temperance lecturer, used to stand on the platform and show the difference betAveen real liberty and assumed liberty. He said, '^I as a man have a perfect right to stand here and strike from ni}^ shoulder, and this is my liberty ; but if a man is standing within half a foot of me and I strike his nose, my liberty ends where his nose be- gins.'' That shoAvs just exactly what liberty means. Your libert}' stops where the next man's liberty begins, and there are some people who imagine that no difference how long their arms are, they can strike where they please. As dearly beloved you must remember that this world is full of men besides yourself, full of people who have their rights as you have yours, and that your rights must end where the next man's rigiits begin, and as dearly beloved I would urge upon you s trough^ never to forget that kind- ness goes a great deal further than force. During the French war there was a noble pastor by the name of Machtolph, living in the town of Moetlingen of Wuertem- berg. This noble pastor was visited by some soldiers of the army with the view of ransacking the parsonage and robbing him of Avliat he had. Instead of standing out on the porch with weapons to defend his home, he un- locked the house, unlocked every trunk and chest, threw open the whole residence and said. Walk in and help your- selves. They went through the house, surprised at the privilege, took everything they could lay their hands on, and started away. They met the general of the army and told him the wonderful story of a man back there in the church parsonage who did as just described. ^^Why," the general said, "I will have to see that man." He took three or four of his men with him, walked into the open liouse and said, "Is there anything else here that we can get?" "Only one thing that I know of," he said, "there is a piece of linen hanging out on the line but it isn't quite dry; if you will just Avait a little, you can have that too." Til en they started off. He happened to think after they started that he had two silver spoons hid. He got them and ran after the general and said, "I beg your pardon, I still have two silver spoons, and here is one of them." "No, I will not take it." "Yes, you must take it as a THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. 431 souvenir of what you have done this morning." He took the spoon and went to the army. They began to talk this matter over. There were members of this pastor's church present, and they told the story of that great man of love, until the soldiers said, "Everything that we took must go back,-' and they carried back his silver spoon and all that they had taken, and regarded him very highly. In other words, this man Machtolph conquered a whole army by just simply telling them, "Here is the house, take all that you want if you think it is right." He did more than an army could have done. He was the victor and they were the conquered. Let us learn that true liberty consists in letting people sometimes do the sinful, dam- nable thing, that they may see their own wickedness, re- pent, and come back to God. Last of all I Avould say that as dearly beloved, we must walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. This text, as you will notice, is from the same chapter as the one delivered last Sundaj^, In His steps. The verse just re- ferred to shows us hoAv Ave should walk : "For this is thankv>orthy, if a man for conscience toAvard God cu- lture grief, suifering Avrongfully. For Avhat glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, Avhen ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable Avith God." Do aa^cII, no difference what it costs; suffer for it though wrong- fully, and walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. This is acceptable to the P'ather in heaA^en. As dearly beloved we must walk in the footsteps of Jesus. If you do wrong and are punished for it, that is right, that is nothing to boast of, but Avhen you do right, Avhen you knoAv that you do right, and you suffer for it, as Jesus did, carrying His cross to Calvary, as Jesus did when He bled and died, that is Christian, and that is the thing that God will bless in this Avorld. The following little notice, taken from our Sunday School lesson of last week illustrates what I want to say : Not long ago a fire broke out in a Formosan village and two houses were soon wrapped in flames. One of them was saved — the house of a heathen Chinaman; the owner of the other house is a Christian, who happened 432 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. to be away from home, and, as nobody tried to save his house, it was burned down. There was a great laughter among the villagers at the Christian's misfortunes. '^That is the worth of your religion," they said to him. A day or two after a company of men were seen coming across the fields, and, when they got near, it was seen that they were ladened with tools, wood and articles of furniture. The village was astir. What was it? Who were the men? They were the members of the church to which their neighbor belonged, and they had come from their homes, some miles away, to rebuild his house, which they did, while the villagers gasped with wonder. Nothing like it had ever been seen. Such a religion could not be laughed at. Here you find a picture of the love of the brotherhood. The Apostle Peter said, "Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.'' As dearly beloved then we must love each other, stretch out our hands and help each other in time of need. We must not forget the poor box. For some time nothing has been said about that, but we still have men lying at the point of death, earning no money, no income. I have now a letter in my study which reads like this, in substance : "I am very sorry that I must ask for help. This is the first time in twelve years that we have not had plenty in our home, but with my sick husband lying at the point of death, the children hungry, and no way to earn anything myself, I must ask you for help." My dear friends, is there one of us this morning that has not the inclination to help one in that condition? The next time it may be you, it may be me; and when I am lying helpless in my home and cannot do anything to support my wife and children, I want you to help me. May God help us this morning as dearly beloved, to walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. Amen. PRAYER. O Father in heaven, we thank Thee for Thy blessed Word, each verse of which is full of fruit and we shake it with prayer until it falls into our hands. Do Thou help us to read Thy Word with the view to finding new promises and dwelling more meditatively on the old. There THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. 433 are truths in Thy Word which we have never yet discovered; there are fruits there for our souls that we have never yet tasted. Lord God, do Thou bless the Word as it has been preached today, and the hands that have recorded this message, and may the message go forth, leading many people to their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to walk in His footsteps, and to live for the happiness and the good of their fellowmen, and to the glory of their Master, who taught us to pray: Our Father who art in heaven; Hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come ; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven ; Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for- give those who trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation; But deliver us from evil; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power,, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. 28 FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. Do Not Err. James 1 :16-21. DO not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every per- fect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of His creatures. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Wherefore lay -apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meek- ness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth: Thy Word is truth. Amen. Beloved in Christ: There is a Latin phrase, dear friends, that has been translated into all the languages of the world: Errare humanum est, or rather. To err is human, and usually that phrase is quoted to show us that after all a little error does not amount to much because it is human. I wish to show you in the very beginning this evening in this discourse, that an error is an awful thing. There was a time when an angel in heaven for the first time rebelled against God. Among the angels it may have been called only an error, but that little error made the devil out of that angel, and that devil meant hell, and that hell meant eternal punishment for all who are not saved. That is the result of a little error, so-called. Let me show you another error. When Eve took the forbidden fruit, it looked like a very small thing. I sup- pose by a great majority of the votes in the world it would be declared just a little mistake, but that forbidden fruit led her away from God, led her to lose the image, and led 434 FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. 435 her to lead astray her hus|)and, and she ruined the human race, planted the seed of death, dug every grave, started every sickness that has ever been in the world, made it necesary to have hospitals for the wounded and groaning, and has been the means of putting people on the path that leads to eternal damnation, all the result of one little error. Let me call your attention to another error. A little boy starts to a Sunday School in the country for the first time; as a stranger in that neighborhood he is honored by being elected treasurer of that Sunday School. He felt proud of the office and had a perfect right to feel so. It is always an honor to be elected treasurer of anything. The little boy went home that day with one hundred pen- nies in the treasury ; he felt as rich and as elevated as the treasurer of Kichland county, or treasurer of the State of Ohio, or of the United States. When the mother one day wanted some change, she said, "Let me have fifty cents of your pennies;" the little boy said "All right;'' the father said, "Mother, you are making a mistake; that is not John's one hundred cents; that is trust money; you have got absolutely no right to borrow that fifty cents ; the best thing you can do is to leave them where they are, or to give John half a dollar in exchange for the fifty pennies." But the mother thought she knew better than her husband did and so she borrowed the fifty pennies, with a view of paying them back. Little John went out that morning and said, "If mother can borrow fifty cents, I will borrow the other fifty and spend them." The year passed on and there were about |25.00 expected in that treasury, but when they came to settle up the account, little Jolin^ rather than to confess that he had no money — for he bor- rowed the one hundred cents every Sunday after that — simply ran away. The next thing we knew he was in a new neighborhood, and here again was trusted with a little more money, and he borrowed it with the view of paying it back, just like mother did. That same boy is in the Keformatory at Mansfield today; and who put him there? His own mother. You have absolutely no right to take one cent that belongs to a trust fund and not 436 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. hold it for that trust. Only a little mistake, but it put that boy behind the walls of the Reformatory. I want you to understand, my friends, that an error is a terrible thing. The apostle James recognized this fact when he said, Do not err, my beloved brethren. Last Sunday I told you who the beloved brethren were ; today I admonish you in the name of the Holy Spirit that you be careful and DO NOT ERR. According to this text it is an error I. To be too slow. II. To be too swift. I. "Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath." It is an error to be too slow. Many a man has simply failed in his life because he is always just a little bit too slow. We are told in this Word tonight that a man should be swift to learn that evil does not lie in nature but in man himself. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights. Notice well, dear friends, that James declares here that every good thing, no difference where it is found, every creature of God, comes from the heavenly Father, and that it is a mistake to think, as some people do, that evil lies in the very nature of all things. Human philosophy tells us, when it tries to get away from the true and living God, and away from the Bible, that evil lies right in the nature of things. If that were true, there would be just as much evil in the flower and the dew drop as there is in the devil, himself. No, my friends, do not err. Evil lies in Satan and man, and you cannot find it anywhere else. The good-hearted mother who rolls the barrel of whiskey out of the saloon and knocks the head in, imagines she is doing the right thing. There is more devil in the hand that holds the hatchet than there is in the barrel. It is simply an error. There are thousands of fools today called Christians who try to excuse man by throwing the responsibility on God, as if God made a mistake when He FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. 437 gave us those things that can be turned into alcohol. You can go down here to any street in this city and fill any saloon with all the whiskey, and with all the beer, and with all the wine, and with all the stinking tobacco, all the poisonous cigarettes, and strychnine and arsenic, and all the poison you can find, and drive the men out, and lock the doors, and I can prove by a vote of all the intelli- gent men in the world that there is no evil in that build- ing. I shall repeat myself. Fill any building in the world with everything you can find outside of the devil and man, and I will show you a building that contains no evil. On the other hand, you show me a big building, totally vacant; roll out all the whiskey, all the beer, all the wine, all the tobacco and poison, and fill it up with men and women, and I will show you a building that is full of evil. Do not err. There is evil in the world, but, my friends, that evil is not in wheat, it is not in corn, it is not in medicine; it is in man. The apostle did not fail to tell them where to find the bad. Let no man say wiien he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man; but every man is tempted when he is drawn aAvay of his own lust, and enticed; then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. There is no trouble to find where evil is. If you want to find it, lift up your hand and lay it upon your own breast and you are pretty close to it. Evil is in the heart of man. Why, you sa}^, I am a Christian. Granted that you are a Chris- tian. If you are a Christian, you are a Christian living in a sinful body, and while it is true that the spiritual man does not sin, it is just as true that the spiritual man lives in a carnal man, and when the spiritual man says, I want to do right, the carnal man says, I want to do wrong, and in the Christian there is a battle, while in the child of the devil there is no battle at all. The one is a Christian l)ecause he has the spiritual man in him, the other is a child of the devil because he is all devilish. Do not err. Do not try to shift your responsibility on to a barrel of whiskey. Do not try to shift your responsibility upon a little bottle of medicine. Stop this cry against the crea- 438 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. til re inanimate, and cry out against devilish men and women, who do not try to do right and do not want to do right. If the people would all do as I do, and as hundreds of members of this church do, there would be no saloons. The saloons are in this city because not only devilish people want them, but because professed Christians want them. And whenever the men of God, so called, will take a stand against things that are wrong, and uphold things that are right, there will be a power in every community that today is not recognized. Do not err, beloved brethren. Again, I would have you not to be too slow, but be very swift to find out that God is unchangeable. The Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Some people seem to think that God was one kind of a God in the days of Abraham, and still another kind of a God in the days of Noah, and then became a diiferent kind of a God in the days of Israel, and then in the days of Christ became a little better, and now during these latter days is getting better still, as if God were changeable. Dear friends, God is not change- able. It is said here, In Him is no variableness neither shadow of turning. Men were saved in the beginning of the world exactly as they are saved today, and exactly as they will be saved on the last great day. Adam and Eve had the promise that they would be saved by the seed of the woman that should crush the serpent's head, and that promise was of Je»us Christ on Calvary. On the day that Jesus Christ was crucified, that man by His side was saved by the cross. Abraham looked forward to the cross ; the malefactor looked to his side for the cross, and you and I look back for the cross, and we are all saved by the unchangeable God. Hannah prayed for her son, Samuel, and God gave him to her. In the days of John the Baptist Zacharius and Elizabeth prayed for a son, and God gave them that wonderful prophet, yea, greater than a prophet, he who touched the Savior with his own hands, and today God will do the same thing. He is unchangeable. You look at yonder sun tomorrow and watch it for an hour, and you cannot see that it is moving. Just keep your FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. 439 eye on yonder sun and it seems to stand perfectly still in the heavens; but go out into the field and walk up to that tall oak tree, sit down by the shadow, take your pen- cil and set it just at the edge of that shadow, at the end of it, you will see the shadow moving along, away from that pencil. The shadow moves, but, says this great apostle, do not err; you can set your pencil where you please on God's Word, and you will find that the shadow never moves. With whom i^ no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Do not err. The same God that de- manded a flood because the world was wicked, is the same God before whom you will stand on the great Judgment Day. Do not err and think that God has changed his mind. Why, you say, did God not sometimes make changes? Yes, God never changed His will, but He willed the change. Do you see the difference? You cannot find from the beginning of God's Word to the end that He ever changed His mind, that He ever changed His will, but He did will changes. If it were not for that we would always have sunshine; Ave would never have any rain. In the great plan of God's Providence, He has not only drawn back the black cloud, but the shining stars; He has not only given us the dark and lowering clouds, and thunder and lightning, but He has given us the cooling breeze and sweet flowers, and things that are beautiful. All these are coming, not because God changes His will, but because He wills changes. Do not err. The God of Abraham is our God tonight and will be our Judge on the last great day. Again, I would have you not to be too slow, but be swift to learn that a saved sinner is one of God's most wonderful creatures. Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of His creatures. What beautiful world this must have l)een on the morning of creation! I would love to have seen that garden of Eden when Adam and Eve walked with God, and He walked with them. The world is so beautiful now that a man must be an ignoramus, and lost to all sense of beauty if his mind is not lifted heavenward as he comes in contact Avith nature. How anv man can 440 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. waken at four o'clock in the morning and hear the little birds out in the trees praising God, and then lie there without praying, I do not understand. It seems to me that God has planted right in the mouth of the little bird the doxology which we sing : Praise God from whom all blessings flow ; Praise Him all creatures here below; Praise Him above, ye heavenly host ! Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost ! How a man can travel over this beautiful earth, with the fine foliage on the trees and the beautiful grass and flowers, and the sweet perfumer}^ that comes from all the fields, a promise of the future harvest; how any man can look up into the skies at night and see those starry windows; how any man can enjoy the sunlight by day and its borrowed light by night from the beautiful moon ; how any man can look at this sin-cursed earth as it is with all its grandeur and beauty, and not be lifted heaven- ward, is a demonstration of the fact that he is an igno- ramus. What must this world have been before the curse was on it! What a beautiful world it must have been, that garden of Eden! Now, my friends, though man has fallen and has by nature become an enemy of God, though man has turned his face away from his Maker, and has gone down to destruction, James tells us that God can take that man, drunken sot that he is, low man that he is, cursed, lost man that he is, and devilish as he is, and with this Word of truth He can recreate him, regenerate him, hold him up and make out of him what is a veritable fruit of the garden of Eden. Wonderful demonstration of the power of God ! Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of His crea- tures. I believe the apostle James had in mind the fruit that was hanging on the trees in the garden of Eden before Adam sinned, and then stopped to think what God had done with him and with so many people. My friends, I tell you this evening, come and see. One of the best demon- strations of the power of God to me is the fact that in mj own ministry I can look into the faces of hundreds of men FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. 441 and vvomen that were going to destruction, and the plain Word of God as taught in the Lutheran church, brought them back and made them like fruit hanging on the trees in the garden of Eden. Come and see! I want no stronger proof of the poAver of God's AVord than the fact that it takes a man and makes a new creature of him. What more do you want? Do not err and say Christian- ity is all a sham. *Do not stand on the side of the devil and argue against your own conscience, by trying to put yourself asleep with the thought that there are preachers that go wrong, and Sunday School teachers that go wrong, and professed Christians that go wrong. I say do not put your conscience to sleep with that kind of nonsense and sometimes veritable lies. There are men in Mansfield who will make the bold declaration that there are no good women any more, and that there are no good men any more. When a man tells me there are no good moral men I say he lies and he knows it. When a man tells me there are no good women, I say he lies and he knows it. The world is full of virtuous women and full of good men, and the only man that thinks everybody is bad, is a devilish man, himself, and he knows it. Do not err, beloved brethren. Suppose that I, myself, should go wrong and go to the devil, Avhat good will that do you when I gnash my teeth at you in hell and you gnash yours at me? What comfort is that to a lost man to know that another soul is lost? Do not err, beloved brethren. There is a God in heaven before whom jon and I must stand, and He has not changed as much as the shadow of the tree in the noon liour. Do not be too sIoav, dear hearers, but be swift to hear God's Word. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, be swift to hear. Some people are very slow to hear. I suppose some of you men were sleeping this morning when you ought to have been in God's house. You are vei^y slow to hear God's message. Who knows but that God pre- pared a special message for you, and you were not here to hear it, nor anywhere else. What right have you got to transgress the very day that God set apart for you to hear His message? Oh, how many people there are who 442 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. could be in the Sunday school class, but they are too slow ! HoAv many people there are that could hear the sermon every Sunday, but they are too slow! How many people there are that are very glad they are in a business that gives them an excuse not to hear God's Word; and there is a great deal of business done on Sunday that had better not be done. These Italian stands ought to be closed up on Sunday, and a good deal of other business ought to be closed on Sunday. I do not believe that any man under heaven ever did prosper because he disobeyed God's Holy law^ Kemember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. The^^ used to think they could never get along without an open barber shop on Sunday. They are all closed now and men are shaved just as well as they were then. They used to think that the grocery had to be open until ten o'clock on Sunday morning. They are closed now and we have just as much to eat Sundays as we did before. The time will come when the drug stores will be closed on Sunday, and there are people who think if they were closed all the time, we would not have so many funerals. Now I do not say that it may never be necessary to get into some kinds of business on Sunday sometimes, but there is always a right way of doing it. I do want to say here tonight that the man that does not hear God's Word often on Sunday and in his own home, is making an eter- nal mistake. A poor shepherd in France, who had all that he could possibly do, seemingly, to keep his poor family from starving, had no Bible. The prayer of his life was, Oh, that I could just get hold of God's Word! and by practicing strict economy, he finally had enough money saved to buy an old, second-hand Bible; then he took it home and felt rich, and his family was rich, and they read in that Word every day together, and sang a hymn of praise, and one day when he was reading the last line on the right-hand page, and turned the leaf, there seemed to be no connection whatever between the two sentences. He leafed back and forth a few times, and said, Surely there is a leaf lost, and then accidentally it was observed by one of the family that the two leaves were sticking together. He took his knife from the side of his FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. 443 plate, ran it between the two leaves, and carefully opened them, and lo, and behold, he found a hundred dollars in money lying betwee^n those two leaves. Then he felt that possibly he would be considered a thief if he would tell the world that he found a hundred dollars in an old book, but he picked up a little note upon which he read: "This Bible I purchased long ago, Avhen I was poor; God blessed me and I got rich, but my heirs are not worthy of what I have. I now seal these hundred dollars in this Bible, and whoever gets it and reads this Book shall find them and they shall be his." Then this poor shepherd knelt down with his family and thanked God that by reading the Word he not only found flOO in money between the pages, but found something worth more than a hundred dollars on every page of that great Book. It was the beginning of his financial blessing, and it was to his soul a spiritual blessing, even to rob his family of bread to buy the old Bible. Now, dear friends, do you realize tonight that flOO might be in your Bibles for a long time before you would find them? Do you realize as you are sitting before me tonight that Ave very often find fault with the Roman Catholics because they read the Bible so little, and yet they are taught not to read the Bible in their homes, because of the fact that they cannot interpret it as the priests can ; Avhile Protestants are urged to read the Bible, and I am not saying too much when I say that the average Roman Catholic in this civilized land knows as much about his Bible as the aA^erage Protestant, and it is a shame that we are letting the old Word of God lie at home Av^eek after week and never look inside of it. It is a shame that professed Christians have no family wor- ship. Oh, shame on you ! How God can bless that home, I do not understand. Then open the Word of God. Read a chapter every morning. Sing a song of praise to your heavenly Father. Start out in your business with a prayer to God, and I want to tell voti that life will be something new, and a glorious home you will have, and your influence in your community Avill mean something. God forbid that some people should follow in the footsteps 444 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. of some members of some churches. Let us be very careful not to err. II. We are not only to avoid the error of being too slow, but just as much so in being too fast. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let e^ ery man be swift to hear, slow to speak. Do not be too swift with your tongue. Did it ever occur to you, my friends, that God gave you two ears to hear, and only one tongue to speak? Did it ever occur to you that when a certain building in a city is surrounded by a high wall, and Avith two sets of gates, that that means silence in that house? Did it ever occur to you that when God made you. He gave you two ears to listen and only one tongue to speak, and put around that tongue two gates called lips, and around that tongue a double fence of ivory teeth, that you might be careful not to speak too much? Do you know that this Word of God tells you that you must give an account for every idle word? If there is one verse more than another in the Bible that condemns me, it is that one. Oh, what an account I will have to give on the Judgment Day! And yet how much foolish talk there is, and not only talk, but talk against the Word of God. James has in mind the average layman who will rebel against the message that he hears. It may be that you are in just that mood right now, that you would like to say something back against what you have heard tonight, and yet in your own con- science and soul you know that every word I have said is true. Now be careful, and do not talk back too soon. Go home and think. Go home and pray. Go home and medi- tate and keep that fence closed a day or two. Shut up the gates. Listen. Because just as sure as you talk too soon you will make a fool of yourself. Be swift, there- fore, on the one hand, and sIoav on the other. Be careful not to err in another respect. That is, do not be swift to get angry. Slow to wrath. I do not know of anything that will make a fool of a man any quicker than when he lets his temper run away with him. A temper is a blessed thing. An engine may be ever so perfect, it never will run unless there is some fire and some steam to make it go, and a man that has no temper FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. 445 is just a poor machine that is not Avorth anything; but when he has a temper he ought to have a governor, a controlling power; he ought to be able to say, I will hold my tongue until I can keep cool. It was a rule of Caesar to always count twenty before he said a word if he felt angry. It was a rule of a great theologian to pray the Lord's prayer every time he felt that he was getting angry. It was the rule of a great philosopher to say the alphabet forward and backward before he said a word when he felt angry. Whatever rule you may adopt, do not allow yourself to plunge into anger and do in a mo- ment what years of regret can never undo. Do not err. Do not think it is manly to grow angry. There are plenty of animals all around us that can get angry and bite and kick, but there is nothing manly about them, and nothing manly about any man who allows his tem- per to swell, and then begins to rave and appear more like a brute than a man. Be slow to get angry. Again, a man must not be too swift to plunge into things that are filthy. Wherefore lay apart all filthiness. There are so many filthy things around us; so many filthy conversations; so many filthy actions. Oh, do not plunge into things that are not clean. It seems to me there is one thing that every Christian ought to lay down as the principle of his life, and that is if the conversa- tion is not clean, walk away from it. If the habit you have got is not clean, then walk away from it. xls I walked into the jail the other morning, in order to take a young man out of there, a young man of about twenty- five years came to the door and spit right over on my shirt bosom, and said ''Excuse me!'' Twenty years ago I would have excused him in a hurry, but I did think, Avith all the calmness that I haA^e uoav, that the man ought to be clean. What right has a man got to carry around in his mouth a filthy thing like that, that must make him excuse himself for spitting? Why not keep clean? Why slop all over your own shirt bosom or anybody's else? Why form a habit that Avould not be allowed in decent society? Why smell like a stinking pool? Keep 446 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. clean. The apostle says, be careful not to plunge into filthiness. Lay apart all filthiness. Not only all filthiness, but he says be swift not to plunge into meanness. "Wherefore lay apart all filthi- ness and superfluity of naughtiness." We say of the child when it gets to be angry, you naughty child, and yet there are things done by men that cannot be termed anything but low and mean. Oh, man, how can you, having a Christian wife at home, and dear little children that look into your face to lead them rightly, how can you be aw^ay from home every evening of the week and be where you would not take your family with you, and spend your money there and let your children starve? Oh, you mean, filthy scoundrel, how can you go on and live that way? Do not err. Stop plunging into these mean things. Come out and be a man and stand up for your family and for your children. If a dog were found out in the street cursing and swearing, every gun would be leveled at him. Shoot him down! He is pos- sessed of the devil! And yet the very men who hold the weapons in their hands will stand on the street and curse and swear and damn, and think it is manly. Oh, the meanness of the human heart when it is not given to the Lord! The apostle tells us here to be swift, to stay out of that filthiness, and out of that naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted Word, which is able to save your souls. The Church of old called this Sunday Cantata — the Latin term for singing, and the reason they called it that was that in the old church on the fourth Sunday after Easter they always began by singing the 98th Psalm: O sing unto the Lord a new song; for He hath done marvelous things : His right hand and His holy arm, hath gotten Him the victory! I say from the time the church sang this 98th Psalm until today, you will find in your hymnbook that this Sunday is called Can- tata — Sing unto the Lord a new song — and it does seem to me that this church, if any church on earth, ought to sing. Do you realize, as a member of the First Lutheran Church, how you have been blessed from the FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. 447 time that Father Ruth came here to preach the Gospel until the present day? Do you stop to realize that in seventy long years you have only had about nine pastors^ and that of all those that have been here, you have not had one who has not been faithful unto death? Not one has disgraced you. You cannot say that of all churches that have been in existence seventy years. Do- you appreciate the fact that for seventy long years God's eternal truth which you have heard tonight has beett sounding in the hearts of jour fathers, and of your moth- ers, and into the hearts of your children, and that up to your last pastor you have had as faithful jiastors as any church could have? Do you realize tonight that you have as faithful a superintendent as any church in the State of Ohio? Do you realize tonight that you have sixty faithful teachers in this Sunday school who are working hand in hand to educate your children on the narrow way? Do you realize tonight that you have a church council, for two and a half years at least, and possibly throughout many years of the past, that has never had one unkind word but the Spirit of God in our midst? Do you realize that in our teachers' meetings we have a wonderful blessing from the Spirit of God on high? Do you realize that we have a Young Peoples' Society in which every heart and every hand is in harmony with the one great purpose of giving glory to God? Now, my dear friends, if we do not sing here in a church like- this, where shall they sing? If hearing the mighty Word of God as plain as you have heard it tonight, as you always hear it, isn't enough to move you to buy a little hymn-book for one dollar and ten cents to praise God, then pray tell me, what will move you? Friends, I am in earnest about the singing in this church. If the old shepherd of Israel could pen a Psalm of praise like the 98th Psalm; if the church of old could not begin worship without everybody singing that Psalm, in these days of music, in these days of cheap books, why should any man on earth call himself a Christian and sit down like a block and never open his mouth to sing a song of praise to God? Some one says. What is the difference whether 448 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. we sing or not? The difference is simply thiSj that if jou have your heart filled with the seed that is in this Word, you will be filled with prayer, and if you are filled with prayer you will want to pray along with the Church of God, whether you have a voice to sing or not. You say that some cannot sing. What does singing mean? Singing means to give praise to God. Can't you do that? If I were a woman and hadn't enough money to buy a hymn-book, I would sell those old umbrellas called hats and get one. If I were a man and could not afford to buy a hymn-book, I would go out and say to the world. Give me fl.lO, I want to buy a hymn-book. There is a good deal said about poverty, but I see people that do not give one cent to the First Lutheran Church sit down there at Kaler's and eat ice cream every week. I see these things and know you do not need them; I do not say you should not have them, but do your duty to God first. I urge upon you to make not only this Sun- day a cantata, but to make your life a cantata. In the days of the Reformation, Luther, it is said by Carlisle, sang the truth into Germany. And that means that our Sunday school books should have hymns that will not move the children at once to begin to move their feet as if to dance, but we ought to have hymn-books with the old glorious songs that mean worship, and lead people to a truer idea of what it means to sing praise to God. It does mean that if any church on earth ought to be a singing church, it is the First Lutheran Church of Mans- field. May God bless these words tonight and stir us up to a better praise to Him, and to be much swifter to do Tight and much slower to do wrong. PRAYER. O Father in heaven, we ask Thy divine blessing tonight to rest upon the message of the hour. We pray Thee, O God, that Thou wilt take these words, which are words from Thy great Word, and teach us to be careful not to err. A little mistake on the part of an angel meant a devil ; a little mistake on the part of a woman meant the ruined world; a little mistake in many of our lives has meant many a sorrow and many a tear, and we pray Thee that Thou wilt help us tonight to watch the fountain lest the stream be filthy, and therefore we cry out FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. 449 to create in us clean hearts, O God, and renew right spirits within us. We ask Thee, heavenly Father, that Thou wilt teach us all to teach Thy Word, to be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath, that we may give an account of every word. Hear this our prayer and help us now to utter words that we never need to give an account of be- cause they are the words of our Savior, and the words of the sweetest prayer ever offered by man to God : Our Father who art in heaven ; Hallowed be Thy name ; Thy kingdom come ; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven ; Give us this day. our daily bread ; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for- give those who trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation; But deliver us from evil; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. Three Kinds of Hearers and Two Kinds of Religion. James 1 :22-27. BUT be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the Word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass : For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straight- way forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a for- getful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this. To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself un- spotted from the world. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Thy Word is truth. Amen. Beloved in Christ: There are many sermons in this text instead of one, and my object shall be not to see how much I can say, but how little. There are many kinds of faith in the world, but there are only two kinds of religion, and it is to these three kinds of hearers and two kinds of religion that I this morning call your attention. May the Holy Spirit api3ly this message deeply to the hearts of all of us, to lead us into the true doctrinal and the practical part of true Christianity. We find then in this text THREE KINDS OF HEARERS AND TWO KINDS OF RELIGION. I. What are these three kinds of hearers? 1. There are some men who never hear God's Word. There are people in this world who never heard the one 450 FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. 451 Book of God at all. There are two books in which we can read the wonderful characteristics of our God. The one is the book of nature, and the other is the Book of Revela- tion. Every man on earth has the book of nature lying before him. Every man can see its open pages this morning as they lie open before us on the hills and in the valleys. Every man at night can look up and see the golden alphabet of the stars of the universe ; but with all of this great book before us, there are people who have never heard of God's Word. Think of the millions of heathen this morning that never heard a word out of the Bible! Think of the poor souls groveling in darkness that never heard of the sweet song of the cross of Christ ! that never heard of the Prince of Peace ! Think of the millions that never heard of the one way to heaven, that never knew of such a thing as the Holy Ghost, that never knew of such a thing as a Sunday School, who never have heard how poor sinners, lost and condemned, can be saved. Oh, the poor hearers who never heard God's Word! And yet God put these ears in our heads for the very purpose that we might hear, and said : He that hath ears to hear, let him hear — not the song of the birds, not the music of the air — but first of all, the Word of God. There are some then who never hear God's Word; there are others who do not want to hear it, those that have the opportunity. We are told in John 3 of some people who cannot bear the light : And this is the con- demnation, that light is come into this world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be re- proved. It may be that I have some one sitting before me that does not love to go to church, that does not reallv love to hear God's Word. Why? Pray tell me why do you not love to hear God's Word? I will tell you why. There is a something about your life that you would prefer to keep in the dark instead of letting the light of God's Word shine on it. What a blessing it is you are here this morn- ing, and may the Word of God shine in on your souls this 452 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. morning ever hereafter to make you love to liear it, for just as sure as a man does not want to hear God's Word any more there is something wrong about his heart ; some- thing wrong about his life; something wrong about him that he wants to keep in the dark and feels better when his conscience is not stirred up. AVe have, therefore, not only those who do not want to hear God's Word, but we have got some also who have committed the sin against the Holy Ghost and never want to hear it. The Lord Jesus Christ told us that every sin could be forgiven except the sin against the Holy Ghost. The author of the letter to the Hebrews calls attention to that sin in Heb. 6 :4-6 : For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good Word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame. Dear friends, the Jews committed the awful crime of nailing Christ to the cross, witb the assistance of the Komans, but I want to say that from the day they nailed Him to the cross, they never said. We will crucify Him again; but the man that heard God's Word, and has tasted sal- vation, and knows the whole truth, has been enlightened, born again, has seen and received everything that God could give him, when that man turns away from God, he not only has crucified Christ, but has taken Him off of the cross, put Him in the grave, and wlien He arose from the dead caught Him the second time and nailed Him to the cross again. The man that has committed the sin against the Holy Ghost has crucified the crucified Lord. Did you ever think of that before? He has not only driven the nails through the hands and through the feet of Jesus Christ, and thrust the spear into His breast, but after those hands and feet were healed, he comes and says, I would like to drive those nails through again. And when a man reaches that point in his spiritual (condemnation, he simply says, I do not want to hear God's Word any more, and never will. Therefore the man that thinks he has FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. 458 committed the sin against the Holy Ghost has not done it. The man that worries because he is afraid he has com- mitted this sin, has not done it. The man that has com- mitted the sin against the Holy Ghost never worries any more about it; he is as hard hearted as the fires of hell can harden his heart, and he simply will never hear God's Word again. 2. There are some who never hear God's Word; then there are some that never do anything more than to hear God's Word. They hear it and that is all. They are Church-goers. There are some people that would not miss divine services for anything; you Avill find them in their pew every Sunday morning; to them it would be a terrible crime not to go to church, but if you ask them what they really heard two hours afterwards they would not know a thing ; if you would ask them w^hat they have learned in the last ten years, they would have to say noth- ing ; if you would ask them what the text was, they would have to say, I don't know ; if you were to ask them. What sj)ecial benefit did you get out of the sermon today? they would have to reply. Nothing. They are hearers of the Word but not doers; not learners. They simply go to church; as I said a moment ago, they would not miss divine services for anything, but if on Monday they could make »?10.00 by telling a lie they wouldn't miss lying for anything; if they could rob some man during the week, they would not miss it for anything ; if they could go and get drunk on Monday night they would not miss it for anything. How many hearers there are that never do anything more than just hear! They never try to learn anj^hing, never try to commit a single promise. There isn't a chapter in the Bible that isn't full of the wonderful promises of God, and it is supposed we are to take hold of these promises one after the other, and grow in grace, and learn something; but Oh, how many there are who never pray ! They hear, and do nothing more. 3. Then there are some again who hear and do God's Word. Their daily prayer is, O God, I want more food for my soul ! Their daily prayer is, God, prepare me that when Sunday comes I may be found in God's house; that 454 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. I may be found in my Sunday School class, that I may appropriate one truth after the other, and that I may learn Thy holy will, and, having learned it, that I may go and do according to it. They pray that they may hear God's Word; they hear God's Word that they may learn it; they learn it that they may believe it; they believe that they may live, and they live that they may labor. That is the kind of Christians that James speaks of: "But be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." W^hy should we hear God's Word if we do not want to learn it, and why should we learn it if we do not want to believe it, and why should we believe it if we do not want to live a better life, and if we want to live a better life, why should we not exercise the knowledge that we have? Pray tell me, what kind of a hearer are you this morning? Are you one who possibly wishes you had not come? Are you one who, when you do hear God's Word let it go into one ear and out of the other, or one who in- tends to hear the Word of God for the purpose of profiting by it, that joii may go and do something today yet, and tomorrow, and all the days of your life for the great and merciful God who laid down His life for you? II. These are the three kinds of hearers. Let me call your attention a few moments to the two kinds of religion. There are pooi^ religions, and there are i)ure religions. 1. I call your attention to the poor kind. The poor kind is hypocritical. "But be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the Word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass; for he be- holdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway for- getteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain." If his religion is vain it is a poor religion. And why is it FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. 455 poor? It is poor because it is liypocritical; because it is the ox kind, and because it is deceptive. It is hypocritical. The man who deceives himself, and tries to go on and let on as though he heard God's Word and never wants to do anything, is only trying to deceive the people, and, being a deceiver, is a hypocrite; and if a hypocrite, then you will find that he has got religion but very little Christianity. Mark well the dif- ference between religion and Christianity. The average man seems to think that religion and Christianity are one and the same thing. The devil is just as religious as God is. Do not forget that. Do not forget that every heathen nation on earth is religious. Do not forget that the fol- lowers of Mohammed, who bow nine times towards Mecca are religious. Do not forget that mothers who will throw their babies into the Ganges river are religious. Do not forget that the Indians, before they heard the Gospel, were religious ; that the lowest tribes on earth are just as religious as any Christian people, but the man who has got the true religion has got something more than simply religion; he has got Christ and Him crucified, and lives for Jesus only, and therefore has Christianity. No wonder that John Arndt wrote that popular book. True Christianity; you ought to buy it if you have not got it; you ought to learn the difference between the shallow thing some people call religion, and the genuine Christi- anity, which means to hold fast to Jesus, the only Way, the Truth and the Life, who said that no man cometh to the Father but by Him. The man that I pity is the man who has been religious all his life, and at last will be damned and carry his religion to hell Avith him. If there is any man on earth Avhom Ave should loA^e and try to emulate, it is the man who has found the truth and walks in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, and tells us to follow Him who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. It is a poor religion if it simply means religion and no Christianity. It is also a poor religion if it means Bibles but not God's Word. The hypocritical religion has Bibles plenty. Do not imagine that every man who walks on the street with a Bible under his arm has got Christianity. You 456 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. can hire men to carry Bibles by the dozen. It is one thing to haye the Bible under the arm, and another thing to haye it in the heart. It is one thing to have God's \^^ord in the home, and another thing to haye God's Word in the mind and in the heart. And do you know if your Bible is lying at home on the table from one end of the year to the other, and you neyer read it in family worship nor study that Word, that you are playing hypocrite? If I did not want to read the Word of God I would take that Bible out of the house. I would urge upon you all this morning to stir up conscience. I would urge upon you all not simply to sit here and say, I was at the First Lutheran Church this morning. Make up your minds that you are going home from the First Lutheran Church this morning with the intention of doing one of two things with that Book: either read it and study it, and get the mind of the Holy Spirit to show you what the Bible is ; or, if not to do that, then say to your wife, I am not going to be a hypocrite another moment, haying people thinking I am a Christian when I am not ; having people say that I ioye the Book when I do not. Make a fire with your Bible, cook your dinner to-day with your Bible, or read it; do not be a hypocrite another hour. There is a hypocritical religion that means Bibles plenty; Word of God not at all. God haye mercy upon the poor souls who are empty of God's Word. It is hypocritical to haye pray-ers but no prayers. There are some people that go through the form of prayer without books as well as Avith books and neyer pray at all. There has been a good deal said against form, but I want it understood that no prayer was eyer offered by man without form. Man cannot speak or sing without form; cannot read the Bible without form; cannot learn the alphabet Ayithout form. The fact is that the intelligence of the world has been handed down to us through form. Stop crying out against the wrong thing. It is not the form we want to cry out against. The thing we are op- posed to is form, Ayithout anything in it. Some people pray from the book, and they put their prayers in that form, and bring their prayers to heayen; and some pray FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. 457 without books, and their prayers go to heaven in that form ; and some people pray with the book and have no prayer ; and some people pray without the book and have no prayer. There are more pray-ers in the world than prayers; and the man that prays and does not think of God, does not want to lead the better life, does not pray for humanity, is a pray-er but does not offer a prayer, and with all his words that sound like prayer, he is a hypocrite. Let me call your attention to another kind of poor religion — that is the ox kind. I give it that name be- cause I cannot find any other word to express it. James says : If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. When a man's tongue is not bridled he comes just as near being an ox as any one I know of. When you drive a horse you put a bridle into his mouth, but when you drive an ox you just throw the yoke on him, and when he gets stubborn he is the worst thing to run away; there is nothing to hold him by; and some people have just that kind of an ox religion because they never want to learn anything, they want to run wild, they want to be free, they want to do just as they please; they want to have a little yoke put on their necks, but nothing in their mouths; they want to go to church if there is no other place, but are just as willing to run wild as to be children of God. Whenever a religion becomes ox religion, that does not want to be guided by the Holy Spirit, it is deceptive. When a man does not know what he is, he has a very poor religion. And how many people there are to-day who absolutely do not know what they believe concerning anything. They have no faith in the Word of God itself as the inspired Bible; they have no faith with regard to the gift of the Holy Spirit; they have no faith with regard to the bringing up of children ; they have no faith with regard to baptism ; they have no settled faith with regard to the Lord's Supper; they do not know whether Luther or Calvin was right; they do not know whether Jesus meant all He said or not; they are like a little ship upon the sea, when the waves drive it 458 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. to and fro, they have no anchor, no rudder; they are all right as long as it is calm ; but the first storm that comes up, you will find them no more. What a poor, poor re- ligion! Oh, how deceptive! Like the branches upon the trees that have no sap, no life; they are willing to stay there until the storms come, and then they break off and fall to the ground. The man that has the Word of God in his heart as he ought to have, stands by the truth if the heavens fall. The man that has a poor religion will stay, providing he likes the preacher; he will stay providing nothing comes in his way at all, but, like the old dead branch, the first little wind that blows he goes down and that is the end of him. Pity the man with the poor religion! 2. May God help us all to get the pure religion. "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this. To visit the fatherless and widows in their af- fliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. Pure religion is very doctrinal. It cannot be otherwise. "But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed." Who will be blessed? The man that knows the perfect law of liberty; the man that does not forget what he hears. How can a man know the perfect law of liberty? Surely not unless he studies the ten commandments and finds out his sins ; then he will be driven to Jesus Christ, and finding Jesus Christ as the Eedeemer that taketh away the sins of the world, he holds fast to Him and goes to Him in prayer, realizing that Jesus has set him free — free of his sins by the mercy of Christ he will now love the life of holy communion with the heavenly Father; loving this life he forgets not every day that he is baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and as Jesus rose from the grave so he must arise in newness of life, remembering that because he is bap- tized he is an adopted child, he now shall be nourished in the Holy Supper; he believes this Word as Jesus has recorded it; and, hearing this Word, he holds fast to it, and knows himself and his God. FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. 459 Not until you know the true and living God and Him only as your heavenly Father, and as the Son, and as the Holy Spirit, not until you know yourself through His holy law and through His Gospel have you got the perfect liberty of God, — then you are doctrinal ; then you have pure religion. And, having this pure religion, knowing yourself and knowing your God, and how you can be reconciled to Him through Jesus Christ, then your religion becomes prac- tical. Dr. Luther at one time when dwelling largely upon the great doctrine of justification by faith, called this epistle of James the epistle of straw; but in after years when he entered the practical side of life more fully, he saw what Paul was on the one hand as to doctrine, James was on the other side as to practical life, and he saw after all that the Holy Spirit was the author of James as well as the author of Komans. Pure religion does not consist simply in sitting down and saying, I believe this and that. Pure religion means to put a bridle in the mouth, and close up the lips, and go out and do some- thing for the people who need help. Pure religion and un- defiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. These dear members of ours who are taking care of these orphans are doing God's Word. That is pure religion. These dear friends who are going around and hunting up children whose fathers and mothers are no more living, are exercising pure religion. If your wife died, and you were lying on your death bed, and your little children were standing around the bed, you would begin to ask, what is pure re- ligion? and if some good neighbor would come around and say. Just sleep in Christ, I will take care of your children, that would mean a good deal more to you in that hour than for him to say, I believe in God, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Not that the one does not follow the other, but when a man does believe in God, it is his duty to put that faith into practice, and his object in life ought to be to keep his eyes open and hunt for something to do for his fellow men. It is one thing to sit at home and let some 460 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. poor orphan come and rap at your door, and then you say, I have been your kind friend; and it is another thing to walk ten miles and rap at the door and say, If there are orphans here I want to help them. The first is treating the orphan like a tramp, and the second is to become an angel messenger of God, to treat the orphan as God's dear child. There was a farmer of Saxony at one time known to be one of the greatest of Bible students among the laymen in that great country. He was called before the king one day and in order to test his knowledge of the Bible, some one said to the old farmer: How much cloth would it take to make a suit for God, for we are told by the prophet that He fills heaven and earth. Oh, said the old farmer, about ten yards Avould make Him a good suit. Why, how do you explain that? Why, he says, here is an orphan, and I think ten yards of cloth would make him a good suit of clothing with plenty of goods to spare, and God said. What ye have done unto one of these, you have done unto Me. It isn't hard to make a suit of clothes for God. Pure religion means more than to simply sit around and say we believe in the Augsburg Confession, in Lu- ther's catechism, and in the inspired Word of God. If you sit at home and say nothing but that, and do nothing, what is your religion Avorth? We ought to go out and look after those that need our help. How many boys are leaving home and coming to Mansfield, away from fatlier, away from mother ; how many girls are leaving their poor homes and coming to our city in order to fight the battles of life, and those boys and girls have immortal souls that are longing to talk about the things that pertain to their souls, and so in their despair, and homesickness, and hardly knowing what to do next, they begin to say a word about Christ to some so-called Christian, and the so-called Christian coughs and walks away and does not say a word, and those young people sink in despair and start out on paths that lead to destruction. It does seem there is so little practical, genuine religion among people, so little of the real, practical, visible Christianity. Many a young man to-dav would be in heaven instead of hell if onlv some FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. 461 Christian would* have said the right word at the right time to him. Practical religion means to keep ourselves unspotted from the world. How often you have heard your present as well as your former pastors telling you of the im- portance of separating yourselves from the ungodly world ; hut what is the result? Not only is it a fact that some people have the spots of the world on them, but the real truth of it is that they have the garment of the world on them, with only a little spot of Christianity here and there. When you have your wliite garment on you positively know you can not roll in the mud puddles and keep clean; joii know you have to stay away from every- thing that is filthy and dirty. Pray tell me, how can you have a pure religion on Sunday and throughout the week not care one whit where you go or with whom you as- sociate, what time you get home at night, rolling around in the filth of the world, and then wonder why you are not growing in grace? There are only two religions. It is the religion of the devil or the religion of Christ. It is the religion of the world, or the religion of heaven. It is pure and undefiled, or it is black as hell. Unspotted from the world? Do you remember that beautiful epis- tle of Paul to the Ephesians, where he says that the Church of God is without spot or wrinkle? How you mothers love to have a white table-cloth spread on your table, without a wrinkle in it, and without a spot, a pic- ture of what your character ought to be. And so I say to you all today, live such a life that you are unspotted from the world. This Sunday the old church called "Eogate," the Latin word for prayer. In the Gospel lesson you will remember Jesus said. Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, the Father will give it to you. Let us then conclude with prayer. Let us ask God to help us today that we may be the right kind of hearers, and the right kind of doers of God's eternal Word. This we ask in Jesus name. Amen. PRAYER. O God, our heavenly Father, we ask Thy rich and divine blessing to rest upon the message of the hour. We pray Thee, O Father in 462 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. heaven, th'at Thou wilt help us this day to resolve to make the right use of Thy Word, to hear it whenever we can; to hear it that we may believe it; believe it that we may pray it; pray it that we may live it, and live it in such a way that we will be unspotted from the world. All these favors we ask in the name of the blessed Jesus, who taught us to pray: Our Father who art in heaven; Hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven; Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for- give those who trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation; But deliver us from evil; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power^ and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. SUNDAY AFTER ASCENSION. What Would You Do Today if You Knew That Tomorrow You Would Be in Eternity? I Peter 4 :7-ll. BUT the end of all things is at hand : be ye therefore sober and watch unto prayer. And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves : for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. Use hospitality one to another without grudging. As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister let him do it as of the ability which God giveth : that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth: Thy Word is truth. Amen. Beloved in Christ : We have just said, using Christ's own words, that the Word of God is true. Is is true? Did not Peter say nearly two thousand years ago. But the end of all things is at hand? Wasn't Peter mistaken? Did not Peter suppose that in a year or two the world would eome to an end, and if so, was he not mistaken when he said, The end of all things is at hand? Dear friends, it is not in my power to say exactly what Peter thought, but it is in my calling to tell you that Peter made no mistake when as an inspired apostle he said at that time that the end of all things is at hand. You must remember that the Apostle Peter is not talking now as a man in relation to man, but he is talking as a man giving forth the voice of the eternal God. An hour is longer for an insect that lives a day than a year is for a 463 464 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. man that lives to be thirty years of age, and when we remember that God is eternal, and stop and meditate on the great meaning of eternity, we will begin to see that not only two thousand years, but ten times two thousand years, is but a moment in God's sight. The Psalmist has said that a thousand years are in Thy sight as a day. We can just as truthfully say that ten thousand years, O God, are in Thy sight as a day. Yesterday as I was trying to meditate on this great word Eternity, Providence so ar- ranged it that the mail carrier threw a paper into my study, on the first page of which I found these beautiful words : "Eternity ! Eternity ! Oh if The soul could grasp the lengthening, lengthening, Ever endless lengthening, lengthening of this, The endless endless, never ending endless Endlessness, as countless ages roll In flaming waves, or glory's tide, O'er lost or ransomed soul, If crippled wren with broken wing could start On earth throughout this endless, endless, Never ending endless day To hobble from Pacific's peaceful shore To where Atlantic's waves and traffic roar. Taking the sunset route, the world to cross to fill Its mission wide of bearing in its bill One single grain of sand from where it first begun Its weary, fluttering, wingless course to run. Returning slow on each world wide circle trip, If when of sands the western ocean's shore it stripped And cast them at Atlantic's bosom wide. It then reversed and bore to western tide The double portion o'er the same long run — Eternity, Eternity has just begun." I do not believe I have ever seen in human language the beginning of eternity described more beautifully than in this little poem by Matthew S. Allen. If, therefore, my friends, this utter endlessness of which we have heard is but the beginning of eternity, you can understand how the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Peter could say two thousand years ago. The end of all things is at hand. SUNDAY AFTER ASCENSION. 465 And now, my dear friends, after these few words of medi- tation, let me ask this question : WHAT WOULD YOU DO TODAY IF YOU KNEW THAT TOMORROW YOU WOULD BE IN ETERNITY? In order to answer this question I may ask you twenty-five others today. I. Would you become intoxicated? In view of the fact that the end of all things is at hand, Peter said. Be ye therefore sober. 1. I am satisfied if you knew that before the sun went down tonight you would breathe your last breath, you would not think of becoming intoxicated this after- noon, and yet we have in this town over fifty-four institu- tions set up for no other purpose than simply to make drunkards, and hundreds and thousands of men are plung- ing in there like flies to the light, day after day, never stopping to think that the end of all things is at hand. If you knew that this night your soul should stand before God, would you spend this afternoon with your brain reeling with the deadly sleep of a drunkard? 2. If you knew that this would be your last day on earth and you had the privilege to vote whether the saloons shall stay or go, would you vote for the saloon to stay ? I know there are some even professed Chris- tians who expect to stay here a few years yet, and they are afraid on account of the loss of business, or on ac- count of the loss of friendship, to vote as their con- sciences dictate, but if you knew, if you positively knew that this evening at six o'clock your work on earth is done, that you have a vote to cast this afternoon that is to decide the welfare of your children, and of your chil- dren's children for years and years to come, would you vote for the damnable institutions to stay? Would you do it? 3. If you knew that you would have to die this evening, would you prefer to drink a few glasses of whis- key and a few glasses of beer and become dead drunk 30 466 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. and roll into eternity in a drunken stupor? When Jesus Christ on the cross refused to take the vinegar in order that he might die clear minded, would you want to take a stupefying draught of any kind the last morning of your life? I am satisfied there isn't a man sitting before me today that would go to the saloon this afternoon, or that Avould vote for the saloon to stay, or would want to die drunk, if he knew that this were the end of his life. And now I would like to ask this question : Has a man a right to do anything two days before he dies that he has not a right to do one day before he dies? If I have no right to die a drunkard in ten years from today, I have no right to be one this afternoon, for I am sure if there is smj difference it would be in favor of the last day. If I get intoxicated the last day I live it is only once, but if I begin this afternoon and get drunk every day that I live, and die in a year from now, it means three hundred and sixty-five drunks instead of one. And what I want to impress upon this intelligent audience this morning is this, that the longer the last day is away for you or for the world, the more important it is to be- gin right now to live right, for every day adds to your sum total a great amount of grace or a great amount of :sin. II. Would you want to live without prayer? The Apostle Peter, in view of the fact that he saw the end was coming of all things, said "And watch unto prayer.'' He did not say Watch and pray as we are told in some other sermons of prayer, but Watch unto prayer. In other words, he not only means for us to be watchful as jou would be if you knew that the thief would break into your house tonight, but you must watch for the coming of the end, and watch for the opportunity of being where you can pray best. Watch unto prayer. 1. I should like to ask you, if you knew that to- morrow you would be in eternity, would you be sorrow- ful that you had prayerful parents? I am satisfied there are some people in the present day who are not as prayer- ful as their fathers and their mothers were. I do not know whether all communities are the same — in fact I SUNDAY AFTER ASCENSION. 467 know they are not, but I do knoAv in the old community where I lived, though we had some people that had their weaknesses, I do not believe there was a family connected with the Christian Church that did not have family wor- ship. T do not believe that any one of us here had a father or a grandfather, or a mother or a grandmother who came across the waters, whether from Europe in the north, or from the south, that did not come with a God^s library, a Bible and a prayer book, and some devotional books besides, and you will find when you leaf over those old books that their pages are not clean, but they are soiled by use. You will find, too, that those parents, though they trslj not have stood up and made any very loud public prayers, were people that had the conviction that they must be honest at any cost, that they must pay their debts, that they must give an account before God, that they must trust alone in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and that there was not a day passed when they did not sit down to their tables and offer a prayer of thanksgiving to God at least three times. Were you ashamed of those parents? Are you sorry that you had a Godly father or a Godly mother? 2. I would like to ask you furthermore, if you knew that tomorrow you would be in eternity, would you mock the man that prays for you? Remember there are thou- sands of professed Christians all over this world praying every day for friends and foes, praying for you, no dif- ference who you are, sitting before me this morning, there are thousands of prayers ascending to the throne of God day after day in your behalf. Would you mock those prayers today if you knew that tomorrow you would be in eternity? 3. And would you despise the little closet of prayer? The Apostle Peter admonishes us to watch unto prayer. What he had in mind is this, every true Christian knows the true meaning of that phrase. No difference how much we pray in public, no difference how many sermons we hear, how many songs of praise and how many public prayers, the real genuine Christian is not satisfied until he has gotten away from the multitude, away from the 468 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. best friends he has on earth, away from his own wife and children, into some little place where he realizes that he is alone with God. Now if you knew that tomorrow you were to be in eternity, would you despise the little closet of prayer? I am satisfied that if you knew that tomorrow you would be in eternity you would pray today as you never prayed before, but I want to assure you that if you posi- tively knew that you w^ere to die tonight it is less im- portant that you pray today than it would be if you knew that you would live ten years yet. If I must die tonight, all that I need to pray for today is for God to watch over me twelve hours yet; but if I am to live twelve years more, there are hundreds and thousands of temptations coming that I knoAV nothing about, and con- sequently I need more strength today than I do the last day of my life. Watch unto prayer. Seek your little closet, bow down in the presence of your God all alone, where you do not need to weigh words and think of crit- ics, but where you can just pour out your soul to God, and remember, my friends, that if you are a Christian God will always give you something special to pray for. It may be that some of you have felt at times, that now if God would give me this thing I am asking for, then I will not need to trouble him any more. He gave you the very gift you asked for, and just then God gave you another problem to solve, and it came right after the first one Avas solved, and it still became necessar^^ for you to watch unto prayer, and thus He gives you some- thing to solve all the time through life. And what a blessing it is that everything is not solved this morning! What a blessing it is that the time never comes in this life when we have nothing to pray over and to pray for! III. Would you try to hurt and harm your neigh- bor today if you knew that tomorrow you would be in eternity? There are some people who seemingly just de- light in doing some mean, devilish little trick that hurts somebody. Would you do that if tomorrow you knew you would be in eternity? Would you do it? Stop and avsk yourself the question this morning. Oh! what a state SUNDAY AFTER ASCENSION. .469 of. mind that would be, just to delight to say , ^something or do something that might hurt some innocent party. The Apostle Peter calls attention to the fact that if the end of all things is at hand and eternity is near, we ought to become a little more charitable. "And above all things" — that is sa^^ ing a good deal — above being sober, above praying, above all religion, above all things have fervent — warm, almost a hot charity among your- selves, for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. Ee- member, my dear friends, that no man on earth can hide the sins of the world with his charity, only the righteous- ness of Jesus Christ can cover sins away from the eyes of God, but there is a kind of feeling in the human heart that likes to find sin even where it is not. God knows and man knows there is enough real sin in the world that we must not try to put sin where it is not, and yet there are people that just love to try to find sin where there is none. They have some kind of a Satanic suspicion in their minds that something is wrong somewhere; then they think it; the next thing tliey say it; next publish it, and it will spread from place to place and from mouth to mouth, and then they think they have done something noble, trying to lift themselves up by pushing, somebody else doAvn. If you knew that tomorrow you would be in eternity you would be a little bit careful, would, you not, of what you say about your neighbor, when you do not know the truth? Do you not remember Avhat Dr. Luther taught you in the explanation of the eighth command- Dient? I guess the trouble is you have forgotten it. No, the great trouble is you never knew it. That is the trou- ble. 'We have too many professed Christians, that were not correctly catechised; they never knew the true mean- ing of .God's Holy Word. While Dr. Luther said of the eighth commandment that we should put the most char- itable construction on everything, many professed Chris- tians are going around putting the worst construction on everything. Noav in relation to our neighbor, let us have not only a love — for that is what charity means — but let T^s have a fervent love. A fervent love, is- a love that is warm, a love like the love of a- mother for her 470 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. dearest child. Let us have such a love for our fellow- men, and wherever we can w^e will try and stretch the mantle of charity and never find sin where it is not, and,, on the other hand, never call black w^hite, either, but black black and white W'hite, and where w^e do not knoAv that white is black, let us call it white. That is charity. IV. Would you exclude company from your home today if you knew that tomorrow you would be in eter- nity? The Apostle Peter says: "Use hospitality one to another without grudging." It does seem to me that true hospitality is not known today as it has been known in the past, nor known in this country as it is in some other countries. There are homes in Europe, and in this country, where the European spirit still prevails, where you cannot enter without being shown a spirit of hospitality concerning which the American people know nothing. There are some good old German homes where the coffee-pot is never taken off the stove, in order that no man may step in without a warm drink being given him, homes w^here they know that to be hospitable it is not necessary to prepare a meal for a king or a queen, but just as simple and plain as possible. A bite of bread means so much. Just a sip of good warm tea on a cold day means so much, and now, if you positively knew that tomorrow you would be in eternity, I would like to ask the question if the poorly clad came to your door this afternoon, would you say. Go away? If you knew that tomorrow^ you would be in eternity, would you invite company in this after- noon when they come to the door, give them a chair, and when they go out say, I am glad they are gone? Would you do that? If you knew this, that tomorrow you would be in eternity, w^ould you close your blinds down and lock the door, and always live as if no one had a right in your home but yourself? AVould it not be better, in view of the fact that eternity is coming for us all to culti- vate a more loving spirit of hospitality? V. Would you oppose the Church of God? How many people there are in these days actually opposing the Church. Jesus Christ said: He that does^ SUNDAY AFTER ASCENSION. 471 not gather with Me scattereth. He that is not for Me is against Me. I will admit that a great many people are not positively fighting the Church, but they are nega- tively doing it. There are names on our own church book of people whom I have not seen here twelve times in two years. Where are they? They must be blind. If they were, then I would have a better feeling for them if they were so they could not come. But we have men whom I have never seen ; I do not know whether they have been in church for ten years or not. Where are they? We have men who are in church but absolutely do nothing to build up the kingdom of God. We have men who would not miss a Divine service for anything, and they would not teach a Sunday school class for anything; we have men who would not sing a hymn for anything, and they would not miss doing nothing for anything. The Lord our God has given to every man some kind of a gift, and let that gift be what it will, he is as responsible for that gift he has as any other man for the gift that he has. You are as responsible this morning for the gift that God has given you, for the place that you occupy in this country, as a citizen, in the family and in the church as President Koosevelt is in the chair as president of this country. As we heard the other night, a penny is just as round as a quarter; a quarter is just as round as a dollar, and the penny has no more right to be square or to be three-cornered than the dollar has. There are penny people in the world; there are quarter people in the world and there are dol- lar people in the world, but every dollar is responsible for one hundred cents, and every quarter for twenty-five cents and every penny for a penny, and the Lord our God demands of every one of us that we give an account of our stewardship on the last great day. Now then, if you knew that eternity were open to you tomorrow, and that your life is ended, or the world would come to an end, what would be your relation to the Church of God today? The Apostle Peter tells us what it ought to be: "As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the mani- 472 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. fold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak ai^ the oracles of God; if any man minister let him do it as of the ability which God giveth; that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.'' 1. If you knew that tomorrow you would be in eternity, would you oppose the means of grace? Would you refuse to hear God's Word? Would 3^ou go on until tomorrow unbaptized? Would you refuse to go to the Lord's Supper? Would you refuse to prepare to meet your God? My dear friends, the means of grace are the means that God has given us to become Christians, and for that reason as said in this text of ours. As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. God pours out His grace to you through these means I have mentioned. When you hear God's Word the Holy Spirit offers you His grace. When you are baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, there you are born of water and the Spirit. When Jesus says to you. Take, eat, this is My body, and take drink, this is My blood which was shed for you for the remission of sins. This do as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of Me, what more can God do than to come and offer Himself to you? And now the question is, what would you do with these means of grace if you knew that tomorrow you would be in eternity? 2. Would you rest all day and do nothing? Some people seem to think that Sunday is a day of rest, and consequently, although they can be up Saturday night until after midnight, and can get up every morning dur- ing the week at half past five, they imagine they are doing the Lord a wonderful service if they can sleep and snore on Sunday until noon. Would you do that if you knew that tomorrow you would be in eternity? Would you lie in bed during the day, knowing that there are many souls all around you that are going to do just like you do? Would you leave these things undone? Would you sit down in your chair and absolutely do nothing? Remember, my friends, that the Apostle Peter tells us that just because SUNDAY AFTER ASCENSION. 473 the end of all things is at hand, it is our purpose to go and render God a service. If that is serving God, lying in bed and sleeping, or sitting at home doing nothing, too lazy to wash and dress, too lazy to go to God's house, then God can get service by putting you in your grave and putting a rock in the chair or a stone in the bed. Man is more than simply a block ; he ought to have brain, and God has given him brain with which to work and with which to serve his Lord and Master. 3. Would you seek your own glory if you knew that tomorrow would be the end of the world, if you knew that tomorrow you would be in eternity? What is the trouble with so many people in the present day that they are not in church, that they are not good Christians? The trouble is that the devil has made them believe that if they just try to keep the moral law they will go to heaven, and the result is that they are driving the rest to the lodge that has no Christ in it instead of the true religion; they are listening to the voice that says cut off this corner and round up this side, and quit this thing and quit that thing, and make yourself a better man, and live righteous before the Avorld, and when you die it will be all right, and if there is anything in the world that makes the devil laugh it is to get a bad man to try to make himself better and to succeed in it. The devil himself has more respect for a decent child of the devil than for a real devilish child of the devil. If there is an^^thing the devil loves it is to have one of his own handi- work almost an imitation of God's work. What is the trouble? Men are giving themselves the glory instead of giving it to Jesus, where it belongs. It was true in the days of the apostle and it is true today, and it will be true on the Judgment Day. If any man speak let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth : that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. Yes, my dear friends, there is the secret of true Christianity. We are poor, lost, condemned, helpless sin- ners. There is no strength in us. There is no hope in us. 474 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. There is absolutely no merit in us. God is our all in all. Christ is our Savior. He even gives us the faith with which we believe in Him. He gives us the spirit of prayer. He gives us thankful hearts. He does all. There is only one thing that we can do, and that is to rebel against Him, and if we will continue to rebel and con- tinue to resist Him, He will finally let us stand and will go and seek others as He did of old, and let us stand until we find ourselves lost, and lost forever. May God help us in this morning hour, my dear hearers and friends, to lead a new life, to lead it as we would lead it the day before we step into eternity, the day before the end of the world. Amen. PRAYER. O God, our heavenly Father, we thank Thee for Thy Word, which is the truth and therefore never makes a mistake. We pray Thee in this morning hour th'at Thou wilt bless this message to our eternal good. Our Father in heaven, do Thou help us to lead a sober and clean life; help us to watch for a closet of prayer where we can pour our hearts out to Thee. Help us that we may lead a life that is truly hospitable. Help us to lead a life that looks to the welfare and happiness of those around us. And we ask Thee that Thou wilt cover us with the mantle of Thy righteousness and give us of Thine own Spirit that we may try to treat our fellowmen as we would ask Thee to treat us. And we pray Thee, our Heavenly Father that Thou wilt help us to render Thee a service, that we mav not sleep, nor sit down and do nothing, but arise in the name of the Lord our God, and with His might and power from on high go forth and labor while it is day, for the night comelh when no man can work. O Lord our God, bless these dear fathers and mothers who are in our presence today with the hoary crowns upon their heads. Help that everything they have yet to say and to do may be so said and done that the younger generation walking in their foot- steps, may walk in the footsteps of Him who will keep them, Jesus Christ. And we pray Thee, O God, that Thou wilt be with all young fathers and mothers in the training of their children, in establishing their homes upon the Rock of Ages. We pray Thee especially to be with the youth of this congregation and of our country. Lord, throw Thine arms of mercy around them and move some one to go to every one in the right hour and in the right moment, to say just the right thing to save that one for heaven. We pray Thee to bless the dear little children who love to sing songs of praise to Thy name, who are starting in life and learning Thy good Word, and when they are old they will not depart from it. Bless the little infants, those that have just been brought to the altar in Holy Baptism in the past year. We SUNDAY AFTER ASCENSION. 475 pray Thee lo bless the Httle children just born and not yet baptized, and may they soon have their names on the records of the church as members of Thee, the Christ, who is the Head of the great family of God. We pray Thee not only for the newly born children, we pray Thee in this day, heavenly Father, that children may be born in the future who shall be mighty men of God to do the great work that is to be done in the latter age of the world, when Satan with all of his host is fighting his last great battle. Give us men of God ! Oh, hear the prayer of those who, like Hannah of old, and Elizabeth and Zacharias, are praying for Samuels and for John the Baptists. Lord our God, hear all our prayers, which we would sum up in that one beautiful prayer which Thou, Thyself, hast taught us : Our Father who art in heaven ; Hallowed be Thy name ; Thy kingdom conie ; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven ; Give us this day our daily bread ; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for- give those who trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation; But deliver us from evil ; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. PENTECOST. What Meaneth This? Acts 2:1-13. HND when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own lan- guage. And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judea, and Cappadocia, in Ptntus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, do we hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. And they were all amazed and were in doubt, saying one to another. What meaneth this? Others mocking said. These men are full of new wine. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth: Thy Word is truth. Amen. Beloved Class and Hearers: Pentecost is one of the oldest festivals in the Chris- tian Church. It is older than the song of Bethlehem; it is older than any other festival in the year. Fifteen hun- dred years before Christ was born Pentecost was already well known among the Israelites. It corresponded in that day largely with our Thanksgiving Day now. It Avas a day of Thanksgiving to God for the rich harvest, and 476 PENTECOST. 477 especially was it a day in commemoration of the giving of the law on Mount Sinai. The word Pentecost means the fiftieth day — the fiftieth day from the time the chil- dren of Israel left the land of Egypt they received the Holy Law of God on Mount Sinai, and fifty days after Jesus Christ arose from the dead, we have the great Pen- tecost referred to in our text today. It is a notable fact in history, in the Bible as well as in profane history, that the great messages have always been brief. What a short message that was the angels of heaven brought from on high when they sang of the new born King! What si short message that was that Natlmn brought to King David that changed the history of the world. I should love to dwell for forty-five minutes on this beautiful theme, but the abundance of work today compels me to say what I have to say in about fifteen minutes, and for that reason I will ask you as a class to pray God the Holy Spirit right in this hour to give you a riveted atten- tion to every word that I say, that you may not only re- member what I say today, but remember it through life. When that great Pentecostal scene took place in Jerusalem the people were overwhelmed and cried out. What mean- eth this? And that is the question that I want to put this morning: V^HAT MEANETH THISf I. What meaneth the Pentecost so great of old? II. What meaneth the Pentecost we now behold? I. What meaneth this Pentecost of old. It means : 1. That there was an unusual harmony and prayer among those people. "And when the day of Pentecost, was fully come the}^ were all with one accord in one place." The word "accord" is a positive word. It means one heart. They were together in one heart, in one place, as we are told in a previous chapter, one hundred and, twenty people. Stop and think what that meant? One hundred and twenty people had the promise that the Holy Spirit was coming; were praying day and night for His coming; they had one mind; one thought;, one 478 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. language; one prayer; one object for living; one object for waiting; one object for worshipping, and that was to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to fulfil the will of their God. Whenever a man makes up his mind that he wants to be in harmony with the Lord God Almighty, then he is on the right path, and w^henever he is in rebellion against God's Holy will he is absolutely wrong. Your very pres- ence here this morning shows very clearly that you have put the question, What meaneth this? and before we are told what this meaneth, this morning, let us go back and look over this beautiful text and try to put ourselves in the place of those people that said that day. What meaneth this? They found out there was a harmony among those people that resulted in that great Pentecost. 2. Not only was there a great harmony there, but we also observe that on that day there was a powerful exhibition of the Holy Spirit. "And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." Is it any wonder that the people asked the question. What meaneth this? There those people were sitting and all at once there was a great sound as if it Avere a storm, and yet there was no storm, there was no wind blowing, but it sounded to them as though a great storm was coming that would sweep the city of Jerusalem away, and yet with all that there was no storm. All at once they see something like tongues of fire coming down on the people. It was not real fire, but it was the Holy Spirit Himself, and remember what John promised concerning the Holy Spirit. He said "There cometh One after me who shall baptize you with fire and with the Holy Ghost.'^ You notice that this Holy Spirit was not in the form of a river in which they could go and be immersed, but this Holy Spirit came doAvn like fiery tongues and sat upon tliem, and yet they were baptized with the Holy Ghost, teach- ing conclusively that baptism does not mean to plunge PENTECOST. 479 under, that that is not the Scriptural idea, but that it is a cleansing of the Holy Spirit coming down like fiery tongues, or, if you please, just as much in sprinkling when we use water as in immersion. 3. We notice furthermore not only fire there, not only a sound as of a rushing mighty wind, but there were new tongues given to these disciples. They spoke as they never spoke before. They proclaimed the wonderful Word of God to every man visiting that city, and there were people there from every island, from the surround- ing country, Jews, devout men, not men who never heard the Gospel before; not men who never heard the Word of God before; not men, as many people suppose, that were heathen and were made Christian in a day; they had been Bible students ; they were men who had listened to the truth for all these years, had waited for a Mes- siah, but were not sure that Jesus Christ was that Mes- siah, the Son of God, but now the Holy Spirit came down on them and convinced them that unbelief is the damn- ing sin; that righteousness is not in man but lies in the arisen and ascended Lord; that there is a Judgment Day coming just as sure as Satan was chained on Calvary's hill, and when those people were convinced that now in truth the Holy Spirit has come as Jesus said He would, now the whole thing is plain to them; Jesus did come and die for them, ascended on high; He is the Son of God; this is the Holy Spirit; we have got the truth, and now we will live a new life and proclaim the risen Lord;: and as the storms purify the atmosphere, and the light- ning's flash gives us promise of a clear tomorrow, and as the fire cleanses and purifies, so the Holy Spirit hath now taken hold of us, and sweeping through us, burns out the dross and fits us for a life to come ! 4. What meaneth this Pentecost of old? Not only that the people were in harmony, not only that they were prayerful, not only that they had a wonderful gift there, the gift of tongues, but furthermore, there was a wonder- ful growth on that day, on account of the good use of the means of grace. I say it was a wonderful growth. That morning there were only one hundred and twenty in that 480 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. upper room praying for the coming of the Holy Spirit. That day the apostle Peter preached to them, and before evening there were over three thousand souls baptized; and not only that but we are told afterwards that over five thousand turned to the living God, and they partook of the Supper, and they were baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and the promise was given to them and to their children, and to all that were afar off. That first day of Pentecost they did not draw a line and say thus far and no farther. That promise was given to men that now there is salvation for Jew and Gentile, salvation for young and old, that there is a gift of the Holy Spirit to come to you through the baptism of water. Therefore, arise, said Peter, and be baptized, and wash away your sins, and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and this promise is to you and to your children, and to them that are afar off, and as many as shall be called. 5. And finally, the last verse of this chapter says that the Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved. It seems to me that that first Pentecost settles the question as to whether a man can be a Christian and be outside of the Church or not. The Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved. How can a man be ^ child of God and be outside of the Church? How can a man be a child of God and stay away from the means of grace? How can a man be a child of God and not be bap- tized when God says he shall, and not partake of the Holy Supper when Christ says. This do in remembrance of Me? How can a man be a rebel and be a child of God? It is a glorious thing, therefore, to ask the question this morn- ing. What meaneth this, as it Avas asked on the great day of Pentecost of old? II. But, my dear friends, sometimes we feel like those aged men that repaired the temple. You remember when they came back from captivity the glorious old tem- ple had been torn down and burned and then they started to build a new temple, and the old fathers wept and cried because they saw the difference between the old temple in all its glory, and the new one which seemed to them «o inferior. The young people who were born in captivity, PENTECOST. 481 never having seen the old temple, laughed and rejoiced, but the old people who had seen the glory of the old tem- ple and now beholding the inferior new one, cried like little babes, and sometimes we feel about the same when we compare the present Pentecost with the Pentecost of old. When we stop to think how on that morning the sound came like a rushing mighty wind, and the fiery tongues came down upon the disciples, and how Peter preached with such masterh^ power, and how thousands of people asked the question. What shall we do to be saved? and they all came and partook of the blood and body of Christ, and all tried to be a help to each other, and sold all their goods and were kind to the poor, and grew in number and usefulness to their fellowmen : when then we compare the Church of today with its selfishness, when we stop to think that many a poor church today is not receiving a single member on this day of Pentecost, it almost makes us weep, and yet we have a right in this church this morning to ask the question. What meaneth this? What meaneth this, that fifty men and women and children shall to-day unite with this Christian Church? It means today, my friends, exactly what it meant nearly two thousand years ago. Why were there so many people added to the Church of old on that first great Pentecost? Because there was harmony there. And let me say right here that no church on earth ever can prosper until you Tiave harmony in that church. Wherever you can get the people to fighting among each other in the church of God, there God's work is done and the devil has his own way. And mark you, the very fact that there are fifty people sitting before me to-day who unite with this church, is an evidence that the church at large is at harmony; it is an evidence that the church at large is prayerful. I do not mean to say there is perfect harmony here on earth. There never was a church on earth where there were not some few people who did as they did on that first day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was visibly before their eyes, when they heard Him as the mighty storm of heaven, .31 482 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. when they saw with their own eyes and heard with their own ears that these men were preaching the Almighty Gos- pel of Christ in all the known languages, yet there were some few people who went around and said, these men are full of new wine, and mocked them ; and so you will find a mocker standing around here and there on this day of Pen- tecost just as well as the Pentecost of old. It may be, dear hearers, that you have done some of that mocking your- selves, in the past, but dear friends, whether you have or not, what meaneth this? It means that after all the great body of these Christians are one at heart. It does mean that our united prayer is that God in His love will lead us all on that narrow way that leads to heaven. It means that we are one in praying for the coming of. the Holy Spirit, and I question, my friends, whether you can find a church on God's earth today that is more in harmony than we are. Where is there one where there are so many that have one design and one prayer and one aim for the spreading of God's kingdom any more than we have here? And that is what this means. Just as soon as the Church of God is quarreling with itself and debating with itself, and the members are fighting among themselves, just so soon the addition of souls ceases. God the Holy Spirit is in our midst. That is what it means. It does not simply mean that we are one in harmony and in prayer, but it means furthermore, that you are getting the good old Gospel. My dear friends, I have often wished that I could preach as Whitefield did, or as Luther did. If there is anything in the world that I have prayed for and aimed for, it is to be a mighty man of God in the pulpit, not for any glory to myself, but alone to the glory of God. I recognize, however, that I am a very weak man in the pulpit. I recognize more and more that without Jesus I can do nothing. I recognize that if it were not for His gift and for His presence this morning, my work would utterly fail, but there is one thing that I will yield to no man, though he can preach a thousand times more eloquently, he cannot preach a bet- ter Gospel than I am preaching. No man on earth can preach a better Gospel than I am preaching. It is PENTECOST. 483 not I, but it is God's Word that you are getting, and I challenge any man on God's earth today to point to a single declaration I have ever made in this or any other pulpit that cannot be substantiated word for word by the Word of the Holy Spirit, and consequently, I shall never accept the statement that we have a right to our own opinions. I have no right to my opinion in this pulpit. It is not human opinions you want to hear. If I were preaching opinions you would all go out of this church and live just as you did before, but every man sitting before me this morning must acknowledge that when he has heard God's Word from this pulpit he has gone out with the conviction in his own conscience that what that man taught us today is the Bible, and that is what this means this morning. No human tongue can win souls. No human power can bring men to God, but there is a power in God's Word that nothing but devilish stubborn- ness can resist. The apostle Paul, when he described a certain class of people that would not come to Christ, said. Ye are a stiff-necked people, comparing them with the ox that bears the yoke and pulls against everything that is right. The apostle Paul said, I am not ashamed of the Gos- pel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God unto sal- vation to them who believe, and so I stand here this morning and say that I am not ashamed of the Word of God; I am not ashamed of the pure Gospel as confessed in the Lutheran Church, and the confession of the Lu- theran Church will never be changed until the Holy Spirit changes this Bible. Sometimes people think it is asking a good deal for a man to confess on his confirmation day that he is going to be faithful to the churcli until be dies. It would be an awful thing to confess to be faithful to a church until you die, that doesn't preach the truth, but what else can you do when you have the truth exactly as the Holy Spirit gave it? You have either to be faithful to that or not be a Christian at all, so it is nothing out of place when you will be asked the question, Will you be faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ as confessed in the Evangelical 484 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. Lutheran Church until death? Your answer Yes, means, I confess I will accept God's eternal Word just as He gave it, until I die, and that is the only confession worth making and the only vow worth taking. What meaneth this? It means that the Church of God grows today as it grew of old. While it is true that there are only fifty souls added to this congregation today, it is true that there are this morning thirty-five thousand Lutheran preachers all over this world preach- ing Christ and Him crucified to a dying world, and I am safe in saying that a large percentage of these ministers of the Gospel are meeting the newly confirmed members and not three thousand, but possibl}^ thirty times three thousand souls are being added to th^ Church of God in this very hour. What meaneth this? It means that the Church of God will grow where the Word of God is taught in its truth and purity, and not the opinions of men, and where this truth is preached to hearts of the people that have one accord and one prayer for the extension of God's kingdom, and where those few stand around and mock and say these men are full of new wine, all are over- whelmed with the mighty truth and souls are coming to God. One man was unkind enough not long ago to say, It is true the First Lutheran Church is growing, but what kind of people are they getting, and a man who stood by his side said, I will tell you. Here is a man that was a drunken old sot, and toda}^ he is one of the best men in the city. That is the kind of people they are getting. That is not the only kind, they are getting some of the best citizens of Mansfield, but I want you to understand the real truth, the Gospel was intended to help people, and all of them, and any man that will say the Church of God should refuse to take any other person on earth, does not understand the work of the Holy Spirit nor the Word of God in general. I am proud of every member that has come into this church and I pray God thi« day that you will all be so directed that you will stand as monuments of the wonderful grace, of God. PENTECOST. 485 What does this mean? It means that if we do more for the poor and practically carry out the old Pentecostal spirit in the present day that this church must grow and grow and grow until we have more people than we can contain within these walls. It means that the people will come together there where they feel that the great Church of God is in its fulness, and if you want to know why people are attracted to this congregation today, it isn't due to any one man, but it is due to the teaching of a chain of men who from the very organization of the First Lutheran Church, have given their hearts wholly to the Master, men who have learned how to say, we want to be helpful to others and to all; who have said, we want a church not for the rich, a church not for a select class of people, but we AVant a church for immortal souls, and when there is hunger we want to feed ; when there is thirst we want to give a drink ; when there is nakedness we want to clothe; when in prison Ave Avant to visit them, and do for them as Ave would do for the Lord Jesus Christ. And Avhere that sjjirit preA^ails there you will find the Holy Spirit, and Avhere the Hol}^ Spirit is there you aa^II find souls growing in grace," and added to the church such as should be saved. And in conclusion, dear class, to what I have said to you, let me add just these three thoughts : 1. Buy good books. You know, my dear friends, hoAv little you have been required to learn to come into this class. A good deal less than I have ever demanded of any other class in my life, and yet I did feel that if I could just give you a good start on the narrow road we would have school afterwards, and consequently I urge upon each of you today to voav before God that you are going to have a little library you are going to study in the future, and in that little library do not forget first of all that little catechism. The more you study that little book, the more you hear that book, the more you will find out what a wonderful gem it is ; and therefore, I urge upon you all, whenever you have the opportunity in the future to join the larger catechetical class, come and hear more and more. There is one in this house that has srone 486 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. through that catechism seven times since 1 am in jour midst, and no one knows better than that one what a wonderful blessing that has been. And now I will ask you to go just as often as you can to catechetical instruction and learn more and more of the true doctrine of God's Word. I would ask you to get a Bible history. You can buy a Bible history that will be a wonderful help to you in your understanding of the Bible. Bu}^ that and read it, I would have you get a good Bible with good large print, call it your own, read it noAV and make up your mind that you will read that Book until you die, so that when you are old and your eyes begin to fail that you can at a glance at a page know what is on that page be- cause you have read it before, so the time will never come that you cannot read the good old Bible. Then I would ask you to get a hymn book so that when you come to church you can open to the hymn and help praise God, and when you have your catechism and Bible history, and your Bible and hymn book, then sub- scribe for a good church paper, and keep in mind day by day what God is doing today. I come to some men and say. Why don't you take a church paper? Oh, they say, I have a Bible. You might just as well quit taking the daily paper and go look at your United States history every evening. The Lord God isn't giving us the daily papers, but He is giving us the church papers that we may know what God is doing in the church every day. So I would say a good Christian should have the church paper and should study all these things. 2. In the second place, I would have you learn all you can of God's Holy Word. Learn it in the catechetical class. Learn it in the Sunday School. Do not think like some people that you are too old to go to Sunday School. No man on earth is too old to study God's Word half an hour before Divine service, and it will be a blessing if you will go next Sunday morning into some Bible class; go and sit down and study God's Word and make your Sun- day School lesson just as regular as you do your meal. Some people eat only one meal a day; they are going to PENTECOST. 487 lose health. Eat three meals a day and study God^s Word every day. You need it. Not only go to Sunday School but to divine service. Unless you are sick and on your bed be found in God's house every Sunday. Do not say you cannot. The Lord God never gave us a single law that was impossible. He says, Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy. Dear friends, the same God who said, Honor thy father and mother, wants you to honor father and mother, wants you to keep the Sabbath Day holy, because He said so. Therefore, I urge upon you, let not this day pass by when- ever it comes without being in God's house and hear the Word of God. No one is so poor that he will not get something to take houxe with him to be food for his soul. And then study God's Word at home. Open the Bible every day, learn something, if only a verse or two, medi- tate on them, and pray over them. You will grow. We do not get to be Christians in an hour. These beautiful flowers did not come out in a night. The bulb was planted, it grew, and at last came out this beautiful flower we see this morning. Our growth will be longer and slower til an that of the floAver. Here is a little egg, a little chicken comes out, in an hour it runs, and we often think, Oh, that the little babe could do that. But babes get older than chickens do and consequently it takes longer to raise babes than chickens, and it takes longer to raise men who get to be seventy-five years old than it does to rai«e a flower that only lives today and to- morrow is thrown into the fire. Consequently, we must learn that this growth is gradual, and you ought to study God's Word every day at home and thus grow in grace. May God help you to grow day by day, learn more and more of God's eternal truth and then when your last hour comes and you breathe your last, you will not only rejoice that you have done your part in this world, but all your friends will rejoice. Oh, I believe, my dear friends, that there is great joy in heaven this morning! How some of your fathers and mothers would rejoice if they could sit here and see you! And may be they do .see you. I believe they do. And what joy there would be 488 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. in their hearts to know you are here in God's house doing your part to serve your fellowmen. May the Holy Spirit direct you this day and through life, and may the prayers of this whole church go up to the heavenly throne in behalf of those who come to this altar today. Amen. (Communion). TRINITY SUNDAY. The Divine Deep. EOM. 11:33-36. OTHE depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out ! For who hath known the mind of the Lord ? or who hath been His counsellor? Or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of Him and through Him and to Him, are all things : to whom be glory forever. Amen. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Thy Word is truth. Amen. Beloved in Christ: The sea and the seas of the world are a great study. If you were this morning standing on some lonely island in the midst of the ocean, you could hardly imagine that you are standing on the summit of a great mountain. If the waters of the sea were suddenly to leave you, you would find that that island is nothing but the top of a great mountain that goes down to the fathomless deep. I call it fathomless, not because it has no bottom, but there are places in the sea over ^ve miles deep, and no one knows exactly how deep the deepest place of the sea is. The sea itself is a wonderful part of the world, cover- ing about three-fourths of the surface of the earth, filled With salt water, which itself has never been solved by the great intelligence of the world. Not a man on earth can tell us why the sea is filled with salt water and always just the same amount of salt. There are many theories, and one is that there is a mountain of salt some- where, but if there be a mountain of salt in the sea, why should not the sea get more salty? Why should it always 489 490 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. be the same? And then again we see the great wisdom of God. We see the great deep Divine as well as the deep of the waters. If it were not for the salt water of the great oceans the world could not live; everything would go to corruption. Not only is this true, but the sea would not be the highway it is to bear the heavy burdens, for only salt water could bear the burdens that cross the Atlantic and the Pacific. God, in his wisdom, has buried many treasures in the great sea as it surrounds this earth. I wish this morning, however, to call your attention to this great truth, that the ocean with all its wonders is only a drop in the great sea Divine. Your attention then is called this morning to THE DIVINE DEEP. I. It is just as deep as God. II. It is fathomless for man. I. The Apostle Paul stood before this great Deep when he cried out: O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been His counsellor? Or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto Him again? For of Him and through Him and to Him, are all things: to whom be ^lory forever. Amen. As the Apostle Paul stood before the great deep of God, he realized that this Deep is just as deep as God Himself; just as deep as the Trinity; just as deep as His riches; just as deep as His wisdom.; just as deep as His knowledge. 1. The Trinity Himself is a great deep. This epistle has been selected by the Church of God as one very ap- propriate to give us the great doctrine of the Trinity. You remember that in the first season of the Church year we dealt with the love of God that gave His Son to the world; and then we began to treat of Jesus Christ who gave His own life to save the world; and then the Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father and the Son, and TRINITY SUNDAY. 491 calls, and gathers, enlightens, sanctifies and keeps us. Now we are approaching the last half of the Church year. The festivals are now in the past. Now we are going to treat, not of one person of God, but of three, namely, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. And Paul, looking into this great doctrine of the Trinity, cried out, O, the depth of this Trinity, for of Him and through Him and to Him are all things. Of the Father, through Jesus, and to the Holy Spirit, are all things. One God and three persons. Is there any greater deep in all the world than the essence of God? Ask yourself the question. Who is God? and the Bible gives the answer. The Lord He is God and beside Him there is none else. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. The very first commandment settles it that there is but one God. I am the Lord thy God," thou Shalt have no other gods before Me. And yet in this same Word we find that the Father is God ; that the Son is God ; and that the Holy Spirit is God ; and to one who does not understand the revelation of God's Word as given to us, it might seem as if there were three Gods and yet only one, which would be a contradiction. No,, there is nothing in the Bible contrary to reason, but there are thousands of things in the Word of God away above reason, and this is one of them, the essence of God, one God in three persons. There is no philosopher in the world who can solve the Trinity. No difference whether the man be Gladstone, or Emperor William, or any great theologian, wherever he stands, he must simply bow his head and say, I bow before Thee, the great God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. I do not understand Thee. I can- not comprehend Thee. Thou are too great for me. Oh, the depth of the Divine deep! Let us be thankful this morning to God that the Trinity itself is not a doctrine which has been brought forth by man. No man on earth ever could have thought out the Trinity. It is a revela- tion from heaven. It is the essence of the Triune God. 2. So we find also that this Divine deep is just as deep as His riches. O the depth of the riches of God! And what is this riches? We find this beautifully ex- pressed in the last verse. For of Him, and through Him,. 492 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. and to Him are all things. And these ^'all things/' and the things that God the Father hath given us in creation, and God the Son hath given us in redemption, and God the Holy Spirit hath given us in sanctification, and Avhether we look at creation, or redemption, or sanctifi- cation, we are compelled to cry out. Oh, the Divine deep, and the wealth of our God ! It makes no difference where you look in creation, you see the riches of God. A man Avould be as dumb as a brute if he could look at that little bouquet of flowers and not saj^. Oh, the riches of God that could put all those varied colors in that beautiful little 23etal. None but the wealth of God could irive us such flowers. These are only a few we flnd in the same garden. One step further and the same soil gives us this beautiful rose, and it is but another step further and there we see that the same soil has produced a rose of another color, and thus on through the garden, and through the yard, and through all creation, from the tops of the mountains down to the depths of the sea, everywhere we behold the great wealth of the creation of our God. Oh, the depth of the Divine deep ! Not only is it true that there is wealth in creation, but there is also a great Avealth in redemption. Not only of Him, but through Him, are all things. Let us not for- get that Jesus Christ is the Word that became flesh, and let us not forget that Jesus says that without Him was not anything made that was made. Let us not forget that Jesus Christ who was nailed on the cross of Calvary made the worlds, and is the Word that the Father spoke which afterwards became flesh. And so we look at Jesus Christ's redemption on the cross, and we are compelled to say. Oh, the depth of that redemption! Oh, the wealth of that redemption ! Just stop a moment and think of your own value and you will begin to realize what the value of Christ's redemption was. Jesus says of you yourself, that you are worth more than all the world. If creation is rich in the mineral world, my dear friends, you your- selves are richer in the animal world, and God has made you so precious that He declares that all the world to be gained would be a loss if you had to give your soul TRINITY SUNDAY. 498 in exchange for it. That God who has made you more precious than all the world found you lost and found me lost, and all the millions and billions of people that have dwelt on the earth were lost, and He paid tlie price, gave the ransom for this lost world through His Son Jesus Christ on Calvary's hill. Therefore Avhen you look at the -. The mighty hand of God against us: over ns; under us: In us and with lis. I. Do you realize this morning that tlie mighty hand of God is against all the proud? ''For God resist eth the proud and givetli grace to the huuible." 1. There never was a time when pride was not an evil. The first rebellion we have gf pride is when that angel was not willing any more to be submissive to the King of kings and Lord of lords, but he was filled with pride and endeavored to rule, and the consequence was that that angel became a devil and is a devil jet. When- ever an angel of God resists the Almighty God on account of pride, he becomes a devil, and every time that a man is filled with pride, he is filled with that which is devilish. 2. The Almighty Hand was not only against the pride of angels, but it was against the pride of all men in the past. It was pride in Pharaoh's heart that made him ruin his country. It was pride in Saul's heart that caused his fall. It was pride in the heart of a Herod that made him fall. It was pride in the heart of a Judas that kept him from repenting. TMierever you can show me a man that thinks he is better than others, that man is stoutly going against the hand of the Almighty God. 3. Why should any one think himself better than Ms neighbor? Why should you think that you are far above all humanity? Is that not a pride that comes from the angel that resisted God and became a devil? And isn't that the spirit that is making you devilish, and that is going to cause your fall? Every man that falls, first rises in his pride and then comes down, possibly never to rise again. Oh, if we would only stop and think what we are, and where we came from and what we have done, and what we have thought, and Avhat we have said, we would 526 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. all get down in true humility, and stop fighting against the mighty hand of God. II. Not only is this mighty hand of God against all those filled with pride, but this same Hand is over those who are truly humble. ^^Humble yourselves, therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time." 1. Look at humble Joseph, how God raised him up and put him on the throne of Egypt! Look at humble John,. hoAv God raised him up and made him the mighty apostle that proclaimed the Gospel to the world until he was almost a century old! Look at the humble Luther, how God used him to give liberty to the world ! There is noth- ing greater in all the world than true humility, and true humility consists in this, that we consider ourselves poor, lost, condemned sinners, not worthy of the grace and the mercy which God has bestowed upon us from day to day, always feeling in our own hearts that when people say we are sinners, that they do not understand half the depth to which we ought to have sunk long ago if we had been left to ourselves. Now when we realize that we are poor, lost condemned sinners, and that we are saved alone by the grace of our God, then it is that we realize that this- great and mighty hand of God is over us and lifting us up. How often the Savior taught His disciples not to want to sit at the head of the table, but to be willing to go down to the foot. How often He showed them by His own example that there is no work in the world too low for us to do. If the hand of the Almighty God did not think it too humble on His part to wash the dust off of His disciples' feet, why should you and I consider any work in this world that is to be done, too low for us to do? Oh, God have mercy on the man that is too proud to get his fingers soiled with the soil of this world! God pity the man that is ashamed of callous hands! God pitj^ the man that is ashamed to reach out and help the poor and lift them up! Let us be humble and have the mighty hand- of God over us, and that Hand will lift us up in due time. III. Not only is it true that the mighty hand of THIRD SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 527 God is against the proud, and over the humble, but it is just as true that this mighty hand of God is under all the troubles of His children. ^'Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you." I wish I could just get every one in this house to take the thought of that verse home with him, if he does not remember another thing, and he would feel amply repaid for coming here today. Hoav many trials and troubles there are all over this world ! Eveiy home has its special trouble, one in this line and one in that, and the worst trouble of all is that nine times out of ten we are troub- ling ourselves about things that are no trouble at all. There are some things in this world that we absolutely cannot help. Now what common sense is there in troub- ling ourselves about those things? There are some things in this world that we can help. Then what common sense is there in sitting down and troubling ourselves? Why not get up and help them? Look at the little children in our homes. They put us to shame. Look at these little orphans as they sit here to my right. Are they moaning and crying because they have nothing to eat and nothing to wear? It never occurs to them. They know that they are going to get their three meals a day. They know they have people placed over them who are going to see that they have clothing to wear, and they are as happy as little birds, and their parents are in eternity; and yet here we are with our Father, with His mighty hand right under us, saying. Lay your troubles right on My hand and I will carry them, and instead of letting God have our troubles we want them ourselves and then cry because we have them. The story is told as a legend that one time the people were invited to lay all their troubles on a pile. Then they came, every man with his trouble, and «very woman with hers, and threw them all on a pile until it became a mountain; and then, when they were all on that pile, God said to them, Now run and get any trouble you want — and each one picked out his own. You are not so dissatisfied with your trouble as you think you are ; you love it, and there are hundreds of people weeping and <:rying, that would absolutely not know what to do if they 528 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. hadn-t something to cry about. Thej are looking- for trouble and they are finding it. God is good. We all know that. God is Omniscient. He knows all about our affairs. God is King. He rules well. God never made any mistakes in the past. Study the history of people in ancient times, in deep trouble, and see if God did not lead them just exactly right. If God is good, and knows all about our troubles, and never makes any mistakes, why not just let His hand be under us and bear our troubles? I ask you today, in the name of God, to take that trouble of yours and lay it right on His might}^ hand, casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you. The mighty hand of God is under you. Oh, if we had to go through some things that other men have gone through, we might not only understand the better what troubles are, but how to get rid of them. If I were to ask you to read Fox's book of Martyrs, and you would do it, you would be the happiest man on earth seeing how many troubles you have escaped. I have here the picture of a man. Dr. Taylor, who in 1555, was one who preached in the little town that first heard the Gospel in England. This man had won thousands of people to the kingdom of God. The great Eoman persecution came. The Bishop arrested him, took him to London, had him tried and condemned with a trial that was no better than that of Jesus Christ. Then he came back to the town of Hadley to be executed. He met his wife and children in the road, and said to his boy, "Lead a Godly life, hating all sin, and be a mighty man of God, for your father has got to die.-' He said to his little daughter, Elizabeth, "Do not cry, but be a mighty mother of God, and bring children into the Avorld that may preach the Gospel for which your father is going to die." He said to his wife, "Dear wife, you are young yet. Do not remain single. Get married. Pray for a son to preach the Gospel, for your husband has got to die." They all knelt in prayer. He started out into the square where they hanged him up to a post, and be- fore the pitch was burning, amidst a song of praise to God, who had His mightv hand under him, his head was THIRD SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 529 knocked off and fell down, and he passed into eternity. That man never bothered himself about trouble. He just laid his family and himself into the hand of the Almighty God, and God held them all. IV. This mighty hand of God is not only against the proud, hot only over the humble, and under all our troubles, but is in those faithful ones who fight the devil. '^Be sober, be vigilant, for your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion walketh about, seeking Avhom he may devour, whom resist steadfast in the faith." How can we resist him steadfast in the faith, unless Ave have the power of the Almighty God in us? There are some people in the present day who read such ungodly editorials as we have had in some of our papers through- ^..ut the ijast week, who are trying to persuade themselves that these preachers are all hypocrites, and that the Church of God does not know what it is doing, and that the old story of heaven and hell is all 'false ; that there is no devil; that we have been mislead; and the thing to do is to trample upon the law, and go and sow our wild oats, and do as we please, and be broad minded. We are living in a day when hundreds and thousands of people, pupils of this old devil, himself, are taught to believe that just as soon as you do whatever you please, and follow your own lusts and inclinations, that then you become broad. Sometimes Ave get hold of meat that isn't broad; it is quite square, and you eat it, and it nourishes you; and then sometimes you get hold of a slice of dried beef so broad and there is nothing in it. There are some people in this world actually getting so broad that you can see through them. There is absolutely no thinking done any more; they are running wild, saying there is no Satan, v.'hen Satan has got them in his clutches; saying there is no Satan, when Satan is moving them to transgress every law that is civil and Divine, and the time has come that we must recognize that the same God that reigned five thousand years ago, is reigning today; that the same old devil that went about like a roaring lion seeking whom he might devour, in the days of the crucifixion of Christ, 34 530 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. is the same old Satan that these days is trying to per- suade men that their souls are saved no difference whether they have a Savior or not; that they can live as they please and die as they please, and after a while they will pass into heaven, just as sure as they reject everything holy. We note not only the mighty hand of God over us and with power under us when we are in trouble, but we need the mighty hand of God in us to resist the devil and all his works and ways. You need this Word of God in you, and then you have God's hand in you. You need the sacraments, and then you have God's hand of grace given to you. You need the grand old Church that is built upon the Rock of Ages, in order that your mind may be enlightened by the Holy Spirit. I ask you, therefore, to have the mighty hand of God in you ; have a faith that will not waver; stand upon the mighty Eock of God and fight every evil, no difference what it may be. We have too many policy men in these days, men that are afraid they might say or do something that might not suit this one or that one. How many of our best men are willing to stand up today and say the laws of our country and the laws of God shall be enforced? The worst of all is we have so many, among the good lawyers of our country, of these poor little pettifoggers, that are willing to stand up and help any man to evade the very laws they take an oath to defend. What we want, therefore, in the pres- ent day, are mighty men of God, men that have the hand of God in them, and become a power, and find out the truth and stand for it under all circumstances. V. We need the mighty hand of God with us step by step, through fires to glory. "But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered awhile, make you per- fect, stablish, strengthen, and settle you." We have a great many people in the present day who want to be good Christians, but they want to go on kind of excursion rates ; they want to be good Christians on easy terms; they w^ant to lounge around on Sunday and sleep, and grow in grace; they are willing to fight their THIRD SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 531 battles around behind the wall where nobody hears them; they are never ready to stand forth and pass through the fires. The plan of God in nature as well as in grace has always been that in order to get the gold you must have the dross burned off. If you will pass through the country in the present day and show me a field of nice wheat, I will show you a field that was plowed and harrowed first. If you will show me a beautiful piece of jewelry, I will show you something that has passed through the fire or under the file. No difference hoAV rusty a piece of iron is, it can only be brightened by passing under the file or something that will grind the rust off. So in all nature you discover that fire purifies. And thus it is with grace. "But the God of all grace, Avho hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered aw^hile, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen and settle you.'' You are willing to have the God of glory, the God of all grace, come to you and say. You are forgiven, poor sinner; you are willing to have Him throw the gates of heaven open and say. Now come in and enjoy this heavenly perfection forever and ever, but you are not willing to pass through the fires a w^hile. We have here four beauti- ful diamonds, but they are all surrounded by a dark foil of suffering before we come to the jewel itself. After that ye have suffered awhile, then may this God of grace make you perfect, stablish, strengthen and settle you. 1. We need perfection. There is not a person on earth that does not feel that some time or other he ought to have a perfection which he has not got this morning. Oh, how we are disappointed Avhen we find a good story, and the last half of the book is lost! How we are dis- appointed when we have a beautiful promise partly given, and the latter part is not found! How we are disap- pointed when we see a beautiful painting begun, but the artist dies before it is finished! Thus it would be in our own lives, if we were to simply go on, aiming for perfec- tion and finally fail. It is God's plan that the time shall come, when you and I shall have passed through fires a 532 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. little while, to come out in perfection, and only with the hand of God with us can we pass through these fires. 2. Our aim should be perfection, but to reach that we need to be established. The rainbow is beautiful to behold, but the first thing we know it has vanished; it is not established. How much grander the sun, that does not refuse to shine year in and year out. How much grander the stars that shine every night, and only wait for the clouds to disappear, to look down upon you with their bright eyes. Thus, my friends, let us have a faith that is not wavering like the winds or vanishing like the rainbow in the heavens, but let us have a faith that is as firm as the sun in the heavens, and as established as the earth and the mountains, yes, my friends, as firm as the Eock of Ages. Established. You cannot be establish and not pass through the fires. God in His Providence has arranged that the character that is noblest can look back through the fires through which it has passed with the hand of God. There are some good men in the world that are good just because they have always been sur- rounded by good and have never met temptation. There are girls in the world who boast of their virtue and of their integrity, and look down upon every woman that ever made a mistake, just because they have never passed through the fires. All honor to the man that once was down and has come up through the fires, and today is a good man! All honor to Mary Magdalene, kissing the feet of her Savior! Why did she kiss His feet? Because He forgave so many sins for her that she could kiss those feet forever and ever, filled with love, having come out of burning fires, she is willing to quench those sparks with her tears. Oh, there is a grandeur in life that some people know nothing about,' and it is this, that we be established and strengthened, having passed through the fires. 3. Yes, strengthened, l^ou need these battles of life ; you need these very fires; but do not try to go through them alone. That is the trouble with too many people in these days, in their troubles, in their pride, they try to fight their OAvn battles, and they are getting into the fires deeper nnd deeper, and tliey never will get out unless THIRD SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 533 they go througli them with the great and powerful hand of the Almighty God. 4, After you have suffered awhile, then get settled, lie says. " . . . . Make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, and settle you.'^ That is one thing we should aim for, to be settled — settled in our convictions, settled in our faith, settled in our lives. My friends, settle it this even- ing that whatever you have to pass through betAveen this and death, you are going with the mighty hand of God. Settle that. Settle it this evening that as long as God gives you a brain to think, and strength in your limbs to walk, and health to sit up an hour and listen, that you are going to hear God's Word every Sunday, no differ- ence what hinders you, for you are going to hold fast to the hand of Almighty God. Settle it. If you have tempta- tions leading you into wrong, stop playing with those temptations; stop giving yourself the opportunity to sin, l)ut settle it, and settle it forever that you are going to live aright in the sight of the Almighty God. If you have not had the correct training in religion, if you are at sea as to what you believe, do not think that anything is any more important than to take a course of lectures and instruction in the plan of salvation. Sit down face to face with some man of God in whom you have faith, and study and learn, and reason, and believe, until you can say, It is settled, and here I stand. I have respect for any man that is settled in the things that pertain to eternity. Oh, may God help us this morning ! My friends, do hold fast to the hand of the Almighty God that is against the proud, that is over the humble, that is under all our troubles, and put in us to fight the battles against the devil, and the world and our own flesh, and with us throughout all fires, until we come out on the other side gloriously perfect, and established, and settled in the perfection when we shall stand in the presence of God with His righteousness, and then we can sing with the apostle those beautiful words: To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. 534 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE, PRAYER. O God, our heavenly Father, we thank Thee for a mighty hand held by Him who knows all things, a mighty hand that holds us, of Him who sees all things and makes no mistakes, and is a God of grace and of mercy, and is willing to lead us through the fires unto an eternal glory. We pray Thee that Thou wilt lead us on a safe path so that we may never wander to the right nor to the left; that we may be true to Thee and to our fellowmen. We ask Thy rich blessing on every one in this house this evening, O God, as with one voice we ask Thee to forgive us for all sins that we have ever committed against Thee by thought, by word, or by deed. We come to Thee this evening and pray Thee for special grace to keep us from repeating the sins of the past. May we each day grow nearer to Thee on that path of per- fection, through the fires, led by the mighty hand of God. O Father in heaven, do Thou now listen to all our prayers as we sum them up in that beautiful prayer which Thou hast taught us : Our Father who art in heaven; Hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven; Give us this day our daily bread ; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for- give those who trespass against us ; And lead us not into temptation ; But deliver us from evil; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power^ and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. The Path to Glory. Rom. 8:18-23. fOR 1 reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the mani- festation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to-wit, the redemption of our body. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth: Thy Word is truth. Amen. Beloved in Christ: What are your views of life? There are only three views possible. Either you are looking for the glory of the lower animal, or you are looking for the glory of fame, or you are looking for glory on high. The great mass of of people living in sin are only looking for the selfish glory of the lower animal. The Apostle Paul has de- scribed this class of people so beautifully in the first chapter of his epistle to the Romans, that I cannot do better than just quote those words : For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse : because that when they knew God they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was 535 536 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. darkened. Professing themselves to be wise they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God unto an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four footed beasts, and creeping things. Where- fore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies be- tween themselves: who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.'' How many thousands and millions of people to-day are living for no other purpose than simply to glorify their own flesh and lusts, and that is their glory. Shame on the man that lives only for the glory of his selfishness. There are others, liowever, whose object in life is fame. They will do anything in order to make their own names glorious. Before the world, like a Napoleon, they are ready to sacrifice all the wealth of France, and make the rivers run with blood, like any number of nations in history, like many an individual, they are ready to sacri- fice Christ in order to lift themselves up and make them- selves famous. And so you Avill notice that whenever a man wants to step forward in place of the God whom he should worship, that man is making glory of his own fame, and his life is useless. There is a glory, my dear friends, that we should all aim for, and that is the glory of our text, the glory of those who seek the glory of God. "For I reckon that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be com- pared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." Let us, by the help of the Holy Spirit, this morning dwell on THE PATH TO GLORY. Observe : I. Its beginning. II. Its ending. III. Its winding. I. What are the beginnings of the path of glory? Let me lead you back this morning to the days before your FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 537 bii'tli. Let me lead you back and show you, first of all, the blessings of pre-natal ignorance. 1. Did you ever stop to think that if you had known what you know now, before you were born, that you never Avould have been born? One of the greatest crimes of the nations of to-day is race suicide; but, my friends, if we had known before we Avere born Avhat we learned after- wards, it is a question whether every child would not luxve committed suicide before it was born. Imagine that you had known before you were born that you would come into a world perfectly helpless for at least one year; imagine that you would have known that you might come into the world not wanted; imagine that you could have looked forward to the day of your birth, and could have seen that you should lie there without teeth to eat, without strength to walk, perfectly helpless; sometimes when you were sick you would not know what to do ; when you would want to be left alone to have mother come up and shake you, when you would say, if you could. Just let me lie; you could not talk; you could not help yourself; you could not defend yourself; in that day if some one had said to you, Child, will you be born or not? you would have said. If I am to spend a Avhole year perfectly helpless, without making my wants known, 1 guess I had better not run the risk; let me never exist. And yet, my dear friends, it was this pre- natal ignorance that was the beginning of the path to glory. 2. Then, born into the world, you found that you were in the hands of parental love. Oh, what a lesson to us who are living to-day, looking forward, remembering that the same love that prepared the love of our parents to take care of us when we were born, is the same love that is providing for you and for me day after day. When we in pre-natal ignorance would have said, We dare not be born because we do not know how we can live through that year, God said. Never mind, I will take care of you. And He did. He gave us parental love. Is there anything in the world to be compared with mother's love? Not many years ago in our own State 538 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. of Ohio there was a young boy on the farm plodding day and night to keep liis widowed mother and his young brother and his few sisters. Oh, what a struggle there was on that farm! I have seen it with my own eyes. Then the young man sat down at night by the fireside, with the light of a tallow candle, and read one book after the other, while his younger brother and sisters were asleep. There was in that heart a desire to be something. There was in that heart a desire to be some day what father wanted him to be — but father was in eternity and it seemed as tho' there was nothing left to do but for those hands to take care of mother and those dear children. And then one day the mother said, I will do without new clothing for five years. Little girls, what will you do? We will wear our old garments out and beg others. And young man, what will you do? I will work, mother, just twice as hard as I did last year, if you will let brother go to college. And brother went to college; and he went there with a mother's love that was willing to sacrifice everything for that boy. That boy in college washed hi& own garments; he cut the hair of others that he might get spending money; and that bov went on working day after day as janitor of his church, and went on doing everything that he possibly could to earn his bread, which was scarce enough, while he was plodding through hi& mathematics and the languages, and standing at the head of his class. That boy went on fighting that battle, back of him a mother's love, and when the day finally came for graduation, there was sitting at the back of the gallery an old mother with garments too poor to be seen in the front; the class marched in, and the valedictorian was the boy that started from home, sent out by the mother^s love; and when he gave that speech which touched the hearts of all, and made it possible for him to-day to be a mighty man in this great nation, it was only made pos- sible by the love of the mother who sat back there in the gallery. And that is the love that to-day is in the hearts of our parents, taking care of your little children. That is the love that is found in fathers and mothers, making it FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 539 possible for pre-natal ignorance and parental care to lead us on a path to glory. 3. Not only do we find that this path to glory begins with parental love and pre-natal ignorance, but it begins with pre-natal and with prayerful training. We some- times seem to think the way to make a man great is just to let him go on his careless way, let him shift for him- self, and then finally come out a great man. My dear friends, ^^\wB yon fill up a Avell with stones, and father comes and tells you you have got to pick those stones out again, you will discover by the time you are through, that the first stone you put in is the last one you will take out. And when you have come to the end of life, and you go down to the depth of your mind and your own heart, and begin to bring out the thoughts one by one, you will find that the last thought before you die will be the first thought that ever entered your heart. And for that reason I make a plea this morning for earnest training of children. When Napoleon was asked. What is the great need of France? his reply was given in that one word, Mothers! And if I were to ask to-day. What is the great need of America, I would answer. Fathers and mothers. It is the need that the Emperor of Germany is proclaiming over his empire; it is the need that the President of the United States is hurling over this land; it is the need that every minister of the Gospel should hurl into the consciences of the people — fathers and mothers, children trained in the home as the Apostle Paul was trained. What made Paul the mighty man that he was? The fact that he received the great training in his childhood which he did. And let me therefore call at- tention again to this great truth, that if you want to lead men to glory on the path which I describe to-day, begin in their early youth; pray for them before they are born; teach them as soon as they are born; train them every day, that they may reach the path of glory that leads to the home above. II. In order that we may realize more fully the need of going on this path, let me shoAV you its ending. 1. The ending of this path is more glorious than 540 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. Paradise itself. We have in this text to-day a picture of the universe since sin came into the world. "For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the mani- festation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature it- self also shall be delivered from the bondage of corrup- tion into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.'' The Apostle Paul finds that when sin came into the world it not only hurt Adam and Eve, but it hurt the whole human race ; and not onlj the whole human race, but the very soil of the earth; the thistle and the thorn came as a curse on account of sin, and all nature began to groan, and the animal creation had to suffer, and all this on account of sin. And so we find that Paradise, that beautiful Paradise was ruined by sin. But there is a day coming, my friends, when we shall see a glory that will surpass Paradise. Paradise was a garden somewhere in this great land where there was no sin. Oh, the glory of that day when God saw all things which He had made, that they were good! But, my friends, there is a glory beyond that, — it is far greater than Paradise. There is a home on high where we shall be redeemed children of God. There is a home on high larger than the Paradise of old. There is a home on high where those who were lost have been saved by the bleeding of the dying Lamb of God. There is a home on high where not only the angels shall praise their heavenly Father, and not only the saints who have died in Christ, but where all who have come home shall sing the song of redemption, and there will be a glory in that home such as was never seen in Paradise. There will be a song of praise and love that Paradise knew nothing about ; there will be the song of tlie cross forever and ever. Oh, the glory of that home on high. 2. It will be not only a greater glory than the glory of Paradise, but the glory of that home on high will sur- pass all earthly liberty. Oh, what battles Jiave been fought for liberty in this land! During the past year FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 541 how much blood has been shed out in the eastern countries and how many laid down tlieir lives for the liberty of Japan! And in our own land have we forgotten that at least four hundred thousand men have spilled their blood on our own soil in order that we might this day lift these stars and stripes to all nations? They have been saved for our country and for a glory that makes us sing of liberty. And yet we must not forget that there are nations still in bondage. And while it is true that there are nations yet in bondage, it is just as true that the whole creation is in bondage. Did you ever stop to think of what suffering is going on today all over the world on account of sin? Not only men have fallen on the battlefield, but horses have fallen there. Have you stopped to think of the suffering that is going on this very day by men jerking the sharp bits in the mouths of horses, cutting their mouths open, all on account of sin? Have you stopped to think of the vivisec- tion that is taking place on our tables in order that we might simply gratify our own desire? All over this world the animal creation is groaning. On your very hats today are the feathers of birds that have been killed for nothing but your Satanic pride. All over this world you find ani- mal creation is suffering and groaning, crying out for lib- erty. The birds are singing, and we say thej are doing nothing but singing the praises of God, when many a poor bird is crying out. Liberty, liberty! can I never have thee? Many a poor animal is groaning and moaning to-day under the lash of the cruel whip, crying out for liberty, — Oh, for liberty, "For we know that the whole creation groan- eth and travaileth in pain together until now." I tell you, my friends, in that liberty on high there is a liberty that surpasses the liberty of our country, that surpasses the liberty of any country on earth. When the last day has come and God the great Judge has made all things right, then, then there will be a liberty that cries to the throne of God, and that is the liberty of the glory on high. 3. It is not only a greater liberty than we have ever seen or heard of on earth, but the glory on high is greater than all Easter mornings on earth put together. If there ever was a happy morning in the world, it was the Sunday 542 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. morning after the first Good Friday; it was when the people began to recognize that He who was crucified last Friday is risen from the dead. If there ever was a joy it was that which began to burn in the hearts of those two young men who went to Emmaus, talking with Jesus, and asking Him to come in and abide with them. It was the joy that was found in that upper room when He with up- lifted, wounded hands, said. Peace be unto you! Jt was the joy of the ^ve hundred who saw Him after He arose from the dead. It was the joy that came on Pentecost when the fire fell from heaven, promised by the risen and ascended Savior. Oh, glorious Easter morning, when the angels of heaven rejoiced over the risen Savior! And since that day we have had many a joyful Easter. It is the happy day of the year. We rejoice on Christmas be- cause Christ was born, but Oh, my friends, if Christ had not risen from the dead, what joy would there be on Easter morning? And what comfort would there be for 3^ou and me if it were not that Christ has risen from the dead, when we stand out in yonder cemetery? Just day before yester- day I had the extreme pleasure of kneeling on my mothr's grave and offering a prayer. That prayer will soon be answered. But my joy to kneel on my mother's grave was not because my mother is dead, but because she is in heaven ; not because her body is in this grave, but because Ood will raise her up. And so, my dear friends, there is joy in our hearts to-day because of Easter morning; but there is a time coming when God shall not simply proclaim that He is risen, when He shall not only proclaim that onr dead shall rise ; but there is a time coming when w«^ shall hear the trumpet sound, when the angels of heaven shall all come, not only a few, when Christ Himself shall run those liands of glory under every grave, and lift up all our dead; and then there shall be no dead any more; then shall be the great assize held on high; then shall be the inviting voice to call those that are redeemed and saved into the realm of glory on high; then we sliall know -.viiat Paul meant when he wrote, "And not only they, but our- selves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adop- FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 543 tion, to-wit, the redemption of our body." Wheu the body shall stand before God forever, no funerals any more, no sickness any more, no heart aches any more, no broken hearts any more, no sorrows any more, no revenge any more, no slanders any more, but all peace, and joy for- ever and forever, in the presence of our (Jod, and the saints, and the angels! That is the gloTj at the end of the path of which I speak this morning. III. Having noticed the beginning and the ending of this path to glory, let me call your attention to its winding. "For I reckon that the sufferings of this pres- ent time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall bo revealed in us." 1. Please notice that the apostle Paul was down on earth when he wrote this letter; and you will please notice that this path of glory stays down here on earth. We have a great many Christians in the present day that are worshipping a dead Christ, and they are worshipping a Savior that lived two thousand years ago, and went to heaven, and there He is to-day ; they come to the church of God and listen to God's Word, they go home and sing their song of praise and talk about the heavenly mansions; but with all their praying and singing their hymns of glory, they never see the path on earth; they seem to see it away above the clouds, away above the throne of God itself. T haA^e no use for a Christianity that cannot stay on earth. We find that this path of glory stays right doAvn on the ground. You cannot find it anywhere else. When Zacchaeus saw Christ coming he ran and climbed up into the sycamore tree, as if a better place to worship* was in a tree than on the earth. Christ walked under the tree and said, "Zacchaeus, make haste and come down,, for to-day I must abide at thy house," teaching him the great lesson that the path of glory is down here on earth. In the beautiful lesson of the Transfiguration of Christ, the apostles Peter, and James and John were up there in the presence of that glory. They made up their minds that that is the place to stay, and Peter suggested to Christ, Let us build three tablernacles here, one for Moses, one for Eli as, and one for Thee, as if to say, O 544 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. Lord God, let us staj up here on this mountain now, build three little churches here, and stay here, and get away from the world. But Jesus Christ said, Come down Peter, come down off of this mountain, come on down to Caper- naum, come on down to tliy house; and then when they got down to the house, a man came and said. Look here, Peter, have you paid your taxes? Never thought of it! Oh, there are a great many people in these days that sing about glory and never pay their taxes. Better come down on earth a little while and do your dutj^ in your home. Jesus Christ said to Peter, You go on out and catch a fish. Peter said, I have caught the fish and have found sixty cents in its mouth. Now, says Christ, take half and go and pay your taxes, and take thirty cents and pay mine, and take a receipt, and then come back, and we will talk about the glory on high. Do you see Avliat I mean? There is a religion of some people aAvay up in heaven, of a Christ that is dead, instead of working with a living Christ on earth. Instead of looking around on earth and seeing what is to be done liere, they are looking up on high. How many professed Christians there are, I say, who call themselves good Cliristian people, that can stumble along past the poor, the sick, tlie afflicted, the lost, the damned, and never see anything except something of the glory on high. 2. This path of which I am speaking to-day is wind- ing around on earth; and not only on earth, but it goes through suffering. "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." The apostle Paul wasn't a man afraid of a little suffering. The great trouble with our present day Christianity is that we want to go to heaven on excursion rates; we want to go easily, without any pain, without any suffering. If we are a little sick we take on opiate and die in our sleep instead of feeling pain, instead of being like Christ, who refused to take the vinegar, we want to sleep ourselves into hell, instead of getting a clear mind, repenting and going to God. We are living in a world where there is suffering; and suffering was intended that we should have it for our FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 545 good. Eemember that this path to glory goes through suffering. Can you show me a single man in history that ever went to glory, even in this world, without suffering? Peter might have stayed here on earth and had a good time all his life ; he might have avoided the shame of being crucified with his head down. Paul, I suppose, if he had chosen to do so, might have said, I cannot go through all this suffering. What would have become of Peter and Paul, and where Avould have been their glory? If they had chosen to avoid the suffering, the greatest temple in the Avorld to-day would not be called St. Peter's, and the next greatest that of St. Paul's. Why have they given those great temples such beautiful names as St. Paul's and St. Peter's? Because those men suffered and were willing to suffer for truth. I ask of tlie apostle Paul, What kind of a road did you go over? Here he describes it: "Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suft'ered shipwreck, a nigiit and a day I have been in the deep; in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without, that whicli Cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.'^ I say to the apostle Paul, what is it that makes those big marks on your head? That is where they stoned me. What are all those stripes across your back? That is where they whipped me, giving me thirty-nine stripes ^ve different times. What is that great big mark you have across your back there? That is the one tliat I got Avhen I was thrown out of the ship, and was for a night and a day battling with the waters. What is that great mark you have on your arm? That is the mark of the lion when he held my arm in his jaws when I fought for life in the arena. Will you tell me about some of the rest of them besides yourself, how they suffered? Yes, I will 35 546 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. • tell you. Here is what liax)pened : "And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment; they were stoned." Anything worse, Paul? Oh, yes, I saw them take one of my own brethren, lay him down, take the saw and begin to cut him right in two like a saw log. "They were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the SAvord." Anything else? Yes, they took these friends of mine, took sheep skins, and .goat skins, and put them over these men, made them look like animals, and threw them in to the lions to kill. "They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; be- ing destitute, afflicted, tormented; (of Avhom the world was not worthy) ; they Avandered in deserts, and in moun- tains, and in the dens and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise; God having provided some better things for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.'^ Such is the path to glory! It winds through sufferings. 3. But, dear friends, while it is a fact that the path to glory winds through sufferings, it winds over troubles, and that is the glory of the Christian life, that the suffer- ings, no matter how great they are, comparatively amount to nothing. It was that very thought that made the apos- tle Paul write these words : "For I reckon that the suffer- ings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." Paul, they are stoning you! They will kill you! Let them kill me. They cannot kill my soul. What is all this stoning com- pared with the glory that shall be revealed in us? But, Paul, don't you know they are going to take you down and cast you into prison, and keep you there two years? Well, what of it? What are two years compared with eternity? — not worthy to be compared! But, Paul, they are going to take you out and cut your head off! What is the difference? It won't take five minutes to do that. What are five minutes compared with eternity? "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be re- vealed in us." In other words, says Paul, my path to glory stays here on earth. While I am on earth I am FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 547 going to be a good citizen, a loyal soldier of the Master. I am going to wind around wherever He wants me to go. I will stay here on earth and win souls for the glory on high. If I must go through suffering, I will go through — but remember, I am going through. I will not stay in suffering. If you men want to serve the devil and get into trouble and stay there forever, stay. I am going through trouble into glory. And not only am I going through troubles, but over troubles — over them all. I will step upon the troubles as my Savior stepped upon the waves of the sea. I will trample them under my feet. I will look up to the glory on high. And all the time, no difference what happens, I will say. It is no trouble; I will step over it. There is a wonderful difference between suffering and trouble. I have so often said it to people, and I want to say it to you again : It is a shame for pro- fessed Christians to go around mourning as* if God had died. Oh, may God forbid that Christians for the next hundred years to come will wear mourning for their Christian dead. Tear off the old black garment. Tear it off' ! What would your husband in heaven think today, if he saw you swinging the old black flag aruund, when he is glorifying with the angels on high? Let the time come when Christian people will rise above the low level of the heathen. Let us get above that low way of looking at trials and troubles. Suffering may come to all of us. We may all have to groan. We do groan. We do suffer. Pain comes and it will come. There are trials in every home. You do not know the trials of my home, and I do not know them of yours ; but you have yours and I have got mine; but there is a God in heaven who gives us strength to go through troubles and over them. Trample them down and just simply say, I am a child of God, and whether I live or die, I am His, and I have no troubles. It does seem that when a man has reached his two score of years, and has passed them, he ought to know what he is talking about. Eighteen years ago, when I began my ministry, I told the people then, it is a shame for a man to have troubles. They used to say. Just wait, you will get jpur troubles! You Avill get them! Well, I have 548 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. waited for eighteen years and I haven't found them yet. People come to me and say, I sympathize with you in the trials you have got. I don't need any sympathy. I haven't got any troubles. I never did, and I never will! Never, never will ! That is one thing that is fixed in my mind — I will never have any troubles! I may have suffering; I may groan ; may have sadness ; but it will be the sadness of a child of God bearing the cross ; and I urge upon you this morning as a child of God to remember that your path is upon earth, it is through suffering, and over troubles into glory. In conclusion, as I look over this audience and see the hoary crowns, I am compelled to say. How near some of you are to this glory today ! And yet, it is possible that some of you are further away to day than ever. If you are not true^ children of God, your age has added nothing to your nearing the glory on high, but is only an evidence of your being further away than when you were born. May you prepare, by studying the doctrine of God's Holy Word, to reach that glory soon; and let me urge upon all Christians present this morning to go to work and find lost sinners, who will use the good sense to take instruction in the saving knowledge of God's Holy Word, that they may all reach the end of the path to glory — eternal life. Amen. PRAYER. O God, our heavenly Father, we ask Thy rich blessing to rest upon the message of the morning. We pray Thee that Thou wilt help us to realize that we are in a world that is sin-cursed; that we are in a world into which we come with prenatal ignorance; that it is a blessing to come into it, falling into the hands of parental love. O Father in heaven, we ask Thee that the maternal hands may hold all children to bosoms of love, and raise them for children of glory. We pray Thee, heavenly Father, that Thou wilt give a special blessing to the homes of our country. Arouse conscience in every home that will make every parent feel his responsibility to Thee and to the dear children whom Thou hast given. We pray Thee that Thou wilt help us to realize that this life is only a short space before the gate of a great eternity. We ask Thee that Thou wilt help us to realize that Thy glory on high should urge us here to live on earth and here to live among all people to bring them home to glory. We ask Thee to give us a missionary spirit, a spirit that is looking down and not always up, a spirit that is looking FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 549^ out, and not always in; a spirit that shall urge Christians in every home, in every neighborhood, in every corner, to do some good act to some one for Thy glory. Heavenly Father, today bless the Church at large; help that the nations of earth may all know there is only one God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and that every other religion is of the devil. Help us to reaHze as we never did before, what it means to sing of the glory on high, that it means to spread it here on earth. Father in heaven, do Thou now bless us as we are assembled here this morning in this, Thy house, and may the prayer of Thy servant become the prayer of all Thy people, and the prayer which Thou hast taught us : Our Father who art in heaven; Hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth, as^ it is in heaven; Give us this day our daily bread ; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for- give those who trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation;. But deliver us from evil; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power,, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. An Article of Agreement, 1 Peter 3 :8-15. fINALLY, be ye all of one mind, h'aving compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous ; not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing, but contrarywise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. For he that will love life., and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile ; let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it; For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and His ears are open unto their prayers; but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good? But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye : and be not afraid of their terror, neither be ye troubled ; but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the" hope that is in you with meekness and fear. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Thy Word is truth. Amen. Beloved in Christ: We have just confessed in the Apostle's Creed that we believe in the holy Christian Church. We do not say the churches; there is only one church; there never have been two churches and there never will be ; but remember, my friends, that this one church is not included in any one denomination. There are some denominations that are calling tliemselves the Christian Church, and by others, the Church of God, as if all other churches are not Christian churches or have no Christians in them. Remember, too, that this one church does not consist of those people who seem to think they have a perfect right to their opinions, no difference what those opinions may 550 FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 551 be. There seems to be a general idea in the present day among some professed Christians, that if thev agree with the preacher it is all right, and if they disagree with him it is all right. It is all right to disagree with a preacher who is preaching his own opinion; it is all right to disagree with a preacher who is teaching you false philosophy, but when a man of God comes to you with "Thus saith the Lord," you have no right to your own opinion. God's opinion settles everything. We read in the epistle of Paul to the Philippians, Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. As soon as we try to harmonize doctrines and opinions of men with some man, we are going to multiply denominations until we can hardly count them ; but when we all make up our minds that there is only one Church, and that that one Church is the one that can say, "Thus saith the Lord," Here it is written, and that is what God says and that is what He means, that is the Church, and I do not care where you find the members. This one Church of God must have the one mind of Jesus Christ, and it is to this that the apostle directs attention in the first verse of our text: Finally, be ye all of one mind. And how are we going to have one mind in religion? Only by subscribing to AN ARTICLE OF AGREEMENT. And that article of agreement must be made between the home and the church. I would call your attention to the fact that this whole epistle is directed to the church in general, and that the text of which I speak tonight is directed especially to the home. Whenever we begin to divorce the home from the church, and the church from the home, we will have just such a state of affairs as we have in many homes and in many cities of the present day. Let us then remember that this article of agreement of which I speak tonight, must be subscribed to by the church and by the home. The church and the home to- gether demand four or five things that I wish to hold up before you tonight, by the help of the Holy Spirit. I. The Christian home and the Christian Church -552 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. are inseparable. Both demand the plain preaching and teaching of God's Holy Word. The apostle concludes the text by saying: "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts; and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear." Do you knoAv why it is that we have so many people in the present day who do not know why they belong to this church or that church? And do you know why it is we have so many professed Christians today that are never able to give an answer Avhen you ask them concerning their souls and their doc- trine? It is because the old catechetical classes have died out. It is because Christian instruction in the home has died out. It is because we have not got the Christian homes we ought to have, and because we have not got the proper catechization in the. church that we ought to have. There is a place in old West Virginia where you can only find two books in eyerj home, and those books are the Bible and Luther's catechism, and I have been told by those who have visited in that community that when they go into those homes and begin to talk religion, no differ- ence if ihej are ministers of the Gospel, they soon find they are unable to cope with those families. They are men of only two books, but they know what is in those books, and they are prepared to answer any question you may ask concerning religion and concerning the future home. In these days of libraries by the hundreds and books by the thousands, we have people skimming over book after book, and when you ask them in regard to the contents, they know nothing. There is an old Latin pro- verb that says. Beware of the man of one book ; and I say to you tonight, Beware of the man who has thoroughly mastered two or three books. What we need in the present day, and every Christian ought to agree to this, is a home in which father and mother teach their little children from their infancy those prayers and those fundamental principles of the deca- logue, those fundamental principles of baptism and the Lord's Supper, and all the essential doctrines, that they may never forget them. I only alluded to the fact this FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 553 morning that what you put into a well first is the last to come out, and what you put first into the mind and heart of a child is the last thing to come out. You go into the home of some aged father or mother of whom it is said they have become childish, and what do you find? Just the other day, I had the great pleasure of seeing a man almost a hundred years old, erect and with a beautiful gray beard, at Chautauqua, New York. That man came there to visit his daughter, who had a beautiful cottage along the lake. There you could see that old man, nearly in his one hundredth year, hand in hand with the little children, walking up and down, playing and talking the same things that he talked when he was a child. The first thing in that man's heart is now the last thing in his life. We talk about a man becoming childish — what does it mean? Simply getting down to the center of his heart and mind again. It means he is going back to those days when the first truths were poured into his heart, or when the first lies were poured in. And so let me urge upon you tonight, as the article of agreement that we should all subscribe to, to insist upon Christian instruc- tion in the home and in the Church of God. Why is it that we have reached that age in the Chris- tian Church that people want to try to convert others in a few weeks time, and then let them run like sheep astray? I will tell you why. It is no easy thing to say, but there is a little human nature even in preachers, and that little human nature says. If I can do a thing in three weeks, that ought to take three years, I will try to do it in the shorter time, and the consequence is we have been trying to pour into our people in three weeks what should take three years of solid instruction. The truth of the matter is we have so many men not willing to sweat and work in the Church of God as a man ought to work in a harvest field. Let us learn of Christ how the children should be instructed. The Lord Jesus Christ said to Peter, Lovest thou Me? Yes. Peter, lovest thou Me? Yes. Lovest thou Me? Yes. Then what? Feed My sheep. Feed My lambs. Feed My sheep. How many pastors in this world are feeding the lambs today? How many pastors are teaching 554 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. the children and instructing them until they positively know the plan of salvation, so that when they are old they can give a reason for the hope that is in them? How many homes are there where the whole family goes to Sun- day School? What right has a father in this short life of his to stay at home and say, Children, you go to Sunday School; Mother, you go to Sunday School? Is this in- struction in God's Word such a shallow thing and such a worthless thing that w^e can get beyond it? Where is the minister of the Gospel that knows too much of God's Word, that he should not take an interest in the Sunday School any more? Where are the parents that know too much of God's Word, that they should not find themselves in the class? And where are the families that have a right to be out of the Divine service? I would like to ask the question tonight, how many families in Mansfield are going hand in hand to the house of God to be instructed in the plain Word? And how many ministers of the Gospel are trying to reach the most ignorant man in the church ? And yet, my friends, unless I can reach the most ignorant man in this audience tonight, I have failed to reach the most intelligent. The Gospel of Jesus Christ should be taught so plainly that the most common mind can grasp why these things are so. And when the common mind, the most illiterate, can grasp a truth, the most intelligent cannot do anything more ; and when a truth is presented so that only the most intelligent can get it, and the most ignorant cannot, it is not the truth as Jesus would have it taught. Then let us agree tonight to this great truth, that the Gospel should be taught in the home, and in the church, so plainly that no man can go out and say, I did not understand the message. II. There is another article of agreement to which we should subscribe, and that is that every home should have a Christian mother who knows her place. Our text follows a word from the apostle Peter to the wives : "Like- wise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the W^ord, they also may without the Word be won by the conversation of the wives; while they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. Whose FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 555^ adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel ; but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection to their own husbands. Even as Sara obe3^ed Abraham, calling him lord; whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement." In these days of the new woman, who wants to wear short hair, and the days of the new man who wants to wear long hair, we liave too many people who absolutely do not know their places. If there is any place of honor in the world that is high, it is the place of the wife and the mother in the home, and just as soon as any woman fails to remember her place, just so soon she is making a mon- ster of the family. We all pay to go into a show and see a calf with two heads, but how many a man goes into the home and finds a calf with two heads, paying nothing! How many a family has not only two heads, but three or four heads in it, and the result is that we have no homes at all as God would have them. When Adam and Eve were created. Eve had her jjlace, and Adam had his, and this law has never been changed. The family is to have only one head, and the wife is to know her place. There are some people foolish enough to think it is all wrong for a woman to wear jewelry, and at once begin to quote what Peter said here. You might just as well say it is wrong to wear garments, or to plait the hair. The apostle Peter is not finding fault with women for dressing, or for putting up their hair, or for wearing jewelry, but he does say that a woman ought to know in the home that there is something better than simply adorning the hair, than simply knowing how to wear jewelry, than simply to know how to put on a new dress in the latest style, but that the correct adorning of the home is the inward life, the inward soul ; a woman who so lives in the home that if her un- godly husband will not read the Bible, that he is compelled to read the Word of God in her character; and when a 556 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. woman will know her place in the home she is a power that is hard to get away from. You shoAv me a home in which there is a wife who loves God's Word, and who adorns her home with a soul that loves the truth, a soul full of prayer, who adorns that home with all the marks of a true Christian wife, who will do as Sara of old did — she did not walk up and say, Abraham, you and I are the heads of this family; she did not walk up to Abraham and say. Now you have got to do this and that; but she said. My lord Abraham, I am thy wife; thou art my husband, and had we not better do this and that? What do you say, Abraham? "Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement" — show me such a home and I'll show you an ideal home. There was no question in the days of Abraham as to who was the head of the familj^ Abraham recognized that God was his head. Abraham recognized that he was the head, not only of liis own family, but of that great tribe from whom Christ was to come; and Sarah, recognized that the greatest woman on earth, is the one, not that pays so much atten- tion to outw^ard adorning, but the one that has the Chris- tian heart to make a true and faithful wife, and so she went through the world knowing her place, and today the world honors Sarah. You can go down to some hardware store and you can buy a form, and put all kinds of silks and satins on it; you can buy hair and plait it and put it on the head of that form and you can get jewelry and put it on the hands of the thing that looks like a human being but has no life, but nothing but the grace of God can make a Christian wife. There are some people whom we can only know by their outward appearances. There are some people who have within them an unfolding. The more we read the more w^e see, and the more we see the more we want to know, and the more we know, the more we realize that the greatest people on earth are not the men that sit on thrones, nor the women that want to be men, but the mothers who are mothers, indeed, and are planting into the hearts of their cliildren and of their husbands the FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 557 Word of God. Every man in this house tonight will agree with me that he wants a Christian wife. There are scoffers all around us that would not marry a scoffing wife if they could. They know that when the trials and troubles come into their home they want a wife who can lead them to the Kock of Ages, and if a man is ever so ungodly, he seems to have enough of the spark of God's life left in his heart that he does not want a bad, defiled wife. Ill; And this leads me to another thing we ought to agree on, and that is that every home should have a Chris- tian husband, who knows how to treat a wife. "Likewise ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being true heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.'' That your prayers be not hindered! And some of you do not pray at all. Your prayers are not hindered. But if you are a Christian husband you will pray. The apostle Peter tells us we have a perfect- right to expect a man in the home to be a Christian husband, a husband who knows how to treat the weaker vessel, who knows how to treat his wife, who knows how to honor her, and place her where she rightly belongs, and himself where he belongs. If there is one want today in this Christian land, it is Christian men who know how to treat their wIacs. Shame on the young man that will go to see his intended bride every week and some- times oftener, no distance too far, no gift too dear, but just as soon as she is his wife, then he seems to say, Now farewell; I may be home some night this week and I may not ! Shame on the man that does not know his place ! Shame on the man that does not know how to treat his wife! No wonder she is heart-broken; no wonder she hasn't got the rosy cheeks she had in her maidenhood; no wonder she is Aveeping and weeping when he comes home; no wonder when he comes in the dark hours of the night he has to tell her he was at lodge and walked home when he knows he never was there : no wonder Avhen she is sick and she knows he is the cause, she is going down to the ijrrave with a brokeu heart. Oh, shame on the man that 558 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. does not know enough to be a Christian husband in the^ home ! Shame on the man that hasn't got the same common sense to demand that his wife have a Christian husband, as well as that he have a Christian wife. There is no question about this. We will all agree to this, that every wife needs a husband that is a genuine man, that in days of trouble will not trample upon her sacred feelings; a genuine man who knows his place is in the home, who knows that it is his duty to train the children, who knows it is his duty to lead a pure and upright life, a genuine man who will stand by the side of his wife and support her as it was intended by creation that he should. God says in the first chapter of the Bible that He took Eve from the rib of Adam, and some ignorant fools laugh at the old rib story. There is nothing to laugh at. God did not take woman from the foot of man to be trodden in the dust; He did not take her from the brain of man to lord it over creation ; He took her from near the heart of man, to be loved; from under his arm, to be protected; and a Christian man should know his place in the family. May God help some man in this house tonight, if he is not the husband he ought to be in his home, to know how to treat his Christian wife, and honor and protect her and support her, and when there are days that she is sick, let her lie down and rest, and heli3 her, as she has many a time helped him. Woman is not a help-eat, she is a help- meet, and man is not simply a boarder, he is a husband and should be a father in the home. IV. These articles of agreement were not drawn up by some man; they are the articles of the Holy Spirit who pleads with you tonight to subscribe to them. In this article of agreement we find not only that the Christian husband should be in the home and in the church, but we find, furthermore, that the Christian altar should be there. "For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and His ears are open unto their prayers : but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil." Yes, His e^^es are open over the righteous, and His ears are open unto their prayers. The eyes of the Lord tomorrow morning will be open, and He will look into vour home, and He will look to see FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 559 whether you are having any communion with Him. He will look to see whether the old Bible remains closed or whether you open it. He will look to see whether you read a chapter in the presence of your family or not. His ears will be open to listen to your prayers; but in many a so-called Christian home, He looks and finds the old Book never opened; He listens to hear their prayers, but He hears nothing but quarreling, nothing but a slamming of the door, and anything but a Christian spirit. We are all agreed to this, that if we are Christians, tlie Word of God should be read every day. We are all agreed to this, that if we are Christians and have the strength, we should go to God's house and hear His Word. Jesus said : He that is of God, heareth God's words; ye therefore hear them not because ye are not of God. When a man is no Christian he wants to get away from the Bible: when he is a Christian he wants to get into the Word. When a family is Christian, it will have an altar ; when it has lost its Christianity, away goes the altar. Now there is no use in wasting words. A question : Is it right to have family worship, or is it not? Is it best to have family worship, or is it not? Is it best to have worship in the church of God, or is it not? If it is best, then, my dear friends, do not go home tonight and say, That was a plain sermon, and Uiat was the truth, and go on and live like heathen all week again. If you have not got family wor- ship, in the name of God begin it tonight. If you have not got an altar, have one by tomorrow morning. There is too much of this sitting around in the house of God and saying, that is true and right, and you are not trying to live one bit better than 3^ou did ten years ago, making no improvement whatever, hearing the truth and not obey- ing, hardening your hearts; and that is the trouble with the people todaj^, hardened hearts in the Christian church. May God the Hoh^ Spirit tonight probe into our hearts and into our consciences until we will recognize that there is only one right way to live in the home, and that is to have the family altar and hear God's Word, so that the boys and girls may know that father is not a heathen and mother is not a heathen; and that father 560 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. and mother may know that the children pray. There are Christian parents, I will dare say, sitting before me to- night, who have not heard their sons pray for years, who have not heard their daughters offer a prayer. You imagine they are kneeling before their beds every night, when they are going to sleep like cattle. It is not simply enough that we tell our children to pray; they must hear our prayers; they must know that father and mother are praying for them. We would not find so many divided families and broken-hearted mothers, if family worship were conducted as it ought to be in our Christian homes. And if we would pray as we ought to in our homes, we would pray in the church. The house of God is the house of prayer, and we ought to enter that house and bow our heads in prayer. I think about three people out of fifteen hundred do it; I do not know what the other fourteen hundred are going to do about it. The church is no theatre; it is the house of God; it is the place to come and bow your head and stand and offer prayer, and ask God to help you now to get a message that will be a bless- ing to your soul. And if we would come into the house of God and worship as we ought, we would get a blessing we are not getting at the present time. It takes just as much preparation for you to hear this sermon as for me to preach it. Are you prepared? The place to begin is at the family altar at home. V. Another article of agreement, and the last one, is, this : We should live converted lives. "Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as breth- ren, be pitiful, be courteous ; not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing, but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. For he that will love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile. Let him eschew evil, and do good ; let him seek peace, and ensue it." There are about twenty-five sermons in those words, but we can combine those twenty- five sermons in two thoughts, and those thoughts are these: Live a converted life — in other words, live away FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 561 from the life of the heathen; and live above the life of yesterday. I say live away from the life of a heathen. We have here the difference plainly taught between the natural man and the Christian. Not rendering evil for evil. The natural man wants revenge. If any one hates him, he hates the other. If any man does him harm, he is watch- ing his chance that he may do harm again. In other words, he does not understand at all what Jesus meant when He said, Love your enemies; bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. How often we find, right among professed Christians, a feeling of hatred and revenge. Professed Christians live side by side and never speak to each other, and because one has done the other a little harm, the other is just waiting for a chance, as we commonly sa}^, to get it back on him. Do you not see that this is only a heathen life? Do you not see that this spirit of revenge is hurting the Christian church, and that it is a comfort to the heathen, himself? Now, pray tell me, if I have an enemy, what am I to do? Just two things are possible. One is to punish him, and the other is to pray for him. Suppose I punish him — that is the natural inclination — suppose I am a stronger man than my enemy, I catch him by the throat, throw him on the floor and begin to hammer his face, and I beat him until his eyes are swollen shut, and I make the blood flow, then I step back and say. Now I have revenge! What have I done with that man? Made him a worse enemy than he was before, that is all. This article of agreement demands of me something else. It is natural to hate my enemy. Turn around, be converted; instead of going with your face toward hell, turn heavenward; instead of hating your neighbor, pray for him ; instead of abusing him, treat him with love; instead of hammering his face, give him a gift ; treat him the best you know how. What have you done? You have conquered him, made him your friend. Which is the better? Can you not see that Christ was right when He said. Love your enemies, bless them which curse you; pray for them which despitefully use you? Oh, 562 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. dear friends, what we want to do is to live away from the heathen life, and above the life of yesterday. ^'Let him eschew evil, and do good ; let him seek peace, and ensue it." In other words, dear friends, if we want to subscribe to these articles of agreement, we must make up our minds if we are converted, and want to be con- verted, we must live converted lives; we must lead such lives that all those around us can see that we are children of light. And if all the professed Christians in the world would just make up their minds tonight that thej are either going to go out into the world and say goodbye to ihe church forever, or else do the right thing and live as Grod wants them to live, there Avould be such a power mani- fested in the church that the world could never get away from it. Two questions in conclusion : Are these things true that I have told you tonight? You know they are. I will not pray tonight as I used to hear a certain preacher pray : "Lord, if I have said anything today that isn't right, for- give me!" We have no right to say a thing that is not right. These things are true, and you cannot get away from them, and you know it. Sometimes men when they hear the truth, talk with their mouths as though they didn't like it; but I like to make a man argue with his heart. When his tongue says, I don't like it, I want his conscience to say. You must like it. Not one can go out of this house tonight and say conscientiously, I do not believe what I have heard. No one can say in his own heart. These things are not practical. Another question: Knowing that this is the truth, what are you going to do with it? As I said a moment ago, there is too much of this thing of letting the truth go in at one ear and out of the other; there is too much of this thing of hearing the truth, and going home and going on just the same as before. I believe a man ought to be hon- est with his own soul. If he is going to be dishonest, let him be honest enough not to trj^ to deceive the world by making people believe he is a Christian in the home when God knows he is not. No, we must remember that the FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 563 eyes of the Lord are open over tlie righteous, and His ears are open to our prayers. His eyes being opened, let Him see that we are reading His Word, and let Him know that we are going to Him in prayer. And how about the other man? What about the man that is not here tonight? What about the woman that is not here tonight? Are you simply here to get the truth for your own soul? Are the souls of others not as good and valuable as yours? Then what? We all need exactly what I have told you tonight. We need to have a reason for the hope within us. The world needs Christian fam- ilies. The time is close at hand when a catechetical class will begin for adults, and for children, and for every im- mortal soul, and the question arises. What are you going to do about it? Are you going to wait until some Sunday you hear that next Friday evening the class for adults will begin, and next Saturday morning the children's class, and Saturday afternoon the young peoples' class begins? No. Right now, begin and look around in your home, and among your friends, and see if you cannot find some soul to be instructed in God's Word, that he may this winter yet come to the Savior and be saved and be an instrument to save others, and know why he believes this and that, and be an intelligent Christian, who can give a reason for the hope that is within him. That is the kind of work we must do, and go on, in God's name, and keep the church growing until the kingdom of this world shall be the kingdom of God. PRAYER. Dear Father in heaven, we thank Thee for this beautiful Sunday, arid for the privilege we have had of proclaiming Thy Word in its purity and power. We pray Thee that Thou wilt bless this message to the souls of all those who have heard this truth, and say to us in plain words that can not be misunderstood, Go, work today, in My vineyard. O God in heaven, help that everj^ family represented here today, may tonight yet, and tomorrow morning, read Thy Word, that Thine eye may see them read, and offer a short prayer to the throne of God, that Thy worship may dwell in every home. O God, help every husband to know his place as a husband and a father. Help every woman in the home to know her place as a wife and a mother. Help the children, O God, that they may receive the legacy of the Christian home, worth more than 564 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. farms and all the gifts that this world can offer. Dear Lord and Master, go with us to our respective homes, throughout this week, and the journey of life, and help us that we may not only come to Thee ourselves, but be instrumental in bringing many others to Thee. And on this journey of life let us pray for the soul much more than we do for the body, in that prayer which Thou, Thyself hast taught us: Our Father who art in heaven; Hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven; Give us this day our daily bread ; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for- give those who trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation; But deliver us from evil; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. We Should Not Serve Sin. Rom. 6:3-11. KNOW ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death : that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him; knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more ; death hath no more dominion over Him. For in that He died, He died unto sin once ; but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead in- deed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Thy Word is truth. Amen. Beloved in Christ: We have not come here this evening for the purpose of hearing my opinion or asking for yours. We came here this evening with a ^'Thus saith the Lord." We want to know what God has to say to our souls. This epistle of Paul to the Romans is full of the bread of life, full of great truths that no one can deny. In the previous chapter he was showing the Romans how through one man, Adam, sin came into the world and brought about its condemnation. In the same chapter he shows us how through another Adam, Jesus Christ, salvation came for the whole world, and that, tho' sin is great, grace is yet greater, and there- fore there is hope for every sinner who repents and ac- 565 566 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. cepts the only Savior. He says: "Moreover the law entered, that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." The Apostle Paul was a great logician, a man who was al- ways trying to gather, What will the people think, and how will they reason? and to his mind it was only a step from what he had taught to a great error. It is a truth that sin came into the world through one man, and con- demned the whole world ; it is a truth that righteousness came through Jesus Christ to save the whole world, but it is only one step to a great error, and that is, the people might reason, if sin is great and grace is greater, then why may not the Christian go on sinning away, depending upon the greater grace, and so he put the question : What shall we» say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? It would be a wrong con- clusion, says Paul, for us to think that because grace is greater than sin, that therefore we can go right on and sin and still be saved. The answer to the question, Can we sin on willingly if we are Christians? is given in the sixth verse here where it is said we should not serve sin. May the Holy Spirit take these few words this even- ing and impress them deeply on your hearts : WE SHOULD NOT SERVE SIN. I. Because we were baptized into Christ's death. II. Because we were baptized into His resurrection, I. "Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death . . that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so Ave also should walk in newness of life?" In these words we see the whole sum and substance of Paul's message. We in the first place were buried into Christ's death; therefore we should not serve sin, for it was sin that nailed Jesus to the cross; it was sin that SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 5G7 tormented Him on the cross ; it was sin that brought Him down to death. Now then, says Paul, if you are baptized into that death and into that resurrection of Jesus Christ, are you going to crucify Him over and over again by con- tinuing in sin? Yes, sin is great and grace is greater, but do not for a single moment think that you have a right, as a child of God, to sin on, with the view that God's grace will cover over your sin, and you can be a child of the devil under the garb of religion. What is sin? We cannot too often ask that plain question. The answer of the Bible is, It is the transgression of the Divine law; and transgression means to step over. God's law^ is very plain. Every child that can count its ten fingers should be taught the ten commandments, and should know from infancy that it is a sin not to know who the true and liv- ing God is; that it is a sin to take God's name in vain; that it is absolutely a sin not to keep the Sabbath Day holy. Men should know that not to hear God's Word is a sin. God gave men ears to hear His Word. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. I have sometimes wondered why God in His justice does not simply strike men deaf that refuse to listen to Him; and yet there is an answer to this question. God is merciful! Oh, the mercy of God that permits men to have ears to hear and yet will not listen to Him ! It is a sin not to honor father and mother. It is a sin to hate your fellow-men. It is an absolute mn to live an impure life in thought, or word, or deed. It is a sin to commit adultery. It is a sin to commit fornication. It is a sin to steal. It is a sin to tell anything that is not exactly true. It is a sin to covet anything that is movable or immovable, animate or in- animate. A curse will rest upon you if you continue in your sins, and upon your children. A blessing will rest upon you if you try to serve your God and Master, not only on your children, but for a thousand generations. Friends, it is sin that nailed Jesus Christ to the cross. It was sin that striped His back; it was sin that spit in His face; it was sin that pressed the sweat like drops of blood out of His forehead in Gethsemane; it was sin that made men slap His face and pull the black cap 568 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. across it, and strike it Avith their fists; it was sin that moved the governments of the world and the ecclesiastic courts hand in hand to drive the nails through the hands of the blessed Redeemer, and through His feet, and pierce His breast and heart; it was sin that mocked Him and tormented Him; and permitted Him to hang for three hours in the light, and three hours in the darkness, tor- menting Him, with the very curse of God, because He took your sins and mine upon His shoulders. And now, do you think it is right, because God's grace is great, to drive those nails through His hands again? Do you think it is right to continue in sin because God is merciful and forgiving? Not only did our sin nail Christ to the cross and torment Him, but sin brought Him down to death. It was sin that gave Him the torment of hell when He cried out : My God! My God! Why hast Thou forsaken Me? If you are tempted this very hour not to keep the Sabbath Day holy; if you are tempted in this very hour to commit adultery; if you are tempted to do wrong of any kind, remember that you are helping Jesus Christ to say. My God! My God! Why hast Thou forsaken Me? It was sin that called upon your Lord and Master to give up His life and say: Father, into Thy hands I commend My Spirit. It was sin that caused those hands that had nothing but blessings, to hang there cold in death. It was sin that made that body, born of the Virgin Mary and begotten of the Holy Spirit, to hang there in cold, icy death. And you love sin, and you continue in sin? God forbid! says Paul. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid! How shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein ? Now, says the Apostle Paul, when Jesus Christ died, and was put into the grave. He redeemed us; our re- demption was finished ; and when you were baptized, you were baptized into Jesus Christ and into His death. Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? There we are buried with Him, by baptism, into death. In ancient times there were many forms of baptism, as far as the water is SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 569 concerned, but never more than one form as to the words. The Lord Jesus Christ was very explicit as to the form of baptism. He said they should go out into the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. The form is God's Word, and water. But as far as the water is concerned, we are taught by history and by the etymology of this word, that there were different forms. The word 4Daptize itself means to plunge, to immerse, to cleanse, to purify. The form that was used in ancient times in warm countries was to take the people and plunge them under the water in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and you will find many ancient landmarks, many a baptismal font large enough to take the little babe and sink it under the water. The very German word '^taufen" means to say, as it were, to dip under ; and we simply are not true to the etymology of God's Word if we do not admit that immersion as a form is all right. What we object to is when men say that it is the only way to be baptized, for from the be- ginning of the church, people in sickness and weakness were sprinkled, and different forms used, and for that very reason, just because infants are born in sin and should be baptized, and as a rule are weak, early in the church of God sprinkling became the very form ; but there is no question about the fact that immersion had something to do with the molding of the language of the Apostle Paul when he said. Therefore we are buried with Him, by bai3tism, into death. He had in mind the fact that many people were put under the water. But he did not say, my dear friends, that unless you are im- mersed you are not baptized. He did not say Avhen you are baptized, you are baptized into water, but you are baptized into the death of Christ, and I am baptized into His death and buried into His death just as much by be- ing sprinkled as you were by immersion. Baptism is, therefore, that form through which God takes the sinner and puts him into the death of Jesus Christ. In other words, the moment you are baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, you have got the benefit of 570 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. Him who died on the cross and was laid down in the grave; and as Jesus was in the grave, and came out on Easter morning, just so you and I by this baptism go into the death of Christ and shall come out — not out of the water, but come out every day with a new life and live for God. So God takes a man and puts him into the grave, covers him over, packs the ground and plants the flowers; those flowers grow over the dead; and just so w^hen we are baptized, we bury the old Adam and plant on that grave the roses of a new life, and live for God, not in sin, but in righteousness and holiness. And therefore, my friends, we should not serve sin, because we are buried into the death of Christ. II. But we are not only buried into His death; we are also buried into His resurrection. "Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resur- rection." In other words, when we were baptized there was a new life planted in us, and that new life is the life of the risen Lord. Except a man be born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. And,, Verily, I say unto you, except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven. In other words, we are clearly taught by the Lord Jesus Christ that baptism is the means of regeneration, and that regeneration is just necessary spiritually as the first birth is naturally. I cannot help it that I was born; it was not my say so ; my parents brought me into the world ; I had nothing to do with that. You had nothing to do with your regeneration. It is the work of the Holy Spirit. He is the father of your new birth in the church of God, with Holy Baptism as the mother. Therefore Jesus gave the command to the disciples to go into the whole world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. As I said in the beginning of my sermon, I am not here to >^1XTI1 SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 571 i^ive you my opinion, nor to ask you for yours ; but I am here to say that the chnrch that does not insist upon the baptism of all who shall be saved is not Scriptural. I am here to say that the church of God that does not go out and baptize its members is not carrying out God's plain and explicit command. I said to the leader of our Salvation Army the other day, You try to make us believe you are carrying out God's command. Jesus said to you : Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in tlie name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy GJiost, and you do not do it. Why don't you do it? He hasn't given me the answer. I would like for any man to answer that. Why doesn't he do what God told him to do? Where does God draw a line and say you are to baptize old stubborn sinners, but let the little children run and grow up like weeds? Listen: Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Do you want to be buried into Christ's death and resurrection and let the children go? Do you want part of j^our family buried into Christ's death and resurrection and the other part not? Where did God draw such a line? This whole chapter before my text tells us that through one man the whole world was led into condemnation, and through the other man, Jesus Christ, the whole world was led into grace. Why draw a line where God never drew any? There is one sin that damned the world, and there is one grace to save, and it is our duty to know that we must not serve sin, but we shall rise with the newness of life that God gave us by the resur- rection of Jesus Christ. Therefore, when you are baptized in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, you are not baptized into a name, you are baptized into Jesus' death and into His resurrection, and as Jesus arose from the grave by the glory of the Father, so in the heart of the baptized child there is planted a seed, a seed that is to develop into a great life day by day. Not only is it true that we must not serve sin as baptized people into the resurrection, but we must wear the cloak of Jesus' righteousness. What does that verse mean when it says : As many of you as have been baptized 572 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. into Christ have put on Christ? Not that you have put on a cloak of water ; not that you have got to go into the Jordan and put on the water of the Jordan, but whether you are baptized in the river or before the altar, whether with a handful of water or a bucketful, the moment you are baptized, you are baptized into the death of Jesus Christ, who rose from the dead, and that resurrected life of His in your heart must have you to rise, and you must rise with Jesus Christ all around you, have His cloak of righteousness; therefore the Gospel lesson of to-day tells us: Unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye cannot enter into the king- dom of heaven. And mark you, if you think you are a better man than the scribes and Pharisees were, you are mistaken. Jesus was not holding up a scoundrel and tell- ing you that unless your righteousness exceeded the righteousness of the scoundrel, you should not enter the kingdom of heaven ; but he held up before the people the best men in Jerusalem — the scribes and Pharisees- the D. D.'s, the teachers of God's Word, the best men in the community, and tells you that unless you are better than the best men you can never enter heaven. You have got to put on Jesus Christ. That is our salvation, and that is what he means Avhen he says you must not serve sin. You must not think that you can be a Christian and be baptized, and then go right on and serve the devil as you did before. How many people there are that come to the altar, and are baptized, and think they have gone through with a set form; think, now I will not go to church, but I will live right on like a child of the devil as I did be- fore! No, when you are baptized you have put on Christ and you dare not do a thing that you Avould not do with Christ in your company. How many of you would live as you do, walking hand in hand with Jesus Christ? How Diany of you would live as you do if you could draw Jesus Christ right over you and walk on the streets of Mansfield as your Savior? That is the kind of life to live, and that leads me to say : Concerning this baptism into the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that we must not think that we can make SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 573 a cemetery of Jesus Christ to burj a live man in, the old Adam. How many people there are who want to be Christians, but they want to keep that old Adam alive and just hide him in Christ. Do temptations come to Christians? Once in a while we meet some of these goody-goody people, so sanctified that they actually cannot be tempted any more at all; no temptation comes to them any more to do anything that is wrong; we sometimes look around for their wings, but we cannot find them. Mj dear friends, I want to saj right here, that there are people in the world of whom I feel sure they are not tempted at all. Why should the devil tempt his own? Why should he do it? But mark you, if you are a child of God, you will be tempted and tempted severely. Are you better than your Savior? Wasn't He tempted? Did Jesus not know what He was doing when He taught you to pra^', Lead us not into temptation? Do you say that prayer should be prayed by all except those perfectly sanctified? No, if you are a child of Cod you may rest assured that you have still got an old Adam with whom you have got to wrestle and fight until you breathe your last breath, and your daily prayer must be, Lead me not into temptation ! You have got a battle to fight. Paul did not say. Before I was con- verted, or in the first years of my Christian life I had a battle to fight; but no, one of the best men that ever lived, one of the best Christians that ever lived, one of the no- blest soldiers that ever lived, in his very last moment he said : I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith! He did not say, I had a battle to fight and struck at nothing. He had a battle to fight and fought it. And what made that battle? It was to take this old Adam and bury him completely, and win the victory. Do you know why it is so many Christians fall? It is because they do not take a firm stand against sin. You cannot trifle with temptation. There are too many Chris- tians that just want to trifle a little bit with this little sin and that little sin ; they do not want to be real bad, but just a little, and so they keep on, and the first 574 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. thing you know the devil has won the victory. We have an illustration of what this battle means in a violinist found in the mission of Louis Harmes of Africa. Down there, as you know, among the heathen, they are great people to dance and jylaj stringed instruments; and among those who played for the dance was one very in- telligent man who heard the Gospel as preached in the Lutheran mission. This man was so impressed that he made up his mind he is going to become a Chris- tian, and he was baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, thoroughly instructed as to what it means that now he has put on Christ ; that he must now walk in this world as if Christ were all around him. He thought this would be such an easy thing to do, but before the next week was past he was asked to pla^^ for the dance. He just loved that old violin and they always paid him well to play, and there came the temptation. It never occurred to him that he would have to give up that kind of a life, and so he said, "But I have put on Jesus Christ and I do not believe Christ would play for you; I guess I will not." Then they made fun of him and ridiculed him. The more they ridiculed him the greater came the temptation, but he refused. He said, "I will not play for vou any more." Then he sat down and tried to comfort himself by playing over the tunes all alone. The next week he started out to earn his living by hard toil. How hard it was for him to earn a living and work hard under the burning sun and come home with only a few pennies, when he could have earned the same amount in a few minutes at the dance! The temptation grew worse and worse. Shall I remain a true Christian or not? Shall I work hard all day and earn only a fcAv pennies and be a Cliristian, or play for these people to dance in their sin- ful dance in this country, and live at ease? The tempta- tation grew stronger. At last he said, "I see only one way to settle this," and he drew back his violin, hurled it on a rock, and smashed it to pieces! The temptation was gone. Kight there is the trouble with us. We want to play the old violin and keep it. Hurl it against the rock and be done with it! You men who are drinking just a SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 575 little bit and do not want to be drunkards, and still want to be good cliurch members, stay out of the saloon. Hurl the violin against the rock and you will be saved, and that is the only way. You who are trifling with this sin and that sin, and you know it — Oh, my friends, you know a thousand times better than I can tell you, what sins you have to contend with. There is only one way, and that is a total smash up of the thing that is tempting you. I used to think a good deal of the opinions of people, and would ask this man. What do you think about danc- ing? and the other man. What do you think about so and so? Do you know, I have gotten completely over that? I would not give one fig — to use a common expression — for the opinion of any man on earth that does not try to live exactly right, for I have discovered that every man on earth is molding his opinions by his own sins. Live right. Serve God. Fight temptation. Take the old Adam and bury him. Remember your baptismal covenant. Re- member that you are in Jesus Christ, and aim to live higher every day, and your opinion is worth something and until you reach that stage of life it isn't worth anything. Men's opinions are not molded by brain; they are not molded by education as far as secular education is concerned; the only opinion worth anything is the one molded by the heart buried into Christ. There is a beautiful chapter, I think the 47th of Ezek- iel, in which the great prophet sees a little stream starting out from under the East gate and going out a thousand cubits ; he tries to wade through and it is just ankle deep ; he goes another thousand cubits and it is knee deep; another thousand cubits and the waters then reach up to the loins; another thousand cubits, he tries to wade in and cannot; it is a deep river, too wide for him to swim, too deep to wade, and so he comes back to his God, and finds out that there are trees on both sides of that river for the healing of all nations, and that this river is the river of life. It is a prophecy of Holy Baptism. Some people cannot see anything in baptism but just a little form and just a little water, and they say. Oh, that is only ankle deep. Then they begin to study the subject a 576 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. little more, and they discover it reaches to their knees. Then they study it a little more, and they find it does reach to the loins. Then they go on and study it more and more, and they say, Oh, it is a deep river! I believe it was King Ludwig, of France, who said, "I believe three handsful of water are worth more than all my kingdom'' — referring to baptism. "For," said he, "my kingdom is only France, but when I was baptized with three handsful of water, I received the kingdom of heaven!" When Superintendent Weller got so despondent and so melancholy that all the pastors of the city could give him no comfort, they sent for Luther. Luther went to the superintendent and tried to comfort him with one verse after another, but the poor man lay there so despondent that like a worm in the dust he could not get any comfort. At last Dr. Luther said to him: "Weller, I w^ant you to stop this nonsense. Are you not baptized?" And in that moment, like a flash of lightning, Weller received light. Of course he is baptized, and bap- tized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, into Christ's death and resurrection; why should he be un- happy? why melancholy? Why not remember it is a good thing to be a child of God, and cheer up? There is a won- derful power in baptism. Consider your baptismal cov- enant. The more you think it over the more you will find that one of the greatest acts of God in the history of the world, after Jesus had died to save us, was to apply that redemption by the means of grace. One great trouble in the present day is that many people know nothing about the means of grace. They want to build a house, but they do not want to know any- thing about stone or lumber; they want to build a ship, but they do not want to. know anything about the vessel ; they want to cross the ocean, but do not want to know any- thing about the boat; they want to do things, but they want to do them their own way. God has His way to save souls, and His way is to give us the Word and the holy sacraments, and it is our duty to be true to them; and when in those holy sacraments He pours out a blessing, SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 577 it is our duty to receive it. Grod help you not to serve sin, but the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Amen. PRAYER. Lord our heavenly Father, we thank Thee for the message of the hour. We thank Thee for Thy wonderful grace and love that has saved us, saved us through the Lord Jesus Christ, buried us into His death and into His resurrection b}^ holy baptism. O God, we thank Thee for that covenant which adopts us, and for the wonderful promise : He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. If there is one in this house this evening, heavenly Father, not baptized, old or young, help that one to come to Thee this day yet. O Father in heaven, do Thou help that we may obey Thy command and accept Thy promise, and live in the great Gospel. Father in heaven, help us this day to sever our connection entirely with the old Adam, drown him completely, and try to live wholly and solely for Thy glory, and at last when our final hour has come, O Father in heaven, take us home to Thee, and on this journey do Thou help us constantly to pray Thy prayer which Thou hast taught us: Our Father who art in heaven; Hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven; Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for- give those who trespass against us ; And lead us not into temptation ; But deliver us from evil; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. 37 SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. The Manner of Men. Rom. 6:19-23. 1 SPEAK after the manner of men because of the intirmity of your flesh : for as ye have yielded your members servants to unclean- ness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your mem- bers servants to righteousness unto holiness. For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death ; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Thy Word is truth. Amen. Beloved in Christ: ^ We should thank our God for those people who have been so fortunate as to be Christians all their lives. Happy is he who was reared in a Christian family, bap- tized as soon as he was born, taught to pray when he first could say, "Abba" and never knew the day when he did not love his Lord and believe in his God. And yet, my friends, there are many people in this world who are good Christians, although not reared that way, and we ought to thank God doubly for those who were almost eternally lost and now are saved. The apostle Paul thanks God for something that might surprise some people. In the 17th verse he says : But God be thanked that ye were the serv- ants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Paul was thankful for those people that always had been Christians from their infancy, but he was doubly thankful for those that 578 SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 579 had almost gone astray entirely, and then were brought back by the Gospel to their Savior Jesus Christ. My friends, the question this evening is not, What have you been? but, What are you? And while we should feel very thankful for those who have never made a mistake in life, we should feel doubly thankful for those who did make a mistake- and have been regained by the Master. I wish to dwell a few moments on the thought: THE MANNER OF MEN. I. "I speak after the manner of men, because of the infirmity of your flesh." As I look through this epistle I find that the manner of men is, first, to be servants; all men are servants. The lost are servants of Satan and the saved are servants of God. "For as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and unto iniquity, even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. But now being free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. These words clearly show us that it is the manner of men to be servants. 1. Every lost man is a servant of Satan, and he not only serves Satan, but he serves him with all his members. It is a hard thing for some men to understand that they not only sin when they are lost, but that they do nothing else but sin. There is one word that we use very fre- quently in our prayers, namely, we ask God to forgive us our shortcomings. What an apology for sin! Where do you read in the Word of God that men asked God to for- give their shortcomings? A sin is a sin and nothing else. When a man becomes a servant of the devil he serves him with all his members and does nothing else. You say, I cannot understand that? You cannot understand why an act is not good, no difference who does it? It is not my purpose to explain everything to you that Paul says, but it is enough for me to say. Thus saith the Lord. God tells us distinctly, Whatever is not of faith, is sin. What- soever covers everything, and when you have faith in God you are not lost, and when you have not faith in God, you 580 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. are lost. And when you have no faith in God, no differ- ence what you do, you are sinning, for you are robbing God of His glory, even when you think you are doing good ; you take the glory to yourself instead of giving it to the Master. It is absolutely impossible for a lost man to serve his God until he is saved. Not only is it true that he serves the devil, but he serves him with every bone in his body, with every mem- ber of his body. The lost man serves the devil with his ears. He hears in order to serve the devil. He looks with his eyes and serves the devil with them. He serves the devil with his hands ; he serves the devil with his feet ; he serves the devil with every part of his body ; every member. '^I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh; for as ye have yielded your members serv- ants to uncleanness and iniquity unto iniquity." The real truth is there is nothing in this world so precious as seed. When you go to the harvest field it isn't the straw that is made precious, it is the wheat; and just so in the human race; it is not this or that member of the body that you see externally that is made precious. The sub- ject is almost too delicate to mention in public, but the whole epistle of Paul dwells upon the fact, and I would not be His true servant if I did not say that those very parts of the body that are used for the multiplying of the human race, are the very ones that children of the devil are abusing and using for the service of Satan. Every member of the body a lost man is using as a servant of Satan; not only goes on and abuses those members him- self, but tries his very best to teach others how to sin — servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity. As the first sin of Eve did not rest with her, but led Adam to sin, and then led her and Adam to sin through her children, and kept on multiplying until you and I tonight are suffering on account of the first sin in the world, so the lost soul is not satisfied to use every member serving Satan, but is trying to educate others. Do you know of a single lost man on earth who is keeping his sin all to himself? Even the most secret sins in the world are used to educate others. And thus the lost servant of the devil SP:VENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 581 goes on out and becomes an instructor, and the sins mul- tiply, not only in his own body, but they multiply in the bodies of others. The father plants his very sin into his children, and helps to teach others in the neighborhood to live as he lived. Every one of you sitting before me tonight is a teacher and you not only are teach- ers, but lost man, you are teaching everybody around you to be lost. If you are a lost father in the home, you are by your very life saying. My wife, you ought to be a lost Avoman; My children, you ought to walk in my footsteps, for I am your father and teacher. You are saying to every neighbor that goes to church. You are a fool. You are saying to every man that loves his Bible, You are a fool. You are saying to every one who is trying to lead a righteous life. Why do you not do as I do? You are saying to every friend of yours. Follow me. Multiplying iniquity unto iniquity. Oh, the awful- ness of serving Satan I And not only serving him with all your members, but all your powers. All men are servants. A saved man is a servant of God. The apostle Paul is trying to show the Eomans the importance of remiering to God as important a service now as they one time rendered to the devil. In other words, conversion means to turn around. Now, said he to the Romans, as you gave your feet and your hands and your whole body, every member, to serve Satan in the flesh; as you went on teaching others how to sin, now I ask you in the name of God to turn around and serve God. Even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness; for when ye were the servants of sin ye were free from righteousness. The argument is, when you were serving the devil, you didn't care at all to serve God; now since you have come to serve God, you must not care at all to serve the devil. As you served Satan before, you must now serve God. Instead of having those feet walk upon the paths that lead to death and destruction, bring those feet on the narrow path to heaven. Before this you used your hands to help Satan with his kingdom ; now you are to toil with your hands for the glory of the Mas- ter. Before you used your brain, and tongue, your eyes 582 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. and your ears to help along the things that were wrong ; now use those members for right. As formerly you abused the very privileges that God gave you as a man or a woman, now I want you to bring into the world men of God, and those that shall work for the kingdom of heaven. In other words, turn around, a total servant of the Master as you once served the devil. Not only are the servants of God to serve Him with all their members, but they are commanded to serve him with all their might. "Even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness." As formerly you went from iniquity unto iniquity, now I want you to go from righteousness unto holiness, a step higher every day. In other words, Christianity is a growth. We fre- quently hear men say that on such and such a day they were converted instantaneously; before that they were children of the devil, and all at once became children of God, and so churches after churches have been dumb enough to ask a man of this kind to get up and preach; and what nonsense they preached! A man does not come from a child of the devil in one moment, and be a full- grown Christian the next. I do not care whether a man is fifty years old or twenty-five, as soon as he becomes a child of God he is a babe, and it is necessary for that babe to grow. Paul says of old Christians that they are babes, and need milk, and when they have grown up he will give them meat. In order to preach the Gospel of Christ, Jesus took His disciples, who were men, and taught them three years, and even then they were not fitted to preach the Gospel until after Pentecost. In these days we think we are so smart that we can in a few weeks time be ministers of the Gospel. I say the Lord our God com- mands us now to pray and to serve Him with our raem- hers and with our might, just the same as we formerly were servants of Satan. II. A second thought that lies in the manner of men is that all are ashamed. "What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.'' These men are now ashamed; formerly they were SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 583 ashamed of something else. Every man on earth is ashamed of sometliing. I do not know any better way to illustrate the shame of all men than simply to call atten- tion to the little parable of the Prodigal Son. All manner of men are ashamed. The lost men are ashamed as the prodigal son Avhen he came home. Let us look for a moment at the prodigal son. He had a beautiful home; a good father ; a good and kind brother ; plenty of money ; everything that a young man could ask for. But all at once he felt ashamed of father, ashamed of his brother, ashamed to be called a farmer's son, and he asked his father to give him his own; and then he started away from home, and when he walked along down the highway and met young men and fell in with them; they said, "Do you belong up here on the farm?" "Oh, no; no, sir. I have left home for good.'' They said, "Come on, let us have a good time," and just as long as the young man had plenty of money he had plenty of company. You always find that where you have got money, you have got friends. It was not long until they sought other company. They sought women who were not good Christian women, but the worst women they could find. And then those women said, "You belong up here in the country, do you?" "Oh, no, I have left home for good." "I suppose you are one of those clod-hoppers who used to plow?" "No, sir; I am a gentleman, now. I have left home. I am ashamed of father and mother, and of brother, and of the whole home community. I have come down here to have a time." And then they had a time. He was not ashamed of the life he was living, but when his money was all gone, his young friends said, "Now. goodbye! We are done with you." And then he was still as hungry as he was before, satisfied, up at his father's table. He went out and asked a farmer for work. He said, "Go over and herd those swine" — but he hadn't anything to eat except the corn, and when the corn was thrown to the swine the poor hungry boy at last man- aged to get hold of an ear of corn. That prodigal son was ashamed of home — and there you have a picture of the lost man. You ask a lost man to read his Bible and he is 584 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. ashamed of that ; ask him to lead in prayer, Oh ! how he is ashamed of that. Ask hiDi to have a good Christian home, — Oh, no. Ask him to go to church — Oh, no, he is ashamed of that. Ask him to worship Jesus Christ — Oh, no; he would rather curse in the name of Christ than pray in His name. Ask him to do anything good and holy, and he will look at you. He is ashamed of that. " Ashamed of Jesus ! Ashamed of the greatest character that ever w^as in the world or ever will come. Ashamed of the hands that did nothing but bless. Ashamed of the feet that walked in the paths of righteousness. Ashamed of the best things that are manly, for you must all admit that the Word of God is the best Book in the world. You must all admit that the man that will pray to God in heaven is manly. You must admit that the man that tries to educate hia children aright at home is the right kind of a father. But the lost man is ashamed of everything that he ought not to be ashamed of, and is actually not ashamed of the very things he ought to be ashamed of; but he is ashamed, nevertheless. How about the righteous man? How about the saved man? Is he ashamed of anything? Yes, he too, is ashamed. Let us go back to the prodigal son again. He came to himself. O God, that every man in Mansfield tonight might come to himself! There are hundreds and thousands that are going down the path to destruction that simply have not come to themselves. They never think. This poor man, when he tried to get an ear of corn away from the swine, and it ran off, and he could not even have what the pigs at home had, came to himself. There is a time when the lost man will come to himself — if not in this world, on the judgment day. That rich man in hell came to himself. He said to Abraham : "Send Lazarus, that he tell my five brothers not to come into this place of torment," but it was too late. The prodigal came to himself and then began to compare that home of the swine with the home of his father. He began to compare the farmer, that drove him to the swine feed, with his father, standing up on yonder hill, with a broken heart, looking for his son to come home. He began to compare this filth SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 585 and dirt with the white table at home. He came to him- self. And then he said to himself, "Now, I am thoroughly ashamed of myself; I am ashamed of the fact that I, who was born of a pure mother, lived with those filthy harlots; I am ashamed of myself, that I walked away from that dear home and from that elder brother; I am not fit to sleep in the same bed with him any more; not fit to dwell under the same roof an}^ more; not fit to go home and touch my brother's garments any more; I am a good-for- nothing man; I will go home, and I will say to father; "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee!'' And all this time the father was looking out for the son to come home; and when he saw him in the distance the father's heart ran out ; he did not give the boy time to say anything ; he threw his loving arms around him and kissed him. Kill the fatted calf! Bring the ring! Call out the friends and let us eat and rejoice, for the lost is found! The lost is found! And from that day on this prodigal was ashamed — not ashamed of father any more ; not ashamed of mother any more; not ashamed of home any more, but ashamed of himself, and ashamed of the life that he lived. Oh, that poor, broken-hearted boy! I can hear his brother saying to him after that, "Tell me all about your travels." "Oh, brother, don't say anything about it ; I am ashamed of it." I can hear his enemy say, "Aha! Where is your farm? Haven't you got any ? What kind of girls were those I saw you with?" "Oh, don't mention it. I am ashamed! Oh, father, I don't see what 1 meant to leave home as I did!" And as you sit before me tonight and remember the day when you were lost, remember what you did; how you went away from the Father ; how, baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, you started away and said. Now then, I shall have a good time. Farewell, brother. Farewell, mother. Farewell, father; I am going to live a life of sin. But God, with His broken heart, was following you, threw His arms of love around you, and brought you back; pressed you to His bosom and forgave you. And now some one says. Tell us all about it; and you will not do it, because you are ashamed of it. Oh, don't tell it! We 586 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. don't want to know it. It is the manner of men. We have all got something to be ashamed of. The lost are ashamed of everything right and good. The saved are ashamed of everything they ever did that was wrong. III. Notice, too, it is the manner of men to become reapers. *'What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end ever- lasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.^' We are told in another place that there are only two ways. There is a narrow way that leads to heaven and a broad way that leads to destruction. There is a way for the lost and a way for the saved, and he that goes the way of the saved shall reap everlasting life; and he that goes the way of the lost must reap eternal death. And so you see we are going to become reapers, and there is no question at all about the fact that you are going to reap what you sow. WLatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Oh, how strange it is that in this intelligent age, men with -over forty ounces of brain imagine that they can sow hell all their lives and reap heaven! Men think they can sow a life of sin and come home to the Father; they have sense enough to know^ that when they plant cabbage in their gardens they don't expect flowers ; they have sense enough to know that when they sow wheat on their farms they do not expect to reap corn ; or that ivhen they plant pota- toes they don't expect to reap wheat ; and they know that when they sow weeds, or sow nothing, they Avill reap weeds ; but it does seem that in the moral field, thousands of people think they can serve the devil all their lives, and sow death and damnation everywhere, and in the end reap heaven. It is not so. There are many pulpits from wliich you never hear the Avord hell any more, although the Bible is full of it. Many ministers of the Gospel never warn their people at all any more. There are many so-called wise men who scorn the idea of an eternal punishment, but if there is no hell, the Bible is the worst Book that ever came into the world; it is a Book full of lies, and it is SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 587 time we are tearing our churches down, and stop paying the ministers Avhose hearts are full of hypocrisy. I say to you, Thus saith the Lord, there is a short path to live, and on that path you are sowing either seeds of kindness and goodness, and holiness, and righteousness, or you are sow- ing death and destruction, and you are seven days nearer to the end of that path than you were last Sunday, and before another Sunday shall have come, some who are sit- ting before me tonight may reach the end ; and when you reach the end of the lost, mark you! God does not damn a man, but He lets him have his wages — for the wages of sin is death ; and just as sure as you are going on the path of the lost and will not come to the Savior and be saved, you will reap your harvest. Don't tell me that Christ will damn you on the Judgment day. He will not do it. The truth of God's Word is that unless you have been saved, you are lost. Christ did not come into the world to damn anybody. The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. You are lost until you are saved, and the question is, are you sowing on the field in which you were born, or are you sowing on the field in which you were regenerated? Have you been born again? Have you accepted Christ? Are you living in Him? Are you walking in Him? Are you serving Him? On the other hand, if you are a true child of God, you are not going to get 3^our wages; you are going to get something that no human work can ever earn. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The servant of hell works for wages, and gets them, and it is eternal death. The servant of God works in thanks- giving, and he receives the gift of eternal life, the gift of grace. Christ is the Savior of the world and all things His are ours; so that He is heir and we are joint-heirs with Christ. In conclusion, I close as I began. The question to- night is not at all, what you have been? God knows we- have all been mean enough. That is not the question. The question tonight is not. What have you done? We- don't want to hear the story. God knows it. But there is a question tonight that we ought to answer. On what 588 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. path are we now? Whom are we serving tonight? That sermon is not worth hearing that does not make every hearer determine to go out of the house of God to live a better life ; and that sermon is not worth hearing that does not show a man that is lost how to be saved; and if these should be the last words that I ever speak, I would say, acknowledge yourself by nature a poor, lost, condemned sinner; accept Jesus Christ as the only Savior of the world ; put your full trust in Him ; be baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost; put on Christ; sow righteousness, and be faithful until death, and receive the crown of eternal life. This is salvation. He that be- lieveth and is baptized shall be saved. Thus saith the Lord. Amen. PRAYER. O God, our heavenly Father, we have learned tonight something of the manner of men. We have learned that all men are servants ; that every lost man is a servant of Satan; that every saved man must be a servant of God. We have learned, heavenly Father, that every lost man serves Satan with all his members and all his powers. We have learned that every saved man should serve God with all his members and with all his powers. We have learned, heavenly Father, that all men are ashamed of something; that the lost are ashamed of the things that are good and holy; that the saved are ashamed of the bad lives they lived before they were saved. Father in heaven, we have learned that all are reapers, and the time is not far off for some of us to reap the harvest. O God, what have we sown today? We pray Thee to help us now to sow Thy truth into our own hearts and into the hearts of all who hear us, and may we live and so teach that every member from the crown of our heads to the souls of our feet shall be in the service of the Master, for His great glory ; not for wages, but for the gift of eternal life. Hear this our prayer : We ask it in Jesus' name, who taught us to pray: Our Father who art in heaven; Hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come ; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven ; Give us this day our daily bread ; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for- give those who trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation; But deliver us from evil ; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. EIGHTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. The Spirit of Adoption. Rom. 8:12-17. €HEREFORE, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh ye shall die ; but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God and joint- heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Thy Word is truth. Amen. Beloved in Chi^ist: The great German theologian and writer, Scriver, pronounced this chapter the golden chapter of the Bible. This chapter has made such a wonderful impression on some men that in Europe it is the custom before a man dies to read this chapter for the last one in his hearing before he passes into eternity. In this golden chapter, our text is the golden link that is most valuable. For the first time in this great letter to the Romans, we are called the sons of God, "not because we are debtors to the flesh, but because we are adopted by the Holy Spirit. In this chapter we are shown what it means to have peace with God, and what it means not to have condemnation resting upon us. Let me in all brevity this evening call your attention to THE SPIRIT OF ADOPTION. I. It is the Spirit of God. II. It should be the spirit of every Christian. 589 590 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. I. The spirit of adoption is the Spirit of God. "For as many as are lead by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." The spirit of adoption then is, in the first place, the Spirit of God. In order that I may make this lesson plain, let me remind you again of the fact that God has only one Son, and that one Son is Jesus Christ, the God-man, the King of kings and Lord of lords. Eemember that you and I could never be called the sons of God were it not by adop- tion. God so loved the world that He gave His only be- gotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. It is well for us to keep this in mind, because many think that we are the sons of God because He created us. You are no more a son of God by creation than an ox or a sheep is. They, too, are cre- ated. Man is not the son of God by creation, but he is a son of God by adoption. Another thought we must not forget in thii; connec- tion is this, that the w^orld has always been, from the day of sin to this time, full of orphans. In other words, the human race has by nature been a race of orphans. When Adam was created in the image of God he was His son ; when Eve was created from the bosom of Adam, she was a real daughter of God. When these two parents sinned and their children were born, they were born orphans — spiritual orphans — and from that day to this, every man has been born in the likeness of his father, and conse- quently, is born in sin, and must be born again before he can see or enter the kingdom of heaven. If now you will picture the whole world before you as a Avorld of orphans, and Jesus Clirist the only Son of God, you will get a bet- ter idea of the text when Paul says that by this Spirit we are adopted as children of God. It is the will of our heavenly Father, who has but one begotten Son, that all these orphans shall be adopted. It is not the will of God that any man should be lost. As I just quoted a moment ago, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth EIGHTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 591 in Him shall not perisli, but have everlasting life. Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And have you forgotten the parable where He sent out the invitation in the morning, and at nine o'clock, and at noon, and at three o'clock, and the eleventh hour, that all might come? It is not the will of God that any man should perish. When the Lord our God wishes to adopt children through the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Holy Spirit, the first thing He wants to do with these little children is to teach them to talk. "Whereby we cry, Abba, Father." That word Abba used to seem to me like children's play, and it is a beautiful childish word. It is the w^ord that sounds much like the word you uttered when first you said papa, mamma; and did you ever stop to think that word Abba, can be pronounced long before the word father? But do you suppose you could say father without putting your tongue to your teeth? Try it once. How can a little babe say father, when it has no teeth? The Holy Spirit wants to take us, like a mother w^ould take a little babe, and touch its lips, and say, Now speak; and uncon- sciously the first thing is said with the lips and not with the teeth, mamma — papa. And so the Holy Spirit says, I will adopt you, dear child, and I want you to begin to talk to Me, and talk to the Father, and talk to the Son; but Ave will not wait until you are old enough to put your tongue to your teeth, but begin moving your lips, and say, i^bba ; and when you have said Abba a w^hile, then we will expect you to say, Father; and after you have said Father, then we want you to say. Our Father, who art in heaven. Oh, the beautiful teaching of the Holy Spirit when He adopts you ! He does not expect you to be a deaf mute ; He does not expect you to go through the world beginning by praying like an old saint, nor to keep your lips for- ever closed. A child of God must pray. It is the vital breath. You cannot live without breathing; you cannot live the spiritual life without at least beginning to move your lips and say Abba, if you cannot say Father. And when the Holy Spirit has adopted you, and has taught you to say Abba, Father, then the next thing He 592 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. does is to teach you how to walk. "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." Every man is led. Every man has his master. We often hear men proudly say, I am my own boss ; but no man on earth is his own master. Every man on earth is serving God or Satan. Every man is paying a price to his master. I have heard men say, I would belong to the church of God, but I cannot afford it. The very men that cannot afford to pay to keep up the church of God, are the men spending hundreds of dollars every year for the devil and devilish things. No man on earth is his own. No man can get rid of the fact he has got to be led. Who is your leader? The Holy Spirit the moment He adopts you, says, I will lead you, and w^hen I lead you, I will lead you as a child of God. Have you ever seen a mother teach the little babe to walk, — how at first she takes the little babe and says. Stand up; and then the little child places its hands in mother^s hands, and she begins to pull her hands away from the child, and the little child follows, and takes its awkw^ard first step. Then after a while it can w^alk a few steps alone, and mother will set it down again and walk away and say. Little darling, come to mamma, and the child starts and runs, and before it falls it reaches the mother's hand again; and thus it keeps on, from the awkward step to the run, and it will not be long until it runs across the room itself, and the w^hole family is happy because the child can walk. A little while longer and it crawls down over the step, and in a little while you see it running around in the yard. It was led by the mother to walk, that it might be mother's child. When the Holy Spirit takes us, when we are adopted, he says. Now that you can say Abba, and now that you can say Father, take My hand ; ask yourself the question. Where do I want yoil to go ; and I will lead you ; I will lead you to the house of God; I will lead you to the Word of God; I will lead you to the closet of prayer; I will lead you to those who can teach you the way and make it clear to you; 1 will lead you to the Savior, Jesus Christ, and through Him I will lead you to the Father, and I will help you to walk ; and after you can walk, then you must learn to bear your EIGHTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 593 burden, and bear the burdens of others; and thus learn the truth, For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. He not only teaches His children to talk and to walk, but when He adopts us. He furthermore assures us that we are His. ^-The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.'' Now and then we hear professed Christians say, I am not quite sure whether I am a Christian or not. What strange talk. Are you not sure whether your mother is your mother? Are you not sure whether your father is your father? I know there might be a few people in the world who are not exactly certain who their father is. Booker T. Washington does not know to-day who his father is, but Booker T. Washington is the exception. I will dare say every one in this house tonight knows positively who his father is and who his mother is, and why should you not know whether God is your Father or not? Why should you not know whether His Bride, the Bride of Christ, is your mother or not? Are you baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost? If so, do you believe in God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost? If you do, listen : He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Do you not know who your Father is? Do you not know who your mother is? He that is of God, heareth God's Words; ye therefore hear them not because ye are not of God. Do you love to hear God's Word? If so, you are a child of God. Do you not care to hear God's Word? If not, you are not a child of God. Are you glad you are baptized? If so, you are a child of God. Do you wish you were not baptized? Then you are not a child of God. Do you love God's truth? If so, you are a child of God. Do you hate God's truth? If so, you are not a child of God. Do you love to keep a clean con- science? If so, you are a child of God. Do you fight against a clear conscience? If you do, you are not a child of God. Is it your purpose to be faithful until death and receive the crown of eternal life? Then you are a child of God. Do you not care whether you are faithful or not? Then you are not a child of God. As many as are led by 38 594 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE, the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. The Spirit Itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God. So you see the dear Father in heaven wants you to positively know that you are His. When He adopts you, He not only takes you into His family and gives you bread to eat and clothing to wear, but He furthermore says, I want to make you an heir. "And if children, then heirs." The Apostle Paul goes link by link down the golden chain. He says, if God, our Father, adopts us by the Holy Spirit, that means that we should talk ; and if we learn to talk to Him, we ought to learn to walk Avith Him; and if we walk with Him, we ought to be His; and if we are His, we ought to be heirs. In other words, if we are adopted children of God, then He has got something in store for us which we have not yet. There is a wonderful difference in the home between the son and the servant. They both may plow the same field; both may drive teams of horses, one just as much as the other; both may do the same kind of day^s work; but when the year is up the servant receives his pay and goes away; the son may receive no money, and he may think it is better to be a servant than to be a son ; but that son forgets one thing; that son forgets that when he is working for father and mother, he is working for himself; and when father dies and the will is read and he finds out there that the son who complained against the servant receiving his pay, now becomes an heir to the farm, he discovers AA'hat he did not know before, that when he worked for father he worked for father's son; when he worked for mother he worked for mother's son ; and now he is an heir, and there is a wonderful difference between being an heir and being a servant. When we are adopted by the Holy Spirit we are to become heirs, and not only heirs, — but Oh, the wonderful love of God! — joint heirs with Jesus Christ. "And if children then heirs; heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together." In other words, when we are adopted God does not say. Now I have one Son, and that one Son is to get nearly everything, and the rest I will EIGHTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 595 divide among My adopted children. No, the wonderful love of God is this: He has but one Son, and tliat one Son is heir of all things, but that one Son so loved the world, that He gave Himself, His own life, that He might say to the poorest among you, I will adopt you ; and every adopted son shall be a full brother in Jesus Christ, and every adopted daugliter shall be a full sister in Jesus Christ ; and the will of God now is that we shall all, who are adopted, be joint heirs with the only Son of God. That, my friends, is the Spirit of adoption. II. This Spirit of adoption is not only the Spirit of God, but should be the spirit of the Christian. "For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear ; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." We have received that Spirit ! Oh, what a wonderful Spirit that is, the Spirit of adoption! You will notice that I only asked you to sing the first three stanzas of Hymn No. 249. Right at this point I want you to sing the fourth stanza, — that is, you who want to be adopted as God's children and who want the Spirit of adoption: (Congregation sing.) "To God I'm reconciled, His pardoning voice I hear : He owns me for His child, I can no longer fear; With confidence I now draw nigh, And, 'Father, Abba Father!' cry/' I take it for granted that all of you who sang this stanza would love to have the Spirit of adoption, and it is my purpose to show you this evening the wonderful difference between a professed Christianity and a true Christianity, as there is a wonderful difference between saying prayers and praying. Now let me give you another picture of life. Look at the homes of our country. It is not my intention to make this a very popular sermon here on earth, but I do hope to make it extremely popular in heaven. What I have to say in the next few moments will strike at every home in this city, at every home, I believe, in the Christian world. 596 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. How many homes are there that have the Spirit of adoption? See the homes of our country that have ab- solutely no children in them. There may be many of these that would love to have children and cannot. Like Han- nah of old, it may be that this very day their lips are mov- ing for God to give them a Samuel. May God answer their prayers! There are not only homes that have no children, but there are many that have only one and will have no more. May God have mercy on them ! I know^ the sayings that go around among the people. Many a w^oman has said that if Pastor Long just had one child he wouldn't say anything more about it. They are the same women that never had any more than one child, that say these things. How many homes there are that have only one or two and will absolutely have no more. How many small homes there are these days, and liow few there are that have the good old families that God asked for wiien He said. Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth! and He never re- voked that command. On the other hand, I wish to show you another picture. Look at the Childrens' Homes all over this country, and the Orphans' Homes. Where is the church today that has not got a home for little children who have no fathers nor mothers ; and where is the county and the State in this Christian land that does not make pro- visions for these little infants? Look at the cost of main- taining these homes by fraternal orders and churches and states, and the most of people seem to think that w^hen we have built a big house and placed a man and a woman there to feed and clothe these children, that we have done our dut}^ fully. Thanks be to God for the orphans' homes of our land ; but I am one of many others w^ho believe that if the Christian church w^ould do its full duty, there w^ould be absolutely no need wiiatever for any childrens' homes or any orphans' homes in this wide land. I do not believe that we as Christian people have the Spirit of adoption. I do not believe that we have received that Spirit of which God speaks in this verse : For ye have not received EIGHTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 597 the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." Keeping in mind now the homes that have no children, or only a few; keeping in mind the many poor little or- phans all over this world, let us notice that we as Chris- tian people should ask ourselves the question. Are we willing to adopt any child into our home as God the Holy Spirit adopted us? Are we willing? Oh, it is a nice thing to sit down and sing as we sang that we are adopted, but are we willing to adopt? This sermon hits the preacher just as hard as it does the pew. If any people in the world ought to live right, it ought to be in the parsonage. Suppose, to make this sermon practical this evening — and a sermon that is not practical is not worth anything — suppose I should go out on the street today and tind on some lonely step a child, as three children were found in the city of Columbus the past week, of which we do not know who is the mother or the father — suppose I should pick up that child and first of all walk right down to our own parsonage, in the presence of my wife and children and say: ^^Look here, I have found something. A little boy.'' "Who is the father?'' "I don't know." "Who is the mother?" "I do not know. Let's adopt it." "What is the matter with you, paija? Haven't we got four children yet? Haven't we had six? And you bring in this child and Avant to adopt it?" "Well," I say, "Look here, my dear family, God has adopted us when we were orphans, and He gave us the Spirit of adoption, and I believe we ought to keep His children." "We cannot do it. We have got children enough of our own. Take it to one of the neighbors." Well, then, I would start out and go from one family to the other in the Church Council. I go to the first man and say, ^^I want you to take it." "Oh, we cannot take it." I would go to the next, "We don't Avant it." I would go on around. Then I would go to all the families of the church and say, "Here is a babe. I want you to take it." "We cannot do it." "What will we do with this little babe?" "Take it to the Orphans' Home!" Is that the Sfjirit of adoption? But I am not done with that child yet. I come. back 598 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. home the second time and I say, "Look here. I have been to every family in the church and not one wants this babe. I liave found out where it came from. It is born of the meanest, lowest woman in town, and it is begotten by the worst old drunkard in the world. The child is a badly born child, and I have made up my mind that we had bet- ter adopt it." "Oh, holy horrors! You don't mean it?'' "Why yes, I do. I mean here is a little babe that has to be cared for.'' "But we have children." "Well, God had a Son, too, and He adopted us. That was His Spirit. He had a Son, a dear Son, and He adopted us all, and we were pretty badly born, too." "Well, but if this child had come from real good parents we wouldn't object, but this little badly born babe, Avith a bad mother and a bad father, how can we have that in the house?" "That is just what God did when He adopted us. We were so badly born we weren't fit to lie on the steps. He took us and adopted us. I guess we had better keep it." I can hear the children say to mamma, "I believe papa has lost his mind ; he is crazy!" I start out again to the Church Council and tell them about the babe. "W^on't you take it?"^ "No, sir! take it away." I go through the whole church. Not one will take it. Then I come home another time. I say, "This little babe has got to have a home, and that is not all. Dear wife and children, I have made up my mind that this little waif, badly born, has got to be brought into our home, and when I make my will, if I have a farm, it has to have its share; if any money in the bank, it must have its share." The children say, "Take the baby away! We don't want it!" And all the time this is the parsonage of the First Lutheran Church. It is just like every other parsonage over the city, and it is like the homes of our congregation. And so I go on. I find out if I want any peace in my own home, I have to walk out with the baby the third time and visit the Church Council and every family. They say, "We simply cannot have it, and we will not put anything in the will about it." I go to every member of the church, and then to those members that have no children at all. "Oh, horrors! We don't want EIGHTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 599 that thing." And we are the people who just sang the song about adoption. We are the people that have asked God to come and take us, take us, badly born as we are, take us and make us heirs and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ, but we wouldn't have the Spirit of adoption if God wanted to give it to us. I am not preaching this sermon to you alone. I am convinced that we preachers and people have not got to the depth of God's Word at all. I believe we are around on the surface of that Holy Word. I believe there are thousands of deep treasures in this Book we have never found yet, and if we had the Spirit of adoption as God wants us to have it, we would go out and say that just because this babe is badly born it needs a good home. In the name of common sense, is a babe badly born any better off iu a bad home than in a good one? That is the question. If we have received the Spirit of God, the Spirit of adoption, should we not have mercy on the poor, badly born little infants of this country, and put them in the best homes we can find and raise them for God's glory? My aim is to put you to thinking. Ask yourselves the question, after all are we not just playing hypocrite? Just along on the surface of God's eternal truth, and we cannot see the depth of it. We want the truth, and want to live up to it. What should we do if that babe were brought to our home and either had to be thrown out or adopted? What would you say if father and mother were to adopt another child to become heir with you in the dis- tribution of gifts? How many Christians are there in the world? Am I a Christian? That is the question. Is the minister of the Gospel a Christian? That is the ques- tion. May God help us to give ourselves a very close searching of heart this afternoon. Go to the depth of God's Word and pray to God, Oh God, give us the Spirit of adoption. Amen. PRAYER. Lord, our heavenly Father, Thou hast a great Son, an only Son, Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world; and that Son so loved the world that He laid His life down that all the orphans might be adopted and ibecome joint heirs with Him, and enjoy all His legacy forever and ever. 600 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. And, Father in heaven, it is Thy will that Thy Holy Spirit should give us, Thy children, the Spirit of adoption. O God, do Thou help us this evening to question ourselves very closely. Have we got that Spirit? Have we got that love for humanity that Thou hadst for us orphans? Are we as willing to make them heirs of what little we may possess, as we have been to become heirs of what Thy Son possessed. Lord God, we ask a special blessing this evening upon the newly born babes of our own church. Bless their dear mothers and fathers and the dear little children. We ask Thee to be with those families that have no children ; we ask Thee to be with the small families ; we ask Thee to be with the large families ; and may we who have the larger families be just as willing as those who have the smaller, to have another added, even if it is by adoption, to become a joint heir, and to show that we are not selfish but unselfish. O God, help that soon dear childreri may come into every home where there is only one, and rob that one of that selfishness which seems to feel that everything is mine — mine. We pray Thee that Thou wilt bless those families who have more children than one and where there are none, and help that there may come to those families those bright little faces that shall make the home heavenly. We ask Thee to be with us as a church and bless us and increase us in faith as well as in number, and may we, when our last hour comes, find ourselves heirs and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray : Our Father who art in heaven; Hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come ; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven ; Give us this day our daily bread ; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for- give those who trespass against us ; And lead us not into temptation ;. But dehver us from evil; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power,, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. NINTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Why So Many Fall. 1 Cor. 10 :6-13. '^^TOW these things were our examples, to the intent we should not I ^ lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idol- / ^ aters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples, and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Where- fore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man ; but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able ; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye' may Idc able to bear it. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth: Thy Word is truth. Amen. Beloved in Christ: The world is full of fallen people. Who are they that fall? Do I mean the heathen? How can a heathen who never w^as a Christian, fall from grace? Those who fall from grace are not heathen, but children of God. We are told in the beginning of this chapter that tliose who were delivered from Egypt and crossed the Red Sea, were all baptized by that sea, not immersed, but saved b^^ the dividing of the waters, walking across on dry land ; saved by the hand of God that led them over. Possibly you will understand the whole story better if I give you the Word of God verbatim: "Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under 601 • ' 602 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea ; and did all eat the same spiritual meat ; and did all drink the same spiritual drink ; for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them ; and that Eock was Christ. But with many of them God Avas not well pleased; for they were over- thrown in the wilderness." They fell. "Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted." Here is a story of six hun- dred thousand men who could bear arms, professed fol- lowers of the true and living God, who saw with their own eyes the mighty works of the almighty hand of God ; who saw that Avonderful cloud by day and fire by night; who were fed with manna which fell from heaven ; and with all these manifestations of the presence of the true and living God, their bones were scattered over the desert, and only two of the whole number ever reached the promised land. My friends, these things were written for our warning, for our admonition, in order that we might not fall; and show us : WHY so MANY FALL. May the Holy Spirit apply this sermon this evening to you individually. May you sit before me tonight as if you were the only person to whom I am speaking; and may I forget that I am a minister of the Gospel and not preach professionally, but may God help me to apply this sermon to my own soul. I. Many people fall because they do not try to stand. "Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written. The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play." Those people knew the true and living God. God put them on their feet and said. Now stand ; but they had not crossed the sea and gone very far until even within the sound of the thunderings of Sinai's lightnings and storms, in sight of the giving of the law to Moses, they said to Aaron, Give us gods as we had in Egypt ; and they made a golden calf and danced around the false god, in- stead of worshiping the true and living God. Why? Be- cause they did not try to stand. It was not a question NINTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 603 that day whether there is a true and living God or not; it was not a question that day at all whether these people had ever heard of the true and living God; it was not a question whether heathen fall; it was a question, will children of God stand, or will they not? and they said, No, we will not stand; we will dance around the golden calf because we love it, as we learned back there in Egypt. In other words, some people love idolatry a great deal better than the true and living God. And so would I, if I wanted to sin. I cannot sin with the true and living God before me, because He has eyes that see, and He has ears that hear; but when I want to do wrong. Oh, how nice it is to have a god made of stone. You can take your hatchet and hit him on the head; he does not know it. When I want to sin, how fine it is to have some unknown god somewhere that never gave his people a Bible; that never knows anything of a Judgment. And these very people who love idolatry better than the true and living God, are the very people who would rather sit down to a big feast and make a god of their bellies than to worship the true and living God. "The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play." How many professed Christians there are to-day who will go to any missionary society providing you have got some- thing to eat; they will go to any missionary society pro- viding there is something to drink; they will go to any €hurch gathering providing you can play fool; but how many people are there who will go to the missionary so- ciety for the sole purpose of learning what God is doing to save the souls of the world? How many people are there who go for the sole purpose of opening their pocket- books and giving money to send some man out to tell the poor lost world how to be saved? Why do men fall? Be- cause it is natural for the natural man to love idolatry and to hate the truth. They do not try to stand. This is not only true with regard to idolatry; it is just as true with regard to licentiousness. "Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.'^ Back in the garden of Eden when God made man. He wrote on his 604 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. heart, Thou shalt not commit adultery. In order that the people might not forget it, God gave the law to Moses over on yonder burning mt3untain, and wrote with His own finger on tables of stone, Thou shalt not commit adultery. And the people doAvn at the foot of the hill seemed to know what is coming. There was a reflection in their own hearts of what was going on on Mount Sinai, and they said. Come on, let us hurrj^ up; the law is coming; let us have a grand old time before that time; and twenty- three thous- and people committed fornication and were killed in a single day. Why? Because they did not want to stand. They did not try to stand. And why is it that so many professed Christians have the stain on their character that never can be blotted out, tho' God can forgive them? Because the only object they have hi all the world is just an opportunity, watching for a chance. The question with them is not at all, what is right or what is wrong; but, I would love to do wrong, where is the chance and I Avill do it; and they fall because they do not want to stand. There is another very common sin among people that makes men fall, and that is a rebellion against God and against His servants. "Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of ser- pents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also mur- mured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.'^ You who are acquainted with Bible history know these old stories. You know how the people were not satisfied with the manna that fell from heaven, and how they murmured against God and against Moses, and the apostle tells the Corinthians they murmured against Christ. When Moses struck that Eock, the people supposed, this is just a stone, but it was a type of Christ. That cloud of the wilder- ness some thought was just smoke or a cloud, but we are told in the Word of God it was Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is not only two thousand years old ; He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, yesterday, today, and forever; and as they did in the wilderness in those days, rebelled against Moses and rebelled against God, and were slain by the thousand, so that out of the six NINTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 605 hundred thousand men, the very desert was covered with the bleached bones of the men that fell because they wanted to fall, only two of them ever reached the promised land. Now, dear friends, let us not suppose in these days it is so much easier to be a Christian that it used to be. Hundreds of people in the Christian churches these days are living lives that they would not have pictured on the wall and have you to look at them for anything. How many of us would love to do that today? I ask the ques- tion, Why do so many people fall, and the first way that the devil wants people to fall is simply to get them into that mental condition that they do not care. II. Then there is a second reason for falling. The second class of people who fall so easily are those who think they must stand. "Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth tak^ heed lest he fall." The Apostle Paul recognized the fact that some people in the world think they must stand. There are certain classes of people who look back over their lives and make comparisons between themselves and others, and they cannot see that they have ever fallen like some people have, and consequently they draw the conclusion, I never can fall ; I must stand. Then again sometimes they have no sympathy whatever for those who have fallen; and then, in the third place, they draw the conclusion that just because they never have fallen, they can take part in certain questionable things that others cannot, because they must stand. BeT\'are of the man that grows proud in his spirit and thinks, I never fell and consequently never will fall. Did you ever stop to ask the question what would have be- come of you if you had been reared as some people have been ; if you had been thrown out into the world as some people have been thrown out? It is well enough for you and me to boast that we never fell, when we had parents who watched us day and night until we were fifteen years old, and prayed with us every day, and threw their arms 606 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. of love around us, and had our conscience brightened by sending us to the pastor and having us thoroughly cate- chized and instructed until our consciences were burning as briglit as the fires of Sinai. It is well enough for. you and me to boast that we never fell when we were put out into the very be«t families that could be found with a warning to those who were watching us to report at home how tlie boy is behaving. It is well enough for you and me to boast that we never fell when many a time we would have fallen if we had only had the opportunity; but God was careful to watch over us and protect us. It is easy enough for us to boast that we never fell when we are so homely that nobody in tlie world w^ould look at us. ,It is easy enough for us to boast that we never fell when no one ever tried to make us fall. My dear friends, let us not boast. There are thousands of ways and traps for us to fall, and let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. No sympathy for the fallen. You think be- cause David fell he was a Aveak man? There is not a stronger man in the world today than David was. Be- cause the Apostle Peter denied his Master, you say weak Peter. There isn't one man out of ten thousand that would not have denied his Master under the same cir- cumstances. You say fallen Judas, but, my friends, many a man today would be a Judas if he had the opportunity. Be careful that you do not lose sympathy for those that have fallen. Here is a young man with money in his pocket; no father or mother who are Christians ; thrown out into the world at the age of sixteen or eighteen; gone from the innocent country — and sometimes the country is not so innocent — to the city ; falls into bad company. A home- sick boy will make company Avith a dog; he will take up with any man; he will take up company with any woman. My dear friends, that young man tlirown out into the world as I have described, with lust burning with strong physical development, unless tlie mighty grace of God throws its arm around him, will fall. Your daughter, left without a mother's care, going away from home, treated illy by those that ought to lift her up, lonely and NINTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 607 lonesome, looking for company, wanting some kind word somewhere, will take up with the first man she sees in some way or other, and the more God has blessed her, the more Satan will try to overthrow her. Don't boast, my dear friends. When you think you are standing you will fall. And especially is this true when we once get the notion in our heads that we have stood so long that now we are safe, and we can do what others cannot do. Did you ever try to picture your whole life in some one else? The devil always makes us believe that whatever we do is right; that we are justified because it is tue; he always makes us believe that we have certain environments and certain circumstances that makes it all right in our case. Oh, if we could just see ourselves, as we would see others doing the same thing! My duty as a pastor and a minister of the Gospel is always to ask myself this question : What would I think of every minister of the Gospel in this world, if he did just exactly as I am doing? That is the only way I can see myself as I ought ; and the only way you can see yourself as you ought, is just to ask yourself the question. Now then if my brother, my neighbor, would do just exactly as I am doing, what would I think of him? The man that thinks he must stand is the man that gets the false idea that he can do what others cannot do and stand. Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall. My dear friends, if over five hundred and ninety- nine thousand people fell of the Israelites, there may a couple of hundred fall in this audience. Beware that you do not think you are standing and cannot fall. III. There is still a third class. There are many who fall because they think they cannot stand. "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the tempta- tion also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." Those that think they cannot stand are the ones who think that they have temptations such as the world has never had. How often a man thinks, Now my temptation is 608 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. an unusual one; there never was a man in all the world tempted as I am; and, going on that conclusion he says, well, I must fall. Paul writes down a sentence I wish you could all write down in your hearts and keep for- ever. "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man." Your temptation is mine, and mine is yours. We all have the same temptations, if not just of the same character, they are equal in their downing power. The next mistake we make sometimes is this, that we think our temptations have absolutely no limit, and that God is not helping us. Have you ever felt that Avay, that your temptation has got such control now that surely God has forsaken you, and it is impossible to try any more, I must yield? Paul writes again on your memory, never to forget it : "God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able." God never tempted you any more than you needed. If you are a mechanic and have made a machine of am^ kind, when it is done you test it, and if it isn't worth testing, it isn't worth having. When God in His love allows you to be tried and tested, and then you say, I cannot stand it, you are a worthless machine; you are not fit to live in this world. That is why so many people fall; they will not try to stand the test; they think they cannot, and consequently they think there is no use trying to escape. They think, what is the use? God gave me certain desires and I will fulfil them; if I have got a weakness it is not my fault ; it is inherited ; I will go and satisfy it; there is no use trying; I T\ill fall anyway, and so I will fall; I cannot stand. Paul says. Don't argue that way; that is the devil's arguiricnt. This same God who is faithful will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. Good news ! a way to escape ! and God will show you how. Now, my dear friends, in conclusion, let me see if I cannot show my c^oul and your soul how to escape in times of temptation. One of the very first things we must recognize in this world is this, that the greatest blessings lie right close to the greatest temptations. Show me a Savior and I NINTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 609 will show you a Satan tempting Him. Show me a Christ going over the Holy Land preaching the Gospel of salva- tion, and I will show you by His side the devil possessing men, women and children. Show me a great blessing in yourself and I will show you a great temptation right by the side of it. And that is why so many Christians fall. They think, well now, I am regenerated; I am a new creature, a child of God, and consequently there is no danger ; I will not fall ; I will stand. My dear friend, if you were not a child of God, what would be the use of the devil tlirowing you down? Just because you are a child of God comes the wrestle, and if nearly six hundred thousand men were overthrown in the wilderness, and that was an ensample for you, then, my dear friends, re- member that your great blessings lie right close to the greatest temptations. Let me illustrate what I mean : Over in Allen County a few years ago, I took dinner with a man. He sat by my side, and he said, "There is one thing in the world that I never allow myself to do, and I have never had any temp- tation to do if I said, "What is it?" He said, "I never dance; I never care anything about it." Then I looked at the man, and I saw he was not able to walk, because he was a cripple. I thought, Poor man, you could not dance if you Avanted to. And I thought to myself, if you were as nimble as I am, and enjoyed music as I do, and could hardly keep quiet when you hear music, you would say you have had the temptation to dance. I would rather dance than eat. Why? Because I love it. The blessing of a strong body, physically developed, and every nerve a string, will dance in the dark, if you give it a chance. A lady said to me one day, "I have got no use at all for that Miss So-and-so; she has made a woeful mistake in life and she had no business to fall ; I would not have fallen as she did." Tlien I looked at her old homely face and I said, "Well, you have got a reason for not falling; DO man ever looked at you„" She could not help it. I am not finding fault with her face. Oh, what a blessing it would have been for many a woman if she had had a 39 610 THE ETERx\AL EPISTLE. homely face! but don't tell me that a woman wdth a homely face and a bad pliysical development has got the same battle in life that another one has, the pride of the city. Close to her blessings in life lie the greatest tempta- tions. And unless we recognize these facts that I am giv- ing you this evening, we will fall. The way to escape is to recognize that the greater the temptation is, the greater the blessing must be. Satan's masterpiece means Christ by his side. A strong blow to knock a man down by Satan, means a mighty soldier of God if he does not fall. And that is the first step to escape temptation. Another way of escape is to pray without ceasing. An Indian who one time received a large package of to- bacco, after opening it found some money, and began to debate. Shall I keep the money or shall I not? And finally he made up his mind that he would take the tobacco back to the owner and give the money back to him. When he came the owner said to the Indian, "What made you bring the money back?'' "Why," said he, "I have got two men in me; when I first found the money, the one man said. Keep it; then the other man said. You have no right to it ; and they began to fight, and they fought day and night, and," he said, "one day I just settled the quarrel; I said, Here, you two men ; I am going to take that money back ; and they quit fighting." That was the way the Indian told the story that I want to tell you now. There is a God in heaven who has planted a conscience in our hearts and souls and that God has said. Pray without ceasing; and He has taught us to say. Lead us, not into temptation. And do you ask why so many people fall? Because they go into dangerous places and say. Lead me not into temp- tation. Their prayer is. Lead me not; let me go. The Christian prays. Lead me, not into temptation. Do you see the difference? And then the child of God that wants to escape doesn't pray in the morning. Lead me, not into temptation, and in the afternoon plunge into it. A man can pray right up to the point, within two minutes of the instant he falls. The mistake we make is that we do not pray when we are falling. NINTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 611 A third way to escape is for us to remember that the opportunities for doing good are a thousand times greater than the opportunities for doing evil. Why do men fall? Because they are making opportunities to fall. And when you find yourself laying a plan that means an opportunity to sin, right there is your chance to escape. Cut off the opportunity. It is a great deal easier to preach than to practice. We sometimes imagine that the places to do good in the world are only a few, and the chances to do evil are so many. It is not true. The devil has blinded us. The fact is, it is terribly hard to find a place to sin. It is terribly hard to sin. Oh, what a battle people will make to sin; and yet it may be that you can only find half a dozen places in the world that you can sin the sin that you want to sin, while you can find ten thousand times ten thousand places to do good. There is no other thing in all the Avorld that is driving so many people to destruction as this notion of having our bo^-s and girls these days do nothing until they are through High School. If our boys and girls were compelled to work hard, not only work, but work until they are so tired in the even- ing they would go to bed to sleep instead of running around over the streets at night and planning means to destroy others, our characters would be far better estab- lished. Then, my friends, make yourselves a thousand op- portunities to do good, and cut off the opportunities to do evil, and God has made a way for you to escape. And then let us not forget the history of the past. Our text tells us that this story of the Israelites is given us in the Bible as a warning, as an admonition, to us wbo are living in the last days of the world. My friends, have you not seen enough of what it means to fall, to \Aakr-n up? If six hundred thousand men, with the exception of two, fell, isn't it time that you and I are waking up? Little does the devil care if I preach the Gospel for fifty years if in the end he can make all those whom I led to Christ say, he fell. Tlie victory is then for hell. Let me urge upon you this morning to notice that David did fall, that Peter did fall, that Judas did fall, and that your 612 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. own relatives did fall, and unless you watch out you will fall. The last way of escape that I will give you this even- ing is to keep in mind day and night, Christ and Him crucified. You do not generally find that people sin very much around a corpse in the house; you do not find that they sin very much in a hospital where they hear the moan- ing and the groaning and suffering; and if you will re- member Jesus on the cross crying out, "My God ! My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" and remember that He is doing this for the fallen that they might stand and not fall; Oh, my friends, if you will make up your minds to do what sinning you do up on Calvary's hill, under the bleeding gore of your Savior ; if you will keep before your eyes day and night Jesus dying for the very sins you are thinking of committing, the way to escape the temptation will appear and you will be free. May God bless these words this evening to our souls' eternal good. May He help us to grow in grace, and to pray as we never did pray before, for purity of heart, for purity of life, that we may spend eternity in the presence of those who knew they could not stand by their own power, and kne^\' that they could not fall when they held tightly to the hand of Jesus. Amen. PRAYER. Lord our God, we thank Thee for the plain message of the even- ing, and we do thank Thee that we know we physically stand before Thee now, but that Thou hast given us a message which will help us to stand spiritually to the end of life if we will listen to this voice and obey it. O God, do Thou bless this congregation, and all our congre- gations. Give us faithful pastors, fearless pastors. Give us men of God who proclaim the truth as it is in Thy Word. We ask Thee to go with us through this night. Bless us in our going out and coming in. Feed our souls on the bread of life, and O God, help that all of us may reach the Canaan of eternal rest; and on our way let us pray as Thou hast taught us : Our Father who art in heaven ; H'allowed be Thy name ; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven; Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for- give those who trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation; But deliver us from evil; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. TENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Inexcusable Ignorance. 1 Cor. 12:1-11. ■^LTOW concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you I ^1 ignorant. Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto y these dumb idols, even as ye were led. Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed : and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits ; to another divers kinds of tongues ; to another the interpretation of tongues : But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Thy Word is truth. Amen. Dearly Beloved: The Corinthians were not an ignorant people, but noted for their intelligence. Paul says in the beginning of this letter: "I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ, that in everything ye are enriched by Him, in all utter- ance, and in all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you : so that ye come behind in no gift." But, like many intelligent people, they were full of con- tentions. They depended so much on their natural gifts that they hindered their spiritual growth. They went to church more to hear an eloquent preacher than to serve 613 614 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. Christ. They made a human feast of the Holy Supper. They were inexcusably ignorant with all their natural gifts. Paul insists upon a better state of conditions in the church. The first verse is the trumpet sound for liberty : "I would not have you ignorant.'' Again he says : "I give you to understand." He knows that they should and could know better — that they are guilty of INEXCUSABLE IGNORANCE. I. It is inexcusable ignorance not to knoio one^s self. Adam and Eve were created in God's image and were good and holy. Satan, that proud angel, rebelled against God, and caused our first parents to sin, and that sin caused spiritual death, and the wages of that sin was bodily death, and ever since this world has been a double grave- yard — death for the soul and death for the body. There is no excuse for any one to be ignorant of this truth in a land of Bibles and Christian churches. Nor is there any excuse for our not knowing that our forefathers were heathen. "Ye know that ye were Gen- tiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led." These Corinthians knew that Paul had first preached the Gospel in Europe, and that Lydia was the first Christian, and that IMacedonia had sent the mission- ary to them to preach Christ crucified to them. They could point to the false gods all around them which they themselves had worshipped. They could point to living parents and friends who carried and led them to idol wor- ship. They had just come from the blackness of darkness to the brightness- of light — the Light of the world. There was absolutely no excuse for them not to know what their fathers were, and there is no excuse for us not to know who our forefathers were. There are historical marks all over Europe today where our forefathers worshipped idols, and there are rocks and knives of stone to show where and how they cut off human heads to appease their gods. Had it not been for the missionaries who came to our fore- fathers with the Gospel, we would all be heathen today — TENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY, 615 possibly offered already as a sacrifice to some unknown • god. Know thyself. Know that you were born of sinful flesh. "That which is born of flesh is flesh," said Jesus. We may not like to hear it, but we are all born heathen. "Ye must be born again." Jesus knows us. Read the third chapter of John and know yourselves. II. In the next place it is inexcusable ignorance not to know who the true and living God is. God hath given us brain to think. A thinker knows that God could make Himself known. The book of nature tells us plainly that God is almighty, wise, and good. Creation forces us to acknowledge a Creator. The maker is always greater than the thing made. Knabenshue has just sailed around the capitol of this state with his air- ship. The air-ship was in the mind of Knabenshue be- fore it sailed in the air. The inventor is greater than the invention. Thus God, the Creator, is greater than crea- tion, and we know that He could make Himself known. And just because He could, God would make Himself known. It was absolutely necessary for the King of kings and the Lord of lords to make Himself known to His sub- jects. Creation demands a Revelation. This leads me now to the third link of the chain of a sane mind : God has made Himself known. "Wherefore I give you to understand that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed; and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." The born heathen does not make himself a Christian. The true and living God revealed Himself as Father, Son and Holy Ghost in His Word. We find Him in the first two verses of the Bible. God, the Elohim, Hebrew plural form of God, made the heavens and the earth, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. This Triune God said : Le us make man in our image. The angels praised this Tri- une God by singing three times : Holy, holy, holy. Aaron was commanded to say Lord three times in pronouncing the blessing. We were baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. We have just confessed our faith in Him ; and when we were confirmed we vowed to be faithful 616 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. to Him till death. It would seeln from all this that there ought to be no question in this enlightened age about who God is, and yet there are Christians, yea, even ministers of the Gospel, who are uniting in worship with Jews and Gentiles, who ignorantly deny our Savior and simply acknowledge what every Hottentot knows, that there is a Supreme Being. Satan never denied that there is a Su- preme Being. Such ignorance among a so-called Christian people is inexcusable in this enlightened age. Christians should surely know the true and living God and take no part in devil-worship. III. This leads me to say that it is inexcusable igno- rance not to know the true source of all spiritual gifts. "Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant." And what was the ignorance of those Corinthians? They did not seem to know that spiritual gifts were the gifts of the Holy Spirit. They did not seem to know that the Holy Spirit divided His gifts, and they did not seem to know that God operates His gifts in man. We cannot be Christians unless we cling to Christ and accept Him as our Savior and Lord ; but this we can- not do except by the Holy Spirit. We can say Jesus, as the ungodly do, by the power of Satan, but we cannot "say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." When Jesus is our Lord then we are His subjects and obey Him. The gift to believe in Jesus belongs to the Holy Spirit. "I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him, but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith." — Luther's Catechism. It is inexcusable ignorance to think that any one of us possesses all of the Holy Spirit's gifts. To one is given special wisdom in spiritual matters. To one is given special knowledge of His Word. To another is given a heroic faith to do what others would consider impossible. To another is given a special power to direct all the sick to God as the healer. To another is given a special gift to translate the Bible into many languages, but when the TENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 617 Holy Spirit divides these gifts among His children, He does not let go of them — they are still His. He keeps His hand on His gifts in man. We may die but His gifts live on. We are to use His gifts, but He uses us to operate them. We must remain humble and give Him all the glory. Let me repeat the last sentence, for it is the key to this text. We must remain humble and give God all the glory. "Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diver- sities of operations, but it is the same God .which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom ; to another the word of knowl- edge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Sj)irit; lo another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues ; to anotlier the interpretation of tongues ; but all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will." Amen. ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Bom Out of Due Time. 1 Cor. 15 :1-10. MOREOVER, brethren, I declare unto you the Gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I de- livered unto you first of all that which I also received,, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures: and that He was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve : after that He was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part re- main unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that He was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all He was seen of me also, as one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God. I am what I am: and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all ; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Thy Word is truth. Amen. Beloved in Christ: — We have just heard the Gospel of the day, how two men went into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a publican. The Pharisee thanked God that he was so much better than his fellowmen, so much bet- ter than the publican. The publican would not look up as the Pharisee did; he did not strike at others as the Pharisee did, but struck at his own breast, at his own heart, at the seat of sin, and cried out in all humility, God be merciful to me a sinner! In harmony with that publican in the epistle for this day we find Paul the 618 J a ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 619 publican, — not proud Saul riding into Damascus, but humble Paul, feeling the terrible sin of persecuting the church of God, feeling that he has wasted so many years of his life, and that God in His mercy has saved him as by a miracle from heaven, he cries out, with the same spirit of the publican of old : O God, be merciful to me, a spiritual bastard — born out of due time! "And last of all He was seen of me also, as of one bom out of due time." May the Holy Spirit bless us in this hour, while we are noticing many who are BORN OUT OF DUE TIME, I. There are infants that are not born again and surely when they become children of God they are born out of due time. The new birth is a necessity, says Christ,, to enter the kingdom of heaven. Every one must be born again. From these words we learn clearly that every child must be born again before it can enter heaven. The new birth is therefore not only a possibility in in- fancy but a necessity. If that child is to be saved, it must be born again. These are the words of Jesus Christ. Nowhere has He said that a child will be lost, and no church has ever taught it, but the Word of God does clearly teach that the child must be born again before it can enter heaven. And if this is true, as it is, then, my friends, the little child that is not given to the Lord, is born out of due time. The little infant that is not born again is harmed;: it is a detriment to the parents and to the kingdom of God- It is a harm to the infant itself not to have it bap- tized, for Jesus said: Verily, verily, I say unto you, ex- cept a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot en- ter the kingdom of heaven; showing us clearly not only the necessity of the new birth, but God^s plan by which we shall have it born again. Now then, if the new birth is possible for the infant, and it is necessary in order to enter heaven, then let me ask you whether it is not harm- ful to that child to let it lie in your cradle unbaptized- 620 THE ETEENAL EPISTLE. Isn't it a harm to let that child remain in its natural state? When we are by nature the children of wrath, what can we expect of these little children if we never have them brought to the Savior? And not only is it a harm to the child itself, but it is a detriment to the parents. Parents should know that they have a responsibility resting upon them. The mo- ment a little child is born into that family they should know that that little child is either born to give them great joy or great trouble. If it is possible to bring that child to the Lord Jesus to have it born again in due time, then by what right should we wait and have the natural heart develop to cause trouble in the future? I am not here to say that every baptized child will ever be a good Christian^ but I am here to sa^^ that if a little infant brought to the Savior by Holy Baptism and trained in the nurture and admonition of the Lord turns out badly, it would have turned out worse yet if it had not been brought to the Savior; and consequently you are only heaping up trials and troubles for yourself if you let that child grow up in its natural state, which means enmity to God and enmity to His holy laws. It means a detriment to the kingdom of heaven. If there is anything plainly taught in the Bible it is this, that the Gospel should first be preached in Jerusalem and then to the ends of the world ; that the Gospel should first be preached to the parents, and they are to bring their children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. If there is anything plainly taught by our Savior before He ascended to heaven, it is this, that this Gospel Avhich Paul preached at Corinth should be preached to the ends of the world, and that all the nations should hear of Jesus that they might be saved. Now, if Christian parents are not going to rear Christian children, pray tell me, how shall the world ever be won for Christ? Look around in the churches of this country and you will find many a father and many a mother giving of their hard-earned money for foreign missions, singing about Christ for the world, telling of the wonderful things that should be done for the heathen, and when you come right down to the ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 621 truth, they are rearing heathen at their own tables; the J are making beds for heathen in their own homes ; they are absolutely refusing to carry out the command of God that these little children should be brought to Him and trained up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Is it any wonder the kingdom of heaven is suffering on earth with boys and girls in Christian homes unbaptized; with children in Christian homes not instructed; with children growing up worse than heathen — because the poor heathen would accept Christ if they were given an opportunity, but in our Christian land we are rearing heathen by the thousands. Oh, the kingdom of heaven is suffering because of the fact that so many infants are not born again! II. Again, some are born out of due time when they are born again but not instructed in God's Word. Ee- member that the new birth is the beginning of the Chris- tian life. If I were to ask you today what you know about your birth, you would have to depend almost en- tirely upon the testimony of your parents and a few of your friends; you remember nothing about it. The new birth is not experimental religion; the new birth is the seed of life sown into your heart that springs up, and, nurtured, makes you a full grown Christian. How many people there are that are brought to the Savior in in- fancy and dedicated to Him in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost; then the little child is taken home and that is the end of it. The Bible forever remains a sealed Book to them; the catechism is to them a sealed book; they have nothing to remember, for they never re- ceived anything. And so, my friends, they are born out of due time. The apostle Paul calls attention to the fact that the Word of God is the established guide in life: "For I de- livered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scrip- tures." Again he says: "And that He was buried, and that He arose again the third day according to the Scrip- tures." Twice in that little epistle Paul calls attention to the Old Testament, for remember the New Testament 622 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. was not yet written. This epistle to the Corinthians was one of the first writings of the New Testament. The two epistles to the Thessalonians were the very first ; the next to the Corinthians. This epistle was written before Matthew, Mark, Luke and Jolm, or any part except those mentioned. When Paul therefore speaks of the Scrip- tures, he means the Old Testament; and he calls atten- tion to the great truth that Jesus Christ died according to the Old Testament and rose again according to the Old Testament. How many people there were in those days as there are to-day who do not know what is in the more complete Bible, the Old and the New. When people are simply brought to the Savior and baptized and never in- structed any further, this Book is a sealed Book, for they know not what the Old Testament says about the death of Christ; they know not what it says about His resurrec- tion ; they know neither what the prophets said, nor what the evangelists proclaimed, nor what Paul wrote in his great epistles. If you do not know what is in God's Book you are born too late; you are born out of due time. Not only should the Bible be an open Book to us, but the holy catechism, which is the little Bible taken out of the big Bible, should be an open book. When Paul says here: "Christ died for our sins .... that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures," we almost hear him repeating the Apostles' Creed. In all of these epistles Paul warns the people not to forget the doctrines which he taught them : "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the Gospel, which I have preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain." He shows them very clearly that they were not ignorant ; that he had taught them to know God's Word. There was a time when they were well catechized, and the warning is, be careful that you do not forget w^hat you once had in your memory. And so, dear friends, there are many people in the present day yet that have been born again, but they have never been nurtured. If your little child is born healthy and well, and you do not take ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 623 care of that child it will die; it needs nourishing day by day, and a father's and a mother's care. And just so a true Christian must not only be brought to the Savior and have the seed of eternal life planted into its heart by the Holy Spirit, and must be taught in the truth as we con- fess in the Word of God and in the catechism taken there- from. It should know the difference between the law and the Gospel ; it should know what the Gospel is, that it is the glad tidings that Jesus Christ has come into the world to save sinners; it should know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and through Him we have eternal life, and Him only. Take the false doctrines of the world ; they do not cling to any person ; they are simply cold statements ; but the religion of Jesus Christ cannot stand one moment without Jesus Christ Himself. Take Jesus Christ out of Christianity and there is no Christianity left. We cling not to things, but a person, that same person is the Lord Jesus Christ, yesterday, today and forever. The Gospel therefore clings to a living Savior, not a dead one ; a Savior that is present here, not over beyond the waters; a Savior that is in our hearts, and not one that dwells up on the right hand of God and there only. ^^Lo, 1 am with you alway, even to the end of tlie world!" If we do not have that personal Savior with us in this life; if we do not have the catechism an open book like the Bible, then we are born out of due time. I would go on just one step further and say, If we have not got the Gospel, how can we keep it? "By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain." Suppose I were to ask you today to give me one hundred Bible pas- sages that you committed when a child, could you do it? It may be that a few of you could; it may be there are many of you that cannot give me one promise readily without going to the Bible; that you cannot give me one word of comfort unless you have the book to read. It may be that your mind is filled with a thousand facts con- cerning this world, but not with a single fact concerning eternity. Brethren, let us beware that we do not live in this world born out of due time. Let not our minds be- 624 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. come a blank without the Word of God written thereon. We are the living epistles of the Master. III. Then there is a third class born out of due time. Those that want to be born again just before they die. There are many people who do not want to live Christians, and they do not want to die children of the devil. Their whole plan is to serve the devil just as much as they dare until the hour that they must be saved if they are ever going to be; and it does seem to me that when people are brought to the Savior in their last years and their last hours, they must certainly have a regret that goes with them into eternity ; and therefore if the apostle Paul who was converted in his later age, felt that he was born out of due time, surely every one who becomes a Christian in the last days of his life, must feel intensely the fact that he was born a little too late, born out of the regular time in which God intended him to be born. And how is it about these late conversions? Thank God that there are late conversions! Thank God that those who have not attended to these things in time, have yet time in the last hour! But let us ask the question, what is the rule with regard to those who come to Christ in their last days? Many of them have no time any more to show their humility. Paul was a very humble man, and said to his people, "I am the least of the apostles.'^ Dear friends, would you say so? Compare Paul, the great missionary, with all the others; would you say he is the least? No, I fear you would say just the opposite. Paul, you are greater than John, greater than Peter, greater than Luke, greater than all of them. But only a few born out of due time will ever acknowledge: I am not worthy to be called a child of God. Those that are born out of due time, in the last hour, are also those who rarely know how much harm they have done. Paul seemed to realize it. "I persecuted the church of God!'' That was one thing that Paul could never for- get. God in his mercy saved him, and he never forgot the mighty grace of God tliat did save him, but he never could get rid of this one thought: Oh, the harm that I have done! The harm, the harm, the harm tliat I have ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 625 done to my beloved Lord! to my dear Savior! I fought against the most loving Master there ever was — my Church that loved me so dearly; I struck her in the face. I was full of wrath and determined to put the children of God in prison ! Oh, how it hurts me to think how I wan- dered aAvay from my true and living God! How I struck at His beloved Bride! Oh, that I could undo my life! Oh, that I hadn't persecuted the Church of God, helping the devil, and the Avorld, and the flesh! And now I am an apostle of Jesus! If I could only live my life over again! I am born out of due time. Oh, how many are sitting before me this evening who must feel what Paul did. The harm that I have done with my careless, reckless life. Not only sinned myself but taught others to sin. Not only went to the gates of liell myself, but coaxed others to go with me. The apostle Paul goes one step further, and makes up his mind he is going to redeem the time as much as possible. But how many are there that do try to redeem the time? How many are there that put on Christ in their old age and make up their minds. Now I am going to serve my God, do better, and try and make up the lost time? How often we find people in their old age coming into the kingdom of heaven, and that is the last you ever hear or see of them. They fear to testify ; they fear to go out and try to do something in their last days. Now^ then, if we are not born too late we ought to go to work as we never did before, and try in a measure to undo something of the wickedness we have done. The apostle Paul, recog- nizing that he had persecuted the church, makes up his mind, I have no time to lose; "But by the grace of God I am what I am; and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all; and yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." I can see the apostle Paul on the day he was con- verted thinking about the past, and thinking about the future; I can see him as he looks back and says, Well, I have had quite a vacation in my life; I have been out of 40 626 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. my church all these years, opposing the Christ who called to me from heaven ; I have been serving the devil and the world ignorantly ; I have been going on the path of wrong; and here my life is largely spent ; but by the grace of God I wijl take no vacation now any more. I was not as great a man as John was. I did not fight for Christ as Peter did; I have not been with Him like Luke the physician; but I am going to do something that Luke, and John, and Peter and all of them together could not do. My years are few, but I am determined by the grace of God, with His help, to do more in the balance of my life than all the others could put together. I am not going to do it for my own glory ; I am not going to do it by my power ; but with power from on high, I shall now work as a man who realizes the wrong he did and the good that must be done, and must be done in a hurry. I will labor more abundantly than all of them put together, God helping me. Oh, that I could live my life over again! But it is gone — it is gone forever. The present is mine. O God, help me now to work ! No vacation till I die ! I hear one say, Paul, have you time to take a walk? No. Have you time to take a journey here? No. Have you time for a day's pleasure? No. Paul, what is the matter? I will tell you what is the matter, but you have got to walk along with me while I tell you; I have no time to stop. I have misspent so much of my life; I regret the fact so much, that by Thy help, O God, I am going to save souls day and night. Tell me to keep this tongue quiet? Not until the knife falls and severs my head from my body. Tell me I shall write no more? Let the chains clank on my arms; I am going to write until I die; I am going to make up lost time. Mj life has been a failure so far, but it shall not be a failure. God shall know and the world shall know that from the time I became a child of God, I gave my body and soul inlo the hands of the Master to work, work, work until I die, all out of pure thanksgiving for the mercy of God who had mercy upon me, Paul the pub- lican. Amen. ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 627 PRAYER. O, our Father in heaven, do Thou help us to realize in this even- ing hour what it means to be born out of due time. O God, Thou knowest how many there are in the world who have gone astray, who never would have gone astray if they had been born again in time. O God, do Thou help those who are present tonight and have little children, to realize their responsibility to bring those infants to Thee in time, not too late, and train them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. O Father in heaven, help all of us to be more determined about the life we are now to live, not that we shall earn our salvation, for it is alone a gift of grace, but just because we are saved by grace, help us to work as if our very salvation and the salvation of the world depended upon our labor, and at the same time, when all is done, do Thou help us to say. Lord, Thy grace, Thy grace only, has saved me. Dear Father in heaven, do Thou help that Thy Gospel may spread to the ends of the earth, and that every home may do missionary work at its own altar. Father, hear this prayer and save us all by Thy Gospel. We ask it in Jesus' name, who taught us to pray: Our Father who art in heaven ; Hallowed be Thy name ; Thy kingdom come ; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven ; Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for- give those who trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation; But deliver us from evil ; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Letters of Recommendation. 11 Cor. 3 :4-ll. HND such trust have we through Christ to God-ward: Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think an3'-thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; who also hath made us able min- isters of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. But if the ministrations of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance ; which glory was to be done away : how shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministra- tion of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of rigliteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which re- maineth is glorious. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Thy Word is truth. Amen. Beloved in Christ: Corinth was a city of learning and the teachers from the surrounding cities had to come there with letters of recommendation or they could get no positions. The apostle Paul brought no letter with him. He came with the law and with the Gospel, and with these letters he there established the church of God. He calls attention to these things in the first verse of this chapter : "Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some cH;hers, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you? Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men. Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ min- 628 TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 629 istered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly- tables of the heart." The true minister of the Gospel does not need letters of recommendation from any church, nor to any church. The best letter I could ever get is this congregation. You are my epistles. These letters that we write with ink are generally shoved into some pigeon-hole and no one sees them but the one who receives them ; but you are epistles read on the streets, read in your business places, read wherever you go, and if you do not live as you are taught, you are a poor recommendation for me; if you do live as you are taught, you are the best letters that I can ever get. I wish to call attention this evening to LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION. The letters spoken of in this epistle are just two : I. The law. II. The Gospel. The law is a letter of God, and it is a glorious letter, and a letter unto death. The Gospel is also a letter of God, a more glorious letter, and a letter unto life. These two letters may the Holy Spirit write deeply on our hearts tonight. 1. First of all, there is the law of God. ^^Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of our- selves; but our sufficiency is of God; who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament, not of the letter, but of the spirit; for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away; how shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteous- ness exceed in glory." The apostle Paul calls attention to the fact that the 630 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. law of God is the letter of God, written with His own linger. The Jews at this time were making a good deal of trouble in Corinth because they thought that the law was not honored as it should be. In spite of the fact that they had been led to Christ and accepted the Gospel, they were still trying to live according to the law of the Jews and Moses, basing all their hope of salvation on the keep- ing of the law. This was error, and the apostle Paul in order to show them their error, teaches them that while the liaw is God's letter, a glorious letter, it is a letter unto their condemnation, and then holds up the more glorious letter of the Gospel. The law of God is meant to be* God's letter. If there is anything in the Bible that should be called God's letter above everything else, it is that law which was written with God's own finger. Did not God trace every letter on the tables of stone before He handed the law to Moses? And when God did write that law on Mount Sinai, did He not trace the same letters that He had written in the hearts of Adam and Eve when He created them? Do you realize, as you sit before me to- night, that you have the trace of God's own letters in your heart? You know there is only one true and living God; you know that you should not take God's name in vain; you know in your own heart that it is your duty to remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy ; you know that it is your duty to honor your father and mother that it may be well with you, and you may live long in this world; you know that it is your duty not to kill, but to love your fellowmen, and even your enemies; you know that it is wrong to commit adultery or fornication; you know it is wrong to steal, or lie, or covet; you know in your own heart that God's finger has traced the letters that are in your own conscience and in your own heart. The Corinthians knew it, and Paul knew it, and no man will deny it. It is God's letter of commendation. That was a glorious letter. You remember the his- tory of the giving of the law, how it thundered and light- ened on Mount Sinai; how Moses in the presence of God had a face that shone so brightly that he had to cover it with a veil when he stepped down into the presence of the TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 631 Israelites. That was a glorious laAv. No wonder he had to cover his face, standing so near to God. If you and I Avould dwell just a little nearer to God, our faces would ^how it. It Avas not only a glorious letter, but this letter was R letter of condemnation. ^'How shall not the ministra- tion of the spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministra- tion of condemnation be glory, much more doth the min- istration of righteousness exceed in glory.'' And pre- vious to that the apostle says, that the letter killeth. We would not for a moment say this letter of condemnation, of the law was originally intended to kill ; on the contrary, the law of God offers life and salvation to every one who does perfectly keep it. If you were barn without sin and never did sin, you would be saved by the law. The law says, Be ye holy for I am holy. The law says, If you do not sin, you have life. If, therefore, I say once more, you had not been born in sin, and you never did sin, you would need no Savior. The glorious law would save you all. But mark you, what good does it do for a black man to hear that the white man is free? What good does it do the poor man to know that the millionaire has a free ride across the ocean? What good does it do a poor sin- ner, born in sin, and having transgressed the Divine law, to hear of this letter of condemnation, w^hen it says he that breaketh one of these commandments breaketh all; cursed is every one that keepeth not all these command- ments? This law, intended to give light, by its perfection, comes to the imperfect man and says, you are cursed. The same thing is true of all laws. The same law that keeps you and me out of prison chains and out of the penitentiary, is the same law that drives the guilty man behind the walls. Tlie same sun that makes yonder grass grow and brings forth the flowers and the buds when the roots are in the ground, shining on those roots turned up- side-down, will kill them. And thus you see how your blessing may become a curse. This letter of com- mendation, therefore, written on your heart, is the very commandment and the very letter that will condemn you. For that reason the apostle Paul writes this letter to the 632 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. Corinthians and shows them that there is another letter that is also of God. II. "For inasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart.'- He is writing this letter to Christians, to those who have been saved by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, he says, I want to call your attention to another letter of God. It is the letter of Christ. It is not the letter writ- ten over on Mount Sinai by the finger of the leather ; it is the letter written over on Calvary by the Son of God, who dipped His hand into His own blood and wrote there this wonderful letter : He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever be- lieveth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. As I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the Avicked should turn from his evil way and live. This also, my friends, is a letter of God. Oh, what a comfort it is to the poor sinner, con- demned by the letter of the law, to find another letter handed over to him by Jesus Christ, telling him that the blood of Jesus Christ the Son of God cleanseth us from all sin. The one letter says. Here are your sins. What will you do? Cursed is every one that transgresseth the law. Here comes the other letter and says, Jesus was cursed for that letter; Jesus was cursed for your sin that de- manded death; Jesus did die; that letter demands the punishment of eternal hell for those sins, and here is One that did suffer the agony of hell ; here is a letter that says, I made the atonement for your sins ; here is one that says. They are blotted out with My blood. And this letter the Christian must have, letters of commendation. Not only are both these letters, letters of God, but one is more glorious than the other. It is true that the thun- ders roared and the trumpet sounded and the lightnings flashed on Mount Sinai when the law was written by the finger of God ; bu.t let us not forget there is another mount- TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 633 ain over there called Calvary; let us not forget that the heavens were darkened and that the graves gave up their dead when this other letter was written. Let us not for- get that the angels of heaven that accompanied the star of the east, and came down on the very plains of Bethle- hem, were interested in this second letter. And let us not forget that tlie great Commander and Ruler left us another message: Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. For this is the more glorious letter of the two. "For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if that which Avas done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious." Yes, Moses came down from that mountain with the first letter and with his face shining ; Jesus Christ was up on the Mount of Transfigura- tion with the other letter and His whole body was shining. The former light has passed away ; the first light shall not live forever, but the light of the cross, the Gospel, shall shine on into all eternity. More glorious is the sec- ond letter than the first. The first letter killeth ; the second giveth life. "Not That we are sufficient of ourseJves to think anything as of ourselves ; but our sufficiency is of God ; who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit ; for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth ]ife." There you get the difference between the two letters. The law of God says, Keep Me and I will save you. But you have not kept the law. The same law says, I will condemn you. The second letter comes and says, You are condemned and I pronounce you free. Trust in the Savior and you shall be saved. The Holy Spirit takes the second letter and applies it to your heart and says, Take Christ as your Savior; trust fully in Him; your sufficiency is of God and not of yourself; trust in Him 634 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. fully and you have peace with God, and then you are truly a child of God. Go forth, then my dear hearers, Godward. Our text tonight begins with the words : "And such trust have we through Christ to God-Avard.'' There is something in every man's heart that says after all, there is a hereafter ; there is something in every man's heart that says, there is a better way of living than I have lived; there is a bet- ter home somewhere than I have got; there is more com- fort than I have received so far; there is a God and there is a Avay to come to Him and that way is through Jesus Christ, Avho said, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, and no man cometh to the Father but by Me. There is in every man's soul and in every man's heart a something that says, I am immortal; I am not dead when my body lies in the coffin; the old man, my body, is giving away, but there is something in me that is young ; there is some- thing in me that cannot die. The soul of an old man is as young as the soul of a child. The philosophers of old knew that the soul is immortal Avithout the Word of God, but they never could find the way. Christ has shown us the Avay. God has pointed it out to us in this letter of recommendation, showing us how to serve God and go God-Avard. Walk in His path and follow Him, and be faithful to Him until death that you may receive the croAvn of eternal life. And this very night God comes to us in His Holy Supper and says, I will come to you, and stand at tlie door of your heart and knock, and I will- sup with you and you with Me; I aaqII come to you that you may come to Me. There may be some here tonight whose hearts are heavy, Avho are troubled with this and that, and this same merciful God comes in this beautiful letter of commendation to you and says, "Let not your heart be troubled; ye belicA^e in God, believe also in Me." Til is is the good news, the Gospel, the glorious news of the letter of recommendation. May God bless you all, i» my prayer. Amen. THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Who Hath Bewitched Us? Gal. 3:15-22. BRETHREN, 1 speak after the manner of men: Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many, but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise. Wherefore then servelh the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made ; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. But the Scrip- ture halh concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth: Thy Word is truth. Amen. Beloved in Christ : — This world is full of unthankful people. People who ought to enjoy the liberty they have do not appreciate it. I think the most unthankful student I ever saw was one who was constantly supported by the church, an object of charity — always complaining that the meals were not fit to eat, and yet I had the pleasure of staying all night at his home, and while I have never complained about any meals in my life, I must say those Avere the poorest meals I ever ate; they came from the home of the boy who was constantly complaining that the good meals of charity 635 636 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. were not fit to eat. This young man was only a picture of thousands in our own country, however. We find men who are complaining about the wages of the country, com- plaining about the privileges of this land, and this and that, and yet they came from places in the old country where they could not earn one-third what they can here, and their homes were not nearly as good as they are here. Oh, the unthankful immigrants of our land ! Let us not forget that this is human nature. There were the slaves of Egypt, working under the lash of Phar- aoh's subjects. Those men were constantly complaining about their hard trials, and when God finally heard their prayers and sent Moses to deliver them, and they had crossed the Red Sea in safety, and were receiving bread from heaven every day, what did they do but murmur and complain and long to go back to slavery again! Unthank- ful Israelites! In our OAvn te:sit we find that the Galatians were a people to whom God sent the bread of life through the apostle Paul; they had been edified and learned to appre- ciate the Gospel, but it was only a short time until they were again willing to go back into the bondage of sin, and consequently Paul begins this chapter with the strik- ing phrase: "Oh, foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?" We might well say in these days that there are many foolish moralists, men who are trying to get to heaven by the fulfilling of the law, when they know that they can- not be saved by the law, but only by the Gospel ; and these moralists are not all found outside of the church. It is a question whether we are not all more or less Pharisees, more or less given to the idea that after all we shall earn our own salvation. I might call out this evening in the language of the apostle Paul : Who hath bewitched us? That will be our question tonight, which we desire to answer. May the Holy Spirit help us to see ourselves as we are, and to appreciate the libertj^ of the true Gospel. THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 637 WHO HATH BEWITCHED US? I. We know the truth. II. Why do we not obey the truth? I. We know the truth. Paul cried out : '^Oh, fool- ish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth?'' and shows them that the truth had evi- dently been set before them. They knew it, and we know it. There are some things that we know. We know the truth of the law, and we know the truth of the Gospel. As to the law, we know how we got it ; we know what it is, and we know that it cannot save us. We know, first of all, how we got the law. The apostle, speaking of this law, says: "Brethren, I speak after the manner of men : Though it be but a man's cov- enant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or add- eth thereto. Now to Abraham and his seed were the prom- ises made. He saith not. And to seeds, as of many ; but as of one. And to Thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it ' should make the promise of none effect." In speaking of these four hundred and thirty years, the apostle refers to the time that the child- ren of Israel sojourned in Egypt, and you Avill remember after they passed over the Eed Sea, God gave them the written law on two tables of stone. Now this law given to them on two tables of stone Avas first written in their own hearts in the morning of creation, and was not only written on the two tables, but it was written by God's own finger, and preserved in the Word which shall stand, though heaven and earth shall pass away. They knew about this law, how it was received. They knew how this law was received, and they knew what it was. AVe know how it came to us, and we know what it is. We know that the first table demands of us to love God with all our hearts, with all our souls, with all our might, with all our strength. We know that God's law demands of us that we love our neighbor as ourselves. 638 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. Or, to be more minute, in this law we know who the true and living God is, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ; we know that His name should not be taken in vain; we know that the Sabbath Day should be remembered and kept holy; we know our duty to our fathers and mothers ; none of us are ignorant on this point ; we know we have no right to hate our fellowmen; we have no right to take any one's life ; we know it is our duty to live pure and upright lives ; we know we have no right to take what is not our own; we know it is our duty to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth ; we know that to covet is a sin, a great crime before God. And we know another thing; we know that if we do not try to keep this law that the curse of it will come doAvn upon our children and chil- dren's children. For seven long years two men whom I know by name, were resting under the awful cloud of rob- bing their own bank, in Lima, Ohio. You have read the report during the past few days, how these men were caught who robbed the bank, and that the janitor was the man that helped in the robbery, for which the safe com- panies have offered sixteen thousand dollars of reward. The question has been for seven long years, how could any man break into a safe with a time lock. Night before last the man that actually robbed the safe told them how it was done. He stepped inside the safe and told them to lock the door; in just eight and one-half minutes after it was locked he was out. This same man tells us how he robbed those two Jews, who for seven long years have been looked upon as thugs and thieves of their OAvn bank, when they were innocent. Brethren, we are often doing people a great harm and great wrong by condemning them on cir- cumstantial evidence; and I believe the time has come that we never should condemn any one unless the testi- mony is absolute and without doubt. The reason I men- tion this — this young man that robbed that bank had a grandfather who was a Lutheran; that grandfather years ago left the Lutheran church because something was said that he didn't like; he never returned again; he reared three sons, each one of whom again had sons, and each one has now a son in the penitentiary, except the last, and THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 639 the third will have in a few weeks. He thought he did something wise when he stepped outside of the church of God and began to serve the devil; but he had learned when a young man, I the Lord thy God am a jeal- ous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me. He knew it, and in spite of the fact that he knew it, he stepped out and brought the curse down upon his children and children's children, and so the third one is going to the Ohio Penitentiary in a few weeks to come, all because this man did not try to keep God's holy law. I say we not only know the origin of this law, how we got it; we know what it is, and we positively know that it cannot save any man. "For as many as are of the works of the law^ are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." Again it is said in our text: "Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made ; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. Ts the law then against the promises of God? God forbid; for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by law. But the Scrip- ture hath concluded all under sin." We see from these words that the law of God will curse every man on earth, no difference who he is. The man that is born in sin is never able to keep a perfect law perfectly, and the law^ of God demands perfection, and is not satisfied with any- thing less. If you were to keep nine commandments per- fectly and were to break one, you would break all of them and sin against God. Kemember then, dear friends, that we know that by the law not one of us can be saved. We not only know the truth of the law, but we know the truth of the Gospel. We know the Gospel is older than the law. We know from God's own Word that before the foundation of the world was laid, we were called in Christ. That is the Gos- 640 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. pel. We know from our text tonight that the promise of a Savior who was to be a mediator was given to Abraham before the law was given on Mount Sinai; and we know that when a man makes a will he makes it for himself, and when he signs it, no other man can change it; that will is made. I cannot make your will and you cannot make mine. When you have made your will no other man has got a right to alter that will. And just so when the Lord our God gave the promise to Abraham that through his seed the nations of the earth should be blessed, that this seed should be a mediator, there was a promise given that this mediator should not be simply man nor simply God, but God and man; for how could one be a mediator between the Father and mankind, if he were only man, or if He were only God? We are asked to take the God-man, the One who as God can take hold of the Father's hand and say, I am Thy Son, and yet can reach down and take hold of the hand of humanity and say, I am the Son of man. The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which is lost. This promise of the Savior was given long ago, and we know it. We not only know how the Gospel originated, but we know what it cost. This Mediator had to lay down His life to purchase this Gospel for us. If you want to know what this Gospel is worth, then look over on Calvary's hill and see your Savior carrying His cross; see, when the gross is planted, who it is that hangs there with His hands and feet pierced, and the crown of thorns upon His head! See Him hang there for three long hours under the bright and burning sun, that you may know that this is the Son of God; and then see the sun go down at noon; see in the darkness there that all nature proclaims this is really the Son of God. Hear Him moan and groan all alone bear- ing the sin of the world. Hear Him cry out after six hours on that cross, My God! My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? Kemember, He had to become your Re- deemer and mine ; He had to bear our curse upon Himself, so that He, Himself, felt the curse. Listen to these words again : "For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse : for it is written, Cursed is every one that THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 641 continuetli not in all things Avhich are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident, for, The just shall live by faith; and the law is not of faith, but the man that doeth them shall live in them. Christ hath re- deemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written. Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.'' You will never understand those words which I have just quoted from Jesus Christ, unless you remem- ber that if you had been hanging there for six long hours, sinner that you are, you would have cried out. My God! My God, why hast Thou forsaken me? Now the innocent Christ, in order to become your Kedeemer and mine, to pay the price, had to feel our curse upon Him, the curse of the whole world, and therefore, felt God forsake Him. And I ask you to look at ffim when He bows His head in death and says. It is finished. Look at Him as they take Him down off of the cross and lay Him in a borrowed grave. What is this? What does it mean? It means this is the price that the great Mediator paid for the sins of the world. That is what the Gospel cost, my dear friends, and we know it. We not only know the truth of the Gospel as to its origin and worth, but we know what it offers to us. This same Gospel comes to you and to me, poor, lost, condemned sinners, and says, You cannot be saved by the law; you are cursed; but here is One that has fulfilled the law for you. It is Christ. He wants to save you. He comes to you with open hands and a heart full of mercy and says, I want to forgive you. Dear lost soul, I want to save you. Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me. This Savior cursed, bearing your curses and mine, cries out : Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else. Dear friends, that is what the Gospel is : He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. You know this, and I know it. 2. Then let me ask the question, Why do we not 41 642 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. obey this truth? Why do we not obey the truth of the law and why do we not obey the truth of the Gospel? As to the law, why do we not accept the condemna- tion of the whole world? We talk about the poor heathen, and we talk about the necessity of preaching the Gospel, but I am afraid in our general actions we do not believe what we say, when we positively know from our own ob- servation and history that a large portion of the world has never heard of Christ yet ; when we know that a large number of people in the world are living today in utter darkness and have never heard the blessings of the Gospel, how can we be satisfied in doing what we are doing for missions? Now the law of God condemns every man on earth. Not a single soul has ever kept the law perfectly. The poor heathen are under condemnation and we know it. If we know it, why do we not obey? If you knew there was a man five miles from here tonight under a great weight, and your rolling the weight away would save his life, you would run to save him; but we hear the news every day of our lives of the millions and millions living in total darkness, and we sit down in our own beautiful church and sing songs of praise, and we pray, and when it comes to sending men to proclaim the Gospel, we are not doing it. Why will we not obey the truth ? Who hath bewitched us? Who hath so convinced us it is our duty to do nothing, when everything tells us of the duty to do more? Why do we not accept what God's Word so plainly proclaims, that all are under the curse of the law? "But the Scripture hath conluded all under sin, that the prom- ise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.'' Not only do I ask why we do not accept that condem- nation of the whole world, but why do we not accept the Divine law and obey it, as a rule of life? I do not say you will be saved because you keep the law, because it isn't true; you cannot keep it perfectly; but I do say because you are saved you ought to try your best to keep that law, because it is the law of perfection; and yet it does seem to me that so many of us are not trying to keep this law. How many people are there that are still de- THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 643 bating between the true God and the unknown God? How many people there are that still will curse and swear and take God's name in vain, even though they call themselvs Christians? How many people there are that are living every Sunday as if God were a liar, as if His Word were not true, as if they never heard at all: Kemember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy. Oh, who hath bewitched us? Why will we not obey truth? We all know that we should treat father well; we know that we should treat mother well, and yet often young people disobey their parents. Oh, who hath bewitched you? Don't you know the truth, and do you not knoAv what God's Word demands of you? We know that we should love each other, but how much hatred, how much jealousy, how many mean things are said of our betters. Oh, who hath bewitclied us? Why can we not love one another? And oh, how often we live lives that are not pure in God's sight. Why do we not obey God's command, and why not try to live upright lives? How many people there are who still try to take advantage of the others in business, when they know we should not steal. Why do we not take God's commandments and try to keep them? How many people will tell a lie just to tell a story, or to make it suit any case, when they know that Gad said. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Why will we act like him who is the father of lies? Why not tell the truth? And why such coveting? Why such a miserable reputation for giving? Why are Ave willing to spend anything for the world and nothing for God, when Ave know better? There is no question. Why will we not obey the com- mandments of God and try to walk in His ways? Again I say, Avhy do we not try to obey the Gospel? Why do we not accept Jesus and have peace? Those that are trying to get peace through the laAV never will get it. These poor Galatians had been rightly taught to have the liberty of the Gospel, but hardly had Paul left them until they were going back to the Jewish law trying to comfort themselves. Do you notice that people who are trying to find peace in the law, never find it? They are unhappy, trying to find peace in their own hearts instead of in the 644 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. heart of God; trying to find righteousness in their own breasts instead of in Jesus Christ ; trying to find it where it cannot be found, instead of finding it where it can be found. Why do we not obey the Gospel and accept Jesus? AVhy do we not accept the peace He wants to give us? Being justified by faith we have peace with God, and that is the only way — justified by faith. Let us not only ask ourselves the question, Why not obey and accept Jesus and His peace; but why not pro- claim this saving Gospel to a dying world? i^nd when we know the law and its condemnation, if we know the con- demnation of the world, why do we not obey the Gospel and proclaim it? The great King of kings and Lord of lords, when He left the world, left this great command : ''Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved ; but he that believeth not shall be damned." For nearly two thousand years that word has been hurling from the very mouth of God, Go! Go! Go! and Ave have not gone 3^et. When will we go? When will we go? Listen, my friends, W^hen will we go? God is commanding us, and we are waiting, waiting, waiting. Think of the thousands and millions of professed Christians today that could send the Gospel to the ends of the earth in one year, if they would only do it, but they will not. When will they go? Why will you not obey? Oh, who hath bewitched you? Paul cried out: "Oh, foolish Galatians, who hath be- witched you that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you." So I cry out tonight : Who hath bewitched us? It is very plain who has done it. It is Satan, himself. What has he done? He has tried to put error into our hearts; he has tried to make us believe that these things are not so essential. He led the Galatians from the Gos- pel of understanding doAvn to the slavery of the law, and he is trying to lead us back into the slavery of the law, instead of obeying the Gospel. Not only has he planted error in our hearts, but he has also created doubt therein. Oh, the doubt that we THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 645 are finding all the time in our souls. And who is putting it there? The very one that has bewitched us — Satan. If he can just get us to doubt the promises, then he has won the victory. What more has he done ? Not only put doubt into our hearts, but procrastination as well. That is one of the great sins in these days. People know they ought to be Christians; they know that they ought to be saved and serve God; they know they ought to do something for missions, but they are just Avaiting a little while yet, and they think it is time yet. Many a man is willing to give his heart to God and he expects to do it before he dies, but the first thing you know the crape is hanging on the door; his bod}^ in the grave and his soul in hell, and he has been too late, that is all, too late ! Who has bewitched him? Satan has. Yesterday morning, as I was about to take the train for Fostoria, I saw a beautiful black dog coming down the track; a freight train Avas running past him; we saw the passenger train coming behind ; Ave knew that the dog was in danger; we called for him to get off of the track ; but no, there he stood and looked at us; the first thing we knew the engine hit him; he rolled under the engine; tried to get up and run past the wheel ; the wheel caught him ; his head was lying on one side of the wheel, his body on the other. He was warned, and Avould not get off the track. And I say this evening, who hath bewitched us? Thousands of people are coming down the track of life; they are going faster than they know; the engine of eter- nity is just behind; the cry comes: Oh, prepare to meet th}^ God! and they just stand and look; and the first thing you knoAv they are in eternity. Too late! May God help us that we may know the truth and obey it. PRAYER. Dear Father in heaven, we thank Thee for the blessings of the hour. We pray Thee that Thou wilt lead us into Thy holy law, there to see our sins, and may that law become the schoolmaster to bring us to Christ Jesus. May we find in Jesus our Savior, the innocent One who has atoned for our sins, and paid the price, because He is God, and *646 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. paid the penalty by His death. Help us in Christ Jesus to come to Thee, for Thou hast said that He is the way, the truth, and the life, and no man cometh to the Father but by Him. Therefore we come to Thee in His name and pray Thee to remember all our prayers of the past; remember all our prayers tonight, and do Thou grant us to receive the full liberty of children of God, and trust alone in the righteousness of Jesus Christ and His mercy. We pray Thee that none of us may be led astray by him who has bewitched men. Help that we may be free from error. Take out of our minds all doubt. Remove from before us all procrastination. May we go forth and do our duty in the right moment and always serve Thee in this life, and be with Thee forever. Hear this prayer in Jesus' name, who taught us to pray: Our Father who art in heaven; Hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven; Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for- give those who trespass against us ; And lead us not into temptation ; But deliver us from evil; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. The Path Made Plain. Gal. 5 :16-24. €HIS I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these : Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness ; idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies; envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like; of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith; meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the 'flesh with the affections and lusts. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Thy Word is truth. Amen. Beloved in Christ: The great missionary, Louis Harms, tells us of a con- verted heathen, who came to a missionary with these words : "How does it come, when I first knew you I was a heathen; then I had only one black heart. After I heard the Gospel and accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior, and was baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, then I received a white heart, and now I have two hearts, a black one and a white one, and every time I want to do right and serve God the black heart says I shall not; and every time I want to serve the devil the white heart says I shall not. When I want to do what is right, the white heart says, Go on, and then the black heart says, 647 648 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. Stop. When I want to worship the only true and living God the white heart says that is right, and the black heart says it is all wrong. When I want to curse, the black heart says go ahead, and the white heart says, Do not do it. When I want to go to church, the white heart says Go, and the black heart says, I haven't got time. When I want to treat my mother well, the white heart says. That is right, and the black heart says. It doesn't make any difference how you treat the old man and the old woman. When I love my fellowmen the white heart says. That is right; the black heart says. Hate everybody; and so on. Now what is it? How does it come? What is the matter? ^^Well," said the missionary, "I will tell you. Before you heard the Gospel you only had one heart; it was black. When you accepted Jesus Christ you did get a white heart, and now you have both of them, and you will have both of them until you breathe your last breath ; then you will only have a white heart left in you with Christ for- ever." There is a great truth in tliat story about the black and the white heart that many people do not understand. The natural man has no battle because he has only got the black heart. He who has no battle has nothing worth fighting for. The true Christian is the one that must say as Paul wrote to the Galatians : "Ye cannot do the things that ye would." The black heart would; the white heart says you dare not; and this battle goes on through life. "This I say then. Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not ful- fill the lusts of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh ; and these are con- trary the one to the other ; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." If, therefore, you have no battle at all in life, you may make up your mind you have got only a black heart; but if you have a battle all through life, the one saying, Do this, and the other saying, Do not, then you can make up your mind that the Spirit of God is working in your heart and that you are on the right way. The main thing is to see to it that the white heart gets the victorv. FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 649 THE PATH MADE PLAIN. In olden times when these beautiful fields around here were covered with thick forests Ave are told that the Indians and our forefathers would go along certain lines and blaze their way. In other words, chip the bark off, so that they might find their way back. It is my purpose this evening to blaze the way and make it plain. I. The path to hell. II. The path to heaven. I. "Now the w^orks of the flesh are manifest, which are these: Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lascivious- ness; idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies; envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like, of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.'' There you see the path plainly cut. If a man wants to know whether he is going to destruction or not, it isn't hard to find out. There are just four things he must no- tice carefully. The path to destruction is marked by an unbridled lust; by Ghristless religion; by the spirit of strife and finally by a dissipated life. 1. I say it is not a hard thing for a man to know whether he is going to destruction or not. There is such a thing as an unbridled lust. A man ought to thank God for lust; he ought to thank God for his manliness; a woman should thank God that she is womanly, but beware that you do not unbridle lust and let it have its OAvn way. As sure as you do that, you are going on the path to de- struction. "Adultery; fornication; uncleanness; lasciv- iousness ;'' — there you have a picture of sensuality ; there you have a picture of man in his natural state, running wild, Avithout a bridle, going down on the steed of death to destruction. And I tell you there are many people only waiting for an opportunity to sin ; with them it is no ■650 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. question whether it is right or wrong ; their eyes are con- stantly open, watching for an opportunity to ruin another family, another home, to bring destruction not only upon themselves but upon others. O God, pity the old bache- lors in this city just watching to ruin homes; and God have mercy on the homes being ruined by men who have not got the manhood to have families; who haven't got the manhood to bear the burdens of life and to be true to humanity. I need not tell this intelligent audience how many there are that are going to destruction, and they knoAv it. The path is plain. 2. Along by the side of this unbridled lust goes the HJhristless religion. Some people seem to think if you have just got a little religion about a thing it is all right, forgetting that the path to heir is just as religious as the path to heaven. Beware of false religions. The apostle Paul wrote tliem down in these words : "Idolatry ; witch- craft .... heresies.-' We have a great many people in these days who seem to think if you have a building with a tower and pulpit, no difference what is taught there, it is just as good as any church, and they are the ones that have never been instructed, have no ground for their faith, no idea of doctrine ; do not know what truth or error is, and consequently they are the kind of people that are very religious, but have no Christianity, going down to destruction. If you remember the first temptation of Satan, when he tempted Christ, it was quite a religious meeting, and you mistake the whole temptation if you do not see that the devil was just as religious as God was. It was Satan that proposed the prayer-meeting. Satan •said: If you will fall down and worship me, I will give 3^ou the kingdoms of the world; make a God of me; let's just have a little prayer-meeting here. And so you will find all through the world, wlienever you find a religion without Christ in it, it is idolatry; and wherever there is idolatry it is the path blazed toward hell, I do not care where you find it. The path is plain. 3. And not only do we find the path made plain by €hristless religion, but by the spirit of strife. The apostle described this spirit by these words : "Hatred, variance, FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 651 emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyingSy. murders.'^ Oh, what a brood of these satanie births that are found in the hearts of men, and when you look around you do not need to look very far to find jealousy, envy. It is found in the hearts of professed Christians. There are people in this world that just simply delight in try- ing to hate somebody, and say something terrible about some one, jealous of their prosperity, ever ready to push some one down in order to lift themselves up, and that kind of spirit marks the spirit of one who would murder if he had a chance. There are people only watching for an opportunity to do something worse than to drive a dagger into the heart of man, and that kind of a spirit blazes the way toward hell. Just as the old angel that rebelled and became a devil never forgot his religion, so he who caused Cain to raise the club to kill Abel never forgot he was a murderer; he planted murder into the hearts of the people, and whenever you find yourself with an unforgiving spirit, hating this man and that one, always watching an oppor- tunity for taking revenge, trying to hurt a man instead of lifting him up, mark you, you are on the path to destruc- tion just as sure as the Bible is God's Word. 4. You usually find this same path is marked also by dissipation. "Drunkenness, revellings, and such like, of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they wliich do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." I want to give you a warning this morning. Any man on earth that proclaims against hell is a liar and he knows it. There is no use talk- ing about these things being only opinions. God's Word is just as plain concerning hell as heaven, and that man who thinks he can go on in his own way, go on in the spirit of unbridled lust, in the spirit of unforgiving strife, and' go in drunkenness and carousing and living an ungodly life, taking his body, which is the temple of the Holy Ghost, and debauching it, that man, I say, if he thinks he is going on in that way and go to heaven, will find he is mistaken on the great Judgment Day. There are a great many people who would not be found lying in the ditch, or in prison, or would not be found being hauled home in a 652 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. cab because they are too drunk to walk, but they are al- ways ready to have just a little booze on hands, just a little drink, just to go home and think. Now I have got an- other glass too much; and there are people in this world who are doing this; there are professed Christians who seem to think it is all right, just so long as they spend their own money, and just so long as they can walk on a sidewalk without falling off, and just so long as they do not rob anybody. Oh, my friends, there is only one right way to live, and that is a sober life ; and the only way to live a sober life is to be very careful not to take anything that will make you any other way. I remember some time ago talking to a professor of one of our institutions in Columbus. He said, "In the midst of a storm on the ocean I would feel a great deal safer to know that the hand that is at the pilot hasn't had one drink of whisky, than to know that he had it" ; and I want to say that any man is safer, if he quits drinking intoxicants as a beverage. And so I would urge upon you all to be very careful not to imagine you can go on reeling into heaven. You cannot do it. Do not imagine that you can lead a drunken life and then at last come out a saint. Do not think anything of the kind. The real truth is that you are going to live just about as you are going to die, and as you die you are going to lie in the grave, and as you lie in the grave you will rise on the Eesurrection morning, and as you rise on the Eesurrection morning you will spend eternity. This idea that some people have that in a moment they will be changed from children of the devil to angels of light, is a mistake. When men become Christians they become Christians by degrees. I am willing to admit the new birth is instantaneous; I am willing to admit that it is like a flash of lightning, but I will not admit that it comes with all its causes like lightning. The great truth of God's Word must be sown into the hearts of men, and every step you have ever taken in life has been by degrees. You did not learn to talk, or to read in a day ; you didn't learn to walk in a day; you did not learn your trade in a day; you did not get your profession in a day; it took Ions: and tedious work. Some one said to me the other FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 653 day, Why, you ought to get rich at the salary you are get- ting. These dear people don't know that I spent fifteen years of my life getting nothing and spending part of father's farm to get an education. They do not know that a man has to work a long time to make up what he has lost. The real truth is we have got by hard Avork and toil what we have. If a man says to me, I don't see hoAv you can do your work so easily, he forgets the oil that has been burned in the past to do it easily now ; he forgets the work you have done in the past to do what you do noAv. And just as this is true in natural matters, it is true in relig- ion. The man that is going to become a child of God AA'hen he dies has got to begin right away. He has got to grow in grace. So I come to you with this warning, do not imagine you are going to live a child of the dcAdl in lust unbridled, with your Christless religion, and the spirit of strife and unforgiving hatred toward all men, living in your dissipation, and then at last, when lying on your death-bed, hurry and call the preacher to hurry and offer a prayer. He will offer it, but your soul may go to hell while the preacher is praying. Do not forget it. II. I wdsh to make the path to heaven just as plain as the path to hell. ''But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meek- ness, temperance ; against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affec- tions and lusts. I Avould have you notice the way made plain by contrast. The way to hell is marked, first of all by unhridJed lust; the path to heaven is marked by crucified lusts. 1. Xowhere does God's Word say when a man gets to be a Christian then he is just like an angel and cannot sin any more; that he has no temptations or trials any more. No. Paul knew better. Paul, at the end of his great life, cried out : I have fought a good fight ; I have finished my course; I have kept the faith! The man that expects to go to heaven must take the lust that he has got and crucify it, and that means to hurt it; that means to nail it to the cross. When Jesus Christ was crucified on 42 654 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. Calvary, there was no playing that day; there was shed- ding of blood; there was suffering; there was agony; there was the pain of hell in Jesus when He cried out, "My God! My God! Why hast Thou forsaken Me?'' Why did He thus cry? Because He was being crucified for the sins of the world; and when you have a tempta- tion that seems to be leading you to death and destruc- tion, thank God that you have the life in you ; thank God that you have the power to be tempted and the manhood to be tested, and take the lust and crucify it, crush it, and fight against evil, and pray God to give you strength to do the right. Lead me, not into temptation, should be your prayer. 2. In contrast with the Christless religion, you should have a Christian religion. "And they that are Christ's" — are Christ's. That tells it all. You have got to be Christ's before you can be a Christian, and when you are a Christian remember that you have got a life that you did not have before. It is not necessary for a man to say on such and such a day and in such and such an hour, in such and such a Avay, I was born again. You do not know very much about your first birth, do you? I do not re- member when I was born, nor do you ; but I know I was, and so do you. The Lord Jesus tells us that as the wind hloweth and you know not where it came from nor where it goes, so it is with the new birth. It is enough for you to know the wind is blowing. You do not care where it comes from nor where it is going, just so long as you have the breezes. So it is with the new birth. We are told in God's Word: Except a man be born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. This Holy Spirit brings into our hearts the seed of the new birth in many ways. He does it in Holy Baptism for the little child; through the preaching of the Word; through medi- tation on a single word of God. It may be you are out on the street just meditating on the words. Love of God, un- til he plants into your heart the seed of the new birth ; but I do know when I love Christ; I do knoAV when I love God's Word; I do know when I pray; I do know when I love the things that are good and holv and hate the things FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 655 that are bad; and if I do, I am born again, and I do not care bow it happens; and that is the thing for you to know, that you love Christ; that you love the religion of Jesus Christ ; that His Word is precious to your soul ; that you enjoy a good Gospel sermon and love to sing songs of praise to His holy name ; and what do you care how it hap- pened? See to it that jou are a child of God and love things that are good and holy; walk in the footprints of your Master and have a Cliristian religion, and when you have that you want Christ in that religion. When you find yourself among a band of people that do not ask whether you believe in Christ or not, ask yourself the question. May I do this? Remember the devil is relig- ious, and religion without Christ is purely devilish. Re- member the way to hell is blazed with religion with no Christ in it; the way to heaven is Christ all the time. ^^Jesus, lover of my soul; let me to Thy bosom fly," is the very spirit of the way to heaven. It is all Christ on the way to heaven. 3. And that means Christian life. A man cannot be a Christian by leading the life of a child of the devil; he cannot walk on the way leading in the opposite direction, and expect to enter heaven's gate ; he cannot walk on two ways leading in opposite directions at the same time. And so you find the life of a true Christian is described in these words: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love.'' In- stead of hating everybody you love your enemies. Ask yourself the question. Do I love my fellowmen? Have I a love for the lowly and fallen? Have I a love for even those that hate me? You say you cannot love your ene- mies? The Christian knows better. He can. It is the way' to heaven. It is the Spirit of Jesus. If I love my Savior and stay right close to the cross, can I hear him praying for those that drove the nails through His hands and feet. Father, forgiA-e them, for they know not what they do, and refuse to forgive my enemies? I can easily forgive you for you have never put a nail through my hands, and you never will. I can easily forgive you for you never drove a spear into my breast, and I do not think you ever will. I can easily forgive you, for you never put 656 THE ETEKNAL EPISTLE. the crown of thorns on my head, and I do not think you will ever do it. If I have the Spirit of Christ I can for- give any man on earth. That is the way to heaven. And Oh, what a glorious thing it is to love and be loved, and true love is from Him who is love. The best definition that was ever given of God lies in these three words : God is love. So from this love there flows out joy, happiness, love. The Christian — the man that walks along in this world with a long face never leads many people to Christ ; never leads many people to heaven. Many young people are kept out of the Christian Church because of the church members and preachers who seem to make the Christian life look miserable to them. The thing for a man of God to do is to be the happiest man in the community. If there is a happier man in this city than I am, I would like to find him. Just as soon as I can find a profession in which I can be happier than the ministry, I will leave it, but I will never find it. The happiest hours of my life are right here, standing behind the Word of God, showing souls the way to heaven and warning them against the way that leads to destruction. That is happiness and joy. And the best thing that I can wish for you in this world is first of all that you be a saved man or a saved woman, and that there might be born to you a son who might preach the Gospel of Christ. Wish it to me, and I will thank God for the gift. Peace! Oh, what a blessed thing it is to have peace. The man that goes down the path of destruction has no peace; the man that permits his lust to go unbridled is not happy; the man that has a Christless religion has no hope; the man that is constantly fighting with his neigh- bors has no peace nor happiness ; the man that is living a dissipated life feels in his own body and soul the very fire and the flame of the hell he is trying to deny. Peace comes from faith in elesus Christ. Trust in the Savior and not in the human heart, and along the path of eternal life you will find peace. And the more you find out what the human heart is, and the more you discover the patience of God with you, the more patience you will have FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRESTITY. 657 with humanity. The older I grow, the more I study hu- man nature, and the more I see of false humanity, the more patience I have got. There was a time when I felt that every sinner ought to be behind the walls; that every fallen man ought to be punished; but to-day my heart goes out for the poor fallen man. If there is any life I would rather spend than this one behind the pulpit and in the presence of this intelligent people, it would be to go to the lowest slums of the city, and there delve in the filth to lift up humanity. There is no grander and nobler life in the Avorld than the spirit of long-suffering. You will find long-suffering along the path to eternal life. Gentleness. Oh, how good it is just to offer a kind word to some one. You remember a few days ago three young men stood before this altar and united with this church. They will not be ashamed of it if I tell it to- night, that a year ago we found those people all in one little room, strangers in a strange land. Oh, they needed our sympathy and help then, and we gave it to them. Nothing lost. I baptized the twelfth son of that family last Aveek; and that family, poor two years ago, has a beautiful home right off of Fourth Street in the city of Mansfield ; and these three boys came into the church and could not help it, because gentleness is not forgotten. To take an enemy and pound him black and blue may be a satisfaction to the revengeful heart, but what good does it do? Whom does it help? What have I done? — made a worse enemy of the one who was an enemy. But take the enemy, the fallen, the poor, and speak a kind word, and lift them up, show them the right way and they will never forget it, and will want to go with you to heaven. Kindness. God knows we are all mean enough, and there is enough badness in all of us, but it does do us good to see the goodness of a man that has the badness in him; and what Ave ought to try to cultivate more and more is the good that is in us, and my comfort in hu- manity is this, I never found a man so low and so fallen that I could not find some good little spot somewhere to begin with to lift him up. I know that man is naturally 42 658 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. a child of wrath, and I know that in a spiritual sense there is nothing good in an^^ of us, no, not one; but the old spark of the Divine law planted into the heart of Adam has never been wholly effaced, and if I can find that spark I will kindle a fire with the goodness and power of the Holy Spirit. How do we get all these good things? By having faith — meekness. Yes, faith. Some men think it is a hard thing to believe in Christ, a hard thing to believe in the Bible. I want to tell you, my friends, it is a ter- ribly hard thing not to believe in the Bible, and it is a terribly hard thing not to believe in Christ. You will find that the enemies of the church will find fault with the preacher, and with the church members, and with this and that, but where is the enemy of the church that ever dared to find fault with Jesus of Nazareth? And so I say that the thing to do is to have faith in Jesus Christ, and cultivate this meekness, and walk in His foot- prints. 4. One mark of the path to heaven we have yet, and that is temperance. On the side of destruction is that spirit, as I mentioned a while ago, of dissipation, but on the way to heaven is temperance. Not temperance in the narrow fanatical sense so many people look upon it. So many people think that if they do not touch strong drink they are temperate, but they will sit down and eat like swine. They think that if they neither touch nor handle strong drink they are absolutely temperate, but they will work Sundays and week days; they are not temperate. The path to heaven is marked by temperance, and that means the abuse of nothing, and the right use of everything; and that is the only sensible way of hand- ling the subject of temperance with regard to strong drink, or anything else. The man that looks upon a barrel of beer or a keg of whisky as having the devil in it, has absolutely no conception of the truth nor religion. You cannot put the devil into a keg; you cannot put the devil out of man into drink. If all the people in the world were true Christians, you might roll the streets full of whisky and it would never do any harm. There FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 659 is not a thing in this world that is not good, outside of man and the devil, but because man is bad naturally, and weak, he will go to the worst if he does not stand for the best. Consequently it becomes our duty as a people to guard and protect the home, to guard and pro- tect the church; and the time is coming in a very few weeks when every citizen in this city will be called upon to arise above liis low and filthy politics and face the question. What is my duty to my son? What is my duty to my family, to my friends, and to my God? I preach no politics; I preach the Word of God; but I do say when you come to the test at the next election, do not forget the way to heaven, and do not forget the way to hell, and stand up for that which you believe in your own heart is for the welfare of humanity and for the glory of God. Is the way plain? Then let me ask you a few ques- tions in conclusion : Have you been going the right way? Which way have you been going? What has been your direction up to this hour? Now I realize the responsi- bility of the hour. There never has been an audience of this size gathered together as they are here from Sunday to Sunday, in which there isn't some one who is hearing the last sermon he will ever hear. Which way are you going tonight? I have blazed the way. You ought to know. Are you trusting in your own righteousness? Are you living a life of lust and shame? Are you living a dissipated life? Are you trusting in false religions? Have you the spirit of strife and envy? Stop right short. You are going to destruction. On the other hand, have you faith in Jesus Christ? Do you love purity, goodness, meekness, temperance ? Are you putting your whole trust in the blood of Christ on Calvary's hill as your atone- ment? Are 3^ou living wholly and solely for God's glory and for the welfare of humanity? Are you baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and is it your purpose to be faithful to Him until death? If so, you are on the path that leads to glory. There is only one way, and oh, what a glorious thing it is to preach this Gospel of Christ. If there were 660 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. twenty-five ways to heaven you might lose yourself, but there is only one way. Christ said: I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life, and no man cometh to the Father but by Me. Do you believe that? Have you accepted that way? Have you given the same effort to prepare for heaven that you have for your present life, for your business or trade? The opportunity is again given to you next Friday evening. I should be glad to see every man, every woman, in this audience who has never taken a thorough course of instruction in God's Word, in that upper room, and I am sure that if you do come twice, you would not miss the rest of the time unless sickness keeps you at home. Will you trj it? And when you have received that instruction; when you have heard the last word that I have to say to you, all that I ask of you to do is to use your good judgment, the means that God gave you to decide what you know in your own heart is right, and I will assure you that you will be on the way that leads to heaven. Brethren, I am not talking with a month's experience, but with eighteen years of the ministry behind me, and many souls led to the Master. I am ready to say that I have never had a single man listen to me for fourteen evenings but that he came out on the side of God. Not one; Will you give the test? Are you interested enough to try? If there is a man in this audience that can teach me for my good, I will come and see him ; I will thank him for it, and I will pay him for it; and here you have this work offered here for nothing, and it will mean more on the Judgment day than all the banks and all the insurance companies in the world. For what will it profit a man if he shall gain the Avorld and lose his own soul? Will you do it? Which way? May God help you tonight to decide just exactly which way. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. These are the words of Jesus, who cannot lie. Amen. PRAYER: (Congregation uniting with pastor) O heavenly Father, we come before Thee in this evening hour, thanking Thee that the house of God FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 661 is a house of prayer. We pray Thee this evening that Thou wilt help each one of us to profit by the words which we have heard this day. Do Thou help us to hate the evil and seek the right. Help us to leave the path that leads to eternal destruction and to walk on the only way that leads to heaven. Give us a living faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Help us to live for the welfare of humanity and for the glory of God. We ask this all in Jesus' name, who taught us to pray : Our Father who art in heaven; Hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven; Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for- give those who trespass against us ; And lead us not into temptation ; But deliver us from evil; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. FIFTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Practical Principles. Gal. 5:25-6:10. IF we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another. Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness ; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden. Let him that is taught in the Word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things. Be not deceived : God is not mocked : for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption ; but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Thy Word is truth. Amen. Beloved in Christ : This text is a continuation of the text of last Sunday, which shows us clearly not only the way to heaven, but the practial use that we are to make of this way. We heard last Sunday the way made plain, both to hell and to heaven, but let us not suppose for a moment that pure religion consists simply in profession. Kemember that a Christian life means more than simply to go to church and sit down and sing hymns and pray ; it means in daily life to live as God would have us live, in order that those 662 FIFTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 663 who are around us may be led on the right way to heaven. There are, therefore, certain PRACTICAL PRINCIPLES found in the lesson of this evening, wliich the Holy Spirit, we pray, may help us thoroughly to understand, and one of the very first is this : I. Let us imlk in the right path ourselves. "If we live in the Spirit, then let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vainglory, provoking one an- other, envying one another." "For if a man think him- self to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall we have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in an- other." In these words we plainly learn that the principle of life should be that we walk not in the path of our own selection, but rather in the path that is selected by the Lord our God, through the Holy Spirit. A young man who had just started to college came home and met a dear relative of his and said, "Now I am going to be a profes- sional man." Then said his relative, "Then what?" "Then I am going to become a man of fame, in law and in gov- ernment." "Then what?" "After I have made my repu- tation, I am going to gather up wealth." "Then what?" ^•Then I am going to build a large mansion and live like a king." "Then what?" "Then I shall try to go and treat my children the same way, and give them each a home." "Then what?" "Well, then I shall spend my last days trying to take care of what I have gathered up, and live in honor and fame." "Then what?" "Then, I suppose, like all others, I shall die." "And then what?" And the young man began to think as he never thought before, and when he left that uncle of his, constantly he heard the question, "And then what?" until he made up his mind the thing to do is first of all to be prepared to meet his God, and follow in God's path of His own selection. We are warned here against the sin of pride and jeal- 664 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. ousy and envy, against the spirit of thinking ourselves better than other people are, and let us not for one mo- ment think that this spirit is seldom found. There isn't a village in which there are not a few people who think themselves above the others; there is not a congregation in which there isn't some one or more who think they are a little above the rest; there is hardly a community to be found on earth where this spirit of pride and envy and jealousy does not exist. Now then, the practical lesson for us to learn in true Christianity is this, that we do not select our own path, but walk in the path of the Holy Spirit. "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.'' Let us not imagine that we are so far better than other people; let us not think others are so far be- low us, but remember we are only doing that to exalt ourselves. "For every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." What is the way of the Spirit? The Word of God itself is the way of the Spirit, and when we hear this Word of God we are in the path that He leads us. When we obey the truth that we hear, and hear it for the purpose of learning that we might live it, then we are walking in God's holy path. When we obey His commandments and try to hold fast to His promises and grow in grace day by day that we might ourselves live nearer to Him and thus bring others with us, then we are walking in the path of the Holy Spirit. In other words, we must make diligent use of the means of grace. God comes to us, as we have heard so often, in the Word and the Holy Sacraments, and when that Word is preached to us we should hear it; when that W^ord is taught in the class we should be there ; Avhen we have the opportunity to be baptized, we ought to be baptized, if we have not been ; and when the Lord's Sup- per is celebrated we should be found at the table and there eat of the body and drink of the blood of Christ, and thank God for the means of grace. And then, on hearing His Word, we should always ask, What improve- ment can I make in my life? How walk in the center of the path that God has selected? This is the practical les- FIFTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 665 son that we should all obey, to Avalk in the path that God has selected ourselves. II. Another practical lesson in this epistle is this : Let us lead others in the right path. ^'Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thy- self, least thou also be tempted." 1 think the text we lieard last Sunday morning and the heart searching, must have made each one of us feel, I am the chief of sin- ners. And if it did, with that heart searching w^e had, it will not be long until we find that it is a very common thing for a man to be overtaken in a fault. Where is the man that has not been overtaken in a fault? And if we are going to walk on the right path, what are we going to do? Shove him off of the right path; push him down; boast in fact that this man has fallen? No. Let us in tlie si)irit of meekness go to such an one and tell him where his fault is. And while we are going, remember that the next time it will be his opportunity to come to me and tell me w^here my fault is. I will this time in all kindness try to lift him back on the path from Avhich he has departed, and remember that Avhile I am going after him, I want to do that with the same spirit I would like to have him come and lead me back when I go a step out of the Avay. Oh, the spirit of meekness and love which is found in Jesus Christ. If that spirit were used to win souls for heaven, how many would be on that path! Our first duty, therefore, should always be to lead those back again asIio have left the path of right. Can you not in looking around you think of some one who one time was bus}^ in tlie kingdom of God; some one who was busy in the Church of God? But where is he today? He has stepped out of the path; wandered away; fallen by the Avayside. Have you ever gone to him with the spirit of meekness and love, and in all privacy tried to bring him back, that no one Avould know it? Have you ever treated him as a mother Avould take her sick child and press it to her bosom and give it the kiss of love? The practical path of love is always to be kind to the fallen: to always be kind to those who have stepped 666 THE ETEENAL EPISTLE. out of the way, and bring them back. This does not mean that we should look upon sin lightly; it does not mean that we should not thunder a warning into the hearts of those that seemingly have hard hearing; it does not mean that the laws of Sinai should not thunder in their ears; but it does mean, when the laT^' has done its work, to come with the spirit of meekness and bring back those that have left the right path. And if it is our duty on the right path of life to bring those back who have fallen by the wayside, surely it is our duty to bring those into this path that have never been there. If it is wrong to let one fall off of the right path, it is surely wrong to let those off that have never been on the right path. The very same spirit, there- fore, urges us to hold those who are on the right path and keep them in the right, is the same spirit that says : Go out and find the fallen, and find the lost, and bring them to their Savior and to salvation. ^'If a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, least thou also be tempted.'' III. A third practical principle in this text is this: Let us begin hurden-hearing. ''Bear ye one another's burdens." ''For every man shall bear his own burden/' Those two verses seem to be direct contradictions. In the second verse we are commanded to bear one another's burdens, and in the fifth verse commanded to bear our own. How is it possible? We are to bear burdens that others cannot bear; and we are to bear burdens that others should not bear. There are burdens that others cannot bear. The world is full of aged people who can toil no longer to earn their bread. The world is full of hospitals and sick people who cannot earn their daily bread. The world is full of cripples and little infants and the help- less all around us. There is a class of people who abso- lutely cannot bear their burdens. What is our duty? With the spirit of Christ, if we are practical Christians, we will reach out and help to bear the burdens of others. If one of our own number is sick and cannot earn his FIFTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 667 bread, it is a Christian duty, and love to our fellowmen demands it, that we help to support that man. If the Christian Church had always done its duty, you would not find today so many poor people paying all their money to worthless lodges. If all the Christian people would simply keep in mind their love to their fellowmen, and burden-bearing duty, then when one is sick we are to run to him and help him, not because Ave had vowed to do so; not because we had promised to help this one and let the other go, in which there is no love at all. No. Then we would help a man because he is a man, because he needs help; and we would not go to a man and say. If you pay your dues you will get help, and if not, you cannot. We w^ould go to the poor man and say. Because you cannot pay your dues, because you haven't anything to pay your dues, Ave will help you to bear your burden. That is the Christian love. That is the practical principle that lies in this beautiful epistle tonight. Yes, let us bear one another's burdens. There are burdens that others should not bear. We have a great many people in the present day who seem to think that the world OAves them a liAdng. They walk around in this Avorld as if to say, No difference w^hether I work or not, I must have my bread and clothing; if ] cannot get them honestly I Avill steal; the Avorld owes me a living. The AAorld does not owe any man a living. There is only one promise for a living, and that is by the sweating of the face. ''In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread." If the world oaa^cs one man a living without work, it OAves it to CA^^ery man, and if every man were to quit AA^ork today, it would not take one year until the world Avould be starving. The very principle of living depends upon not only labor, but hard labor. Consequently^ there are burdens that others should not bear. It is not your duty nor mA^ duty to bear the burden of a lazy, strong man. The first thing that ought to be required, therefore, of every citizen, whether man or woman, is that he or she be willing to and shall labor to earn their daily bread. If there is a heavy weight to carrv, and two of us were ordered to carry it, if I fail to 668 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. carry my part I am shifting the burden on the other man, but if I bear my part I am bearing his burden, because it is the very burden that he would have to carry if I did not. So you see, after all, there is no contradic- tion between these two verses. If you bear your own burden you are bearing a burden that somebody else will have to bear if you do not. Consequently by bearing your own burden, you are bearing the burden of your fellowman. And why is it that there are so many people bur- dened today? Because there are so many that are not bearing any burden. One man in the family has to earn the bread for all that eat at the table; he has to buy the clothing for all that wear them. There are too mam^ people in the present day that are earning nothing, like parasites, hanging on to those who are willing to toil, and the consequence is that those that are burdened are burdened too much and others are not bearing any bur- den whatever. Let us learn the practical lesson this very evening that the true Christian must always try to bear his burden. IV. The fourth practical lesson is this: Let us fully appreciate the teachers of God's Wo7^d. "Let him that is taught in the Word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.'' We understand in the be- ginning of the ministry the apostles and their successors were not offered large salaries. They went and preached the Word of God wherever it was to be preached, and depended wholly and solely upon the good hearts and good will of the people who heard the Word, to support them. And now and then we hear men say in the pres- ent day that the old preachers had it so much harder than now. They tell us of men that used to preach three or four places and only got two hundred dollars a year. I know that is true. I know some men who preached two or three places for two hundred dollars a year, 25 or 30 years ago, who laid up |150.00 out of those |200 ; and I know furthermore there are men in these days getting nearly two thousand dollars that cannot lay up a cent. Let us not imagine that salary is always to be FIFTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITI. 669 judged entirely by the amount of dollars. What does it cost a man? That is the question. Do you know that your own pastor does not lay up as much money as the girl that works for him? Do jou realize that? One thing, however, has ahvays been God's rule, and it is to- day yet, and that is that he who teaches the Word of God is to live of that Word. The apostle tells us in another place that we should not muzzle the ox that treads out the corn, and gives proof of the fact that he that teaches the Gospel should live of the Gospel. The ox that treads out the corn is never muzzled. Young people may not understand this. In olden times they had no threshing machines as they have today. They would throw the grain down on the floor, take the oxen and lead them in a circle, tramping out the grain; but they were never so mean as to make an ox walk in that ring all day, and tie his mouth shut and never let him eat a bite. When he treads out the corn he has a right to eat. So the apostle saj^s every man is worthy of his hire; he says that the laborer should receive a living, and no difference what his calling, should have his daily bread. There is a practical lesson in that for every con- gregation, and that is when you have any man, no dif- ference who he is, wlio is giving you the Word of life, it becomes your duty to see to it he is not in want, that he may constantly give his whole attention to the salva- tion of souls, and set an example worthy of following, giving and giving liberally, and showing the right spirit to those that follow. What right have I to ask you to be liberal and to be good and kind to the poor, if I am never able to be good and kind to them? The very first duty a man of God has is to show an example to people in every line, and I am always asking God that he may ever give me the right spirit to show you your duty to your fellowmen. The Apostle Paul lays down those prin- ciples. "Let him that is taught in the law communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things." You owe it to your pastor — I am not speaking of myself — no dif- ference who he is, that brings you the Word of Life — 670 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. you owe him his living, just the same as you owe a man his money when he rolls stone or hauls lumber for you, when his day's work is done. And this is not only true in regard to pastors; it is true in regard to laymen. I am satisfied you children never can do too much for your parents Avho taught you the Word of God. If you have parents who never teach you the Word of God at home, they are not doing their duty. Train up a child in the w^ay he shall go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. We owe a great debt to our Sunday school teachers who stand before us week after week and bring us the bread of life, and try to show us the better way to live, and how to die, and where to spend eternity. You never can get done doing good and saying good things about them and helping them along in this life. Are we always as kind as we ought to be to those who have instructed us in the W^ord of God? How many people are not remembering their former pastors as they ought? I would love to see every man in this church alwaj^s speak highly of those that have gone before. When you stop to think that out of all the pas- tors that have preached in this First Lutheran church, only two are living, do you realize what they have done for you? Do you realize what the first great missionary who carried the Word of God to Eichland county, Ohio — Brother Euth — did for ^'^ou? Are you remembering the good that Dr. Fiery did here? Are you remember- ing the good that Dr. Wiles did here? When speaking of him are you only finding fault, or are you remember- ing how many, many souls he has led to heaven; and how good and kind he was to you in times of need? And when your present pastor's work is done, will you re- member he tried hard to lead you heavenward? Will you try to remember what he did for your children? Will you remember the good your superintendent is trying to do for you and your children? Will you remember your teachers, who meet weekly on Tuesday evenings, while you are spending your time in other places, pre- FIFTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 671 paring to bring the bread of life to 3^ou? These are prac- tical principles that lie in this great lesson tonight. V. Another : Let us encpect to reap exactly what toe soiv. ^'Be no deceived: God is not mocked; for whatso- ever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soAveth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in Avell doing; for in due season we shall reap if we faint not." What a beautiful text for a sermon I I wish I had an hour in- stead of a few minutes for these few verses. "Be not deceived; God is not mocked.'' How many people there are who seem to think it is so nice to be funny, as we sometimes say, and in order til at people may laugh at what we say, we will make fun of religion and things religious. Have you ever iioticed that whenever Satan wants to make things real funny he tries to say something that will approach the sacred? Things never are so laughable as when the}^ touch upon the Word of God, or the minister, or God Himself. Any story without the sacred in it is not ridiculous, but the moment you can associate the thing ungodly with things good and holy, then Satan makes us all think it is very funny and laughable. Some time ago I read a story of a weaver in Europe who one Saturday afternoon had almost completed the piece of cloth he was making. He said to his wife, "In one hour from now I will have finished this cloth.'' His wife was a good Christian woman, and she said, "If it is the Lord's will." "Oh," said the weaver, "I am going to finish it whether it is the Lord's will or not," and he gave the shuttle a swing; it went too far; he failed to catch it, and, reaching after it in his anger, he caught his foot and broke it, and lay there for six weeks; he did not finish the garment. "Be not deceived; God is not mocked." Again, I read of a man in one of our European cities noted for sitting around in hotels, making fun of things good and holy. A member of the Christian church, his pastor, after having served for twenty years in that church, had decided at last to go to another city to 672 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. preach. One evening this man said to his wife, "Next Sunday you need not bring me an ordinary handkerchief ; 3^ou can bring me a sheet; I am going to cry when our pastor leaves." He thought it was funny to bring the sheet. His wife was a good Christian woman, and she said : "It is a very solemn matter to me that my pastor is going away after having served us for twenty years; I would advise you not to mock, but if you want the sheet, I will get it." He said, "Get it; I want it." And she got it for him. Then on Wednesday he took sick; Thursday evening he died; Friday he was wrapped in the same sheet he wanted to cry in on Sunday, and the pastor while preaching the funeral sermon, wept over the dead man that died mocking God. "Be not deceived; God is not mocked." At a banquet a few years ago in New York City, one man suggested the idea of celebrating the Lord's Supper in a jocular manner, and took up the wine and said, "Here I am drinking the Lord's blood." He fell back dead ; and there was no question in the minds of his skep- tical friends that God would not be mocked. We know this with regard to earthly matters. There isn't one of us tonight that does not know when we sow flower seed we expect flowers; when we sow wheat we expect wheat ; when we plant corn we expect corn ; when we sow grass we expect grass ; and yet there are so many people in the present day that seem to think they can just sow a life of sin to the flesh, and reap heaven. It cannot be done. Whatsoever a man soweth, that will he reap — the same kind, and a larger quantity. Yes, the same kind. "For he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption." We heard in last Sunday's lesson what it means to sow to the flesh. A man that sows his unbridled lust is bound to reap hell ; a man that sows in anger and sows to the flesh can never reap things that are spiritual. The question to- night is, What are we sowing? What are we sowing? There is a wonderful difference between the flesh and the Spirit. When we have a fleshly desire, oh, how we desire that! And the more we think over it, the more FIFTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 673 we desire it, and then, when that desire is fulfilled we are disgusted with ourselves — thoroughly disgusted. Not so with spiritual matters. Spiritual matters are the things we don't want; we are trying to keep away from them just as long as we can, and then we get them by degrees, by the gift of the Holy Spirit, and when we find them, the joy grows greater and greater. Just the oppo- site. Lust begins with joy and the desire to be gratified, and becomes thoroughly disgusted with itself, goes to de- struction and hell; but the spiritual desire begins with, "I don't want to;" and then, "I will;" and then, ^'I have joy," and "Oh, heaven is my home!" Just the opposite. Whatsoever a man soweth that will he reap. If you sow to the flesh you will reap corruption; if you sow to the Spirit you Avill reap everlasting life. Not only will you reap what you sow, but I would call your attention to the fact that you will reap more than you sow. You never find a farmer so ignorant as to sow a bushel and a half of wheat to the acre with the expectation of reaping only a bushel and a half the next year. No. When he sows a bushel and a half he is dis- satisfied if he does not get twenty to thirty bushels. When a man buys his seed corn he does not buy it with the purpose of raising just as much as he planted, but buys a little seed that he may raise a lot of it. We all understand that solving means a larger harvest. When a man sows to corruption, what a harvest that will be! W^hen a man sows to sin. Oh, what a harvest that will be ! When we stop to think that the sowing time is much shorter than the reaping time; when we stop to think that the sowing of one week will bring a harvest that will feed us a year ; Oh, what a harvest that will be when men have sown twenty years, thirty years, fifty years, seventy- five years, all to corruption! What a great harvest that will be of the flesh on that great Judgment day. We are not only sowing but we are sowing for a greater harvest, and we T\all get exactly what we are sowing. And so I would ask you tonight again. What are you sowing? And let us remember that the harvest is surely com- ing. "And let us not be weary in well doing; for in due 43 674 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. season we shall reap if we faint not.'' John Arndt says : "It would be a foolish farmer who would sow and imme- diately expect a harvest. Thus many a one may say, I have prayed so long and so often and do not see any answer to my prayers. Thou fool! canst thou not wait until the harvest is ripe?" VI. My last thought I Avould leave you this evening- is this: Let us make use of every opportunity to do good. "As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith." Let us do good unto all men. We are to love human- ity ; we are to love the black and the white-; we are to love our neighbors and those that live at the antipodes; we are to love all human beings no difference where they are found. Oh, how little true Christianity there is in the world today. How many people there are that would never help any one unless he belongs to his little circle or clique, or church. We never will live as God wants us to live, until we are ready to say, Here is a human being that needs help, and God help me to bring that help. And let us not simply help when there is great need. We never will be thoroughly happy until we have our eyes constantly open to watch for opportunities to do some kind act somewhere, every moment. Some people seem to be perfectly satisfied if they can go to bed at night thinking, This morning at 9 o'clock I did some kind act. What did you do at two o'clock? At ^y^*^ Why should a man so limit his life that he is only look- ing for one moment a day to do some kind act? Why should we let a day pass by and do notliing? I maintain there is not a day of a man's life that he cannot do some- thing to make somebody happy; and I maintain that there isn't an hour in a man's life that he cannot do and say something to do some good somewhere. I think our first desire should be constantly to watch for an oppor- tunity to make tlie world better by our being in it. Another practical observation right in harmony with this statement is this: W^e should be especially careful to help those of our own members, those of our own faith, FIFTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 675 those of our own church. "Especially unto them who are of the household of faith." I think the Apostle Paul had here in mind first of all the true Christians. Help them. If that was true in PauPs day it is just as true today. We should give special help to members of our own church. I wonder whether we keep that in mind as much as we should? If we have carpenter work to do, why don't we give that work to our carpenters? When we want to spread the truth as we believe we should, we expect our carpenters to help. When we want to do some good work in the church, we expect our farmers to help; we expect our retail men to help, no difference what their business may be. Why should we not, as Christian people, patronize those very ones whom we expect to help and whom we expect to help us? I fear we are overlook- ing that Christian principle too much. We some times pass right by our own people and go to those who are not one with us as far as faith is concerned; we never expect their aid in a financial way, and yet at the same time we overlook our own people who are expected to help us. One of the very first principles of Christianity is this: See to your own home; see to your own people; but do not stop there; go on out and do good as you have oppor- tunity, to all mankind. May the Lord bless these words tonight and help us all to put into practice the things we hear. If there is any one thing I would wish for it is this, 'that we might not come to these Sunday evening services simply as a matter of custom, simply as a place to go, and sit down and listen and talk, and go home again. Let us by all means make up our minds that we want to hear God's Word to get bread for our souls; something that we may live by tomorrow and all the rest of our lives. And until you have your mind fully made up : I want to learn the truth that I may live it, it seems to me it is a waste of time for you to hear the truth. The very object in hear- ing it ought to be that you may take it home to your soul and live it before the whole world. May God bless these practical principles to our eternal good is my prayer. Amen. SIXTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Paul's Great Prayer. Eph. 3:13-21. *WM\ HEREFORE I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for mjSI you, which is your glory. For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, accord- ing to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to compre- hend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, accord- ing to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Thy Word is truth. Amen. Beloved in Christ: This epistle has been called 'TauFs Lord's Prayer.'^ It is one of the great prayers offered by that greatest of all apostles. How feAv real genuine prayers there are in this World. There are eight millions of heathen that never prayed a single i^rayer, according to God's idea of prayer ; seven millions of Jews who never offered a single prayer in the name of Jesus; and how many professed Christians there are who have only formal prayers. Sometimes it is said we should not pray out of books because we are formal, and yet there are some people that never pray out of a book and they are just as formal as any book could possibly be. How few people there are with a life that means to do all that it can to carry that prayer into 676 SIXTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 677 practical effect. PauPs prayer is an ideal prayer; it is one of the great prayers, and may the Holy Spirit help us to get the wider horizon, the wider vision, of a truly great prayer. My theme, therefore, will be PAULAS GREAT PRAYER. And in order that we ourselves may be led to pray as he did, let me show you : I. What he saw. II. What he said. I. What he saw : Let us not forget that Paul at this time was a prisoner in the great city of Eome. No one has been able to describe that prison, but the very fact that we are reminded of the house in which the crim- inals were placed in the greatest city of the greatest gov- ernment that was then on earth, clearly shows us that Paul many a morning saw the walls of one of the greatest prisons in the world. He not only saw the walls of a great prison, but he saw a great congregation discouraged. He had himself established a congregation up in the city of Ephesus. He had there made known unto them the great Words of Jesus Christ, and heathen became Christians, an,d true Christians. Paul says of them: "Now, there- fore, 3'e are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner- stone.'^ It was no ordinary congregation up there at Ephesus; it was an old established mission, one that he dearly loved, and yet when they heard that their former pastor Paul was now a prisoner in Kome, they became very much discouraged and wondered what would become of the church in the coasts of Asia Minor; and so Paul, through those prison walls, saw his little discouraged con- gregation up at Ephesus. He not only saw that congregation, but he saw a lost world that needed to be saved. In the beginning of this 678 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. chapter lie recognizes the great fact that he was the apostle sent by God to convert the heathen, "Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit ; that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the Gospel : whereof I Avas made a minister, ac- cording to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of His power. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." In other words, the apostle Paul recog- nizes the fact that he sees that he, a prisoner, now in the great prison of Kome, is not only surrounded by the walls of this prison, that he not only can see up in yonder dis- tance a little discouraged congregation, but that all around the world there are millions and millions of souls living in darkness, whose very light depends upon his sending forth the light from that dark dungeon. My dear friends, it is hard for us to imagine this morning the world as it was that day when Paul wrote this lesson. If you can imagine only a few hundred or a few thousand Christians in all the world, darkness sur- rounding every nation, then you Avill understand what it meant for Paul to be in prison that morning. Then you will understand how he felt when he looked out of those little windows and saw this great, great world, in darkness, perishing by the thousands every day, and no man to bring them the Gospel, and the one selected by God to do this, tied in chains. He not only saw a great Avorld lost, to be saved, but he saw a great prayer-commanding and prayer-answering Father in heaven. "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." Again he says: "Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the church." In other words, he recognized the fact that though he was little Paul in that prison, that there is a true and living God, and that the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, since SIXTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 679 Christ adopted him, was his Father, and recognizing that his Father could be the Father of every lost man, recog- nizing that by human might it was impossible for a man in prison to enlighten the world, he also recognized the fact that there was one who could not be imprisoned, that there was a God who could not be demolished by the power of man ; he recognized that among all the unknown and false gods which he had seen with his own eyes and touched Avith his own hands, there is One who has the power to do all things; One who not only listens to the prayers of prisoners, but who can do more than the greatest prisoner in the world can even think it possible for him to do, and that the work will be done, despite the fact that the stone walls surround him in the greatest city of the greatest government of the world. He not only saw a great Father in heaven, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, but he also savr a great family. "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named." PauPs vision of the . family was far broader than our vision. Some of us think only of the few people that eat at our table as belonging to our family ; then there are some people again who think only of those, that are living Christians as belonging to * their family; but the apostle Paul allowed himself that morning to take a wider view. He not only thought of himself as a prisoner, but he thought of the prophets of old that had been stoned to death, and torn asunder, some of whom were sleeping under the ground, others burned and the ashes scattered to the winds; he thought of the millions and millions of those already dead, like Abraham of old, who had faith in the coming of the Savior, and were sleeping under the ground; he thought of the souls that had gone home into the presence of the Father in heaven, the saints on high; he thought of those that should be born thereafter ; he thought of the funerals that should be held from the day that he dies until the last great trump shall sound and Christ shall come to raise the dead; he thought of all those that are under the ground; he thought of all those that are on the ground; 680 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. he thought of all those that should be born, and he said, after all there is only one family ; God has a family ; part of them are in heaven and part on earth, but God's family ' is known by one link, they all cling to the Lord Jesus Christ, His only Son, and they are named after Him, and the Christian is not known by the name of Smith, nor Jones, nor Lutheran, nor Presbyterian, nor Methodist, but by the fact that he is a folloAver of the Lord Jesus Christ; and therefore, like Luther of old, he does not care whether his church is called by this name or that, but we shall be called followers of Him who is our only Savior, and whoever accepts Jesus as His only Savior and is baptized in His name, has the covenant and the promise that he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he belongs to God's family, and so Paul saw that morning rtot only Christ, and the saved that are dead and the saved that shall die, but he saw them all on high, and everywhere, and they are all one great family of God. He saw another vision in that prison that was great, too, and that is, he saw a great hidden man. He speaks of him in the sixteenth verse: "That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man." Paul never asked the question. What is a man worth? He never asked, Hoav famous is a man ; how much does he possess ; on which street does he live; the only question in Paul's mind was. Is he a man? and if he is a man he has a soul in him, and that soul in him is capable of being born again; and if that soul is born again by the Holy Spirit, then he has got that man such as I, Paul, in this prison, have got another man in me; and as I have another man within me, so every man up at Ephesus has another jnan in him, and every lost heathen man in the world has got the possibility of another man in him, and so all over this world, a man within a man, and this inner man is the one whom the Holy Spirit can make so powerful that the world cannot resist him. I see in that inner man a heart that can swell out with faith until it can comprehend all prisons, and comprehend all nations, and all worlds, and SIXTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 681 even God Himself. It is possible, says Paul, for this inner man to have his heart swell up so big that God can live in it. A wonderful vision. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend all the incomprehen- sible. The Bible at times seems to be full of paradoxes. In this same lesson he tells us about a love that no man can understand. ''And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." And in spite of the fact that this love passeth all knowledge, he says, ''That ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend." How can you comprehend a thing you cannot know? It is the inner man that can do this. The inner man, as I said a moment ago, when he has his brain sanctified by the Holy Spirit, begins to take that brain of his and he sinks it down into the very ground of God's Word until it is per- fectly saturated with God's eternal truth, and then the truth and the brain of man become one, as it were, and the heart of man and the brain of man, and the whole inner man becomes, as it were, a very part of God's love, and of God's knowledge, and of God's fullness, and where God's love is His brain is, and where God's love is his heart is, and where God's heart is His power is, and God is all in all in him and he in God, as the vine is in the branch and the branch throAvs its power into the vine, so we are one in Christ Jesus. Wonderful vision of Paul in prison ! And all this he saw before he prayed. He not only saw the great hidden man, but he saw the path of glory. These poor Christians up here in Ephesus were heart-broken, fainting, discouraged; they were writing letters and sending messages down to Rome : Paul, what will we do? If our pastor is in prison in the capital of Eome, what will become of the little church up in the capital of Ephesus? And so discouraged and faint- hearted were they that the apostle said to them, I must encourage you. Haven't you a path to glory? Instead of your suffering on account of my being here in prison, I want you to understand this is going to be your greatest help. "Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribu- 682 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. lations for you, which is your gior}^^' Again : "Unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end/' Why, says Paul, you have got no right to faint ; you have no right to be discouraged ; if I can see through these prison walls a path to glory, Avith all my suffering, you ought to be encouraged up there when you are free; if I can be happy down here with these chains on my hands, you ought to be happy with the chains off of your hands ; if I can bring my little church into this prison and have it here, cannot you, my Ephesus brethren, keep up your church up there? I see a path to glory, no difference what these people do to me; I know that I must suffer, so did Christ my Master. I knoAv that my path runs through the Church of God. There is a glorious path and I see it, and seeing all this, I Paul, bow my knees before the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and I now pray : O Christ, may we have the vision of Paul this evening that Ave may pray as he did. Now I did not hear that prayer, but I can easily gather from this lesson the substance of PauPs prayer. II. What he said : He said in that prayer that day, first. They can hurt me, but not my church. Let us not forget that it was no little matter for a man like Paul, with his education, with his powders, to be tied down into a little cell of a dark dungeon; but with all that Paul gave them to understand that his church Avas an eternal church, and that they could never take him out of that. No difference how much they might hurt him, they never could harm the church that Christ bought with His blood. ^^Unto Him be .glory in the church, by Jesus Christ throughout all ages, Avorld without end." When Paul and Silas were put into another prison and their feet Avere fastened into the stocks, at midnight I can hear Paul say, Silas, where two or three are gathered together in Christ's name He is in the midst of them. Let us have a service. And they started out to sing, and there never was a grander church in all the world than Paul and Silas' church Avhen their feet were in the stocks. Their backs were bleeding, the blood Avas running doAvn on the floor where they sat, but they sang, and there never was SIXTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 683 a grander choir in all the world than that duet that Paul and Silas sang that night. And so Paul says, They put me into this prison; it is dark, but my church is here and they cannot hurt my church. They may kill me, Paul, and they have killed Christ, but the very killing of Christ has founded the church on which I stand, and the very taking off of my head will inspire thousands of men to do what I never could have done. My church lives and it never can be harmed. The Savior said. Thou art Peter, and upon this Eock will I build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. In other words, Paul prayed in his church. The house of God is a house of prayer. Hoav many people there are in these days who seem to think that they can be Christians even if they are not prisoners, outside of the church, I want to say right here that if one man can be saved without being a member of God's church, then we of all men on earth are the biggest fools. If one man can be saved out- side of God's church, why cannot all the rest of them be saved the same way? Paul recognized the fact that he was no fool for being in prison; he would rather die than be thrust out of the church of God. It must stand. Once in a while we meet people who seem to think. Well, if I do not like somebody in the church council, or if I do not like the superintendent of the Sunday School, or if I do not like the pastor, I will just leave the church. Well, my dear friends, whenever you leave for that rea- son, there is absolutely no Christian lost; there is left a soul in darkness just the same as it was before. A man that is a true child of God will not leave the church of God for any man on earth. Never. You do not go to church to join men; you do not go to church because somebody is in it, or because somebody is out of it; you go to the church of God because Christ is the church, and because you cling to Christ no difference what happens, and will be faithful to Him until you die ; and you cannot pray if you are not willing to go into the church of God to do your praying. The apostle Paul also said : They can put these limbs into prison, but they cannot keep them from bending. 684 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. There are some things they can do with us and some things they cannot do with us. The apostle Paul was too small a man to fight the government of Rome ; he was too small a man to say, I can physically keep out of prison. He went into the door where they said he should walk; he went into the cell where they said he should stay. He recognized the fact that his limbs could be placed in that cell, and even into the stocks, and they could be liberated, but there is one thing, says Paul, I do not care what you do with me, you cannot hinder; as long as I have got the power to stand I have got the power to bend my knees, and down I go, and bow before the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, what a beautiful form of true humilia- tion, to kneel before God in prayer! "Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." — Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints ! I go down, my knees bend, I must pray to my Father in heaven, and all Rome cannot keep my knees from bending. In the third place Paul said. They can chain these hands, but they cannot keep me from writing. He tells us explicitly in some of these epistles of his, I write these with my own hands. He tells us in that great speech that he made before the king, that I would that ye might be as I am, except these chains. Oh, how many people in this world will let every little thing hinder them from performing their duties to their God. If some neighbor comes in at nine o'clock they will sit down and not come to Sunday School. If somebody wants to come and make a little call, you Avill sit doAA'n there and not do your duty. If you have done a little hard work on Saturday, then you are too sleepy on Sunday morning. Oh, may the day come when all the merchants of this city will learn the one great lesson that they can sell just as much merchan- dise in ten hours as in fifteen. Oh, may the day soon come when the devil will lose that power among business men, that he can keep all our clerks up until nearly mid- night and wear them out before the day comes when they can go to God's house and listen ; but I want to say right SIXTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 685 here for the encouragement of all tired people, in all the discouragements you meet with, if Paul could bend the knee in prison and would not be hindered in writing with a chain on his hands, isn't it time that we overcome dif- ficulties? We talk about a land of liberty, but the great fact is that any man that will let anything hinder him from doing his duty is a slave to the thing that holds him down. And many peoj)le are slaves because they want to be. I know there are chains too strong for us to break, but there are few chains so big that we cannot rattle them. There are chains that are too strong for us to get loose, but there are few chains too heavy that Ave cannot hold up a pen and write a word that will live when the chain has gone to dust. And so I urge upon us all to learn of Paul how to pray. They can chain these liands, but they cannot keej) me from writing. I can see Paul that morning as he bows his knees before the Father and says: O Father in heaven, great is the government of Rome; it has placed me into this prison, and by my own power I cannot get out. Father in heaven, I know that Thou art greater — greater than I can conceive; and Thou wilt answer prayer, far better than I have ever dreamed. Now unto Thee that art able to do exceeding abundantly above all that I can ask or think. Thou art greater than Eome, and if it be Thy will, O Father, as Thou didst once shake the prison and release Silas and me, if it be Thy will. Thou canst make me free. My government is great, but my God, Thou art greater. That was Paul's prayer that morning. In the fifth place : They have put me into a family of criminals, but I belong to God's family. As they led Jesus Christ between two criminals on Calvary's hill in order that they might make it appear before the world that He, too, was a criminal, so they took this great apostle and compelled him to eat and to drink with the great criminals in the prison at Eome. But Paul said in his prayer, My Father, I do not belong to this family; Thou hast a family of saints on high, and Thou hast a family of Christians up at Ephesus ; Thou hast Christians 686 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. over at Jerusalem; Thou hast children of God all over this country, and there are going to be more; this family is going to grow and is going to become very large ; and I thank Thee, my Father in heaven, that I belong to Thy family. Again, he said : They can handle this little man, but not my inner man. He recognized not only that there was an inner man in the Christian outside of prison, but that there was an inner man in himself. He said to him- self, They call me little Paul; they think that I am un- usually small, and they call me an ugly little Jew; but I want, O Father in heaven, the power of Thy Spirit in my soul until this might shall shake Rome. O Father in heaven, I realize that I am a little man, but I have a faith in my Savior now that SAvells out so large that He can dwell in my heart by faith. O Father in heaven, I realize that in this head of mine there is a small brain, but there is power in this brain of mine to flash to the ends of the earth, and I am thinking of the height, and the depth, and of the breadth of the great love of God; I am thinking this morning of the fact that Thy love is longer than the history of the world; deeper than the gates of hell ; higher than the throne of heaven. O, my Father in heaven, I am strong in Thee ! Finally : They think they are keeping me out of the mission field a few years, but I shall never leave it until the end of the world. PauFs prayer was a wonderful prayer. The people up at Ephesus thought the church is going down because their leader is in prison. Paul did not think so. Paul knew very well that those prophets of old that were stoned to death were not dead. Paul knew very well that anything that is not worth dying for is not worth having. Paul knew that if he were living he could only go around in a few of these different nations and tell the story of Christ, and then lie down and die, and that would be the end of it. He knew fur- ther that if God in His infinite wisdom saw fit, that some day this little apostle should be led out, led to the block, his neck made bare and the knife placed over him to come down and cut that head off, that the angels of God SIXTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 687 might be there to put the crown on it. He knew very well that if he had to spill his blood in this cause, that the blood, would talk louder and longer than all the words that fell from his tongue. He knew that if he would die for Christ that the spirit of Paul would animate every missionary that goes out into the field as long as the world shall stand. And Paul was not mistaken. He ]3rayed that morn- ing that you might have his spirit, that his work shall go on until the ends of the earth. My dear friends, where can you find a mission field to-da}- without the spirit of Paul in it? Where can you find a genuine prayer today that has not got the yjrayer of Paul in it? Are Ave pray- ing as we should? Are Ave praying for missions? I am afraid, my friends, as I said in the beginning, some of our pra3^ers,are never heard. When a man prays God to save the Avorld and then reaches into his pocket and gives about the wages of half a day in a year to save souls, I do not think that prayer ever goes above his scalp. I do not think that God ever pays any attention to it. When a man prays for the salvation of the Avorld and is a stingy idolater, God pays no more attention to him than He does to yonder stone that lies in the street. When a man prays for missions and lets his own children grow up as children of the devil, I do not think God ever listens to him. Paul's prayer had in it this thought: My God, there is not a place on earth I am not willing to run if Thou wilt let me out of this prison. . My God,, there is not a Avork that I am not willing to do, and earn my own living, if Thou Avilt only let me preach Christ to a dying world. My God, since I am in this prison and cannot get out, if it will do any good cut my head off, and write with my blood instead of with ink, the mighty message to the world, that will inspire people to pray for missions. I am glad to say that these plain simple sermons, - preached by an humble Christian, are having their effect. I am glad to announce this morning that there is at least one member in this church who from this day on is going to support a missionary himself in foreign fields; and I do hope that the day will come when we will not go home 688 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. and figure out $1.33 for ten causes, but I hope the day will come when every man Avill go home and say, How much do I need to feed my family; how much do I need to clothe my family; how much do I need to support my church; how much do I need to pay my taxes; how much do I need to lay up that I may not be a pauper when I am old ; what can I spare ; what can I give for God ; what can I give for the salvation of souls? If it is fifty dol- lars, then fifty dollars ; if it is fifty cents, fifty cents I will give; if it is five dollars, ^Ye dollars I will give; if it is a thousand, a thousand I will give ; and if Thou wilt take my life, here it is, my God. Then, my friends, when you go to doing business that way with God, then I believe that God will say. Angels, listen; there is a man down there praying. When Paul was converted and God told Ananias to hunt him up. He knew what Ananias was hunting; He knew that there was something over there called a man, in the street called Straight, that was worth hunting, for Behold! He prayeth. Why did God tell Ananias to hunt Paul? Because he knew that the day would come when Paul would hunt God and say, Here, God, I am; take my life to save the world. That prayer was worth listening to; and may we pray from this day on so that our prayers are accompanied by a life and a determination to give our whole bodies and souls to His service, so that we will be heard. And until we are willing to give and to do as God wants us to do, let us have the respect before the throne of God to keep our mouths shut and not pray at all. This is plain talk but it is true Christianity, and may God move us to have the right missionary spirit to live and see what Paul saw, and to pray as Paul prayed. Tlien we, too, shall some- time see the great path of glory. Amen. PRAYER. O God, our heavenly Father, we thank Thee for the great message of the morning, and we pray Thee that this message will inspire us with the spirit of an apostle Paul to have the wider vision of the world, the wider vision of the lost souls of the world, the wider vision of the permanency of the church of God, the wider vision of the great- SIXTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 689 ness of our Father in heaven. O Lord our God, do Thou help us this evening to pray as he prayed; do Thou help us to see that all prayers to be effectual, must be honest with our own consciences, hor^^st with our own souls, honest before God and in harmony with His Word. And we pray Thee this evening that Thou wilt give a spiritual blessing to this whole congregation. May the Missionary Society already exist- ing have such an influence on every mother, and every woman, and every man and every child that we may be one great missionary society to proclaim salvation through Christ to a dying world. And now we ask Thee to go with us to our respective homes, and may our life's pra3'er be in substance the one taught by our Holy Savior Jesus Christ : Our Father who art in heaven ; Hallowed be Thy name ; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven; Give us this day our daily bread ; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for- give those who trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation; But dehver us from evil; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. 44 SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. The One Baptism. Eph. 4:5. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. Beloved in Christ : Much has been said recently in this city on the mode and subject of baptism. If those churches which believe only in immersion and adult baptism are in the right, then God have mercy on over ninety per cent, of all pro- fessed Christians. There is no question in the Christian Church as to who this one Lord is — described in the folloAving verse in tliese words : "One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." This one Lord is the same God who said in the first chap- ter of Genesis, "Let us make man in our image"; the same God whom the angels praised by singing three times, "Holy, Holy, Holy art Thou, Lord God of Sabaoth"; the same Triune God who manifested Himself when Christ was baptized in the river Jordan, and the Father said from heaven, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased"; and the Holy Spirit came down on Him in the form of a dove ; the same God in whose name Jesus commanded the disciples to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. The one faith is the faith given by the Holy Spirit in the Christ that died on Calvary, whose Father is our Father. The one Lord, the one faith and the one baptism, is the central doctrine of the Chris- tian Church. What is 690 SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 691 THE ONE BAPTISM spoken of in our text? I answer: I. It is not simply immersion. II. It is not simply for adults. I. The immersionists claim that no one has a right to the name of Christian who has not been immersed in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and consequently their claim is not only great, but they deem their mission great. They consider it their holy duty to step into the folds of other churches, where people think they are baptized, and compel them to go under the water. It is our mission to instruct them and show them that baptism does not necessarily imply im- mersion. 1. The unquestionable immersions of the Bible were not baptisms. If immersion in itself were a baptism, then those ivere haptized ivho died in the flood, who were drowned in the Red Sea; then the axe that sank in the ivaters of the Jordan was baptized; then Jonah, who was swallowed hy the large fish, and the sivlne that ran into the sea, possessed of devils , must all have been baptized. When Adam and Eve were created, then the whole world knew the true and living God. There were no ignorant heathen then, but soon the people made the same mistake they are making today. Christian men married heathen women. The result was that the heathen won the victory and the people forgot their God. One hundred and twenty years God gave them to repent. He told the only righteous man, Noah, to build an ark, and to give them a warning which they did not heed. At last the ark was finished; two by two, and seven by seven of all the animals that could not live in the water, were placed in that ark; four men and their wives also entered; then the rain began to fall; the valleys were covered, the hills, the mountains, the highest trees, every high point in the world was covered by more than fifteen cubits of water. One by one the whole world was im- mersed ; a year and ten days before the waters were dried 692 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. up; little children, old and young, large and small, could have been seen lying over the world, dead. They were all immersed, but not baptized. You know the story of Israel in Eg^^pt, how for four hundred and thirty years they multiplied until there were six hundred thousand men who could carry arms, besides women and children. You know how they were made slaves until God sent Moses to deliver them. You know the story of the ten plagues, and liow on that last night when they ate the paschal lamb, they started for the Ked Sea. You know how Pharaoh refused time and again to let them go, and finally followed them with six hundred chosen chariots, besides others. Moses and the children of Israel reached the Eed Sea; the enemy was behind them ; they could not go to the right nor to the left ; there was nothing else to do but to march forward. God told Moses to strike the Avaters with his staff; they divided, and the children of Israel crossed over on dry land; they sang a song of victory when the waters returned and Pharaoh and his host were all drowned. They were immersed, but not baptized. You know the story of the sons of the prophets who invited Elislia to go with them down to the river Jordan to build a little temple there; they took an axe with them and began to cut down a tree; the axe slipped off and fell into the water; the one who lost it exclaimed, "Alas, my axe! it was borrowed.'' Elisha threw in a stick and made the axe to swim; it came to the top of the water. It was immersed, but surely not baptized. You know the story of the prophet Jonah, whom God sent to Nineveh to preach repentance to that great city. Instead of going to Nineveh as commanded by his God, he started down to Joppa, bought a ticket and started for Tarshish on a heathen vessel. They had not gone very far out into the sea until the storms came, until the very keel seemed to plow the bottom of the ocean, and the masts seemed to pierce the clouds. It was dis- covered that there was something unusual about this storm. Lots were cast to find out who was the cause. At last they find Jonah asleep; they wake him up; his SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 693 own conscience tells him that he is the cause; he con- fesses that he is a Hebrew and deserves death, and they resolve to throw him out. Out into the sea they pitch him, and he is swallowed by a large fish which God pre- pared especially for him. They tell us that this is an old fable; they tell us it is impossible that Jonah should have lived three days in the bowels of that large fisli, for- getting that we have lived a more miraculous life than that ourselves. Let us not forget that Jesus said as Jonah was three days in the bowels of the fish, so he Avould sleep three days in the bowels of the earth. If there was no such man as Jonah, if he was not in the large fish dowm in the sea, then there wa^ no Savior, and the Savior was not dead, and did not rise from the dead. Then let us not forget to hold fast to every word of God. Jonah was there immersed, but who would say he was baptized? You know the story of Christ in the storm on the Sea of Galilee. When He crossed over that sea He met the Gadarene who was possessed with devils; even iron bands could not hold him. The very devils ex- claimed, '^Let us fiee into those swine.'' It was wrong for the Jews to raise swine. God had a perfect right to take til em from them, and so He permitted the devils to enter into the swine, and the swine plunged down into the sea. They all drowned; no man will deny that they were immersed, but who would say that they were baptized? It must be evident from what has now been said that there must be a vast difference between immersion and baptism, and that the unquestionable immersions of the Holy Word of God are not baptisms. 2. It is not necessarily immersion to go into the Avater and come out again. Much stress has been laid by immersionists on the word ^baptizo,' which is an in- tense form of ^bapto.' They tell us that this word means to dip, to immerse, to i3lunge, and consequently that bap- tize means immersion. No Bible scholar or Greek scholar will deny that ^baptizo' originally meant immersion, but we do deny that this word has only one meaning. Sup- 694 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. pose in two thousand years from now some one should pick up an English book, and this language were a dead language; suppose he should look into an English dic- tionary and find the Avord ^spring'; this word originally meant to leap. Suppose he reads this sentence : "I have found a spring in my watch/' would it be correct then to translate the sentence, ^'I have found a leap in my watch"? Suppose he found another sentence, "The flow- ers bloom in the spring,'' would he translate the sentence, "The flowers bloom in the leap"? The word has another meaning — ^fountain'. Would it be correct to say, when he looked into his watch, that he had broke the foun- tain? When we look up the word ^spring' in the latest English dictionary, we find it has now fifteen distinctive meanings ; there was a time when it had only one. How shall we know the correct meaning of the word ^baptize'? Surely by the use of that word in the Greek translations of the Old Testament, and the original of the New. Let us look at some examples in the Word of God in which there seems to be no doubt in the minds of some people^ but that they were immersed. I refer first of all to the Syrian captain, Naaman, who was afflicted with leprosy. A Jewish maiden referred him to the great prophet Elisha, telling him that if the great proj)het could see him he would surely cure him. Naaman started out to see Elisha; he expected to meet him personally, and, as he says in his own words, he expected that prophet "to strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper," showing plainl,y that he was not leprous all over his body, but only in a certain part. He was disappointed; instead of seeing Naaman, a messen- ger met him at the gate and told him to go down to the river Jordan and wash himself in that river seven times. The angry captain rebelled against such an act, and re- ferred to the two rivers near Damascus, which were just as good as the river Jordan; but his servant asked him if he would have objected to doing a hard thing, if not, why not do such an easy thing as to go down to the Jor- dan and wash himself seven times. We are told that Naaman went down and dipped himself into that river^ SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 695 according to the word of the man of God. I call your attention to this truth, that Elisha never said he should go and immerse himself, but rather that he should wash himself, and this he did, according to the command, seven times. There is no proof tliat Naaman was immersed, yet he was baptized, according to the language of the Septuagint. The Septuagint is a Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, made two hundred and eighty-five years before Christ, by seventy translators, hence its name. Another character, the greatest character in all his- tory, is claimed to have been immersed. I refer to Jesus Christ Himself. We read in Matt. 3:16, "And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water, and, lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and He saAv the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and rest- ing upon Him.'' It is claimed that these words distinctly teach tliat Jesus Christ was immersed when He was bap- tized. Let me call jouv attention to the statement, that "when He was baptized He went up straightway out of the water"; in other words, the coming out of the water had absolutely nothing to do with His baptism; the bap- tism was completed before there is anything said about whether He stayed in the water or came out. But who knows that Jesus Christ was under the water? In two hours from now I could drive a team of horses to a river where I went bathing many a time in my boyhood days; there was seldom a week that we did not go into the Mohican river, and when we were done bathing we came up straightway out of the water and went home. Only once do I remember of having been put under the water; the other days I kept my head above the Avater, and yet we always went straightway out of the water. How else could one do, after going into the water, but to come up out of the water? If your little son were playing in a stream only half a foot deep, how would you call him out? Surely you would say, "Come up out of that water." Does that mean he was under the water? Not at all. But we are told by scholars that the Greek ^eis' means to go into, and ^ek' means to come out of, and that, there- fore, it could be nothing else but an immersion. Strange 696 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. that *eis' should always mean into, when in the 11th chapter of John we read that Mary fell down at the feet of Jesns — in the Greek ^eis'. If it is true that *eis' means only to go into, or fall into, then Mary actually fell into the feet of Jesus. Either Jesus must have had very large feet, or Mary must have been very, very small. Any one who is unprejudiced can see that those who hold only to immersion are straining every nerve to bring about an immersion whether there was one or not. The only painting of the fourth century extant, pictures John standing on a rock baptizing Jesus with a little shell. No difference whether He was immersed, or sprinkled, or the water was poured on Him, He was in the water, and there is not one word which would prove that John was in it. Let us look for a moment at another proof for im- mersion. They tell us that when Philip baptized the eunuch that surely the eunuch was immersed. How do we know that he was? They were passing through a desert. AVater was scarce enough that Philip did not see the water until the eunuch called his attention to it. They stepped out of the chariot; the Bible tells us dis- tinctly tliey both went into the water, and when the eunuch was baptized they both came up out of the water. Now the immersionists must admit one of two things, either that the eunuch was not under the water, or that Philip Avas under when he baptized the eunuch. What is said of one is said of the other; but whoever saw an immersionist minister get under the water to immerse another? It seems to me that John ought to know how he baptized. When the commission was sent to him to give an account of himself, he exclaimed, "I baptize with water'' — he did not say, "I immerse," but ^en' with a substantive always shows the instrument that is used, and consequently the only conclusion we can draw is this, that water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, is a baptism, whether in the river Jordan, or up in the jail, or by the many springs at Enon. 3. Many were baptized who were never immersed. SEVKNTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 697 Tlie same Septuagint referred to before, tells us plainly in Leviticus 14:1-6 what the law of the leper was in the day of his cleansing. He shall be brought unto the priest, and the priest shall go forth out of the camp and shall examine him. Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet and hyssop; and the IDriest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water. As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird into the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water. Notice well, the English Bible gives the word 'dip' where the Septuagint uses the word ^baptize.' Now in the name of common sense, how could one little bird — literally a sparrow — slied enough blood to immerse the other bird in it, together with the cedar Avood, and the scarlet and the hyssop? Suppose you should give a Campbelite preacher tAvo chickens for a present, and tell him to cut the head off o^ one and let it bleed into a ves- sel, and then immerse the other chicken into the blood; could he do it? Just as well as this one little bird could be immersed into the blood of the other. In order to meet this argument, the immersionists have tried to make us believe that the little bird was dipped into the running water. What Avill they not do to carry out their own ideas instead of sticking strictly to God's Word! You know the familiar story of Nebuchadnezzar, who had a wonderful dream of a tree Avhose branches spread out over the world and reached to the skies. To make a long story short, this tree, which became barren, Avas a representative of Nebuchadnezzar, who Avas to lose his mind and walk out into the fields, and eat grass like an ox. We are told in Daniel 4:33, in the English Bible, that his body was wet Avith the dcAV of heaven. The Greek translation tells us that he AAas baptized Avith the dew of heaven. We must either imagine dcAv drops seven feet in diameter, into which Nebuchadnezzar could plunge or immerse himself, or Ave must imagine him to be about half as large as a common pea, to be immersed in a good- 698 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. sized dew drop. If ^baptize' means only to plun^^e or immerse, tlien the sentence in the Bible, "John the Bap- tist baptized in the wilderness," Avould literally mean that John the plunger plunged into the Avilderness. In Mark 7:4 we are told that it was the tradition of the elders that when they come from the market except they wash they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups and pots, brazen vessels, and of tables, or, as stated in the margin, beds. Now the Greek Testament tells us dis- tinctly that before they ate they baptized their cups and pots and brazen vessels and beds. If baptized means only to immerse, then it was their custom to immerse their beds before each meal, surely a custom that we would not want at present. In the 16th chapter of Acts we read of Paul and Silas praying and singing at midnight; tliat a sudden earthquake shook the foundation of the prison, and all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed; that the keeper of the prison was about to com- mit suicide, when Paul cried out with a loud voice, say- ing, "Do thyself no harm, for we are all here"; then he called for a light and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, saying, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" Paul instructed them in the Word of God, and the inspired Truth says, "He took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes and was baptized, he and all his straightAvay." It takes quite a stretch of imagination to see a river running through the jail, and Paul plunging them into that water the same hour of the night. For the sake of argument it is sometimes claimed that the very reason John baptized along the river Jor- dan was because there was plenty of water there to im- merse. If that were true, why did not the day of Pente- cost occur dow^n along the river Jordan instead of in the upper room where there was no water? If the multi- tudes had to be immersed down along the river, why did the three thousand on the day of Pentecost not receive their baptism down at the Jordan? Surely it takes quite SEVENTEENTH SUNDxKY AFTER TRINITY. 699 a stretch of the imagination, and a digging of many pools and cisterns to satisfy the mind of the immersionist with regard to the baptism of the people of Jerusalem. How about Paul — was he immersed? If there is any one verse that immersionists think they have a pat- ent right on, it is Komans 6 :4, ^'Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." They lay the whole stress on the word hurled^ forgetting other words in the same verse. This verse does not say we are buried with Him in baptism; it does not say that Jesus Christ was buried in the river Jordan. Either Jesus Christ was buried in the river Jordan and drowned there, or our burial in Him does not refer to the form of bap- tism, for we are told here that, like as Christ was raised up from the dead, not from the water, hj the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. When we were baptized by sprinkling, as little in- fants, we received the benefits of the death of Jesus Christ, His atonement, and as He was buried, not in the Jor- dan, but in the sepulclire, and arose again from the dead, so we, by our covenant, should each day rise in newness of life. Was Paul immersed? That is the question. It seems to me he ought to know. In Acts 22, he tells us how he was baptized. He tells us that one Ananias, "a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there, came unto me, and stood, and said unto me. Brother Saul, receive thy sight, and the same hour I looked up at him. And he said, "The God of our Fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldst know His Avill, and see that Just One, and shouldst hear the voice of His mouth. For thou shalt be His witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. And now why tarriest thou? Arise, and be bap- tized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord." If this last verse says anything, it does say that Paul stood up when he was to be baptized; it does not say that they went to any river, or that he was under the Avater, but we do find here, as in many other 700 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. r passages of Scripture, the real meaning of the word bap- tizo in New Testament times; it meant to purify; to cleanse; and with that meaning it will fit anywhere in God's Holy Word. It makes no difference then whether they baptized down at the river Jordan, or up in the jail, or at Enon, no difference where they found water, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, they could have a baptism. It does seem strange that in this world of colleges and universities, where the leading schools all teach in- fant baptism, and the mode of sprinkling, that all these- professors should never have discovered the real meaning of haptizo. Did Dr. Luther, who translated the Bible into German, not know what haptizo meant? Did Me- lanchthon not know? Do the ninety per cent, of all pro- fessed Christians in the world, know nothing about the meaning of this word? Suppose haptizo did mean to immerse; to dip; to plunge; if God saw fit to put into that word the meaning of purify, shall we object to it? Did not God promise the Holy Spirit to those that were bap- tized? Shall we say that all the great men of God during the Reformation, filled with the Holy Spirit, were not Christians? Shall we say that the great Reformation was fought by men that were not baptized at all? Did it take thousands of years to find out that one must be plunged under the water to be baptized? Is it the water, or is it the Word, the Holy Spirit, who regenerates? Let us tlien not forget that immersion, while it is a baptism, is not the only form of baptism, and when it is claimed that we must be immersed or we are not baptized, we simply will not yield to that kind of tyranny. The one baptism is not one with regard to the quantity of water, but it is water, in large quantities or small, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and Holy Ghost. II. The one baptism does not exclude the babe one day old. We have heard of the form of baptism. The next question wliich presents itself is this : Who may be baptized ? There are two kinds of inconsistent Chris- tians. There are some who profess to believe that the immersion of the adult believer is the only correct form SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 701 of baptism, and at the same time three little infants of such families have been brought to me during the past year to be baptized. Now if infants are not subjects to baptize, surely those parents are inconsistent to bring them to a Lutheran pastor to have tliem baptized. If infant baptism is Scriptural, then the Campbellite church is not the Christian Church. If infant baptism is not Scriptural, then the Lutherans have no right to call their churcli the Christian Church. There are Lutherans just as inconsistent as the Campbellites. The Lutheran Church believes in infant baptism, and yet there are Lutheran parents — so-called — who do not have their children bap- tized. If infant baptism is at all Scriptural, there is no reason why a child should not be baptized as soon as pos- sible after it is born. I believe in infant baptism, and so thoroughly so that I have vowed long ago that if the Lord should give me another child or children, I would baptize them just as soon as they can be taken to the altar. In order to bring the truth home to you this evening which I have in mind, I shall give you six reasons why I should baptize my children, hereafter, as soon as possible. 1. Because these children must be born again before they can enter heaven. I have no dispute with people who will argue against this truth ; it is a dispute between them and their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. If ever the Savior stated a truth plainly. He did when He stated the necessity of the new birth. In John 3:3 He states that except man — '^f?, in Greek, a human being — be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. We are not here to explain the mysteries of God, nor to say why God said this or that, but as Christian people we believe that God knows best what heaven is and what Ave are, and what must be done with the human race before it can enter heaven. One who pretends to be very smart, said to me,, during the past week, "If a child should be born in a potato patch, would that make the child a potato?'^ This: may seem like a smart saying, but it is far from stating the truth which we have stated when we quote the new birth as given by Christ. -We are not sinners because we are born into a sinful world, but because we are born 702 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. of sinful parents. Jesus said, "That which is born of flesh is flesh.'^ He did not say, The flesh that is born into the world is flesh. If we were born of a potato, we would be a potato, whether born in the patch or somewhere else, and tlius Ave are all born in sin because we are born of sinful beings. My little child a day old cannot be any- thing else but born in sin. Paul would say of that child that he is by nature a child of wrath. God would say, how can a clean thing come out of that which is unclean? There is none good, no, not one. Our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. This is the first reason I would have for having my child baptized as soon as possible. No sin shall enter heaven. 2. God wants all baptized who enter heaven. The last command that Christ gave to His disciples before His ascension was this, "Go ye into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghosf Notice well that the Lord Jesus drew no line between infants and adults, or between those of accountability, and those who have not yet reached that age. All the human beings in the Avorld belong to the nations of the world. All are born in sin. The Savior died for all, and baptism is one of tlie means of grace which will apply to all who can enter heaven. We do not believe that the gates of the church should be made narrower than the gates of heaven, nor wider, but that the one should har- monize with the other. Little infants are Avanted in hea- ven. Is baptism holier than heaA^en itself? Shall God admit them there, and shall they not be admitted to this holy sacrament? When God sa^^s do a thing, it is our duty to do it. Notice the means God uses to make disciples. If I say, "Fatten a horse, feeding him corn and oats," I do not mean that he is to be fattened first, and then fed, but it is the feeding of the corn and oats which is to make him fat. Apply the same grammar to the command of Christ, and you understand what He means. "Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them," can mean nothing else than to use this baptism as a means of grace for those that are to be saved. My little child SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 703 ought to be baptized on the first day for the reason that some children never reach the second day. I have one child in heaven that only lived in this world twenty-five hours. How could I wait two weeks, or twelve years to have that child born of water and the Spirit? 3. A third reason why I should have that child baptized soon is because baptism is the only way we have of bringing infants to Jesus. This may seem like a strange assertion, but I shall prove it to you in a few moments. The means of grace are the Word of God and the Holy Sacraments. Through these means the Holy Spirit comes to man. Can we preach the Gospel to a little infant? How can the Word be applied to that child through the preaching service? You all understand that we cannot, therefore, open the door for the Holy Spirit to come to that child directly through the preaching of the Gospel. We cannot even pray that child into the king- dom of heaven. It is true we are taught to pray "Thy kingdom come,'' but praying "Thy kingdom come," and doing nothing never yet made Christians of heathen. If we could pray people into the kingdom of heaven, it would be time that we call our missionaries home and stop rais- ing money for foreign missions. If we could pray people into the kingdom of heaven, why do we not all stop our paying and working and just pray for God to make the world Christian? No person was ever prayed into the kingdom of heaven. The Lord Himself said, "The harvest truly is great and the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth laborers into his harvest;" He did not say. Pray, that the people may come into the harvest, or that the harvest may be reaped without laborers. The duty of bringing little children to the Savior is felt by all churches. A day has been set apart even by Mr. Dowie to bring the children to him that he may conse- crate them to God by prayer. This shows clearly that he feels in his own heart that something must be done for those poor little children, but where in all God's Word does it say, bring the children to Dowie; or where does it say that in order to pray for them you must bring then? 704 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. to a man? If little children can be prayed into the king- dom of heaven, why cannot Dowie pray them there with- out bringing them to him ; or if prayer alone will save the world, Avhy do people need to go to him to have him pray for them? If we want to pray for people, we can pray for them wherever they are. The Lord Jesus did command us to bring the little children to Him. "Suffer the little chil- dren to come unto Me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.'' Jesus is not in our midst, so that we can see Him personally and lay these infants in His arms as they did when He was here in body, yet He is here and He wants them brought to Him, and the only means He has left us to bring the children actually in con- nection with the means of grace is holy baptism — water in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost can be applied to a little infant just as Avell as to a hardened sinner. Now, just because my little child a day old can- not understand the Gospel when it is preached, and cannot in that way be brought into the kingdom of God, therefore we will pray for the child, but at the same time bring it as the Savior said, and lay it in His arms in holy baptism, and give it back to Him. 4. Another reason why I should have this child baptized soon, is because baptism is a covenant. When God circumcised Abraham he was seventy-five years old; He could not make him an infant; it is impossible for us to make old sinners infants and baptize them in their infancy; nevertheless God demands that old sinners become like little children before they can be con- verted, and before they can be baptized. Abraham, seventy-five years of age, was commanded to bring his children when they were eight days of age, and God made a covenant with them, that thereby they should be mem- bers of the church of Israel. That covenant was kept up throughout the history of Israel. Christ Himself, at, the age of eight days, was circumcized, and received the name of Jesus. This Avas before He was baptized, or before Christian baptism was a custom. Then He instituted holy baptism and commanded the disciples as we have heard, to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them, and gave SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 705 tLem this great promise, He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned. There we have the warning and the covenant, and little children come into this covenant just as well as older people. We hear some one say, How can a little infant be- lieve? Dear friends, faith is a gift of God, as we all ac- knowledge. No man can believe by his own power. The Bible says that no man can say that Jesus Christ is Lord but by the Holy Ghost. Now, if faith is a gift of God, is it not just as easy for God Almighty to give faith to an inno- cent little babe as it is to an old hardened sinner? But is it not true that little infants can believe? What is belief? Belief means to trust. Hoav old was your babe when it began to trust you, Oh mother? Do you not know it trusted you the first day? That little babe did not under- stand all about its surroundings, but it trusted you as Avell then as it ever did thereafter. The Lord Jesus ought to know whether little infants can believe or not. He took a small child, set it in the midst of the disciples and said, "He that offendeth one of these little ones tohich believe in Me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.'' In other words, if you do not bring your little chil- dren to Jesus it were better, sa^^^s Christ, for you to take a rope and tie one end around your neck, and tlie other to a stone, and throw it into the water where it is deep enough to pull you in after it. I shall force you to admit one of two things, either that little children cannot believe or that they can. If they cannot believe, I shall force you to the conclusion that they must be damned, for Jesus said. He that believeth not shall be damned. Would you admit for a moment that God would damn an innocent little child? Then why not admit that God can give it a saving faith through the means of grace, and thereby make it a child of God? The moment a child is baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, God says, it is My child. But, you may say, this little infant may afterwards reject the Savior. May not old sinners do the same? Have you 45 706 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. ever heard of people that were baptized when they were past twelve, or fifteen, or twenty years of age, who after- wards rejected their Savior? Does that elt'ect the bap- tism? Does that change the covenant on the part of God? God never will break His covenant. You may break yours. The Bible does not say that. He that is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned, baptized or not. I want my child to be in the covenant of God as soon as possible, and therefore shall have it brought to Him by water and the Spirit. 5. Another reason why I shall do this, is because the New Testament Christians had their infants baptized. The statement is often made : Show me a single example in the Bible where people baptized their infants, and then I will give up. Even if we cannot show such an example, there is nothing in that kind of an argument. When the Lord Jesus tells us to do a thing, it is our duty to do it, whether we can find an example of any one who did it or not. When God says, make disciples of all nations, baptiz- ing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, He means for us to do so, and it is not our business to ask Did anybody ever obey? A few days ago a member of the Campbellite church said to me if I could point out one single case of infant baptism to her in the Bible, she would give up. I said to her, "You have the Holy Communion in your church, do you not?" "Yes," she said, "and every Sunday, too f "Well," said I, "if you can show me a single example in the Holy Scriptures where a woman ever went to communion, I will give up." She understands very well that she has a right to go to communion because Christ instituted it for sinners who believe in the words of institution, but she cannot see how infants can be baptized when Christ included them in His command. Where in the Bible do we read that an Indian was baptized, or a heathen from the Sandwich Islands? Do we mean to say, therefore, that they have no right to be baptized? But we need not search in vain for infant baptism in the New Testament. There were five whole families bap- SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 707 tized. It would seem very natural that in an age when it was considered a disgrace not to have children, some child would he found in five families. But there is anotlier argu- ment that some people overlook in the New Testament. The New Testament was not written in a day. The his- tory of the New Testament includes a period of at least sixty years from the time the first chapters were written until the Book was closed. Many of these parents were baptized in the beginning of tliese sixty years; they had time to rear children or grandchildren, but where within the lids of the Ncav Testament do you find a single example of children of Christian parents who were allowed to grow up and be baptized afterwards? There isn't a single case. This silence on the part of the New Testament ouglit to convince one of unprejudiced mind tliat the custom of the New Testament was for wliole households to ha baptized, including tlie little infants. 6. The final reason I give for having my child bap- tized, not only in infancy, but as soon as possible, is this, it is the only way for the world ever to be won for Christ Jesus. Surely the spirit of the Gospel is to miake Christians of all nations. Pray tell me, hoAv shall we make Christians of all nations if Christian people are going to continue to rear heathen in their own families? Suppose for a single moment that this church were to .undertake to Christianize the Avorld, and the pastor and his wife are baptized, and the children are permitted to choose for themselves; Brother Jolinston and his wife are baptized and his children can do as they please; Brotlier Smith and his wife are baptized, but the children can do as they please; suppose we all go on in that way, how shall we make Christians of other people, when at our very tables are sitting heathen multiplying and growing every day? Surely if there is one command that God has given to parents it is this, that they and their household sliall serve the Lord God. What right have our Christian parents to have children in their homes who themselves are not Christians? If, therefore, we are ever to convert the world to Christ, there is only one way to do it, and that is for parents to be Christians, to bring their children to 708 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE.. Christ and keep them with Christ ; then to influence other families to come to Cbrist and bring their children to Him, and let the influence go on around the Avhole world, until all the families shall know Jesus Christ as their only- Savior. This is Bible doctrine; this is Lutheran doctrine^ this is the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. Amen. EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. How to Get Rich. I Cor. 1:4-9. 1 THANK my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ; that in every thing ye are enriched by Him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge ; even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you ; so that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ: who also shall confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Thy Word is truth. Amen. Beloved in Christ: The Cburcli at Corinth was a mighty monument both of the power of Satan and the power of the Gospel. The church at Corinth, according to this epistle had some members who were no honor to that church. Paul tells us it Avas a fact that some were not only guilty of forni- cation, but even in their own families. Oh, what a shame and disgrace to that church to have such members. Then, again, there were some members who were going to law with each other, a thing that two Christian people never should do. Right is right and w^rong is wrong, and God's Word must settle any question between church members without going to law. There was another disgrace that was found, though, and that, as an evidence of the power of Satan in that church, was the fact that some people when they went to the Lord's Supper drank so much wine that they became intoxicated. Another great disgrace to the church of that day was that some of them publicly 709/ 710 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. denied the resurrection of the body. It was these evi- dences of the devil in the church at Corinth that moved the apostle Paul to pen this beautiful epistle. But Paul was not so narrow minded as to judge a whole congregation by a few bad members. It is always a mistake to judge a family by one bad one in the family, as it is a mistake to judge a city by a few bad men in it, or a congregation. The apostle Paul looked upon this church at Corinth which he had established, together with Silas and Timothy, in the year 54, as a noble church, a^^ a church that demanded much grace; consequently he said: "I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God A^hich is givien you by Jesus Christ; that in everything ye are enriched by Him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge." As a congregation the one at Corinth was not rich in this world's goods. He refers to that in another chapter when he says there that the church of God in this world is not noted for its wealth, nor for its great and noble men, but rather for those in poverty. The church of Corinth itself was not rich, but Corinth was a very rich city. It was one of the most noted cities of the Orient; it was one of those cities that stood for learning and for the highest wisdom of the then known world. That congregation .was rich in doctrine, rich in the Word of God, rich in conse- crated men and women, who gave their lives for their Master. The question arises this morning HOW SHALL WE GET RICH? And the answer is found in this text of mine: I. Get your salvation right away. I. Enjoy your salvation every day. II. I. We all Avant to get rich, but Oh, what a narrow view of life it is simply to think of this world's posses- sions. I say to you : Get your salvation riglit away. "I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God Avhich is given you by Jesus Christ." How did that church at Corinth get the grace of EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 711 God? They got the grace of God through the preaching of the Word by tliree men — Paul, Silas and Timothy; and hearing this Word they heard of tlie grace of God, accepted Jesus Christ, became rich in all things through Him; they did not put this matter off from time to time. The AYorld, my friends, can never buy your salvation. If you had the whole world to-day as yours, you could not buy the forgiveness of a single sin. It was that curse in the church of God in the days of the Reformation that made Luther arise and fight. Those men were not only selling forgiveness of the sins of the past, but even for money selling the forgiveness of the sins they should com- mit in the future, giving them a certificate, for money, that they might go on and sin all they pleased, and finally be saved. That wasn't Bible doctrine; it wasn't true, and consequently Dr. Luther arose in the power of God and held up the pure Gospel, that man is saved by grace, by faith alone in Jesus Christ. The world cannot buy salvation. In those days there was a great cliurch to be built, called St. Peter's, and no money on hands to build it; and therefore the devil put it into the hearts of those people at Rome, that if they could just make the people believe that they could buy forgiveness of sins, there would be no want of money, nor was there. It was the money that the people gave out in Europe for the forgive- ness of their sins that built that large St. Peter's cathed- ral at Rome, and that church stands there to-day, a monu- ment of the folly of men obeying Satan rather than God. The Lord said ^'Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." Christ knew what true wealth meant. He knew what you need to be rich. You need to be a saved man; you need to be a saved woman; you need your dear children saved; that is what you need, and you need it right away. A man has no right to put off one hour his soul's salvation. When the soul itself is worth more than all the world, how can a man afford for sixty minutes to run the risk of that soul being lost? If you knew that tomorrow forenoon by a little negligence you might lose your home, for nothing in the world would you fail to 712 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE, be on hands to secure that home of yours; and yet your soul may be lost this evening; it may be that you are an unbaptized man, that you have never put your full trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, tliat the curse of God is resting upon you. How shall we get rich? Get rich right away by getting your salvation; and remember, as I said a moment ago, the world cannot purchase it for you. Only Jesus Christ can save souls. "I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ.'^ And, again, Jesus Clirist crucified is our Savior. Not far along in this letter Paul writes these memorable words: "And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him cru- cified." Kemember, my friends, that salvation is not only in Christ, but it is in Christ on the cross; it is in Jesus Christ the God-man, able to pay the debt of the world because He is God; paying the debt of the world be- cause He is man ; paying for your sins and for mine, be- cause He is suffering, finishing our redemption He fin- ished His life on the cross, and gave it up tliat you and I might live. My friends, the only hope of ever getting rich is to get the crucified Lord as your Savior, and the only way to get Him as your Savior is to get Him wholly and solely by grace. "By grace are ye saved." We are all natural Pharisees. We all imagine that in some way or other we must do something to earn our salvation, and yet it isn't true. Salvation through Christ must come alone as an object of mercy, and you and I can do nothing but simply cast ourselves down at the Savior's feet and say. Here I am, "In my hands no price I bring. Simply to Thy cross I cling." "But drops of grief can ne'er repay The debt of love I owe; Here Lord, I give myself away. ^Tis all that I can do." EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 713 And then comes the merciful Savior and says: "The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost," and He picks us up, and like the good Shepherd, presses us to His bosom of love, carries us home to the Father and says. Forgive this dear sheep, this poor, lost sheep, for the Shepherd's sake. Yes, this dear sheep was lost ; I found it. It deserved death ; I died for it. It could not help itself ; I lifted it up, bore it on My shoulders, and bring it home ; Father, receive this child for My sake." Such, my friends, is salvation; get it right away; and the covenant is this: He that believeth and is bap- tized shall be saved. These are the words of the Lord our Savior and He cannot lie. Oh, dear friends, get rich, and have salvation right away. II. Then, if you want to get rich, enjoy your sal- vation every day, by sowing more every day, growing more every day, and reaping well on the last great day. "That in everything ye are enriched by Him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge; even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you; so that ye come behind in no gift." What a Avonderful statement. That in every- thing ye are enriched by Him, by Jesus Christ. I do not think that Paul was thinking at all about earthly posses- sions, but even if he was, it is true. Do you realize this evening, my dear hearers, that you haven't got one foot of ground that you did not get through Christ? Do you realize that when God made the heavens and the earth, He made them with His Word? And do you realize that the Word that made the worlds is the same Word of which John says it became flesh and dwelt among us? Do you realize that the Maker of heaven and earth is the Incar- nate Savior? And therefore you have not got a thing in this world that you did not get of Jesus Christ your Savior. But, as I said a moment ago, I do not believe that Paul had in mind earthly possessions ; he was speak- ing about the salvation of this church, and that they were enriched in Him in all these things. "In all utterance." It is always difficult to translate any language into an- other. The word here translated "utterance" in the Eng- lish, is called "doctrine" in the German Bible; there are 714 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. other translations which make it "speech'' or "preaching of the Gospel." The word "logos" in Greek may mean the Word itself; it may mean the doctrine of Christ; it may mean the preaching of the prophets and of the apostles and of the servant of God. No difference which translation we take, it is true that a man should every day of his life sow more of the Word of God. It is not enough simply to be a saved man ; we should also sow the Word of God every day. We should try more and more to send the Word of God out among the heathen; we should every day try to sow it down deep into our own minds; we should every day teach it and preach it to our families and to our fellowmen. Since we shall all reap what we sow, it is surely necessary that we sow good seed, and where is there any better seed than the Word of God? How few people there are who really enjoy their sal- vation. We have so many who look upon the churcli of God as a kind of a place to go to once in a while, and when they do go, they think they have rendered God a most wonderful service, instead of feeling that this is the place where God comes to serve us; instead of feeling that this is the place Avhere we can meet with God's chil- dren and sing praises to His holy name and enjoy the blessing of being together as men and women and chil- dren of the great family of God. In a colored assembly in the South not many years ago, a man said to tlie lead- ing man among them : "How does it come that you peo- ple assemble here and worship God? Why do you not worship Him in your little huts? Why do you come to- gether as you do?" Now this colored man was not an able expounder of his own thoughts, but he had a way of illustrating what he meant, and so he took a stick and began to scratch around in the coals of fire until he had every coal separated from the other, and soon they no- ticed that the fire was out and every coal was black. "Now," said he to this man who was finding fault with him for meeting with God's children, "if I had kept those coals together they would have burned ; there would have been a brifi^ht flame there and we would be warm our- EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 715 selves, but pulling them apart they are black and the fire is out; and just so it is in this world," said he, "if every man were to be a Christian in his own home and never associate with the Christian congregation, he would soon become a black coal, no fire left in him, and the consequence is he would go back to heathendom.'^ And that is why tliere are so many people in the present day who tell us that one day they went to Sunday School; one day they were good Christian church members; but what are they to-day? Heathen in a Christian land. Black coals. - We cannot touch them without getting our fingers dirty. They are not living in the flame of God's eternal kingdom. "Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is," is the Word of God. I would therefore say, enjoy your salvation. Sow every day. I would also say. Grow every day. Let us not al- ways be little babes in Christ. The apostle Paul tells us that he gives to the babes milk, and to the growing men meat. How many people there are, just as soon as tliey are catechized and confirmed, seem to think now they have got all they ever need. Oh, dear friends, that is only food for the babes. The Christian ought to remem- ber that God's Word is a mighty deep and that lie never can fathom it, and if you do once learn to enjoy the growth in God's grace, then, m^^ friends, there will be an enjoyment in your whole life that you never possessed be- fore. It is a noble thing to be worth while having some- body thank God that you are living. "I thank my God always on your behalf," said Paul of the Corinthian church. It is a good thing for you and me so to grow that somebody in the world is blessed because of our growth. It is a good thing for us every day to learn some- thing new of Him who knoweth all things. Surely, my friends, we do know that the world is full of lies; we do know that there are teachers who are not safe. Get knowledge from Him who knoweth all things. Get knowl- edge of God. And when you get knowledge today, it only enables you to get more knowledge tomorrow. I could have the testimony of every Sunday School teacher in 716 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. this church, that he is learning more of God's Word at every succeeding teachers' meeting. Why? Because all that he has learned in the past is only enabling him to learn more the next time. How easy it is for you to do to-day what one time you could not do at all. What has enabled you to do this? Only constant, diligent labor. I am satisfied there is not a young man in the world that can come out of the seminary and step into this church and do the Avork that is to be done here; it would simply be impossible; it is only the strong man physically who has been trained for years to do much and do it easily, that could ever do the Avork that is to be done here. And so, my friends, it is in the study of God's Word. Let us not be satisfied with the Christianity that has simply kept what it had twenty jeavs ago, yes, possibly even longer than that, and does not know anything more to- day. How many of you parents would like to be tested right now in reciting the ten commandments? Do you t;now them? How many of you would be willing to stand a public examination right now in Luther's catechism? Do you know what you once knew, or have you forgotten all about it; or are you to be pitied because you never did know these things? And who wants to stop with a few^ little lessons out of God's great Book? When I can assure you that the history of the United States can be found in half of one of the chapters of Kevelation; when I can assure you that the history of the four uni- versal kingdoms of the world are contained in two chap- ters of Daniel; who is then going to say, I can fathom that great book in a year and a half or two years? Enjoy your Christianity by sowing every day and growing, until it can be said of you as it was said of the church at Corinth, that in everything ye are enriched by Him, in all utterance and in all knowledge. Spurgeon used to say : "When I was a young man my mind was all confusion, but when I was converted to God, I put Christ in the center of my brain and wrapped all knowledge around Him." That is what made Spurgeon such a powerful preacher. Oh, that we would all this morn- ing let the Sun of Bighteousness shine in on our brain, EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 717 and search and learn, and wrap around Christ all our knowledge. That is why a college that has no religion in it, never makes a scholar. You cannot show me a single college in the world that does not teach religion that ever made a man of God or a powerful man in this world. The great wise man wisely said : The fear of God is the beginning of all wisdom. You might send a man through all the secular schools of the world, and through all the secular colleges of the world, if that man has never been in a Sunday School or in a church, or never had any re- ligious instruction, that man with all his diplomas has never even made a beginning of wisdom. Is that man wise that doesn't even know why we live? Is that man wise that is searching knowledge and is losing his soul? Is that man wise that does not know the first great truth, why we live and where we are to spend eternity? Enjoy your salvation, not only by sowing every day, and growing every day, but by reaping well on that last great day. "So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ ; who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord." Oh, says Paul, I cannot be with ypu any longer up at Corinth, but I ask you as a church to sow every day and grow every day, and reap well on that last great day by being blameless. Isn't that a beautiful aim in life, to be blameless on that last great day? Isn't that worth living for? You and I are all guilty of weaknesses these days, on all sides; but our aim should be to live ever}^ day nearer and nearer to Jesus ; our aim should be every day to get homesick for the coming of Christ. Now Jesus is walking with us through His promise, as He walked with those two young men from Jerusalem to Emmaus when their hearts were burning because of His presence. Now Jesus abides with us, and breaks bread with us, and we welcome Him, but we reach for His hand and cannot touch it. The difference between a true Chris- tian and one that is none, is known by his desire for that 718 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. last great day. The man who is no child of God shivers when he mentions death; he trembles when he speaks of the Judgment. The true child of God, like John of old on the Isle of Patmos, looks heavenward and cries, "Lord, come quickly. Come quickl3^'^ The day of the Lord is coming for you and for me, on that day when my soul takes its departure; for me it is the day of reaping, for there will be no change in my soul from that day until the last great day; but the day of the Lord, I take it to be that last great day when the harvest Avill come, and let us so live that on that day we will reap well. We want to get rich. When do we know whether the farmer is prospering? Not so much in tlie fall when he turns up the soil and sows his wheat; not so much on the clear winter day when we see tlie field covered with green wheat; not so much in the spring when the snow melts away and we see the green carpet still covering the earth ; we are not quite sure when we see the tall wheat waving in the wind in the months of May and June; we are not quite sure when he reaps the wheat and hauls it into the barn; we never know exactly what his harvest is until the threshing machine has done its work and pulled away from the barn; then the farmer stands up and looks at the record, and says, I have soAvn, and I have reaped, and I have threshed, and now this* is the harvest; and it is that, that decides as to how he prospered. And so if you want to get rich, don't show me your house, and your barn, and your mines, and your fields, and your bank accounts. Rich people in this world's goods are like the big oaks that grow very large but have nothing on them but a few little acorns. The man that is really rich is the man that can say right now. My soul is saved and I enjoy my Christianity; I am going to try to be honest and upright and grow in grace and strength and live for the glory of my Father in heaven, and for the welfare of my friends and my foes, alwaj^s asking the guidance of the Holy Spirit, sowing every day, and realizing that I hope to reap more, and on that last great day when I stand before my Master, I will not trust in my righteous- ness, but alone in His great mercy and forgiveness; and; EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 719 when I breathe my last breath my last sin is committed and the last one forgiven, and on that morning of the resurrection I want to stand before Him with His per- fection, blameless; then I Avill be rich. Oh, the riches of the blameless man on the Judgment day, standing before his God! This is wealth. If I were to tell you in a few words what you need to-day above everything else, I would say that you need six hearts in one; I would say that you need three hearts out of the Old Testament, and three hearts out of the New, all in your own one heart. What do I mean? I mean that first of all you need the heart of a Jacob, who, wrestled that night with the angel of God, and when in the morning he was commanded to desist, he said. Lord, I will not let Thee go except Thou bless me; that is the heart that you need. Not to let go of God in His mercy until He blesses you. Then you need the heart of a Job. Wealthy as he was in the possession of lands, with a large family, with all the kinds of animals that made him the most wealthy man and the most noted man of the East, he is tried by Satan, with God's permission. The animals are stolen and burned; the house topples over and the family is killed, and all that he has is swept away from him in a single day; then he shaves his head and kneels down in the dust and says : ^'Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither; the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." And when Job said that, he was richer by far than he was when he had all his possessions. That is the heart that you need, and that is the heart that I need. And then we all need the Old Testament heart found in the 73rd Psalm, when Asaph looked up and said: ^^Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee. My flesh and my heart faileth : but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever." That is the heart that you need, that finds nothing in all the universe so precious to you a« vour God. 720 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. Then you need three hearts that are found in the New Testament also. Christ had been up on the moun- tain of Transfiguration, with James, and Peter, and John, and when He came down to the rest of the disciples there was a great multitude following Him, and among them was one man Avho came and said, I have a son who is a deaf mute and possessed of the devil, and this Satan within him throws him down on the earth and makes the foam come out of his mouth and wallows him in the diist; I have been to your disciples and they cannot help him, and I ask Thee, O Savior of the world, to help this boy of mine. Then the Savior looked at him and said. Why, this poor boy! How long has he been in this awful con- dition? Ever since he was born, said the father. What I want to know, said the father, is this : Is there any help for this my boy? Yes, said the Savior, there is, if you can believe; to !)im who believeth all things are possible. And there vras a new light came to that father's heart. Is it possible that this, my boy, possessed of the devil, foaming and groaning in the dust of the earth, this boy whom Satan has thrown into the water and I have pulled him out, this boy whom Satan has thrown into the fire and I have snatched him from the fiames, this boy who has been our care from infancy for myself and my wife, is there any hope for him? And with tears rolling down his face he said to Christ, I believe : help Thou mine un- belief ! And Jesus commanded the demons to leave him,, and there lay the boy as if dead ; and Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up and gave him back to his father and said. This can only be done by fasting and prayer. And the father's heart that said. Help mine un- belief, is the heart that you and I need this morning. Then you remember the story of the Pharisee who thanked God that he was so much better than his fellow- men, and how he thanked God that he was so much better than that poor publican; and then you remember how that poor publican, knowing that there was no hope for him except in the mercy of Christ, did not look up, but simply looked down, and he knew where all the trouble was; it was right in his own breast, and he struck upon EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 721 his own heart : Here, my God, is the trouble, right here ; God be merciful to me a sinner! That is the heart that ^ye need this morning, the publican's heart. And there is one more thing that I believe we need. When Christ as a little child was taken into the temple, there was an aged woman and an aged man there w^ho had been waiting to see the Savior; and Simeon of old took the little child in his arms and lifted his voice of thanks to heaven and said : "Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy Word; for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation." Oh, how rich Simeon was that morning I May God give us these six hearts this evening in one, that we may be rich to-day and rich for- ever. Amen. PRAYER. O Father in heaven, Thou who didst send Paul and Silas and Timothy to that great city of Corinth, determined to preach nothing, but Christ and Him crucified, and by the preaching of those men didst establish Thy Church, and didst thereby give us this great epistle written by Paul to show us how we can be rich in all things through Christ, we pray Thy rich blessing to rest upon the message of the evening. Give Thy rich blessing to every father and to every mother in this house. We ask a special blessing upon these hoary heads. It will not be long, O God, until some who are sitting in this house this even- ing will know of the things they are asked to believe now. It will not be long, O God, until some of us younger people will go home before the aged ones, to stand in Thy presence and see Thee face to face. Lord, help us to sow good seed; help us to grow a great harvest; help us to reap well on our last day, and may the harvester, by the mercy of Christ, be found blameless. We ask all these favors in the name of Jesus, who taught us to pray: Our Father who art in heaven ; H'allowed be Thy name ; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven; Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for- give those who trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation; But deliver us from evil ; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. 46 NINETEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Where Are We? Eph. 4:22-28. €HAT ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be re- newed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore, putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neigh- bor; for we are members one of another. Be ye angry and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath : neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labor, work- ing with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Thy Word is truth. Amen. Beloved in Christ: When we are traveling over this wide country of ours in a railroad train, it is nothing uncommon to hear the passengers say, Where are we? When we go into the hospitals and find lying there a man who has been severely wounded in some wreck, and he has come to, about the first thing he does is to say. Where are we? When we stand by the bedside of the dying and they are permitted by God's grace to take as it were a look behind the veil, and then come back for a moment and open their eyes, they frequently say. Where are we? When the Judgment shall have passed, and those who have entered heaven have seen the glory on high, and those who have rejected their Savior shall be lost forever, it seems to me there will be a groan pass through the very corridors of hell, Where are we? As I read this chapter from which my text is taken, I notice that the path from darkness to 722 NINETEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 723 light, from eternal death to eternal life, is not a short one. Here is a wonderful journey to take spiritually, and all along this path, when I read of the progress that should be made by Christians, I cannot help but ask the question, Where am I? Where are we? May the Holy Spirit help us to answer this question this evening, and may we be found with Jesus our Savior. WHERE ARE WE? There are three places where we may be : I. The state of total darkness. II. The state of dangerous deception. III. The state of eternal day. I. The state of total darkness. "That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man." These two words, "former conversation," refer to the heathen life, the former walk, and it is here beautifully described in the following words : "This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having the understand- ing darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart : who, being past feeling, have given them- selves over to lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with gTeedine^s." No human pen has ever crowded more into a few words than Paul did in these three verses. He shows the state of the heathen in that awful state of darkness; he shows how their minds were in the dark, and their hearts, and their lascivious work. 1. He calls attention to their minds being in the dark. "This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind." Did you ever notice how vain heathen are? Even in those places where they do not know who God is and do not know what a Bible is, and do not know what civilization is, you will find the proudest people in the world. I remember passing through Mexico and Arizona a fev^' years ago, and was surprised to find 724 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. those filthy heathen down there with their jewelry hang- ing around their necks, ears, and even to their noses. Oh, what vanity of mind! And that is the condition a man is in when he gets away from God and gets away from the true religion of Jesus Christ, the mind is all dark. 2. And when the mind is dark, the heart is dark with it. "Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, who, being past feeling, have given themselves over unto lasciviousness.'' Did you ever hear the darkened heart described more correctly than Paul describes it in these words, "alienated from the life of God?" Oh, the heart that has never had the Son of Kighteousness shine in it, how black it is ! So black that it is filled with ignorance, so dark that it becomes blind, so hard that it loses its feeling. The other evening when we heard that great lecture on the Turk I suppose some of you thought. How is it possible that a man could ever get so far in mean- ness as to starve a little babe to death? I suppose some of you wondered how it was possible that there could be a whole nation on this civilized globe where women and their children are hounded to death by a man who with one word and one turn of his hand could save their lives and make them a civilized nation. It is not so hard to understand when we remember the awful darkness of heathendom. It is not so hard to understand when we remember that in God we live, and move, and have our being, and just as soon as we get away from God, who is light, we plunge into darkness, and where there is dark- ness there is hardness of heart, and at last the heart gets so hard that the feelings vanish. When you uttered your first curse word the chills went up your back; when you did your first damnable deed you shuddered, but you kept on doing the same mean, dirty thing, until to-day you can do it with pleasure. You have got the hardened heart, the blackness of the darkness of the heathen life. 3. There is not only a state of heart when the feel- ing has passed away, but there is the darkness that leads NINETEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 725 the man to plunge greedily into all the meanness he can think of. "Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness Avith greediness.'* — "given themselves over unto lascivious- ness." There is in every man a natural desire to do wrong. The spiritual desire is to do right. There is a conflict between the light and the darkness. There is a conflict between the spiritual gift of God and the dark- ness that comes from Satan. When a man begins to go Avrong, he has a ba^ttle; when he continues to go wrong he finally gets to that point where he loses self respect; having lost his self respect, he now says, Satan, you can liave it your own Avay ; instead of trying to be clean, I am going to try to be unclean ; instead of trying to be unclean here and there, I will gather together all the uncleanness I can find, and will work in it with greediness. "Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lascivi- ousness to work all uncleanness with greediness.'' If jou can imagine a man so thoroughly hardened, so dark that he wishes he had all the meanness and ungodliness in the world in a bunch, that he could work in it and just plunge into it greedily, as if he did not have time to do it all, there you have the picture of the awful darkness of the ungodly who are away from Christ. Where are we? Oh, I hope there are none in this house this evening in this state of blackness and darkness. II. There is another state, and there is where I fear a great many of us will find ourselves, and that is the state of dangerous deception. The apostle calls attention here to deceitful lusts. Satan himself is a deceiver from the beginning, and we are told here that we should give no place to Satan. "Neither give place to the devil." The great trouble with too many Christians is that they want to be Christians, but they would like to be Chris- tians and have the devil right with them. In other words, they give a chair to the devil and say. Make yourself at h^ome, so if I want you I have got you handy. That is about the spirit of some Christians, and Satan has the wonderful gift of making us believe he is an angel of light; he has the wonderful gift of making us believe we 726 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. are all right when we are all wrong. What are these de- ceptions? We sometimes think we are talking when the devil is talking for us. "Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor; for we are members one of another.'' — "put away lying." There are a great many people who think they can tell a lie and it is their lie. Yes, it is their lie spoken by the devil "in their tongues ; they made a place for the devil — here is my tongue, come and make your home in it and lie. All we need to do is to stop and think what God is. God is truth. In Him we live, and move, and have our being. If a man lives, and moves, and has his being in God, he cannot by God's power tell a lie, or by that very act he would put God out of his tongue. Here is Satan, a de- ceiver from the beginning, a liar from the beginning. Satan says. Come on, let me get into your tongue and I will tell a lie; I will slander my neighbor; I will tell this and that about people whether it is true or not ; and, my dear friends, I believe as truly as I stand here this evening, that in God's sight a liar is one of the worst men on earth. The man that will just simply say, Here, devil, take my tongue and lampoon the best man on earth; slander whom you will and say all manner of things that are not true — may God have mercy on the slanderer. May God have mercy on the good old gossip that sits around and says, I am holy, and now I think may be this isn't just right, and I think may be that isn't just right; and then the other old fool of a gossip says, The thing is just as the lady told me, and lies, and writes it down, ashamed to put her name to it, and publishes the ungodly lie to the world ; if the devil is not in that tongue he never was anywhere. Beware! Where are you this evening? Where am I this evening? If I were to come to your house and find you lying on your bed with an ugly cancer on your tongue, I would be filled with sym- pathy for you ; I would pray God, if possible to save you; I would pray God to deliver you from that awful cancer; but I would rather to-day, God being my witness, have my mouth full of cancer than to be a slandering liar, than NINETEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 727 to tell the untruth, for the dewl is in the tongue of the liar, do not forget that. "Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor, for we are mem- hers one of another." There is not only a state of dangerous deception in lying, but there is also this: A man may think he is sleeping all alone when he is sleeping with the devil. Wouldn't that be a terrible thing if tonight you go to your bedroom and you were to find Satan there by the side of your bed, and he would say, Now I would like to sleep with you tonight; you would say, Never! never! Let me out of this room. I will never sleep with the devil. And yet there are hundreds of professed Chris- tians, and some come to communion, who sleep with him every night. How is that? Well, you have in the first place a bad temper, and you virtually say. Now, devil, you come and enter this temper of mine; and then you pick a quarrel with your neighbor across the street; then you stop talking to that neighbor and you keep up that hatred; you are trying to find something all the time that you do not like, trying to say something bad about this one and about that one; half the time you are run- ning around trying to let your temper make enemies; and then you go to bed that night and you lie down, and if you don't sleep with the devil, nobody ever did — sleep- ing with him every night and you think you are a Chris- tian ; you think you are a child of God ; you think if you were to die this night you would go right to heaven ; and if you can go to heaven hating any man on earth, not speaking to your next door neighbor, having an ill-will toward your fellowmen, I want to say that I never want to go to heaven, because the Bible that I study and the heaven that I know about, will never have an unforgiven sin in it, and for that reason God taught us to pray daily, "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who tres- pass against us;" and if you do not forgive every man on earth, you are asking God in that prayer to treat you as you treat the one whom you will not forgive. You are praying, God don't forgive me; I want to go to hell and sleep with the devil tonight. 728 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. Why do I talk about sleeping with him? Because the Bible tells us plainly: "Be ye angry, and sin not; let not the sun go down upon your wrath. ^' In the same chapter Paul writes : "Let all bitterness and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice." I read the other day^f a man who was so constantly getting angry, and his anger was so uncontrollable, that he made up his mind that in the neighborhood where he lived it was impossible to ever control that anger. He thought the reason he got so angry was because his neighbors were all wrong, and so he made up his mind he would move into a large woods where he could be al] alone and would never have any trouble with his temper any more. The first day he was cutting down a tree, and he got so warm and thirsty ; he picked up his jug, walked to the spring and set it under the water; when it was nearly full the jug rolled over; he sat it up again, and again it rolled over; the third time he threw it against the rock and it flew to pieces. Then he began to think where he was, and picked up the jug handle and said : Where are my enemies this morning? There was no neighbor around. That man had to go to the woods to find out that the old devil was in him instead of in his neighbors; that the devil was in his own temper in- stead of somewhere else. When John the Patriarch of Constantinople, a good Christian man, had a quarrel one day with a good Chris- tian man, he went home very much dissatisfied, and when he looked out over the far west and saw the sun going down, he remembered what Paul wrote in the fourth chapter of Ephesians : Let not the sun go down upon your wrath; and the man that had the quarrel with him re- membered the same thing; and so John the Patriarch started at once to see his neighbor and said. My neighbor, the sun is going down. That was all that was necessary. The sun was going down. They both had been instructed in God's Word, and that is the only help and the only sal- vation of the Avorld to-day. Take the little children and put God's Word into their minds, and then when they go wrong the Holy Spirit will lead them right again. So NINETEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 729 they both started from home at the same time, and they met half way, and they shook hands and said, Let us forgive each other and go home and sleep as God's chil- dren. They would not go to bed hating each other. It is just as plain as God's truth this evening, you cannot go to bed tonight with an ill-will toward any man on earth, without sleeping with the devil. There is a state of dangerous deception. Not only do we find this state of dangerous deception in this, that Satan sometimes may be in our tongues and tempers, but we also find that he can get right into our pocketbooks. '^Let him that stole steal no more; but rather let him labor, Avorking with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth."' If there is anything mean in all this world it is to go to a man who one time possibly has stolen, and say. You are a thief; or to go to a man who one time told a lie and say. Now you are a liar ; or to the man who one time did this or that and say. You are guilty of it now. If every man on earth were to be called a drunkard who one time got drunk, how many sober men would we have? If every man were considered a thief and a thug who one day did a dishonest thing, how manv honest men would we have? I am not upholding any crime, but I do say this, when you come to compare man with man, and Avoman with woman, when you compare them as under the eyes of God, you will find that in the general sweejj of all their lives, there isn't very much difference, and the thing for us to do when a man has done wrong in the past and wants to do what is right now, is to stretch out the hand of love and say, I respect you, and love you for trying to do right now; if you stole, don't steal any more; if you ever did any wrong in the past, by the help of God make up your mind this day to do right. And when yon have that kind of a heart in yourself, then you have something approaching very close to the truest Christianity. But how is it with Satan? Satan comes to a man and says. Look here; I would like to occupy your pocketbook 730 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. a little while. And when you let him in, he has got just two ways of dealing with that pocketbook. To the owner of one pocketbook he says: You have worked hard all your life; you have worked hard all day ; you are supporting your family ; they are eating off of you ; the thing for you to do is' to walk into this saloon and take a drink and cool off; you have earned it. That one drink makes you feel better ; take another ; you have earned this money. When he has taken two, Satan says : That will do for the present, but you have a good distance to go; take another one; then he takes the third; and by t]iat time his good neighbor comes in and Satan says : Here, you are brothers; treat him; give him a glass; you can afford it; it is your money. And the drunken man reaches out and pays for it all. Then in comes another thirst}^ man, and that is the way they go on, and Satan through that one pocketbook begins to empty all the pocketbooks in that saloon; and the first thing the man knows he goes home with his little pocketbook so thin it looks as though an elephant had stepped on it; nothing in it; but if he could open it and look, he would find that Satan entered in that day and took out of that pocketbook all he possibly could to rob that man and his family and to rob the church of God. Sometimes Satan finds out he has hold of an old hard-hearted sinner who is a miser,, and says. Can I get into your pocketbook? Yes, get into it. I want to tell you you have worked hard for all you have, and what you have is yours ; I wouldn't join the church, because if you do they will want money for missions, and for this and for that, and the best thing you can do is to stay at home and let me stay in this pocketbook and we will keep it tight; the only time we will open it is when you can get more money. And after a while this man gets pretty hungry and he would like to have something good to eat. Satan says. Look here, after a while you are going to get old and cannot work; let me have this nickle and this dime; you will get hungry, but you will need it when you get old. He says, that is right, and doesn't eat enough. Some time the man looks at his pocketbook and says, I NINETEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 731 would like to get myself a suit of clothes to-daj; but 8atan says, Don't be proud ; your old suit is good enough ; you just keep Avhat you have here; wear your old cloth- ing; you don't need suspenders, take a rope and tie it around you; if your wife wants a dollar or two, don't give it to her ; let her go and work ; if the children want another new dress, don't get them any, they will get too proud; we will save; you are going to get old, and after a, while I will open your pocketbook. Well, time passes on and the poor man goes along earning more money after that, buys farm after farm and block after block, and he swells his bank accoun.t larger and larger; the poor man gets hungrier and hungrier; his clothes get shabbier and shabbier, the poorest man on God's earth, and the devil made him poor. Pity the old miser. Pity the man that has given his pocketbook over to the devil, either to say, Take it all out, or else to say. Keep it all in. ''Let him that stole steal no more; but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth." If there is anything in the world my friends we ought to do, it is to work hard for every dollar that we get. And when we do work hard we ought to see that that dollar is rightly used, and to use it rightly, we ought to expend it for the good of God's kingdom and for the good of humanity. I said a Avhile ago Satan said to that man. Save all that you can until you are old; but soon that man starves to death, and he is put down into the ground and the dirt shoveled over him, and it actually sounds as if the ver}^ ground Avere falling on a hard stone, for his heart Avas harder than any rock. And then the devil gets all the money; for the boys and girls quarrel over it, get into a laAv suit, and the laAA^yers get it, and what becomes of it you all know. BcAvare of Satan in the pocketbook. If you find yourself getting so liberal that you cannot save anything, open your pocketbook and say, Satan get out of here; if you find yourself getting so niggardly and miserly that you are not Avilling to give up anything any more, break open the pocketbook and say 732 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. by God's help, Satan get out of here. Make no place for the devil, says Paul. III. I have now shown you in the first place a state that is total darkness, and in the second place a state of dangerous deception; now I want to show you a state that is eternal day. In this same chapter the Apostle Paul calls attention to this great truth: "And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evan- gelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfect- ing of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifjdng of the body of Christ; till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." It seems to me the Apostle Paul has crowded more great facts and truths into this fourth chapter of Ephe- sians than you can find almost anywhere else in his writ- ings. "That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive." Why is it that so many old people are constantly running from church to church and constantly wavering in their faith, never knowing Avhere they stand? It is because they did not begin right. It is because they never did know what they believed. It is because they have laid the foundation very poorly. Let us, my dear friends, be well instructed in God's Holy Word; let us learn the truths contained in the five chief parts of Dr. Luther's catechism thoroughly, and no power on earth nor in hell can change our faith. Then we are built upon the solid rock of God's Word, on the Eock Jesus. The Apostle Paul said, Don't be a child; do not get away back there and stay there forever, but press forward, coming out of total darkness with renewed mind and the Spirit of God in you, press forward. Press for- ward and fight; fight for the light that is coming, for there is in the distance an eternal day, so that victory must come for the right, and to do this he speaks of three things that we must do : We must put off the old man ; NINETEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 733 we must put on the new man; we must put out the old devil. That is the only way to reach this eternal day. "That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts.'' This old man, I suppose you all know who he is. AVhen Adam and Eve were first created, holy, in the image ((f their God there was no old man; but when Adam sinned and Eve fell, then there was an old sinful nature born in Eden, and that old sinful nature is living to-day, the old Adam, and this old man must be put off if we ever want to come into the light of eternal day. That is vrhat Luther meant in the explanation of the part of Baptism where it says : It signifies that the old Adam in us by daily contrition and repentance should be droAvned and die, and that a new man come forth who should walk in nev\ ness of life. This old man then let us put off by the help of God. Again, let us put on the new man. "And be ye re- newed in the spirit of your mind, that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." The question has often been asked. What was the image of God? You will remember that God created man in His own image. It is not hard to find what that image was if we study the New Testament. In the garden of Eden man lost the image of God; the Holy Spirit by renewing us gives us the new birth ; in giving us the new birth he gives us the new man; and this new man is the old image lost. What is that new man? I call your at- tention now to Ephesians 4 :24, which I have just read : "Put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." Then again, in Ool. 3 :10, "And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him." Therefore the image of God consists of knowledge of holi- ness and of righteousness. In the garden of Eden Adam lost this image; through Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit Ave get this image back. Having this new man, you can- not keep tlie two men together; either the old man will try and crowd the new man out, or the new man will try 734 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. to crowd the old man out. If, therefore, you wish to reach the light of eternal day, you must, by the help of God, say to the old man, Down with you and out with you; to the new man, knowledge, righteousness and holiness. Come in and make thy dwelling in my heart and in my soul; and in order that we may have the old man out and keep the new man in, we must fight the fight with Satan. Paul says : "Neither give place to the devil." When the Germans tell us to take a chair, they say. Take a place, and I often think of that when I read this verse: "Give Satan no place.'- Why is it so many people fall? Because they say, Satan you can come in just to the door; or, come here and take a chair; I will leave you in my home or in my heart ; I don^t want to make much use of you, but 1 don't want you to be too far away; and the result is he takes possession of the house. ^ The only way I know of being a true Christian and getting the old man out and getting the new man in is to forever sever your relations with Satan and say. No place for you. When he comes to us and says, I want you to lie, you have either got to sa}^. Devil take a chair and I will lie; or you have got to say. Out with you; I am going to tell the truth if the heavens fall. That is the only way to reach eternal day. A man in Germany Avho had three very wicked sons, said to a nobleman, "What will I do with my boys?" The nobleman said, "What is the matter with them?" He f^aid, "One is a thief; the other a drunkard and the third is a liar." "Well," said the nobleman, "I guess the best thing to do with those boys is to do like my neighbor did with an old cat. It was always eating the cheese; so he just took a rope and tied the cat to the cheese until it nearly starved to death, and it never wanted cheese again. Take your drunken sot and get a keg of whiskey and soak him in it; take the thief and pile the money all around him and tie him there until he sees nothing but money day and night until he gets tired of it. Then he began to think of the third. Where will we put the liar? And they could not find any place on God's earth to put him. NINETEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 735 There wasn't a place on earth to put him that he wasn't simply causing trouble, and the liar everywhere is the most damnable creature on God's earth. When Satan comes to you and says, Now tell a lie ; say. Out with you ; my Savior is the truth; I dare not have the devil in my tongue; you cannot have a chair in my mouth. Fight for the eternal day. When he comes to you and says. Now get angry and allow your temper to rise, don't say. Now devil, take a chair; and let your temper run away with you; you always make a fool of yourself and you know it. Say, Satan, out with you ; I will let nothing disturb me ; I will keep calm and cool; I Avill be in earnest; I will be like God Himself and have a holy Avratli against wrong and sin, but the sun shall never go down and I sleep with Satan. Out with you ; no place for you. When he comes to you with provocations and says. Too many collections in the church, too many calls for help, don't give any- thing, say. Devil, no chair in my house; get out. When he comes to you and says. Let me have all you have got and throw it away, you don't need to support your wife and children, saj^. Devil no chair for you; out with you. And thus keep on fighting the fight for eternal day, mov- ing upward and forward, until by the help of God you shall reach the fulness of the manhood of a child of God. Where are we this morning? I am not preaching this sermon for you to point at your neighbor; I am preach- ing this sermon for every, true Christian, for every man and for every woman to lay his hand upon his own heart, and ask the question. Where am I? Where have we been? Do not forget those things. Do not forget the mine from which God dug you up as a golden jewel. Do not forget where you have been and what God has done for you. Let us not stop with the past. Let us ask ourselves the question right now. Where are we on this path from total darkness to eternal day? Are we still back in the darkness? Are we in the realm of childhood? Are we established? Are we marching onward? Are we pressing forvv^ard to the x>rize? Where are we? Where will Ave be? Oh, the flight of time! In a very 736 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. short time another will stand here where I stand to preach the Gospel; in a very short time another will hold the chair down in your home; it is only a short time that we have to live, and it becomes our duty in this short time so to live each day as we shall expect to live on that last great day. What shall we be? Where shall we be? I have no right to expect to be very far away tomorrow from where I am to-day. We are either going gradually down to the total darkness, or we must go gradually to the eternal day. May God the Holy Spirit give you all that determination of heart and mind this evening, that by His help you shall forever exclude Satan from any place in your soul, and shall Avalk in the footprints of your Savior Jesus Christ. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved ; but he that believeth not shall be damned. These are the Words of the eternal Judge. Where are we? Where shall we be? May God help us all as one great family to be at home with Him after that great day. Amen. PRAYER. O God, our heavenly Father, we thank Thee for the blessed priv- ilege of not only being saved by Thy grace, but of being called to Thy ministry to proclaim Thy plan of salvation to all those who hear. And we thank Thee that Thou hast given to man not only one ear, but ears to hear. We thank Thee that Thy Word is a seed, and a power that shall not return void. We pray Thy rich blessing to rest upon the message of the evening. Oh, may it bring forth a rich harvest of souls of all hearers. O God, hear our prayer, in the name of Jesus, who taught us to pray: Our Father who art in heaven; Rallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven; Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for- give those who trespass against us ; And lead us not into temptation ; But deliver us from evil ; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. TWENTIETH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Five Fools. Eph. 5:15-21. 8EE then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Thy Word is truth. Amen. Beloved in Christ: In His sermon on the Mount, Jesus warns us not to call a brother a fool. We have no right to call one of God's children a fool; but on the other hand let us not forget that the world is full of fools, and this is acknowl- edged by the world as well as by the Word. Carlisle in stating the number of inhabitants of England said there were so many millions — mostly fools. Pope said, "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread." The poet Young said that men may live fools, but they cannot die fools. It is not only the teaching of the world in general that there are many fools, but the Word of God speaks about two hundred times concerning that class of people called fools. In our own text the Apostle Paul refers to them when he says: "See then that ye walk circum- specth^, not as fools, but as wise." This epistolary letter points us this evening to five fools, and may we see to it that we are not among their number. 47 737 738 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. FIVE FOOLS. I. The first fool described here is the one who lives in the world and never sees it. "See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise." Circumspectly means to be seen from all around; looked at and looking out. How many people there are in this world who are constantly living as if they never saw. They do not see that this world is the place for them to be saved, and that the world itself is to be saved. Is that man not a fool that comes into this world and has all the advantages of the Gospel light to be saved, and yet lives on from day to day, and some time he will find that he is suddenly called into eternity, and he never reaches the object for which he was created; he never accepts the Savior that died for him ; he never reads the Word of God, which is God's letter to him; he never ac- cepts the Holy Spirit and the light and the faith which he intended to give him ; he has come into the world and brought nothing with him, and has gone out and taken nothing with him, and he is lost forever, and he will say to himself in all eternity. Of all fools I am the biggest; I was in the world and I did not see that I was to be saved while I was in the world? How many people there are in the present daj^ who seem to think that no difference how they live, beyond the grave somewhere, some place, some time or other, God will give them a chance. If a man Avill not take the chance from the time he is born until he dies to give his heart to God, when will he take it? "As the tree falleth, there it lieth." "Enter ye in at the straight gate : for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat. Because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.'' Only two ways ; only tw^o ends ; one is life ever- lasting and the other is eternal death. The man, there- fore, I say, who lives on from day to day, walking around on the earth and does not see that he himself ought to be saved while he is on this earth, is nothing but a fool. And it seems to me, my dear friends, that it is just TWENTIETH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 739 as foolish if we do not look around this whole world to have it saved. It seems to me the average Christian is per- fectly satisfied if he can come to church, sit down, take up his hymnbook and think, I am a saved man, go home and think about his business, and that is all; he is not concerned about the man that lives in the next city; he is not concerned about the neighbor that lives in the next house; he is not concerned about the nations that are living in war, and destruction, and darkness; he is not concerned about the great commandment of God, Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. The man that actually believes he is born in sin, that he has condemnation resting upon Him, that he has been saved by the only Savior, Jesus Christ, and has found peace for his own soul, and realizes that he that belie veth not shall be damned, and then goes on and does not care whether the whole world is saved or not, I question whether that man will be saved himself. How can I have the great salvation of my God and be satisfied to see a whole race on the other side of the globe lost and damned? II. Now let me show you Fool No. 2. It is the one who carries a watch and never knows what time it is. ^'Redeeming the time, because the days are evil." There are people in this world who know very well that this is an evil world; they know that the devil is going about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour; they can see the footprints of Satan all around them; they know many a neighbor is going to destruction ; they know, too, that they ought to be saved ; they take their watch out and look at it every day, they hear it ticking, they see the hands move, and know that as the hand is moving around on the dial, so they are constantly, day and night, marching to eternity, but they do not realize that they should have been saved long ago — long ago. Why is it that so many people want to have the preacher when they are about to enter the gate of eternity? Why is it they did not want him long ago? Suppose for a single moment you were in this audience tonight, not a saved man, and 740 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. you knew there would be given an opportunity the last week of your life to be saved, what will you think about that week that you are saved, when you realize that you have spent a whole life in this world lost and helping others to be lost, and doing nothing for the Savior who died on Calvary for you? The man that can look at his watch and see day by day what time it is, and does not realize that he should have been saved in the beginning of his life instead of at the end, is a fool, for if life is worth living as a saved man the last week, it is ten thous- and times more worth living throughout life. For my part I rejoice in the fact that I do not need to look back and see months and years when I was a child of the devil and not in the covenant of my God. And then how about the world? How about the poor, lost, dark world, that has been crying for light these many years, and has not received it? I do not know how we shall ever answer on the Judgment day of God for be- ing so sloAV about foreign missions. We very often near men say that Avhat we want is more missionary work done at home ; but let me ask you this question : Did you ever see a man in this world who was interested in the salva- tion of people on the other side of the globe that did not care about those at home? Do you suppose that the sun that shines all over this world does not care to shine on one single floAver? Do you suppose that the man that is interested in the salvation of the black and the white ten thousand miles away, does not care for the salvation of the black and white one mile away? If you want to be a home missionary you have got to be a foreign missionary, mark what I tell a^ou, and the man Avho cannot look out beyond his OAvn confines and cannot look out beyond his own congregation and beyond his own state and beyond his own nation, is too small to be called an intelligent Christian. Go back in history a little over tAvo hundred years, and up in Massachusetts stands John Elliott, and before him stands a Avarrior of our own Indian tribe, and the Indian says to him : ^'How does it come that you peo- ple have been here for twenty-seven years, and you are the first man to come and tell us of Jesus Christ? Our TWENTIETH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 741 fathers have been living in darkness and we have gone on in sin ; we might have learned much of the Word of God. Why did you not tell us?" And England must answer to- day, Why did we not tell the red man the first twenty- seven years? We come on down another hundred years and we find David Brainard of New Jersey, and there stands a chief and says to him : ''Why do you send men here to drive us away from our land, and drive us out of our homes? Why do you not send men here to tell us who our God is and what His Word is that we might be saved, and own our own farms?'' Coming down almost a hundred years more, in 1840, an Indian, Chief, on the Manitoulin Islands, stood before a Wesleyan missionary and said to him : ''I am the Chief of a great tribe ; I have heard 'for a long time that somewhere our brothers have heard from the white men, and there is a great Word and a great God: moon after moon we have been looking up the river to see the little boat come down and tell us who the great God is and the Word that gave the worlds ; Why do you not tell us?" Not only has the voice gone out from our own nation, the voice came from darkest Africa. When Livingston, who died on his knees in prayer in that dark land, was confronted by a black warrior, that man said to Livingston: "How does it come when you people knew that our fathers were living in darkness and going to hell every day, that you did not tell us until now?" Let England and Europe answer why. Go over to Asia among the Hindoos. A large meeting was held not many years ago, and there arose a man and said : "Where has this religion of yours been all these years? We are living in the fourth great age of the world; our fathers have been perishing for centuries ; and now you come and tell us the only way to be saved is through Jesus Christ. When did you find it out, and why did you not tell us? Who are the people that knew this?" And one man stood up and said: "Europe and America have known it for centuries. What kind of religion is this that never told us?" The cry is going out all over the world. Why look at your watches to know what time it is and not know the hour of redemption for the people of the world? Oh, 742 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. that we had more of those William Tyndalls who, when the flames were consuming him, cried out : "O God ! open the eyes of the king of England that he may see." Oh, that we had more of the Saint Lawrences, who, on the burning coals cried out: "O God, save pagan Rome!" Oh, that we had more men like the first president of Hamilton College, who, when told by his physician that he could live only thirty minutes more, said : "Pick me up and set me down by the side of the bed on my knees that I can pray until I die, God save the world!" And the last prayer of his lips was, "God save the world!" He knew what time it was, but the fool does not. This cry comes from the islands of the sea. Away out in the Sandwich Islands, years ago, when Mrs. Thurston conducted a school there, women would come into the school and cry; and when that lady would say, "Why do you cry?" they would answer: "Why didn't you come long ago and tell us it was wrong to kill our children? Our hands are stained with blood, and we have no children to be taught in your school." A great Sunday School convention was held in a place called Hilo, and there were thousand^ of beautiful children there with flowers and garlands upon their heads, singing songs of praise to God. Among them was an aged woman and they heard her groaning and moaning; they saw her striking on her breast. The mis- sionary ran down and said : "What is the matter, mother?" "What is the matter? If you had come and told me about Christ when I was young these hands would not be stained with the blood of twelve of my children; they might have been here to-day, but they are not here." And she began to tear the hair out of her head. Why? Because the world is full of fools that do not know what time it is. "Redeeming the time, because the days are evil." III. There is a third fool, and that is the man who is always reading and never learning anything. "Where- fore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is." "Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in vour heart to the Lord." TWENTIETH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 743 There never was a time when people did more read- ing than they do now, and there never was a time when Christians knew less of the Bible than they do now. Some may question what I say, but you shoAv me the Christians of olden days, and they were people of two or three books ; they knew their Bibles; they knew what was in every book and in every chapter; they knew their hymnbooks from beginning to end, but to-day in the exchange of hymnbooks and in the putting in of new books into the libraries, the world is flooded with a literature that isn't worth the paper to kindle the fire to burn it up. If even our church libraries are as poor as they nearly all are, what can we expect of the public libraries? I read partly fourteen books of our own library in the last ten days, and out of fourteen there are eleven that are not fit to go into any home. Think of a little child spending weeks in reading five hundred pages to find out that finally some nonsensical Susie got married. That is the kind of literature we have in our Sunday School library. Think of the people that are sitting doAvn day after day and reading novel after novel, story after story, when the Word of God is lying at home covered with dust, and the hymnbooks are never used to sing in worship. Think of the people that are flooding our libraries to get the very books they never should look at.. How many people are going to the library to-day hunting out books' of devo- tion, hunting out good true history, hunting out the things that are worth knowing? The fact is the people want literature in the form of soup and will not eat meat. There never was a time when our country was so flooded with books, books, books, and no knowledge. Ask the average reader what he knows, and it is nothing. Oh, the minds of the people that are being poisoned with the nonsensical literature of the day! It is simply awful. The apostle called attention to the fact that there are some things we ought to know. "Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is." That is the thing we ought to know. And do you realize tonight what one good friend is worth to advise us what to read? I remember when a boy of fifteen years 744 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. of age there came into my possession a publication called ''Saturday Mght," and I began to read those blood and thunder stories; I thought I was doing some wonderful reading. When I told a good friend one day what I was doing and brought him the paper so he might have the good gift also, he said: "How many have you read?" I told him. He said: "What do you know?" And I just found out I knew nothing; I had been reading, and read- ing, and reading, and knew nothing. Had it not been for tliat friend, I might have been reading that kind of trash yet. Young people, ask yourselves the question tonight. What am I reading? What am I learning? What do I know of God's Word? What do I know about the Bible? What do I know about the good old hymns that can be sung in times of trial and death? What do I know about the truly devotional books? How many really devotional books do you find in the homes in the present day, and whose fault is it? The preacher's more than any one's else. It is our duty as men of God to see to it that our homes are filled with better books, that our libraries are well searched, and that good books occupy the place where we find trash to-day. So, again I say, those men that are constantly reading and do not know Avhat their Bible teaches; those men that are constantly reading and not devotional enough to even pick up a hymnbook and fol- low if they do not sing, that do not know those great truths Ave need in times of trouble to sustain us, there is only one name to be given to those men, and that name is Fool. IV. There is a fourth fool I Avish to describe from the Word of God, and that is the man that sees himself CA^ery day in the looking-glass and never knows himself. "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit." There is a legend among the Arabs running something like this, and written especially for the drunkard : They tell us that in the days of Noah when he planted his vineyard, as soon as the vine was in the ground the devil came and sprayed it with the blood of a pea- fowl. The vine grew ; the leaves began to branch out, and then he came back again and sprayed the leaves TWENTIETH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 745 with the blood of a monkey. After the vine had blossomed and the grapes began to grow, he came a third time and sprayed them with the blood of a lion. When the grapes were just about ripe he came a fourth time and brought the blood of a swine and sprayed it for the last time. Then this great stalk assimilated the blood of these four animals and when the grapes were ripe and the wine was made, it had the effect of doing this : When the man first began to drink that wine he soon found that he was grow- ing very proud, like a pea- fowl; drinking a little while longer and a little more, he found he was getting dizzy, and then he would run and jump and make gestures like a monkey; a few more drinks and he would go home and start a quarrel and roar like a lion; a few more and he would lie down and wallow in the mud like a hog. There you have got the Arabian legend, the picture of the fool that can stand before his glass every day and cannot see his own dissipated face, cannot see the temple of the Holy Ghost ruined. Some have said that Doctor Luther was not as pious as he should have been. My dear friends, I want to call your attention to one sentence in Luther's sermon on drunkenness. He says the drunkard is the swine that Satan, the butcher, is leading by a rope to hell to slaughter him. There you have got the idea of the great reformer. You cannot hide drunkenness behind Dr. Luther nor be- hind the Lutheran Church. The man that will stand and look into the looking-glass and see his flushed face, and see himself, once an innocent little child, kissed by a mother's loving lips, now with a face that shows dissipa- tion in every line, if that man does not see what he is, he certainly is a fool. I have often thought if I were a drunkard and could step up to the mirror and see my own face, and remember what I once was, and remember what is going on with me, and remember that the Word of God says. Is not your body the temple of the Holy Ghost? and then I could see that I have made a temple of the devil and driven out the Holy Spirit, I certainly should walk away and say, I have been a fool, but by God's help I am 746 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE, going from this day on to lead a sober life, and come back and see in that mirror a man of God. V. The fifth fool that I find in the Word of God described tonight is the man who could enjoy all of God's blessings, but chooses to be an unthankful rebel. Oh, what a beautiful life, to give thanks always for all things. You have had your trials and your troubles; now what? Now get down on your knees and thank God for them. Have you done it? There is a Father in heaven ; He has a Son, Jesus Christ, and that Son died for the sins of the world, and wants to be your Savior and my Savior; wants to give you and me His righteousness; He wants us to accept that Son and be saved and call His Father our Father; He wants us, because we have been reconciled to the Father, to learn to love humanity and be kind everywhere, and stop our rebellion. But how is it with some men? They can see nothing in the world to be thankful for, rebelling against everything that hap- pens, ungrateful, breathing God's fresh air, eating His bread, drinking His water, enjoying all the good things that He has given them; they can have ten years of good health and never thank God for it; one day of sickness to them undoes all the health they have ever had. Oh, unthankful fool! Will you never learn to submit to the will of your God? Will you never learn to enjoy God's blessings and thank Him for them? Will you never see in the Father's face the loving heart of God? Will you never see in Jesus Christ God's love poured out on Cal- vary for you? Will you never stop rebelling against heaven and all things that are good? Oh, in conclusion let me say to you, be wise. "See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise." And what is true wisdom? True wisdom is to confess your sins to God, accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, and by His help try to live every day nearer and nearer to Him in the light of His Holy Word; grow in grace, and knowledge, and strength ; sink deeper into the great wisdom of your God; make up your mind to live better day by day as you are growing older, and not only sing, but live, nearer, my God, to Thee nearer to Thee! TWENTIETH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 747 and at last when your work on earth is all done, find that you have not only been interested in your own souPs salvation but in the salvation of the whole world. This is wisdom. Be wise and be not a fool. Amen. PRAYER. O God, our heavenly Father, we thank Thee for that plain Word of Thine which has shown us so clearly what true wisdom is, and what the greatest foolishness may be. We pray Thee, dear Father in heaven, that Thou wilt bless this message to our own soul's good. Oh, do Thou give us the vision tonight that can look out beyond our own circle to the ends of the earth. Give us a heart that can plead for a poor, perishing world. Give us a determination not to lose any more time for ourselves nor for those in a lost condition. We ask Thee to bless our friends and our foes. We ask Thee to cleanse us from all unrighte- ousness, and do Thou lead us in the path of Jesus and in the very center of it, who said, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no man cometh unto the Father but by Me. Father in heaven, hear our prayer which is now offered in the name of Jesus, who taught us to say: Our Father who art in heaven; H'allowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven; Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for- give those who trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation; But deliver us from evil ; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. The Battle of Battles. Eph. 6 :10-18. fINALLY, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness ; and your feet shod with the prepa- ration of the Gospel of peace ; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God : praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplica- tion for all saints. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Th}^ Word is truth. Amen. Beloved in Christ: — When we look over the history of the world we find some great battles. Among them in our own country we might mention Gettj^sburg, where twenty thousand of our Northern soldiers lay in death, and in their own blood; we might thus go on and show you battle after battle; fought in different parts of the world between armies of great numbers; but there is a battle that is greater than all the battles between flesh and blood; it is the battle referred to in our text, where we are admonished to put on the whole armour of God. In order not to take up too much time with an introduction, let us at once plunge into our theme. I speak to you this evening of 748 TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 749 THE BATTLE OF BATTLES. And may the Holy Spirit show each one of us how we can be true soldiers of the cross. With regard to this battle I shall show you : I. The armies. II. The armor. III. The call to arms. I. Which are the armies of this great battle of bat- tles? I behold the armies of the devil ! "Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.'' The Apostle Paul recognizes the fact that there is a leading poAver for evil as well as for good. Paul believes as much in a personal devil as he does in a personal Savior, and this Satan has got an army. He has got an army of the fallen angels ; an army of the lost race ; and an army of popular society. We are told in God's Word that Satan fell; that he was a holy angel at one time; that he rebelled against his God and God cast him out of heaven and a host of spirits followed him, and this host of spirits is referred to in this letter of Paul's when he says : "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." This "spiritual wickedness" is correctly translated wicked spirits. We find, therefore, that Satan has a great army of wicked spirits, not in heaven, but in high places. The German Bible says they are "under heaven," which is by far a more intelligent translation. We find then that the army which we have to fight as soldiers of the cross is not found only walking upon earth, but wherever you can find a fallen angel you find a member of the army of Satan. You remember the story of Job, how Satan tempted him. What did Satan do? He blew his house over with a storm ; he caused the fires from heaven to fall and devour part of his flocks. That same Satan is today yet in the air ; he is in high places. We find then that these powers are around us. Not 750 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. only are there fallen angels in this great army of Satan^ but there is a fallen race. When Paul says here, we wres- tle not against flesh and blood — or more correctly against blood and flesh — he does not mean to say that we have no battles on hand with men, but he means to say this, that man today on the side of the devil is not a soldier of the same kind as we fight in battles simply with blood and flesh and nerve and sinew, but that back of all this flesh and blood in the lost man there is the power of Satan to fight. We would not recognize what Paul is trying to bring forth here if we did not see that a wicked man is more than simply flesh and blood. You realize that a child of God is more than flesh and blood;, when a man is born again he has the Holy Spirit in him, and having the Holy Spirit in him he is now a three- fold person instead of a two-fold person. When we study man according to the wisdom of the world, we say he is a dual being, having a body and soul, but if you will study the Word of God carefully you will find the child of God is a three-fold being — body, soul and spirit. Now then, when you fight a good man you are not fighting only flesh and blood, but you are fighting God in him;, and when you are fighting a wicked man, you are not fighting and wrestling simply with flesh and blood and physical strength, but you are fighting a man who is at enmity against God; you are fighting a man that has the spirit of Satan in him; you are fighting against princi- palities and powers, and not alone flesh and blood. The army of Satan, therefore, is largely composed of fallen angels, of wicked men, of unregenerated people; for, my friends, a man is never on God's side until he is born again, and he that is not for Me, says Jesus, is against Me. Away with the idea that you can be a kind of a neutral man, not exactly in the church, not exactly a Christian, but on the other hand you would not be called a child of the devil for anything. Now whoever you are this evening, my friend, whether an acquaintance or a stranger, you are either this evening on the side of God, fighting against sin, or you are on the side of the devil, fighting against God and all things that are good TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 751 and holy. The man out on the battle field that simply stands up and lets his gun rest on the ground, and that is neither for the north nor for the south, is either for the north "or for the south in spite of the fact that he does not do a thing. When I can fight for the north and re- fuse to do it, I am a soldier for the south, and when a soldier of the south I refuse to fight against the north, I am a soldier for the north. The man, therefore, that is not fighting for Christ and true Christianity is an enemy of God and a soldier of the devil. There is still another class that goes to make up this army of Satan, and that is popular society. "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against princi- palities, against powers, against the rulers of the dark- ness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." No one can read that verse carefully without finding that Paul has in mind a class of people that are ruling the world; that stand high in society; that are looked upon as the great leaders; and he says you find among them soldiers of the devil. And isn't it true? Oh, how much we hear about popular society all over this country. Think of those great men of New York that have been going all over the world making their popular speeches at great banquets as the great leaders of society. My dear friends, if Senator Depew were a poor man in Mansfield we would have him down here in prison. If some of those* great men who have been looked up to in society where living in any village, they would never be allowed to walk on the streets without the shackles on their arms. The man in Columbus a few years ago who robbed the Fifth Avenue bank of sixty thousand dollars was free in nine months; the man that stole four hams the same day is in the penitentiary yet. Sixty thousand dollars makes a man a man in high places and a rascal that goes free; and the poor man at home that has no right to steal because he is poor, but who will steal at times to get something to eat, receives no consideration nor mercy. There is not a term in all the world today that is doing more to mislead the youth of our land than this simple, plain term, high society. High society today 752 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. is as loAv as the gates of hell. There you find the army on the side of Satan. 2. In opposition to that army is another army, and that is the army of God. "Put on the whole armour of God." God has an army. I do not need to refer to the fact that He Himself is the great general, as Satan is on the other side. You know that; but I want to tell you that God in His army has got a host of holy angels. Only a few fell. It was a great host that sang when Christ was born : "Glory to God in the highest ; on earth peace, good will toward men !" When you remember that one of those angels alone could kill one hundred and eighty-five thousand soldiers in one night by flying over the valley of Sennacherib, you understand the power of those angels that sang on the plains of Bethlehem when Jesus was born. There is no army of hell that can keep one angel from Christ's grave to roll the stone away. Remember, my friends, that one angel of God has de- fended the bones of Moses to this day, and all the angels of hell cannot take those bones away from him. God has an army of holy angels that is watching over us to- day. The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews tells us we have a cloud of witnesses over us, and I am satisfied that when Dr. Luther stood there before the Emperor at Worms and said: "Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, God help me!" he had a cloud of God's holy angels over him. I am satisfied when you yourself in God's name are going through life fighting the fight of God that you are never alone; the holy angels are with you. And just as this army has holy angels in opposition to the fallen angels of Satan, just so God has an army of saved people in opposition to the lost in Satan's army. Yes, my friends, God has a large army. You will re- member that when Elijah on Mount Carmel imagined that he was the only man of God in that country, God said, Elijah, there are seven thousand in this country that never bowed their knees to Baal. We some times imagine that after all, God's people are only a few, but remember, two years ago in this own state of ours there was a majority on the Republican side of something like TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 758 about eighty thousand people, but when God's people came together this year, independent of politics, they brought the majority on the other side up to over forty thousand. I tell you when you arouse the people of God they are a great army, an army of power, and they are going to see on the Judgment day that the victory is theirs. A man, as [ said a while ago, that is not for God is against Him; and on the other hand, when a man is not against God he is for Him. We not only have in this great army over four hun- dred millions of God's people today, but, dear friends, we have among these people also another class, and that is the true soldier of Christ. Just as soon as a man is born again he is a child in the army of God. But the Apostle Paul did not direct this text of mine to the little children in the faith ; he was speaking here to the heroes, and. you will all recognize that there is a difference be- tween Christian and Christian, just as there is a differ- ence in the army betwen soldier and soldier. We can have a million soldiers under Darius, and we can have something like thirty or forty thousand under Alexander the Great, but there was only one Alexander the Great. We have had many soldiers of our own country, but we have had only one General Grant; we have had only one Sherman that marched to the sea. And thus there are men of God who are a ]30wer on the side of God's army. I was reading yesterday the life of a man whose name is not Jieard very often in these days — - Paleario, a man that was born about the year 1500, a man who was one of the greatest martyrs of his day. When he was asked the question, On what do you rest the foundation of your faith, three times he gave the three-fold answer, ''On Christ; on Christ; on Christ." He wrote against the darkness of his age until they said, ''If you do not stop we Avill put you in j)risgn." Then that soldier in the town of France was condemned to death, and he wrote this letter to the judge. It seems to me it is one of the most striking letters I ever read, written from prison : "At such a time as this, my Judge, no Christian 48 754 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. should die in bed. To be accused, to be thrown into prison, to be whipped and scourged, to be hanged, to be sown into a sack and thrown to the wild animals to devour me is too small a punishment for me. If it w^ill help spread the truth of Jesus Christ to the world I beg of you, sentence me to roast on the burning coals.'' And they roasted him to death in 1570. There is the type of soldier that I have in mind that can be found in God's army. Remember that in three centuries one hundred and eighty millions of men and women laid down their lives for Jesus Christ, and if you think that Ave have not got men in the present day that would die for Christ, you are mistaken. Let the persecutions come and they would do here in this country as they are doing in Ar- menia, they would die for their faith. Such soldiers are found in the army of our God. II. Let us notice for a few moments the armor. What is the armor of the devil and w^hat is the armor of God. 1. As to the armor of the devil, I should say in the first place it is deception, "Put on the whole armor of God, that je may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." If you understand the woid "wiles," it is a term that applies far better to a serpent than to man. The Apostle Paul has here in mind the old serpent in the Garden of Eden, how that serpent crept in there and pretended to know more than God himself, and thus led our parents astray. Oh, says Paul, I want you to under- stand that that old serpent is still in our midst. That old serpent with his deception is misleading and deceiv- ing us, making us think we are doing good when we are serving him. I am holding up to jou the armor of the devil. When he wants you and me to sin he does not come as we have seen him pictured, with hoofs and horns, saying, I am Mr. Devil and I want you to go and do wrong. When he wants you and me to sin he comes and says, You can- not help this; this is reasonable; this is right; don't you see it is the thing to do? Now listen to me and do it; there may be a little something wrong about it, but there TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 755 is a little right about it ; you go ahead. And then we go and plunge deeper and deeper into sin, and the old devil stands back and laughs, and says, God, look, there is one of your so-called Christians. Satan comes to you every time and says, You are right ; do this and I will show you a better way; eat the forbidden fruit and you will get 3^our eyes open and you will know things as gods. Yes, the poor darkened, deceived souls of the world suffering today, yet thinking they have their eyes opened when they are closed in darkness. Not only do we find that this armor consists of de- ception, but furthermore of darkness. "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.'^ There is nothing that Satan loves so much as darkness. He is the king of darkness. He comes from the realm of darkness, and if he can just keep the people ignorant of God's Holy Word, he has them in darkness ; if he can just drive them out of the Church of God he has them in darkness; if he can just make them believe they have a good reason for being away from the truth, he has them in darkness; if he can just make the young man believe, Now it is dark, he is ready to sin. And I would give a word of admonition to you parents, see to it that your lights are burning. I would give you a word of advice con- cerning your ovrn home, see to it that no later than eleven o'clock your doors are closed and your virgin daughters are sleeping in bed under the protection of the holy angels. See to it that this king of darkness is not fit- ting his armor on you that is going to lead you to de- struction. He has not only his armor of darkness, but of de- struction. "Above all, taking the shield of faith, where- with ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked." In ancient times, in times of war, very often the army would gather up large cane stalks, and then put tow and combustibles on the end of that cane and shoot the shaft into tlie air, burning; and the enemy, stand- ing, looking at these burning shafts going into the air, 756 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. thought, How beautiful! Then they turned and came down into their city and burned them up. There is the picture the apostle has in mind, of Satan. Understand he has some fiery darts. Sometimes he comes in dark- ness, sometimes with deception; sometimes he comes out boldly and takes his shaft of fire and says to the Chris- tian : You have sinned against the light and there is no hope for you any more; you are damned surely, and so shoots the fiery dart. Sometimes he comes to those who would love to repent and says : What is the use for you to repent? You are as good as all the rest; and shoots his fiery dart. Sometimes he comes and says : You don't need to believe this old Bible any more; and shoots his fiery dart. Sometimes he comes with a provocation and saj^: Now then, stand up for your rights; get up and walk out of the Sunday School; walk out of the church; go home; and the devil has shot his fiery dart. Be care- ful about these fiery darts. They are the very armor of Satan. 2. See next the armor of God. Do not depend upon yourself. When David was to fight with Goliath they brought to him a large armor. Oh, he said, I cannot fight in this thing; I am not used to it; I will go out in the armor of my God; and in the name of the God of Israel he picked up the pebbles and tlircAv them, and struck the giant down and cut his head off. He had the armor of God on, not the armor of some worldly king. So the first thing we want to do is to put on the armor of God. Not only put it on, but put on the w^hole armor. In ancient times you remember people covered their bodies with an armor to protect them from the enemy. They would wear on their heads an helmet; they would wear around their bodies a girdle; they would put on large boots and greaves to cover their limbs and feet; they would put on a breast plate that extended around and covered their backs; they Avould take a shield in one hand and a spear in the other, and go to war. Now, says Paul, I want you to understand, if you want to fight this fight on God's side, you, too, must have suitable weapons. Put on the whole armor here described; three TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 757 tinds of weapons: First, three integuments: Girdle around the body, shoes on the feet and the breastplate of righteousness. "Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of right- eousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace." Oh, my dear friends, that is the kind of integument to put on. See that you have around you the girdle of truth. How many people will lie to make a dollar; how many people will lie to make a little bargain; how many people there are that have no regard for the exact truth. You cannot be a soldier in God's army if you are not willing to tell the truth if the heavens fall. That is the girdle you must wear. And then you must have the breastplate of righteous- ness. The English language is not able to give the right meaning of the Greek word thorax, which means not only a shield for the breast, but extends around on the back, so that no difference whether the enemy is in front or back of you, he cannot thrust his sword into your body. And thus, says the Apostle Paul, you want to wear your shield, a breastplate of righteousness that not only covers you in front, but runs all around you; and when you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and accept Him, He sa3^s. My righteousness is yours, and He puts it over you and covers your sins, and you stand in the sight of the Holy God as holy as Jesus Christ Himself, not because you are flesh and blood, but because you have the righteousness of Jesus Christ, which is perfect. Wear that garment and then you will be putting on the whole armor. And then have for your shoes the gospel of peace. How many people are really wearing gospel shoes? They are perfectly willing to take their shoes and go to a dance, to run on any forbidden path, to gad around w^here they should not be, but how many Christians are there today that are wearing out their shoe soles to save souls, to bring the Gospel to the poor, the lost and the dying? If you want to be a soldier in God's army, wear the Gos- pel shoes of peace. Instead of trying to stir up an enemy 758 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. and make trouble, try to cause peace, and not only the peace between man and man, but between man and God. Tlien when you have put on these three integuments^ take two defensive weapons. "Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith je shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of sal- vation." Have the shield of faith. Oh, that we had more faith in God. When you read the New Testament through carefully you will find that Christ is constantly rebuking His disciples because of their little faith ; and when Satan comes to us, what shall we do when he hurls one of those fiery darts at as? What shall we do? Like the ancients, hold up the shield. The old shield of the Romans was some four feet by two and a quarter; it was oval shaped so that when the darts came, no difference what direc- tion they came from, it glanced off one way or the other; and thus he would stand, turning the darts away with the shield in one hand, and with the sword in the other hand he would fight. O man of God, when Satan comes and says, You poor, lost, condemned sinner, there is no hope for you, hold up the shield and say to him, "Him that Cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out.'^ "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son, cleanseth us from all sin."^ Away, ye fiery darts ! When Satan comes to you and says you do not need to repent, hold up the shield and say: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven it at hand!" And thus go on through life, holding the shield in one hand, and on your head the helmet of salvation. You must defend your head when you go to war, and the best helmet you can have is the helmet of salvation. You understand that when the old soldier used to wear the helmet, it was impossible for any one to strike his brain with the sword; but Paul says. Away with the old helmet of steel ; what you want is the salvation of Christ, to know tliat you are saved; and then, if we are saved, who can hurt us? How could they hurt PauFs head if they would cut it off when the holy angels took it and put the crown of eternal life on it? How could they hurt you and me when we are children of God? Why TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 75& do I need to fear death, or anything, or anybody when I ^m true to my God? When you have the defensive shield in the one hand, and the helmet of salvation on your Tiead, you can go through life and fear neither death, the devil, nor hell. But we are not only to have defensive weapons; we are also to have offensive weapons. Paul not only said to take the helmet of salvation, but he went on to say: "And the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God." I tell you the Bible is the greatest sword ever given to the world. It is not the sword of steel, but the sword of the Spirit. It is God's sword. Whenever you have the Bible in your hand you have the sword of the Almighty God. When Christ was tempted, what did Satan do? Satan asked Him three times to do this and that, and what was the response? Jesus said : It is written ; it is written ; it is Avritten. And with those three strokes He drove Satan away. Tliat is the reason that these little children should be well cate- chized; that is the reason they should learn Bible verses, and have the Word of God in their minds. What good does your Bible do in your home, if you leave it down on the table and do not know what is in it? When Satan comes around and strikes at you, how are you going to strike back unless you have the Word of God in your heart and mind? That is why I say we she aid commit Bible verses. W^hen Jesus said, "It is written: Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve/' then Satan was repulsed. And when he comes to you and to me and we take the sword of the Spirit in our hands and strike at him, that is one thing the devil cannot stand — God's holy Word. There is not only the sword of the Spirit, but you will find in times of war that frequently they throw large shells over into the city and burn it. In this great war Avhich we have against Satan, we have no weapon of steel; we have no bombs to throw over into the city, no shells of any kind, but there is something else we can do. ■'Traying always with all prayer and supplication in the :Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and 760 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. suplication for all saints." Then let us remember that while we cannot throw a shell into the city, we can throw a prayer to heaven, and when we call upon God to help us in this great battle of ours, He throAvs help down from on high. These enemies, angels of the devil, are in high places, but they are not in heaven; they are in high places, but not as high as the poAver of God, and from heaA^en on high, God will give us angels and His help. Therefore, use these weapons, and Avhen you have the strength of God in you, then fight. III. NoAV Ave haA^e seen the armor, at last I Avould cry out Avith the Apostle Paul, To arms! to arms! You know the army; you knoAv the armor; AAhat is our duty? Our duty is to fight in the name of the Lord and by the power of His might. "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the poAver of His might." Finally, after I have told you, says the Apostle Paul,, as God's standing army, of your divine election, after I have exhorted you to unity and holiness and love, after I have spoken to you of the duty of AAdves and of hus- bands, and children and parents, after I have told you all this, finally it is time for AAar. Finally, to arms! Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. And do not think for a moment that these phrases are one equiA^alent to the other. There is quite a difference be- tween being strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Why is it that so many Christians fall? It is because they are depending upon their OAvn strength. And Paul here says, see to it that you get your strength from God — in the strength of the Lord. In the second place, he says, AA^hen you have got God's strength, then use it in the poAver of His might. So you see the difference. The one is the store-house of poAA^er; the other is the poAver put into execution. And so I would urge upon you this morning, to arms, my Christian soldiers. First of all, give up your own power. Give up the idea that you can fight this battle in your OAvn power. That is where you have missed it before; that is where I have missed it be- fore; I have said, I am a strong man; I have been on God's side all my life; there is no danger; and the first TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 761 thing we know what are we doing? Blundering here and there. What is the trouble? We have depended upon our own strength of flesh and blood instead of getting the power of God Himself. It is God's war, it is not ours ; -and being God's war, let us, in the first place, get our strength. How shall we get it? ^'Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might." There is the secret of victory. When you have got God's power, then stand. We are told time and again by the apostle to be sure and stand. *' Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all,' to stand." In this army of God there is no use to retreat, no use to turn back. If we were fighting with flesh and blood or with our own power, we would have to retreat ; but when we stand here in the power of our God, then stand, because Almighty God never needs to retreat. Not only stand, but strike. Oh, what a power there is in Avielding this sword. I do not believe Ave wield this power as much as Ave ouglit. In this great battle we ought to be progressiA^e. That army that is satisfied with standing on the same battle field all the time isn't worth l)eing called an army. When the Japanese went on to conquer, they marched forward in the midst of rain, and wind and storm, pressing on until Russia Avas conquered. And just so my friends, in this great battle of ours; hav- ing the poAver of God it is our duty not only to stand, but to i)ress forward and take the sword of the Spirit and strike and cut down until the enemy falls. I knoAV very well what some of you are thinking this evening. I can tell what people are thinking about Avhen they sit before me. Some people wish this eA^ening that our pastor hadn't said what he did about popular society and the dance, etc., but I mean to press forward; I mean to strike and strike liard, and Avhen I see sin coA'ered up by delusions of the devil, I am going to cut to the heart, because Ave never Avill think until our eyes are opened; and the thing for us to do is to know we are right, and when we knoAA^, strike with all the power of Almighty 762 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. God, and the victory will be ours. It is bound to come.. It is not as some people think that we make progress in spite of our weakness. If I had come here some two or three years ago and just said some nice little things, I would have entertained you for a day or two, and you would have gone home and you would be there this even- ing. You would not have been in the house of God. God'S truth is a sharp SAvord, and it cuts to the marrow and to the bone; and if we are going to fight this fight of God; if we are going to fight this battle of battles, we must not ask, what does this man or that man think. This thing of playing aound with the truth will do no good. Swords are made to cut and slash and they must cut and slash until men can see their wickedness and see the wiles of the devil, and come out on the side of God. Finally, says Paul, finally — Paul could not be with this people for life; he had fought until he was near the end of his course, but he says. My dear Ephesians, the- church for which I have prayed and worked so hard, needs you as soldiers; put on the armor; fight; strike hard; press on to victory. The victory is coming, and it will come. Only a few more years, my friends, and this battle Avill be over, but remember, the hardest time of battle is just before the victory. You men who fought on that field at Gettysburg, don't you remember how you fought in the last moments, when at times you almost felt as if the flag must come down; but once more you struck and the victory came! And so it will be with us. Do not think because you are an old Christian that your temptations are over. The devil does not care how true you are to your cliurch, how true you are to the Bible, how true to your Sunday school, the first ten years, or the next ten years; he does not care if you are true to the last week; if the devil were sure that you and I would come over on his side the last day of our lives, he would say. Let's have a prayer meeting and call upon God today; anything, just so he gets the victory at last. Oh, I urge upon you aged fathers and mothers, don't think you are safe because father and mother were; don't think you are safe because you helped build a big church ;: TWENTY-FIKST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 763 ill never hear before. You have heard in the Word of God that when Christ coDies he will blow the trump. I suppose you thought He would come with a horn in His mouth. Every star shall be part of His trump; the whole universe shall roar and thunder and burn; then the Word of God will say, Now I will burn this earth and make it pure ; I will burn up all the dross of all the bodies; and the heavens shall roar and crack TWE!NTY-SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 848 and come together by the same mighty Word of God again until every heavenly body and the earth itself shall become a mansion of the Father's house. "In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so 1 would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and re- ceive you unto myself* that where I am, there ye may be also." The Apostl^f*W)ld us in last Sunday's lesson that we shall meet Him in the air. Where else shall we meet Him when the earth drops from under iis? Where else can we go but in the air, in the presence of God? And the Judgment is there. The Word will hold those on the right, and those on the left. The Word will say to those on the right. Come; and to those on the left. Go! Oh, the power of that W\ird that says. Go! Oh, the power of that Word that holds the earth this evening, reserving it for you and for me, to lives of purification and of light. This Word is now ready to burn in our own hearts. "Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversa- tion and godliness? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of Him in X3eace, without spot, and blameless.'' Oh, the harmony that must exist between the saved in heaven. This evening we are all rather spotted yet; we are all rather full of blame yet; we all lack a good deal of that peace yet; there is only one fire that can ever cleanse us to make us spotless ; that can bring into our hearts that peace; that can ever make us blameless, and that is the fire of the Holy Spirit, by whom the Word of God was given, and through whom the worlds are reserved. And therefore I would ask you this evening. How is it with 3^ou? Have you still got a grudge at your neighbor? You know which side you will be on when the Judgment Day comes if you do not repent. Are you living a life of un- cleanness, and not trying to live a better life? Are you still living in sin, adultery and all bad thoughts, and lust? If so, you know which side you will be on when the Judg- 844 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. merit Day comes, if you are not spotless. Are you living a life condemned by your own conscience? Does your own conscience prove to you every day that you are not trying to fight for the right? Keep watch, pray for the higher life; then you will know on what side you will be on that great day. Remember that the same fire that purifies the earth and the heavens and makes a heaven that is spotless, is the same fire in God's name that wishes to burn in your hearts and in your consciences this even- ing, and wants you to turn to Jesus Christ, your only Savior, and trust in Him fully, and fight the good fight of faith^ that you may receive the crown of eternal life. My dear friends, it seems to me that if you never have heard a sermon before and never should hear another one, you could not stand before God on the last great day and ssij, I did not know ; I had no opportunity of hearing the truth. Don't join the scoffers. You will have plenty of time, if you Avant to scoff, in hell ; don't do it here. Give your heart to God and serve Him right now. I cannot help but think that there must be many, many people sitting right before me this evening that are not really communicant members of the church yet; there may be some Avho have never been baptized yet. Now the chance is given next Friday evening to come into my class and there Jearn just exactly what it is to be a saved man, and then accept the Savior and be saved every hour and every day ; and it does seem to me that if you do not ac- cept this invitation you deserve to be lost. I cannot help but think it. God is calling you this evening and it may be this is the last call. Oh come, come, and pre- pare to meet your God. Prepare just as soon as you can. But you may not reach next Friday evening; this A^ery hour, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned. If you are not saved, be sure, before you walk out of this house tonight to say. My God and my Savior, here I am; accept me and I will serve Thee the best that I can ; and I will do all I can to obey Thy commandments and trust in Thee until I die. Help me for Jesus sake" Amen. TWENTY-SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 845 PRAYER. Dear Father in heaven, if this were the last sermon that I were to preach in the world, I would thank Thee for this, another opportunity of giving a last call to all to come to Thee and be saved. Oh, I do thank Thee this evening, my Father in heaven, for being a minister of the Gospel, one called to preach the Word that made the worlds, and is reserving this world until that day when the worlds on high and this one in conflagration shall become the new heaven and the new earth where we shall dwell forever with Thee. Oh, Father in heaven, there is no mistake about Thy plans ; Thy plans are good and right, and Thou art carrying them out every day; there is no slackness about Thee ; th,ere is nothing wrong with Thy watch ; a thousand years in Thy sight are as but a day, and a day as a thousand years. Oh, Father in heaven, help us not to forget that with us a day is not as a thou- sand years ; help us not to forget that with us this day may mean heaven and it may mean hell. Oh, Lord, do Thou help us to realize the value of time ; help us right now to give our souls to Him who taught us to pray: Our Father who art in heaven; Hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come ; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven ; Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for- give those who trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation; But deliver us from evil; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. TWENTY-SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Ten Truths God Wants You to Know Perfectly, 1 Thes. 5 :1-11. BUT of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety ; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye,. brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day : we are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others ; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night ; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Thy Word is truth. Amen. Beloved in Christ: What the immortal soul needs is truth. There is one truth that you can find in your hearts; at least sparks of it. I refer to the Ten Commandments. When God created man He planted the law in his heart, and if it had not been for sin coming into the world, that law would be there just as perfect today as it ever was written on the tables of stone or in the Bible. Truth is a mighty power; the soul cannot get away from it. I am the Lord Thy God; thou shalt have no other gods before Me, is a truth that must stand forever. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, is a second truth that 846 TWENTY-SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 847 must stand forever. Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy, is a truth that the world must recognize. You all know that it is right to honor father and mother ; you all know it is right not to kill ; you know it is a truth that we should not commit adultery; you know it is right that we should not steal; that we should not covet our neigh- bor's house; and you know it is a truth that we should not even covet those things that can be coaxed away from home, like servants or cattle, or anything else that might follow you. These Ten Commandments are truths which lie at the bottom and foundation of all Christianity, and therefore, the Word of God tells us that the law is a school- master to bring us unto Christ. In harmony with these ten truths of the Ten Com- mandments, our epistle, the last one for the Church Year, contains ten great truths we should know, and the apostle calls attention to the fact that Ave should know them per- fectly. ^^For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night." This church at Thessalonica was rather a young church, a con- gregation not organized very long, but they knew some tilings that some old cliurches today seem to have for- gotten, and it is my purpose this evening to speak as if this were my last address to immortal souls, and having reached tbe last sermon in this series of the church year, I want to be as honest with you as I would be with my own children, if I were to speak to them a last word from my dying bed. A man might possibly be dishonest in the days when he hopes to remain here a long time, but surely he could not be dishonest in his last hour; and so the old saying stands, that death makes men honest. These very scoffers that ridicule the church and the preacher are the ones that are groping for something immortal and would like to see the little preacher that lives around the corner just before they pass into eternity. And so I desire in this last sermon of this series, to speak as if this were my last address, and a\ hen a man speaks his last words from his dying bed to his children, he is not paying much attention to his rhetoric. I am not here this evening to give you flights of oratory ; I am here to give you some things that 848 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. you never can get away from, truths so perfectly known that they will follow you into all eternity. My theme is TEN TRUTHS GOD WANTS YOU TO KNOW PERFECTLY. I. The first is: The end of the world is coming. Some people seem to think that this world is here forever and ever. I would have you to understand that philos- ophy has never been able to tell where this world came from. God's Word has solved that problem. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, and that Word of God that brought the worlds , into existence, is the same Word that tells us that this earth shall pass away. Jesus Christ, whom all the world must admit to have been a great character, even though they deny His divinity, said : Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My Word shall not pass away. Now if He was a great character He told the truth. If He did not tell the truth. He was not a great character. If He told the truth. He is the Son of God. If He is the Son of God, He knows how this earth came and how it will pass away. Not only did Jesus Christ Himself tell us that the end of the earth is coming, but as we heard in this evening's lesson, the apostle Peter has so graphically described what would take place : But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat." In the last Book of the Bible, Rev. 21 :1, we have these remarkable words : "ilnd I saw a new heaven and a new earth : for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea." There is a truth that God wants you to know perfctly. The fires are already burning. No man can pass through the National Park of the United States without seeing the flames and the streams and the geysers throwing the rocks up into the air to tell you that the Word of God is true. I do not suppose the apostle Peter ever saw a geyser, or that he ever knew of the conditions of the earth as we know them today, but no man today with all his powers of writing and thinking and traveling can describe the TWENTY-SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 849 conditions of the earth better than the apostle Peter did. I say the fires are already burning and the day is coming, says philosophy now, as well as revelation, when this earth must pass aAvay. That you ought to know perfectly. II. You ought to know perfectly this great truth, that you do not know when the end is coming. There have been people in this world who have figured out the very month and to the very day, and sometimes almost to the hour, when the world Avas coming to an end. There have been foolish denominations who have even put on their clothing, ready to go to heaven. I do not know where they ever got such notions Avhen God's Word is so plain that no man shall know. Jesus Christ told us not only that no man shall know the day nor the hour, but that the angels in heaven do not knoAV, and not even the Son of man, in His state of humiliation. You will remember that when Jesus Christ was here on earth He was in two dif- ferent states — a state of humiliation, in which He did not make use of His divine knowledge. Now in that state, Jesus Christ Himself did not know when the end of the world Avould come. In His state of exaltation, of course He kncAv, but there is one great truth that God has re- served unto Himself. No man, no angel, not Christ Him- self in His state of humiliation knew the day when the end would come. We are told in this lesson tonight that He shall come like a thief in the night; He will come at the hour when no man expects it. There will be men in the saloons, drinking and drunk, the night when Christ shall come; there will be people on the dancing floor and in the ball room that night, scoffing at the Bible and at the Word of God ; there will be people all over this world that will say. When is the promise to be fulfilled, and where is the fulfillment, and just then, when no one is thinking about it, in that very hour when all will think, tomorrow we will do so and so, there will be a jar, and a thunder, and a cracking and burning, and a fire, and 'the world is passing to an end and no one knew it until that time. I want you to know perfectly that you never will know the day nor the hour when it is coming until it has come. 54 850 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. And I rather think it is a good thing that we do not know. If you knew that next year at such and such a time the world was coming to an end you wouldn't do another thing. That is one thing that God has kept to Himself. There would be others who would pretend to serve God, purely out of fear. God wants to be served with love. III. The next truth which God wants you to know perfectly, is this : That the end of your life is coming. All through the Scriptures you find that man's life and the end of the world are always compared with each other, and in every chapter where Jesus speaks of the end of the world, He also speaks of the end of life. "Be ye therefore ready, for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man cometh." Not only as far as the end of the world is concerned, but the end of your life is coming. Here is one truth that surely does not need very much elucidation. When I make the statement that the end of your life is coming, you know it. You know that all the generations before this i)ast century have died, and you do know that before another century has passed we all shall have fallen asleep. IV. Now then, knowing this great fact that we are here only for a very short time, it seems to me we ought to be wise, and there is another great truth that follows right after the foregoing, and that is, that just as we do not know when the end of the Avorld is coming, just so you do not know exactly how your end is coming, nor when. It is said sometimes that the Spiritualists know just exactly when a man is going to die. At a meeting in Bos- ton one time, a medium sat there and she said, "Tomorrow at four o'clock I will die," and sure enough at four o'clock the next dsij she did die, and the ncAvs was sent all over the world that the Spiritualists can foretell death just to the hour. Then some men who were rather inquisitive had a post mortem examination held and found that she had taken enough poison to kill three women, at four o'clock. In that way you can know pretty well when you are going to die, if you commit suicide ; but even then you may fail. God has kept that back from us to know just when. There are some people who are constantly telling TWENTY-SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 851 US, You will never see me again, because I am sickly and this will be our last visit together. Oh, I have visited some of these very sickly people for the last twenty years, and they are still living. An then we see once in a while some big, strong, young man that says, I will see you in ten years, and in ten minutes he is in eternity. Know this fact perfectly tonight, no difference what your disease may be, when death comes, it is coming as a surprise. This is even true in cases where we are looking for death every day. There are no fewer than twenty people right now lying upon their beds, whom I visit every week, and I feel certain that there are a few who will never again see their health, but I feel just as certain that though we see death coming on day by day, that when it does really come it will be a surprise to the family and to the one that passes into eternity. Know this perfectly. V. I would have you to know that you are lost until you are saved. A great many people do not know that. A great many people seem to think that as long as we are in this world we are not lost, that we never will be lost until that great Judgment Day comes, and then God will come with His club in one hand, take a man by the collar and say, Now you are damned. I would have you to understand, my friends, that God never will condemn any- body. If you will read the third chapter of John you will find that we are condemned already. Kead Paul's epistle to the Eomans, carefully, and you will find that the curse of God is on us until we are saved. Eead Christ's conver- sation with Nicodemus carefully, and you will find that every man on earth, no difference how small or how large, must be born again before he can see and before he can enter the kingdom of heaven. If you will read Paul's epistle correctly you will find that he says, we are by nature the children of wrath. If you will read the Scrip- tures carefully you will find that not a clean thing comes from an unclean thing. That which is born of fiesh is flesh. If the world today understood the Bible doctrine, the Lutheran doctrine, that man is lost by nature until he is saved, you would not find so many errors concerning baptism, and you would not find so many errors concern- 852 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. ing original sin; you would not find people putting off from day to day what ought to be done just as soon as our children are born. Jesus Christ assures us in His Word that He is the only One that was ever born without sin, and we all know from God's Word that no sin shall enter heaven. A little use of the brain, together with revela- tion, ought to convince any man that God is not going to soil heaven with a sinner. Therefore, I want you perfectly to know tonight that if you have not been saved you are lost; you are as much lost tonight as if you were in hell; the curse of God is as much on you right now as it ever can be until you are a saved man. Why, some one says, do you mean to say that God would curse a child? No. I say a child is cursed. God is here to save it. Nor do I say that God will damn a child, but I say before it can be saved God has got to save it. Jesus said, The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost, not that which is saved. Oh, that the world understood this great truth, that man is in a lost condition and will remain so until he is saved. VI. God would have you to know, in the sixth place, this truth perfectly, that it isn't God's will that you should remain lost. As I said awhile ago, some people picture God as if He were a great angry Judge that delighted in condemn- ing people. If I understand the Bible, and I believe I understand it a little, God, the Father in heaven, does not Avant anybody lost, or He surely would not have given up His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die for the sins of the world. If I Avere to meet a man living within a mile and a half of this city, and I were to go out and visit him and find him all alone, and say. Where is your family? and he AA^ere to tell me his aA' ife is lying out in yonder ceme- tery; and I would say. Where is your son; have you none? Yes, I had one fine young man and when the war came on, though he Avas under age, he volunteered to go, I said. My boy, you are the only son I have got but go, and fight for your country; and then he went, and he died on the battlefield, and out by the side of his mother's grave stands his tombstone, but his body was never found; if I were TWENTY-SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 853 then to stand up and say to you, That man is a rebel ; if I were to say to you, That man does not love his country, you would say. You are a liar; a man that gives up his only son to die for his country, loves his country; and I am here tonight to say to you as a messenger of God, and on the authority of His Word that shall stand though the heavens and the earth shall pass away, that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that who- soever believeth in Him shall not perish but have ever- lasting life. Then I think you will have to admit that God, the Father, does not want you to be lost. It is not the will of God, the Son, that you should be lost; for remember, my friends, that Jesus Christ had His life in His own hands. Eemember, that when He came He did not come against His own will. Eemember, it was He who said, I go to Jerusalem that I may die and the third day arise again from the dead. When they came to arrest Him, and with one word He spoke to them, and the soldiers all fell down as dead, it seems to me that any reasonable man should know that Jesus would not need to have been arrested. If He who stood by the grave of Lazarus and said. Come forth, and he arose, had said to all those who tried to nail Him to the cross on Calvary's hill, So far and no farther, you know they could not have crucified Him. But behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world, merely saying, Here is My almighty arm; I will show you that I am almighty now, not by what I do, but by what I do not do ; I will not use that arm to knock you down, but I will hold it still ; nail it fast; and here is the other hand; nail it fast; here are My feet; nail them fast; and here is My head; put on the crown of thorns; and here is My face; spit in it if you want to, and buffet Me if you like to ; here is My heart ; I will bare My breast to you; thrust the spear into it and make the blood and the water come forth, that all the physicians in the world may know that I am dead; hang Me for three hours in the sunlight, that the world may know that I am the Savior ; and then at noon the sun shall go down that the world may know that all nature and the works of My creation are in sympathy with Me, says 854 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. Christ. I will die willingly that you might not be lost. Do you mean to tell me that Jesus Christ, who died for you, is willing that you should be lost? And do you mean to tell me that the Holy Spirit, who has given us His Word, and today throughout the ministry and in the means of grace all over the w^orld is calling, and calling, and calling for you to come to Christ and be saved, is willing that you should be lost? Oh, know perfectly tonight, that if you ever are lost it is not by the consent of the Father, not by the consent of Jesus, not by the consent of the Holy Ghost. VII. I would have you know that God wants you to know that you are to be saved through Jesus Christ. "For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salva- tion by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Wherefore, comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do." God has appointed you — for what? Not for wrath, but that you might be saved through the Lord Jesus Christ. Where else will you find a Savior? Twelve years ago in the great city of Chicago, we had a meeting or par- liament of all the religions of the world; we had all the heathen religions represented there, but of all religions, there was only one that could say to a poor sinner, here is your Savior. With all the false religions in the world there is absolutely no answer to the question, How can a man be saved? outside of Christianity. Then, my dear friends, if the Jews have no Savior for you, do you want to worship with them? If the Unitarian does not know Christ as the God-man, are you going to worship with him? If any church in the world points you to your own morality for your hope and salvation, are you going to trust in that? The great trouble with so many people today is that they have heard so much about the Father- hood of God and the brotherhood of man ; they have heard so much of the false teaching that has been taught in organizations that have no Christ in them, that they begin to think that if they just walk so and so, and do so and so, then they are going to be saved because they are so good. TWENTY-SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 855 If one man on earth can be saved because he is so good, evevj other man can ; and if there is salvation for one man by being so good without Christ, there ought to be salva- tion for every man without Christ; and if any man on earth can be saved without Christ dying on Calvary, then I say that God Himself did the dumb thing when He let His Son die there for our sins. My friends, no difference if an angel from heaven came to proclaim any other Gos- pel than I preach to you tonight, I would say with the apostle Paul, let that angel be accursed. There is no other salvation outside of Jesus Christ; and I do not care if you had lived so good and holy all your life that you had only committed one sin, that one sin would damn you for- ever. But remember, you do not need to commit a sin to be damned; you are born damned. You are born lost. If that is not true this Bible isn't true ; and if that is not true then philosophy is not true. You cannot bring a clean thing out of an unclean thing. How can sinful parents give birth to a sinless child? Any one should know these truths, and so again I lay down deeply the foundation of truth, which I know you know perfectly, that God wants you saved through Jesus Christ. VIII. God wants you to know perfectly that until you are saved you are perfectly willing every moment to be eternally lost. If I were to go around in this house tonight and take one after the other by the hand and say. Are you now willing to be eternally lost? you would say, No, sir! I have never yet met that man in my life who said, I am willing right now to be eternally lost; and yet there are people by the hundreds and thousands who will tell you that they are not Christians; who will tell you that they have never taken instruction in God's Word to know how to be saved ; they will tell you they are not baptized ; they will tell you some time or other they hope to be saved. I want to bring you the truth now. I want you to know perfectly that right now, in this hour, if you are not will- ing to be saved now, you are now willing to be eternally lost, and you are willing to remain eternally lost until you are willing to be saved. The very fact that you are not 856 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. saved now is evidence that you wouldn't care if you were lost now; and the very fact that you want to try to fool your God is strong evidence that you are perfectly willing not to be prepared to meet Him; and just as long as you are willing to be unprepared^ you are willing to be lost; and just as soon as 'you are willing to be lost at all, you are Avilling to be eternally lost, for there is no other lost condition. Oh, that God would open your eyes tonight, that God would help you to see what you are willing to do. I Avant you to know perfectly tonight, and your own reasoning is too good to get away from it, that you are either saved now or you are willing to be saved or willing to be lost forever. You cannot get away from these truths. IX. I Avant you to know that God wants you to know that a lost life is a perfectly worthless life of dark- ness. ^'But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the chil- dren of light, and the children of the day; we are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love ; and for an helmet the hope of salvation." In other words, says the apostle, if we want to be Christians at all, let us be soldiers for Christ. Put on the helmet of salvation; put on the breastplate of faith and love; put on the whole armor of righteousness; take the sword of the Spirit in our hands ; let us go forth as men of God and let our light shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven. But, on the other hand, there is a life of darkness, a worthless life of darkness, and that is not worth living. Now I want to ask you this question : Suppose you are a father and you are not a Christian, what are you worth? What are you worth to yourself? Poor, lost hus- band in the family, what are you worth to your wife? What are you worth to your children? My friends, I say it tonight, and under the eye of God, if I had the choice to be born or not to be born, I would say if I were to be TWENTY-SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 857 begotten and born and live in a family with an ungodly father, I would say, blot me out of existence. I pity from the bottom of my li^art the children that have been brought into the world and are sitting at the table of an ungodly father. What are you worth? By every action of yours you say to your children, You might just as well be children of the devil as to be a Christian like mother. You are saying by your actions, What is the use to go to church? What is the use to learn God's Word? What is the use to love Christ? I don't. Oh, worthless father in the family, blotting out all the sunshine of hope that there is I What is the father worth in the home if he is an ungodly man? I say a man who is no Christian is un- godly, because ungodly means gottlos, to be lost from God. What is he worth to his neighbors? Oh, if we would stop and think how our neighbors are watching us. One good man in a neighborhood can transform a whole neigh- borhood; and one bad man in a neighborhood may trans- form that whole neighborhood. I can take you to a place not twenty miles aAva}^ from liere, where one bad man has ruined a Avhole neighborhood; and I can take you to a place in a city where one person going in the right spirit has transformed them all to children of light. What is an ungodly man in a neighborhood worth? A child of dark- ness. Why, I would hate to send my boy to work a day for an ungodly man; lie is not safe in his presence; for what a man is, he teaches, I care not who he is; a man that is an inlidel is going to teach infidelity wherever he can; a man that is a Christian is going to teach Christ wher- ever he can; a man that has got a bad character is going to try to make other people bad. What is a bad man in the hoiue worth? What is a bad woman in the home Avorth? What is a woman in the home worth if she is not a Christian? Oh, if you were to go into those countries today where there is no Christianity and see the slaves among the women, see how womanhood is crushed down, you would begin to thank God for a Christian land and for Christian churches. It does seem to me that the meanest person on earth to 858 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. ridicule religion and Christianity is woman, who has been lifted up only by the cross of Christ. What is a boy worth in any neighborhood if he does not want the light and the truth? What is the girl worth that is not a virtuous Christian? I want you all to know perfectly tonight that God knows that a lost life is a perfectly worthless life of darkness. X. And God also wants you to know perfectly that to be a true Christian is the greatest joy and privilege in the universe. We are told in these words to comfort one another Avith the great truth that the children of light are a glory in this world and a blessing. I make the statement this evening that to be a professed Chris- tian and a true Christian is one of the greatest blessings in all the universe. It has well been said by one poet that if an angel from heaven were to come down and find as sweeping the crossing of the street, we would not ex- change places with him; and so I say that to be a child of God, a follower of the Lamb, to be a faithful Christian, means to have a blessing that no angel ever had. When life is past and death is o'er and the resurrection has come and passed, and the Judgment is gone, and we are standing in the presence of our God, Oh, we will see soDiething in those marks in the Savior-s hands that no angel eter saw. The angels of God know that Christ was crucified; they know that He was in Bethlehem, and they sang songs of peace; they know He arose from the dead, and they rolled the stone away; but there Is no angel either in hell or heaven that knows what it means to be saved when you are lost, and to be redeemed, to be a child of God, to live a life of salvation among fallen men, to say a Avord that will lead somebody out of dark- ness into light, to lift up humanity, to hold up Christ and Him crucified to a dying, perishing world, to teach mothers the right way to live, to teach fathers how to be husbands and how to be fathers to their children, to lift up the homes of our country, to spread the glorious news of the truth to the world that God loves us; to lift humanity up from the fallen, degraded slums into which Satan has pushed them ; to stand up for right at any cost ; TWENTY-SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 859 to live though we die; to see through the grave; to look into eternity, fearless of death, fearless of anything that may come, because God is our life, and our hope, and our salvation. This is a privilege that no one else can get in all eternity, but those that are saved. Oh, if we all understood the joy of being a child of God, we wouldn't hunt uj) the silly notions of the world. I am sure there are young men in the world today that think if they were to come into the church of God and become Chris- tians, that then all their joy would be gone. Oh, poor blind souls! They have never even tasted joy. They do not know what it is. All the whirl of the dance and all the laughter of the world is nothing more than the bells of hell to drown conscience. That is not joy. Joy is to know that by the grace of God we have been saved. Joy is to have peace with God and peace with man. Joy means to know that we are in the right for time and forever. Joy means to have a clear conscience, washed clear by the blood of the Lamb. And I would invite you all, if these were my last words ever to be spoken, I would invite you all to study Luther's catechism until you have found the way plain and found your way to Christ; and then be faithful until death and receive the crown of eternal life; and if you will do that, you will spend the greater part of eternity thanking God that you were here tonight. Let us rise in prayer. PRAYER. O God, our heavenly Father, we thank Thee for the printing press which is able to make Thy Word spread from shore to shore ; we thank Thee for the gifted ones who are able to take down Thy message from Thy messenger and give it to the world. We thank Thee for a Providence which has spared our lives and has blessed our ministry throughout the past two years ; and we thank Thee for the privilege of proclaiming Thy truth to these immortal souls this evening. And now. Lord our God do Thou be with this message ; send it out that it may win souls for heaven, and do Thou help us to know perfectly the ten truths which we have heard, that we may ever walk in the path of right and ever shun the wrong. O Father in heaven, do Thou help us tonight to be touched with Thy mercy to us, and to become very merci- ful to others. Help us to realize that Thou hast not come into the world to appoint us unto wrath, but unto life eternal through Jesus Christ. 860 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. Help us to realize tonight, O God, that Thy love is so great that only by bleeding and dying couldst Thou manifest it to us as Thou wouldst have us understand it. And now we pray Thee that those who have heard this truth tonight may not only hold fast to it themselves but spread it among others ; yes, every one who has heard these truths spread them among the neighbors until many shall hear of Thee and of Thy glorious life and liberty which Thou art willing that we shall enjoy. Father in heaven, do Thou save us all. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ who taught us in that beautiful prayer to call for all things that we need for our bodies and for our souls : Our Father who art in heaven; Hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven; Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for- give those who trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation; But dehver us from evil; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power^ and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. ARE CHURCH SUPPERS RIGHT? Psalm 24:1. 'HE earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof; the world, and ' they that dwell therein. Sanctif}^ us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Thy Word is truth. Amen. Beloved in Christ: Congregations, the same as Glir-istian individuals, must be in the right if they expect to succeed. There is no such thing as success against the will of God. There is no such a thing as failure when we are in harmony with God's Avill. And this is just as true Avith regard to minor things as to the major. There is not a congregation in the State of Ohio, no difference to which denomination it belongs, in which there are not some people who are opposed to Avhat is generally known as church suppers; and I may be just as safe in saying that there are very few congregations in which there are not some people who want church suppers, and therefore it is a question in almost every individual congregation, is it right to have them? I have so often called attention to this fact be- fore, that A\']ierever there is a question that is always a question, there must be something back of it, or it wouldn't be a question. You never hear any one going up and down among the congregation asking whether it is right to sing a hymn; asking the question. Is it right to pray? Is it right to honor father and mother? There are questions that are settled, and settled forever. Those things that are questions usually have something about them that is not right, or there would be no question. Now it is not my purpose this evening to speak on this question having in mind this or that individual, or 861 862 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. this or that church, or even anything that I have ever said before this evening. I have little use for a man who simply thinks that what he said two years ago must stand whether it was right or wrong. I had hardly arrived at Mansfield until the question was put directly to me by prominent members of this church, Where do you stand on the church supper question? showing me plainly that it was a question long before I came here, and it has been a question ever since; and few have been the Sundays in which I have not been cornered somewhere to find out where I stood on such and such a point of this supper question, and I tried for a long time to evade the ques- tion for the reason that it was comparatively a new thing in my practical ministry. This is the first church I have ever served that had suppers. We never needed any in any of the congregations where I have been, and so I said to myself, I will Avait; I Avill see; I will go; I will eat with them, and I will examine these things from all sides, and whenever I come to a conclusion they will hear from me. Now I have very carefully, especially in the last few weeks, studied the Word of God prayerfully, with the disposition of mind to start with, that I do not know whether it is right or wrong, in order that I might not be prejudiced. I said to myself. If these things are right we all ought to know it; and if these things are wrong, we all ought to know it. Why should Christian people who are directed entirely by the Word of God, have dif- ferent opinions about things that must be settled some- where in the Bible? And so I have gone through the Bible from beginning to end, and will only be able to give you a very little result of the investigation. I intend to ask the question tonight, and answer it : ARE CHURCH SUPPERS RIGHT? But sometimes some questions can never be answered, because people have not laid the right foundation. For instance, I would never argue the question of whether it is right or wrong to belong to the Masons with a Jew; I would not argue that question with a man who simply ARE CHUKCfl SUPPERS RIGHT? 863 does not know what the doctrines of the Church are; I would not debate that question with any man who him- self has never been thoroughly catechized ; for the trouble with too many people is that they have not got a founda- tion that enables them to see what others see who have laid the foundations. The same is true with regard to the question of whether church suppers are right or not, there are certain foundations that must be examined first, and the very foundation of all church suppers lies in my text: '^The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.'' I. This world belongs to God. Could anybody deny that proposition? There are some people in this world who think that they own part of it; there are some people again who think that they own only a part of what they claim, and God owns the rest. How many professed Chris- tians are there in the world who do acknowledge the exact truth that they own nothing; that it all belongs to God? You can readily see that from these different foundations you would have different arguments. I claim, on the authority of my text, and on the authority of good reason, and on the authority of all Providence in history, that all the earth and the fulness thereof belong to God; and if that is true, it will help us to answer our question in the future. What makes me believe this? I believe it, because it is His by creation. You must remember that man was not the first being that was created in the world, but the last. If there ever was any gold created, it was created before there was a man. To whom did the gold belong before there was an Adam and Eve? To whom did those shores belong of those four rivers that started out from the Garden of Eden? To wliom did the gold belong on which shone the sun before there ever was a man to behold its brightness? I am sure that He who said. Let there be light, and there was light; He who said. Let there be a firmament, and there was a firmament; He who said. Let there be vegetation, and there was vegetation; He who said. Let there be a sun to rule the day and a moon to rule the night; that 864 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. same God created all things, and by the right of creation has a right to claim it. "The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein." Usually a man possesses what he owns until he wills it away. I hold before me tonight the Will of my God. Sometimes we call it the Old Testament and the New Testament. When you make your will you make your testament; and I look into this Testament and find out what God has done with His possessions, and I do not find anywhere that He has ever willed away one dollar of His gold or of His silver. 1 find, for instance, as I read this Book, the following items taken from His Will: Melchizedek said: "Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth.'' (Gen. 14:19). I read from Deut. 10:14: "Be- hold the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lord's thy God, the earth also, w^ith all that therein is." I read from my text: "The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof ; the world, and they that dwell therein." Haggai 2 :8 : "The silver is mine and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts." 1 Cor. 6 :19 : "Ye are not your own ; for ye are bought with a price." Now from these words we not only learn that God 'Claims the heavens and the earth as His, but we are His hj creation, and no man has a right to say, I own myself. And as I go back in this Will toward the end, and look at the codicil, if you might call it so, I find these words : (Kev. 22 :18-19) : "If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book : and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." If there is anything plain, it is this, that God claimed the heavens and the earth by creation. When making His will He said He never would give them up. They are His. Not only is it true that all these things belong to God by creation and His will, but it is just as true that they belong to Him by Providence. It is sometimes hard for us to conceive the oreat fact that in less than one ARE CHURCH SUPPERS RIGHT? 865 century every man on earth will be sleeping under the ground. No wonder that Xerxes of old wept when he saw his large army and remembered that in a very short time they would all be among the armies of the dead. If man could possess the world, why would he not keep it? If you can possess what is your own, why do you not hold fast to it forever and forever? But when John D. Kocke- feller or one of the Rothschilds die, they die just as empty handed as poor Lazarus at the gate of the rich man. I repeat it, my friends, if man owns the earth why doesn't he keep it? Providence is going to settle this question for every man, that the earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof. II. Now then, when we begin the argument from the greater to the smaller admission that all the world belongs to God, I am sure that you are compelled by the severest logic to admit the second fact which I now state, and that is : This temple belongs to God, — Its structure ; its doctrines; its support. The very structure of this church belongs to God. I would have you to understand that the first great taber- nacle was planned by God and not by man ; furthermore, that He planned it according to the great house which He built. The Apostle Paul tells us that at one time a cer- tain man, referring to himself, was lifted up to the third heaven. Now whether he meant the skies as the first heaven, and the sidereal heaven as the second, and the eternal home of the saints as the third; or whether he meant this earth that shall become the new heaven as the court, and the distance from here to the heaven above as the holy place, and heaven itself the Holy of Holies, I do not know^ ; but he divided the whole great universe into three departments. When God gave the command to build the tabernacle. He had it built the same way; and when the great church temple was built in Jerusalem, God laid the plan and told them just how it should be l)uilt. Now you will find that from the Garden of Eden down to the destruction of the temple at Jerusalem, God gave the command for all His altars and all His temples. The temple of God here on earth is a structure planned 55 866 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. by Him, whom some organizations please to call the great Architect of the universe. I would call your attention just for a moment to the service of the Lutheran Church in laying a corner stone and in dedicating the church. When the corner-stone of this church was laid, the following words were read by the officiating pastor: '^We do now lay this corner stone as a foundation of the First English Evangelical Lutheran Church, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. May true faith and piety and brotherly love ever dwell here, and may this place be dedicated to prayer and to the preaching of the Gospel and the ministry of the sacraments of our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with the Father and the Holy Ghost, true God, from everlasting to everlasting." I read this service for the purpose of stirring up the minds of some people who generally imagine that a church is only from the floor up to the ceiling. We have some people who imagine that just as soon as you get into the basement of the church, that that part was not dedicated to God. Now I want you to understand that you did not lay the cornerstone in the building ; you laid it in the foundation ; and when you laid that foundation, you dedicated the whole foundation, not only down to the ground, but down under the ground, to the Lord God in His service and His service only; and when that corner stone was laid, it was laid with the view that this shall be the foun- dation of a great house of God that is to be built, and when Jesus Christ w^as pleased to give Himself a beau- tiful name. He said that He was the Cornerstone, not the steeple; He was the Cornerstone in the basement, not a brick in the tower; and it does seem to me that this ought to help us to see really what a temple of God is. When we come to the dedicatory service the following prayer was offered ( Compare Ministerial Acts 131-132) : "Almighty and everlasting God, let Thy favor be upon this house which we have built for Thy glory, to be a memo- rial to Thy name, a dwelling place for Thine honor, and a house of prayer for Thy people. Accept it, O Lord, as Thine own, and vouchsafe unto us Thv holiness to the end ARE CHURCH SUPPERS RIGHT? 867 that our going in and coming out may be blessed from this time forth, even forevermore, through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen/' Now it does seem to me that that sets apart the temple of God as a building alone for His honor, for the administration of His holy sacra- ments, and for prayer. Not only is it true that the structure is God's, but I would call your attention to the fact that the doc- trines are God's. What are the doctrines of this church? You can find them in the little catechism of Luther; the Ten Commandments; the Apostles' Creed; the Lord's Prayer; Holy Baptism; the Office of the Keys, together with the Lord's Supper, as given in the Word of God, which is itself the Will of God, making known to us our Savior, through whom we can live as the best citizens in this world and become citizens on high. Now we hold to the inspiration of the Word of God from begin- ning to end; we hold to baptism for every soul that shall enter heaven, as God's plan; we hold that communicants should receive the Lord's Supper, and consequently that these doctrines are God's doctrines, and this church was not built for the promulgation of any error, or, as Peter declared in his second letter, of "damnable heresies;" this church of God was built for no other purpose than the proclamation of the law and the Gospel as recorded in the Inspired Word. Not only is it true that these doctrines are God's, l3ut it is also true that the support of the temple is God's. Now a great many people have false ideas about the sup- porting of a church. They seem to think that we support the church, when the fact is that God has always sup- ported His own church. If you would understand the text. The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof; the world and they that dwell therein, you surely would soon see the correct conclusion that God has made ar- rangements to support His church. How has He done it? If you will follow the story of the Bible carefully you will find that from the beginning of the world until the end of it. He arranged that the people should be- come stewards, and give a certain part of that which was 868 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. placed in their hands for the support of His temple; otherwise you would not understand at all what it meant when Cain and Abel offered sacrifices. Whoever told them to offer sacrifices? God must have done it. Now I have got one light on the difference between Cain's and Abel's sacrifices, during this investigation, that I never had before. I knew very well that Cain's sacrifice was not pleasing to God, and I always supposed the reason was because he brought fruit instead of a lamb, because a lamb, you know, is the only one of the two mentioned that has blood, and where there is no shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. I always supposed the reason that Cain's sacrifice was not acceptable to God was because he refused to bring something that had blood, and chose fruit instead. Now, that may be the reason yet, but I have discovered on very close investigation, that there was another reason. When you study what God said to Cain, when he began to hang his head, and feel displeased, and compare that with Heb. 11 A, where God, through the author of that epistle, says that Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice, you will discover that Cain was a church member that refused to bring the offering that God demanded of him. He was one of those men who, rather than bring a lamb, or bring a tenth of his income, virtually said: a little apple will do, and so he brought a little fruit, and said, God don't need what He wants ; but Abel brought what God wanted. The one sacrifice was pleasing; the other was not. Why? Because the one was willing to let God's Church be sup- ported as He had planned it and the other was not. When we come on down in history we find that there was a little war down at Sodom and Gomorrah, and Abraham started out and recaptured his nephew Lot, and brought back the spoil, and Melchizedek began to call out : "Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth." Then what did Abraham do? He said to the Iiigh priest, Here is the one-tenth of my in- come. Where did Abraham learn that? Surely he learned it from God. And right here let me call attention to the fact that there is not a heathen nation on earth that ARE CHURCH SUPPERS RIGHT? 869 does not sacrifice tlie one-tenth to some of their gods. Where did they learn it? It has come down from the very Garden of Eden to the human race. We find Jacob sleeping with his head upon a stone and in that night he sees a ladder reaching to heaven, and he hears the Father calling down to him, and in the morning he arises and says, Surely the Lord God is here, and he dedicated that little stone as the foun- dation of the future church; and he called the place Bethel, and said if the Lord would take care of him he would henceforth give Him the one-tenth of his income, and he did, and Laban prospered because Jacob gave the one-tenth, God took care of His temple. You can follow from that story on through the Old Testament, and you will find that the Jews of old never gave less than the one-tenth of their income to the Lord their God, as God's share of His own possessions. God provides for the temple. And when we come to the lesson which I read to- night, in the last book of the Old Testament, the ques- tion is: '^Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me. But ye say. Wherein have we robbed Thee? In tithes and offerings." You all know^ that a tithe means the one-tenth. God declared on the last page of His Old Testament Will that the people had robbed Him because they had not given the one-tenth of their income to the support of His temple; and then goes on to say: "Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed Me, even this whole nation.'^ The average Christian seems to think when he has a dollar in his pocket it is his own, to spend as he pleases, and does not remeniDer that the one-tenth of all his income is God's own provision for the support of His temple and the support of His work. We often look around in our orchards and fields and wonder why the blight has struck this tree and this vine; we wonder why the grasshoppers have destroyed these crox3S. My friends, we have the ansAver in God's Word : "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you 870 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. the windoAvs of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the. fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine east her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed." Does it pay you to keep that one-tenth in your pocket, when God goes and destroys your crops? Does it pay you to try to rob your God? I want you to understand that when God has got a one-tenth interest in your business He is not going to let it fail. If I wanted to go into business Avith any one tonight I would want to go in with a man I could depend on, and the reason some of us never succeed in this world is because we go into business without God. Take God into your business as a partner and that business cannot fail until God fails. Some one will say, That is Old Testament doctrine. Very well, let us see what the New Testament says. Matt. 23 :23 : "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye pay tithe (one-tenth) of mint and anise and cum- min, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith : these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone:' If that does not settle the tithe question in the New Testament, nothing can. Speaking of tithes Jesus Christ says to those old Pharisees, Your giving the tenth is all right, and you ought to do it, but do not leave these other things undone. Will you not all agree with me that in Old Testament times there was not the great demand for the support of the great Church of God that there is now ; when the whole civilized Christian land was a little Holy Land only 40 miles wide and about 150 miles long, and now the gates of all the heathen nations have been broken down, until the whole world is crying out, Come over and help us! are not the demands ten times, a thousand times, a million times, greater than they ever were be- fore? But in Old Testament times the Jews reached down into their pockets and never gave less than the one-tenth of their income, and they are doing it today yet, while Ave professed Christians instead of that are ARE CHURCH SUPPERS RIGHT? 871 reaching down into our pockets and trying to find a little copper with a hole in it, the smallest little thing we can find, to support the great temple of God, and then trying to establish methods God never did establish in order to carry on His work. This being true, that the world is God's, that the temple belongs to God, with all its structure, with its doctrines, and with its support, I now come to the ques- tion. Are church suppers right? And I am going to answer it according to the Scriptures and say. Some are not, and Some are right. 1. What are some of these church suppers that are not right? Some are as bad as idolatry. Where do I find that in God-s Word? Turn to I Cor. 11:18-22: "For first of all, vvlien ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's Supper. For in eating every one taketh before the other his own supper ; and one is hungry and another is drunken. What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to 3'ou? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not." Here we have an instance where the Corinthians instead of celebrating the Lord's Supper made a feast in the house of God, and Paul takes them to task. Compare this just one moment with Phil. 3 :18-19. Sometimes we are crit- icized for being a little plain. I was criticized a few weeks ago for saying a certain word over in St. Matthews church, and I just happened to get a word that Paul put into this letter to the Philippians: "For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weep- ing, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is their shame, who mind earthly things." If that is not idolatry I don't know what is, and the lowest idolatrv I think that can be found in all the world, 872 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. is the man that worships his stomach. Now we have got a little regard yet for a man that will get down in his ignorance and worship before a beautiful statue made of stone; we have some regard for the man that possibly will rise above the God that has ears and hears not, that has eyes and sees not, and worships his own children; or there are some who worship even their own intellect; now worshipping your own intellect is not nearly so low as to go right into the center of your body and hunt out something that has neither bone nor blood, and just stuff it with anything you can find for a quarter and say, This is my little god. There are, I say, suppers in this world that are as bad as idolatr}^ And am I wrong? I could mention you the names of at least twelve people — there may be hundreds of them — whom I have seen come to our suppers time and again, and sit down there and eat, and eat, and eat, and go home, and never think of step- ping up here to the service. If those people are not stomach worshippers, I know no other name for them, and I say that such suppers are Avorse than any form of idolatry I have ever found. There are some kinds that are as bad as a gambling den. Let us compare Word of God with Word of God. John 2 :13-16 : Eemember that this is but the beginning of Christ's ministry. "And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting; and when He had made a scourge of small cords. He drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; and said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence ; make not My Father's house a house of merchandise." This, you remember, was the beginning of Christ's ministry. The reason He gives that He drove them out was because the church of God was not a business house, nor a mer- chant house. I hear some people say. Why, don't you sell hymn-books; don't you sell devotional books in the church? Yes. And I want to tell you just how much we have made out of the whole business. I am just ARE CHURCH SUPPERS RIGHT? 873 exactly four hundred dollars poorer today than when I came to Mansfield; that is the merchandise part of my business. Would you like to do that kind of business? There is no merchandise business done by the pastor of this church; he has lost more money in books than he ever got. I claim that we must distinguish now between things that must be done for the glory of God and simply carrying on a hotel for the purpose of making money. This was the beginning of Christ's ministry; let us go to the close of His ministry. Matt. 21 :12,13. "And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats of them that sold doves, and said unto them. It is written. My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple and He healed them." I just w^ant you to notice one thing, in the beginning of Christ's ministry they just did business; in three year's time they were carrying on a gambling den, making the house of prayer a house of thieves. Now, my friends, I do not want you to draw the conclusion that that has ever been done in this church. I do not believe I have ever seen anything in the gambling line in this church, but we do know that many things have been done in the churches in this country that would not stand the test in any court of common pleas. When a few w^eeks ago the ministerial association of Columbus went to Mayor Jeffries and said, "We beg of you to stop raffling for turkeys on Thanksgiving Day," the honorable Mayor said, "Just as soon as you preachers stop the gambling in your churches I will stop it down in the saloons." I can imagine I see those preachers coughing behind their hands and saying. We didn't think about that. I have heard about a sweet cake that wasn't worth fifty cents sold for fifteen dollars; I have heard about a quilt you w^ouldn't have on your bed sold for twenty-five dollars, by churches ; and then w^e think we are doing God's work. T tell you, my dear friends, if the church of God is ever 874 THE ETERNAI. EPISTLE. to wield the influence it must wield for the good of this world, it has got to stop gambling. Some are worse than a poor house. I refer you again to Malaehi 3 :8 : "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have rob- bed Me.'' If I were to come to your house this week and begin to beg for John D. Kockefeller, you would think I was crazy, and yet we have learned tonight from our text that the earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof. The temple is God's; the gold is God's; the silver is God's; and then we go out into the world and ask every Tom, Dick and Harry to come to the church supper and help support this poor God of ours. I do not believe that God ever blessed a single dollar that came from any man that did not love Him, and I do not believe He wants any churches to prosper, to get their funds from the chil- dren of the devil. I do not believe that our God has gotten so poor yet that we have got to beg for Him. When we once learn God's eternal truth that the earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof, we will be willing to hand back to Him what He needs for the upbuilding of His kingdom; and I am satisfied that if we would study this text of mine thoroughly and prayerfully, we would get rid of our miserly hearts, and of our stinginess and of our prodigality. A man walks down street and says, I don't believe in giving to that begging church, but will reach into his pocket and spend ten dollars of God's money in a saloon. He has no right to do it. It is God's gold. You are responsible for every dollar that God has placed in your hands, and when He calls for a worthy cause He is calling for His own. We can read the old poem, "Over the hills to the poorhouse," with tears rolling down over our faces, and then we can go and laugh and have a jolly time begging for the people to come in and eat soup for God's sake. There you have the picture of the human race, the man that is constantly needing to be directed by the Word of the eternal God. Some are worse than a theater. I am speaking now of those suppers that are to be condemned. Some are actually worse than a theater. Out in Indiana when the young people wanted to get an altar for the church, what ARE CHURCH SUPPERS RIGHT? 875 did they do? They got up an entertainment at the opera house, blackened their faces, and acted as minstrels, to get an altar to celebrate the Lord's Supper. Think of it I If I want to go to a show I will go to a theater. I never saw a church yet that could give as good a show as a theater. I am not speaking about instructive lessons. If you will go and hear Mrs. Monroe give "Cromwell,'' or "Luther," you Avill learn something that you cannot get anywhere else; but whenever we find suppers that are gotten up simply for the sake of having a whole lot of fun in order to help our poor God along, I say they are worse than any theater. Just think of professed Christians having tea meetings, bazaars, concerts, kiss- ing parties, voting lotteries, dumb socials, neck-tie parties, and all sorts of schemes to raise money for our poor God, and then hypocritically singing in church the next Sunday: "Were the whole realm of nature mine, That were a tribute far too small ; Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all." The miserable hypocrites ! Those suppers are not right and every sensible man knows they are not right. Some suppers lead to irreverence in God's house. That should be condemned by every true Christian. If I were to lead a stranger, blind-folded, into my study, during any service, I am sure he would not know from the noise in the vestibule that this is the house of God. In a church where there are no entertainments for pleas- ure and no church suppers, you will find that the people reverence that house as God's house, but when people are allowed to act as in a theater in the basement, you may expect them to act the same in the auditorium. The result is that this house has not had the reverence it should have had by many people. Yet we thank God for the wonderful improvement. 2. Are any church suppers right? I am sure that Supper was right up in yonder little room when Jesus Christ said in the night in Avhich He 876 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. was betrayed, ^'Take eat, this is My body which was given for you. This do in remembrance of Me. Take, drink, this is My blood which was shed for you and for many for the remission of sins. This do as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of Me." No question ever arose in all the world, my friends, whether it is right to have the Lord's Holy Supper or not. That is right. The Lord's beneficent supper is all right. If you will read Matt. 12:4 and compare that with I Sam. 21:6, you will find that there are sometimes occasions w^hen we can eat a supper in a church that is all right. They criticized the Lord Jesus on that occasion. Why, He said, did you never hear the story of David, how he went to Ahimelech, and even went into the holy place and begged fori five loaves of bread off of that table that he might eat, and he ate it Avith God's blessings? Have you not heard time and again how the Lord Jesus Christ fed the four thousand and the ^Ye thousand ; and do we not know that wherever we are assembled with the Lord Jesus Christ there is the church? Have you not read how even after the morning of Christ's resurrection, walking along the sea shore He stopped and fried a little fish and called for His disciples to come and eat with Him. There are beneficent suppers that the church of God can give with His blessing. In Philadelphia and in New York there are churches that have established missions where they feed the poor hungry tramp, and give him a good meal, and then invite him back into the chapel to hear God's Word. No man on earth ever asked the question, Is that right? It is right. And I am inclined to think that if the First Lutheran Church of Mansfield, Ohio, would go and establish a supper place in God's name and say, Now here, you poor drunken sot, instead of going to the saloon come here and get a bite to eat and a cup of coffee for a cent, we would have more prosperity in our spiritual matters. Those are beneficent suppers and they are right, but they are not gotten up for the purpose of making money. And then there is one other kind of supper in the church of God that is right, and that is the Lord's social ARE CHURCH SUPPERS RIGHT? 877 supper. How often the Lord Jesus Christ went up to Mary, and Martha, and Lazarus, and ate with them. Any question about that? That was a social supper. And do you remember how He went into the house of Simon the leper just a few days before His crucifixion and ate there with His friends? There is one thing we do not know about that supper; Ave do not know Avhat the menu Avas; we don't know whether they had bread or not; we don't know whether they had more than one article. Just before the Lord's supper when Judas was to hetraj Christ AA^e would gather the inference there was only one dish on the table, a A^ery simple little supper, but one thing that we knoAA^ Up at the house of Simon the leper, while we do not knoAA^ AA^hat the bill of fare AA^as, Ave do knoAV Avhat the collection Avas. Mary came in and anointed the SaAdor Avith ointment that cost her three hundred pence, and in those days a day's labor, according to the parable, was a pence, and three hundred pence meant for her three hundred days of earning, and, counting the Sabbath out, she gave just about the Avages of one year's work to the Lord Jesus there in that little supper. That was a free will offering, and that Avas right. And I would call your attention to the fact that when the Lord Jesus Christ arose from the dead, and they were trying to find Him and could not, two men were walking the distance of scA^en miles up to Emmaus, and all at once they find a third man at their side, and they were talking about that wonderful transaction up at Jerusalem, AA^hen this Stranger began to talk to them and they felt a burning about their hearts, they felt the Divine presence, and as they came to the doorway, and night was coming on, they said. Come in and abide with us; He went and they sat down to supper Avhere there was some bread, and He began to bless that bread, when Lo, and behold! they saw that the hands that were bless- ing the bread had holes in them, and they discovered it was Jesus. — Jesus, at a social supper, and Oh, what a blessing! And all at once He is not there, and those tAvo tired traA^elers Avent back all the wav those seven miles 878 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. to Jerusalem, and said, Did not our hearts burn within us while we were talking with Him by the way? and a few moments more and Jesus was back there in the midst of His disciples saying. Peace be unto you. He had had a beautiful supper that night. That was the church, where Jesus and those two young men were gathered to- gether. Now, what shall I say tonight in conclusion? I thank my God that on next Wednesday evening the Earnest Workers of this church have resolved to try what I call God's plan; they are going to have a good social where we can come together and shake hands and get acquainted, and I believe they intend to give a little something to eat, but I do not care whether they do or not, and if I knew^ that any of you were coming there only to eat, I would say, stay at home and worship your stomach at home; but if there are those here who would love to come to learn to know each other, and love to take part in singing a hymn of praise to God, who love to listen to a prayer or two, and who love to bring a gift — a free will gift, and expect nothing for it — that is God's plan. That is right and everybody knows it. Amen. PRAYER. O God, our heavenly Father, we ask Thy divine blessing to rest upon all the organizations of this great church of Thine. We pray Thee, O Father in heaven, to give wisdom from on high, not only to the present pastor of this church, but to every pastor who shall ever be called here. O Lord our God, do Thou help that every soul in this house may be thoroughly convinced of the truth of Thy Word and its position on this great question. We pray Thee, our Father in heaven, that Thou wilt give a special blessing to the Missionary Society, to the Earnest Workers Society, to the Sunday School and to the Home De- partment, and to all the young people in their work, and to every de- partment that is trying to extend Thy kingdom here on earth. And now we pray Thee that Thou wilt put it into the hearts of all these people to bring a free will offering even as the people did in the days of Moses when they built the tabernacle, until Moses had to say, Stop bringing; you are bringing too much. O Father in heaven, these dear women have been working hard all the days of their lives, and espe- cially in this church, for the upbuilding of this Thy temple, and now we pray Thee, O God. that Thou wilt bless them on Wednesday evening when they come together for the purpose of carrying out Thy design ARE CHURCH SUPPERS RIGHT? 879 and Thy holy will. O Father in heaven, do Thou continue to show us the right in every question that may come up, and so lead us that there can be no question at all about those things that we are about to do. O give Thy blessing to those that shall receive this message outside of this house of God, and to the hand that has made it possible. We ask this in Jesus' name, who taught us to pray: Our Father who art in heaven ; Hallowed be Thy name ; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven; Give us this day our daily bread ; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for- give those who trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation; But deliver us from evil ; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. Note. Since this sermon has been preached the suppers have all been banished from this church by the ladies themselves and the congrega- tion has never prospered more in every way than the last year. S. P. Long, Pastor. THE GREATEST REFORMATION. Acts 16:9, 10. HND a vision appeared to Paul in the night. There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed unto him, saying, Come over into Mace- donia and help us. And after he had seen the vision, immedi- ately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the Gospel unto them. Sanctify us, O Lord, through Thy truth : Thy Word is truth. Amen. Beloved in Christ: As long as the world stands it will be necessary to have reformations. Sin has come into the world, has made man, created holy and in the image of God, an enemy; and even now, since we have become Christians, we are still dwelling in the body, and it is still natural for even Christians to be weak, and go along blind to their highest duty. So I repeat it, as long as the world stands, there will be great necessity for reformation. There have been great reformations all along the line of history. It was a great reformation when the Lord God taught the first parents to offer sacrifice. It was a great reformation in the days of Noah, when for one hundred and twenty years that man of God warned the people and told them to repent. And at last their sins and stub- bornness were answered with the great deluge. It was a great reformation in the days of Hezekiah, when the people were worshipping the very brazen serpent that Moses had placed up to heal those that were bitten by serpents, when he broke down the false gods and estab- lished the true religion. It was a great reformation in the days of Ahab, when Elijah after spending three years and more with God all alone, came up to the top of Mount 880 THE GKEATEST REFORMATION. 881 Carmel, aud in the presence of four hundred and fifty false prophets of one order, and four hundred of an- other, there called fire down from heaven and established the true religion of God. It was a great reformation in the days of Christ, when John the Baptist's voice was heard along the hills of Judea, and down at the Jordan, when he told those supposed-to-be leaders of the Church of God that they were vipers, and should return to the true and living God. That was a great reformation in the days of the apostle Paul Avhen he was called over into Europe by the voice that said : Come over into Macedonia and help us ! It was a great reformation in the days of Dr. Martin Luther, Avhen lie nailed tlie ninety-five theses on the door of "The Cliurch of All Saints'' at Wittenberg. Next Wednesday it will have been three hundred and eighty - nine years since the sound of that hammer was heard. And he drove the nails in well that held those theses, that have given liberty and freedom to the nations of the earth. But, my friends, let us not for a moment imagine that the reformations are all past. As the years are becoming more and more progressive toward the end, it is becoming more and more necessary that the Church , of God waken up and reform the world. I call your attention this morning, not to the "Great Eeformation" as we heard from the mouth of another last Sunday, but to THE GREATEST REFORMATION. May the Holy Spirit enlighten our hearts and minds to-day to enjoy the blessings of God's Word, and the power of the Holy Spirit Himself. You Avill please notice I. The curse it feels. II. The course it follows. I. The Greatest Reformation, of which I speak this evening, feels the curse: 1. Of no religion. Let us not forget that Satan is still in our midst, and if he can possibly make people be- lieve that they need no religion whatever, he has gained his first victory ; and as Ave look around us in the present *56 882 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. day we are compelled to admit that the most of the people have no religion whatever. We have been told by his- torians that there never was and never will be a nation on earth that has no religion, and I suppose, as far as a nation is concerned, this is true, but there are people in every nation that have no religion. When a man lives according to the cry and voice of his own lust; when a man has no care whatever whether his family are Chris- tians or not; when a man does not look into the Bible from one end of the week to the other; when a man has no family altar in his home; when a man does not care whether his children are baptized or not; when a man never goes to the Lord's Supper; when a man has all his money to spend for the devil and the world and noth- ing for the Church of God; when a man scoffs at every- thing that is good and holy, and lives like an ox, eats like an ox and sleeps like an ox, and dies like an ox, pray tell me, where is his religion? In this enlightened age, when the printing press is sending forth its message day and night, there is no excuse for any man not to have religion; and consequently, if there ever was a time in the world when we ought to feel the awful curse of no religion, it is now. 2. But even Satan with all his power, cannot per- suade some Satanic people that they should have no re- ligion. When, therefore, a man stops and thinks just a few moments, and begins to say. Where there is a thing made there is a Maker, and where there is a creature there is a Creator, and I am made a little different than the lower animals ; I am not an ox ; I am not an irrational animal* I must worship something; then Satan comes to him and saj^s. You are right. You are right. You ought to worship something; but, notice well, if you want to be a happy man in this world, you have got to be a man of perfect freedom; if you want to follow the voice of lust you want to follow it ; if you feel like getting drunk, you want to get drunk; if you want to cheat and get along better, then cheat. Now, I will make a sug- gestion to you. You ought to have a god, but be sure that you have got a god that has no eyes to see and no THE GREATEST REFORMATION. 883 ears to hear, and no mind to think, and take those gods and set them up in your home on the mantle, and if they are made of gold, put them in the bank and lock them up, and then when you leave home, and leave your bank account, you can go out into the world and live the same damnable life that you lived before, and your gods don't hear it, your gods don't see it, and you can live right on in this world. This world to-daj^ is crowded with hundreds and thousands of men and women who do not want to live right, and who are obeying the voice of Satan, too religious for no religion, but give us an un- known god — Idolatr}^ 3. But some men are entirely too bright and too conscientious to worship a god with no eyes to see and no ears to hear and no mind to think, so they say, We want to belong to church ; we want the Bible in our homes, and we want to be classified as Christians. If the devil knows he cannot get those ideas out of their heads, he will say : You are right. You are right. But I Avill tell you what you must not forget. You must not forget that you have got a head of your own; and you must not forget that anything that is contrary to your reason is wrong, and anything that is above your reason can- not be right. And so he tells a half truth — the most dangerous truth in the world — and the falsehood of the devil in this lies in these words, that whatever is above your reason cannot be true. Then he sa^^s to this one: Now, go and read this Bible, and hear it. It tells you that God made light with His Word. That is above your reason; that cannot be truth. It tells you that a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call His name Emmanuel. That is above reason; that cannot be truth. Here and there you read that those that were dead were raised from their graves. That is above reason; that cannot be true. Here it teaches you that there is only one God, and yet there are three persons; the Father is God, and the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God; three persons, only one God; each person God. That is above reason. That cannot be true. And thus he goes on. Here vou will find a certain verse in the Bible that must 884 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. be God's Word, but here are others that cannot be. And the first thing you know, he has got a certain class of professed Christians in the world that will not accept a truth here, and a truth there entirely. When those same people come to Satan and say. Which Word is true? he says, I will tell you that in your dying hour. Do not accept the whole Bible. And then in his dying hour, when that man feels the weight of his sins, and feels the curse of God resting on him, he finally tries to find his comfort in these words which he knows must be true : "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin'- and then the devil whispers in his ear in the last moment. That is one of the verses that is not God's Word. That is above reason; that is not true. And without any faith in God, that man leaps into eternity, — ^lost forever! He had a religion; he belonged to church; but he is one of the thousands that are clinging to false doctrines. And in this age of enlightenment, in this age 'Of intelligence, there is no reason for am^ man not know- ing what God's Word does teach concerning Holy Bap- tism, concerning the Lord's Supper, concerning the Office of the Keys, and all the vital, saving doctrines of the Word. And if there ever was a time when there was a need — a great need — of the greatest reformation, it is now. 4. Not only is it true that some people will cling to false doctrines, but it is also true that many people want to be in a worldly church. What made the Church of Kome so corrupt? It was the fact that they did not cling to the truth which Paul taught them when he went over to Macedonia. Paul was the first missionary that entered Europe. The first woman that was converted opened the door for the Gospel to enter that great country, and finally to us. In those days they all knew the truth -concerning justification by faith. They heard from the apostle Paul the great Lutheran doctrine, and the great apostolic doctrine of the Lord's Supper. They heard in those days the wonderful doctrine from Paul, of regenera- tion by water and the Spirit. They heard in those days the truth concerning all the vital doctrines of the Church THE GREATEST REFORMATION. 885 of God. But in those days the Church of God grew worldly. The Church of God said: We have got to win the powers of Egypt and Europe. If we give in a little on this point, and a little on that point, we shall soon have the whole world in the church. And then, when they laid the foundation for St. Peter's, and they could not raise enough money, it was suggested that they should sell the forgiveness of sins to people. Oh, the world said, That is what we want. I am willing to pay for it if I can sin. I am willing to pay big sums if I can have for- giveness and peace of conscience. And then they sent out Mr. Tetzel to sell forgiveness of sins to the people — so many sins for a goose; so many sins for a duck; so many sins for a pound of butter; so many sins for a dollar; and if people have died in their sins pray them out of purgatory for so many dollars ; bringing in Paganism and uniting it with the Church, and instead of the Church reforming the world, the world deformed the Church. And in the days of Luther few found peace in justi- fication ; few had the Bible ; the Word of God was in the dark, hidden away, tied with chains; in those days no man had books or magazines to read; men were con- sidered powerful for the church if kept in ignorance and darkness; no public schools. Then priests began to take the Pagan religion and mixed it with the Christian re- ligion until the Church of God was lost in darkness. Oh, my dear friends, we are, to a certain extent, feeling the curse to-day of the worldly church. I will refer you in a few moments to what Dr. Luther did to bring the church out in her purity in those great days of God in the six- teenth century. But let us beware that we do not bring^ the church back to the world again. A great man has recently said that today the church is worldly, and the world is churchly. That is just ex- actly what happened in the Middle Ages. There are few people today in the church that want to be downright Christians. • There are few people today in the church of God that are setting an example that helps me, and you parents to raise your children rightly. When our boys go into dark hell-holes of saloons they find church mem- 886 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. bers at the bar. When our girls sneak up to Hawkins' dancing hall, they find good church members sitting around there, with their daughters on the dancing floor. I am here to make the statement this evening, and I need not recall it, that there is not a work so low, or so mean, or so damnable, in the city of Mansfield, that you cannot find some church members to defend it. If there ever was a time, with all the enlightenment of the present century, that we needed the greatest reformation, it is now. I will tell you right here that if the professed Christians of my church were all consistent, we would move Mansfield. But just as long as you try to be one thing on Sunday, and something else through the week; just as long as you will stand in the prayer meeting one evening, and on the danc- ing floor the next; just as long as you are as worldly as the most worldly man can be, you are making the world churchly, and the church Avorldly, and somebody ought to feel the awful curse. 5. There is another thing that we should feel in the present day, if we want the greatest reformation, and that is the inactivity of the Christian. If Adam were living in the world today, he would have learned more of the material progress of this world in the last seventy-five years, than he learned in all the balance of his life. On the 31st day of October, 1517, when Dr. Luther nailed the ninety-five theses on the door of the Wittenberg church, the printing press and the discovery of paper made of rags, were all in the hands of God to be discovered at the same time, to unite, for the great freedom and the great liberty which you today enjoy. On that morning, three hundred and eighty-nine years ago, there was no steam railroad ; no telegraph wire ; no telephone message ; no electric light. Those tuere the end of the great Middle Ages, the beginning of the great era of progress; and as the world is moving on in time, the material progress is increasing — and what about the church? The Church of God is not keeping pace. The Church of God is not try- ing to make the progress that the material world is, and consequently we are feeling today the curse of an inactiv- ity on the part of those who still hold to the true faith. THE GREATEST REFORMATION. 887 It does seem to me that if these things are true which we confess in the Apostles' Creed, then every Christian ought to live, and give, and pray, for the salvation of the world. How the Christian Church of today can hold its billions of God's gold and refuse to send the young men, who are ready to say, Here am I ; send me, as Paul went to Mace- donia — I say, how all these men can hold back their gold and profess to love God, is something that I cannot understand. Let the Christian Church of today waken up. Let her feel her responsibility for the salvation of every lost man, woman, and child. This, my friends, is the curse that the greatest reformation feels. II. Now let us notice the course it follows : Every reformation began with the Word of God. In the days of Noah it was the message of God that sent him out to de- clare that He would have patience for one hundred and twenty years yet. In the days of Elijah it was the Word of God that had to settle the matter on Mount Carmel. In the days of John the Baptist it was the Word of God that he proclaimed along the Jordan. In the days of the apos- tle Paul it was the voice of God that said. Come over into Macedonia and help us. In the days of Dr. Luther it was the Word of God that started the Eeformation. In those days all that the people knew of the Word of God Avas what you find indicated in your hymn-book — the Gospel and Epistolary lessons for the church year. Luther at the age of eighteen, straying through the library at Erfurt, never dreamed there was such a thing as a Bible, and when he found the chain and followed it to the old Book, and pulled it down, and saw written on it, "Biblia Sacra," he had no idea there was anything within those lids except these Gospel lessons and the epistolary lessons. When he opened that Book, had it opened at a page Avhere a Gospel lesson was found, he might have closed it up and never read it, and there would be no Reformation yet. It was not an accident, it was the finger of God, that opened that Book at the story of Hannah and her little boy, Samuel, and the young student of Erfurt never knew that there was such a thing in the Bible, and his curiosity was aroused; he laid the Book down, and by the candle light 888 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. read it day and night, and lie came to the great truth : The just shall liye by his faith ! A new light dawned upon his soul. He compared the teaching of that Biblia Sacra — the Holy Bible — with the teachings of Kome, and he said, If this be true, the teachings of Eome are false. And yet he wanted peace. He was an honest young man. He sought for the truth. It is hard to get rid of what you learn when you are a little child. And so, in order to set- tle the question, he went down to Kome. He was told that if he would take excursions, and climb up the stair- way of Pilate on his knees, he would get the forgiveness of sins ; and Avhile climbing up that stairway on his knees, there flashed into his mind that verse of the Bible: The just shall liA^e by his faith! And he said, This is non- sense. I don't get forgiveness of sins by climbing around on my knees, nor by my own good works. I will go home, and I will shake Kome! There was kindled in his heart that day the certain truth of not only the Lutheran Church, but of every Protestant Church that shall stand. For any church that is not in the clear on the doctrine of justification by faith, can never stand. And so he said, I am going to teach God's Word. Kome says that we shall worship the saints, but I found in the Bible, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." Kome said. The common people are not to have the Bible ; but the Word of God says : '^ Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of Me." And so, the first opportunity he had, he made the old Greek and Hebrew Bible talk Ger- man, and those German leaves, like angels' wings, flew all over Europe, and the people read the Word of God. Kome taught that the laymen did not need the blood in the Lord's Supper; but Luther found that the Bible said: "Drink ye all of it." Kome says that we are saved by our ow^n good works, and by our crusades, and by our owm efforts, but the Bible says : "Wherefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the law." And so the great Keformation of the sixteenth century was begun with the Word of God as the only rule and form for salvation. THE GREATEST REFORMATION. 889 And SO it has got to be in the greatest Reformation. We have got to get away from our public libraries, ninety per cent, of which is not fit to read; away from our Sun- day newspapers; away from much of the trash that is lying around in our homes, and put the Bible forward again, and the good Word of God, and the catechism; drill your children in the fundamental truths of God's Word, if you ever want to have the right kind of a refor- mation. 2. Then I would call your attention to this, that the course of this greatest reformation is to waken up a man. Whenever God wanted to do any great work, He always began with one man. He began that wonderful reforma- tion of the flood, with Noah. He began to convert the people of the old country in the days of Elijah, by waking up one man. He began the great era of Christ on earth, in His ministry, by waking up John the Baptist. He began the great Reformation of the sixteenth century by going down to a miner's son, a boy that sang on the streets for bread, and woke him up to see the truth. And thus the great reformation, and the greatest reformations are based on the same foundation, the Word of God, dis- covered by a man. 3. The third step in this course is the wakening up friends for the man. Noah was not alone. His three sons stood by him. Elijah thought he was all alone, but God said to him, Elijah, there are seven thousand in Israel that have never bent their knees before Baal. John the Baptist is not alone. Christ calls His disciples; wakens up a Paul, who is to open the door through Macedonia to Europe. Dr. Luther was not alone. Kings on their thrones. Emperors, Electors, Dukes, well bred men, suf- fering Europe, all cried in their misery : O God, send us a man to help us out of this bondage ! And it was not long until these mighty men of the church and state said, Lu- ther, we will stand by you. Go on ! And thus it will be in the greatest reformation. Com- bining the great men of the past with the great men of the future, God will raise up men. As in politics, so in the church. The Christian people all over this land are 890 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. feeling the necessity of fearless men of God who will tell us the truth. I tell you, my friends, that churches as a rule are to be pitied for the pulpit cowards that we have in the present day. There is a strong cry in the heart of every man, no difference if his head and his tongue rebel against it — I must have the truth ! We need not fear the rattling tongues of men. We need not fear the minds that are controlled by lust. The appeal in the greatest refor- mation must be made to conscience and to the best thoughts of the heart. 4. You will notice, furthermore, that this greatest reformation in its course goes westward. Bishop Berkley sang long ago : "Westward the course of empire takes its way — The first four acts already past; A fifth shall close the drama with the day. Time's noblest offspring is the last." The first four acts of the world's history are past. We are living in the last great act, and the last great act will bring about the conclusion of the greatest refor- mation. Progress has always been, according to God's own order, from east to west. It is true a Daniel went east, but he went there a captive and told the story of the Star of Jacob. The people took the treasure, held to it, and when Christ was born in Bethlehem, the wise men from the east went west, and found Christ. The Lord God called Paul to be a missionary to the heathen. He called him from Troas to Macedonia. Paul, go west! When Horace Greeley said, "Young man, go west,'' he was speak- ing in perfect harmony with Providence. Why is it that western nations are always a greater power than those of the east? What were our fathers and mothers? They were the brawn and brain of Europe; they said. We are ready to leave home. They were the progressive people of Europe who came over here and became our fathers and mothers. Who are the young men and young women today of our own western country? They are the boys and the girls, that when you said, "Stay at home," said "No!" We are going west." And the further west you THE GREATEST REFORMATION. 891 go, the more progress you find, because the lazy people stayed at home. Now, my friends, this isn't accidental. It is God's plan. The Gospel entered Europe at Macedonia; worked its way through Europe, and God saw to it that the print- ing press, paper made of rags, and the discovery of America, were in the same century — saw to it that there should be a great land in the west where the persecuted of Europe shall go in the days of the Reformation and escape the fires of natural flames, and kindle a flame from heaven in the great land of America. It is not an accident that the great canal across the Isthmus is being built now. It is going to make the Pacific the center of the world. It is going to open up the Gospel path around to China and all the islands. In other words, my friends, you will never understand God's Providence and the course of the great- est reformation, until you find out that as the sun rises in the east, and goes to the west, so the Gospel of Christ must come to Macedonia; from Macedonia through Europe; from Europe through America; from America through the islands of the sea; and the only way to con- vert the far east is to come around from the west. And when Christ said that the end will not come until the Gospel shall be preached to the ends of the world. He meant that it must came back from whence it started, and then the end shall come. We are living today in the last great act of the greatest drama of God. 5. And when Avill this greatest reformation be fin- ished? It will end with the Judgment Day. I am trying this morning to lead you into a wider vision than simply the Reformation of the sixteenth century. I am trying to give you a vision this morning that reaches from the Gar- den of Eden to the end of the world. Remember, my friends, that great battles are yet to be fought. As we are nearing the end of the world, Satan is raging more and more. Everything will be done in the next few centuries to come to damn the world, that hell can possibly devise. On the other hand, God's people must waken up. Right- eousness shall prevail. The battle is coming on. It will not be long until there will be such an act as there never 892 THE ETERNAL EPISTLE. was before. It will not be long until the waves of the great flood in the days of Noah; until the fires that fell from heaven in the days of Elijah ; until the mighty power that John the Baptist wielded in the days of Christ ; until the flames that burned the one hundred and eighty-five millions of martyrs in the first three centuries; until the great Reformation of the sixteenth century illuminating the Dark and Middle Ages ; until all the darkness and the light combined today, with its battles upon land and sea; until all these things shall be but little scenes in the great acts that preceded the act of all acts, when God Almighty shall summon His angels, and the Son of God shall com- mand the heavens to roll back like a scroll, the stars of heaven to fall, the dead to rise; the last assize; when all that was ever wrong shall be known, and all that was ever right shall be seen ; w^hen the just shall be separated from the unjust; the righteous from the unrighteous; the holy from the unholy; when heaven shall be heaven complete, and hell prepared for the devil and his angels, as hellish as it can ever be, then will come the end of the greatest reformation, when God shall repeat what He said in His Word to John : "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still ; and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still ; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still.-- Amen. PRAYER. O God of ages, eternal in the heavens, before whom angels bow and the^ elders cast their, crowns, we come to Thee this day, thanking Thee that we are enjoying the benefits of all the reformations of the past, and have in our hands and in our hearts the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, to do our part in the great drama of the greatest reformation. We pray Thee, Father in heaven. Thou who didst let the Gospel into Europe by way of Macedonia, with the first conversion of a woman, do Thou bless the women of our church and country, and help that they may dc more for the spreading of Thy kingdom. We pray Thee to bless all our missionary societies ; help them to kindle a flame in the hearts of all people to spread the Gospel of Christ to the ends of the earth. Oh, do Thou give to the Church of God, mighty men of God, like Luther, arid Paul, and John the Baptist, and Elijah, and Hezekiah, who shall do all that they possibly can to break down the idols and to establish the true worship of the true and living God. THE GREATEST REFORMATION. 893 We thank Thee for all our schools and churches, and we pray to Thee that Thou wilt give us teachers who love Thy Word and the Bride for whom Thou hast laid down Thy life, O Christ ! We pray Thee that Thou wilt help us to appreciate Thy Hand, which moves day and night for the salvation of the world. O Lord God, when our voices are silent, and our children are no more on earth, help that childrens' chil- dren may be wakened up to perform their duties well for the glory of Thy Church and the honor of Thy name. Hear this prayer; we ask it in the name of Jesus, who taught us to pray: Our Father who art in heaven; Hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven; Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses, as we for- give those who trespass against us ; And lead us not into temptation ; But deliver us from evil; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. S/ S . P . LONG 1. Prepare to Meet Thy God Cloth, 35 cents, postpaid 2. The Way Made Plain Cloth, $1.00, postpaid 3. The Wounded Word Cloth, 35 cents, postpaid 4. The Great Gospel Half-leather, $2.50, expressage prepaid 5. 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