"For Christ's crown," and other sermons

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"For CHRIST'S Crown.

99

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For Christ's Crown

99

AND OTHER SERMONS.

BY

DAVID JAMES BURRELL,, D.D.,

Pastor

of

the Collegiate

Church at Fifth Avenue and

2qth

Street,

New

York,

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, > B J '

NEW YORK:

WILBUR B.

KETCHAM,

2

Cooper

Union,

Ithe

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PUBUCUB

94032

AST OR

LENOX

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<daT

AND
iONS.

£b8

Copyright, 1896,
By Wilbur B. Ketcham.

CONTENTS.

PAGE.

" For Christ's Crown," ----- 7

The Unspeakable Turk, - - - - 19

Mors Janua Vit^, ------ 33

The Form of Godliness, - _ - - 42

The Story of an Outcast, . - - - 51

The Story of an Outcast— The Sequel, - - 63

The Ascent of Man, ... - . 74

Loose Him and Let Him Go, . - - - 83

The Gknealogy of Jesus, ----- 92

Armageddon, ...-.- 104

The Story of a Wayward Youth, - - - 120

The Part of the Hand That Wrote, - - 132

The Conspiracy Against The Liquor Traffic, - - 144

The White Solar Ray, . - - - 156

The University of Jerusalem, - - - - 167

As the Hart Panteth, ----- 182

TiiE Cleansing of the Temple, - : - - 191

Come and See, ------ 202

Protestantism, ------ 213

King Saul at the Witch's Cave, - - - 224

How Jericho Fell, . . - . - 235

Tom Brown of Rugby ; Or, Manly Christianity, - 244

The Prophecy of Palm Sunday, - - - - 254

How to read History, . . - - 264

The Boundless Prayer of Faith, - - - 276

5

6 CONTENTS.

The Epworth Singer, ----- 285

The Sunday Newspaper, - - - - - 297

The First and Great Commandment, - - 305

And the Second is Like unto it, - - - 314

Esther in Shushan, ----- 322

Orthodoxy, ------ 331

He is Apprehended in the Garden - - - 341

How David Thought of the Forgiveness of Sin, - 351

The Golden Wedge, ----- 361

"FOR CHRIST'S CROWN."

"Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor
and glory for ever and ever." Amen.— I. Tim. i. 17.

The ideal form of government is the Jewish the-
ocracy. In it were combined all the advantages of
all other forms of government whatsoever. It was a
republic, in that all men were free and equal before
the law. It was a sovereignty, in that God was recog-
nized as King, sole and absolute. It is scarcely pos-
sible to conceive a better order of things. Far enough
have the nations departed from that original fabric,
but in the final restitution they will surely return to
it. The millenial glory will be established in the
commonwealth of God.

It was natural, however, that the children of Israel
should be impatient under these conditions. They
saw the neighboring tribes and nations prospering in
the magnificence of fleets and armies and royal estab-
lishments, while they themselves had only the sim-
plest forms, with no rulers save priests and prophets
who administered in the behalf of God. Wherefore
they demanded a king : " Make us a king to judge us
like all the nations." And God was pleased to yield
to their importunate weakness. Howbeit he solemnly
protested against their folly. He admonished them
that in time to come their kings would whip them

(7)

8

with whips of scorpions and lay on them vexatious
and intolerable burdens. Nevertheless they insisted :
"We will have a king to rule over us!'* Therefore
Saul was chosen ; and there was not among the chil-
dren of Israel a goodlier person than he. In due time
he was inaugurated with much pomp and circum-
stance, and the peoole offered sacrifices and peace offer-
ings unto thu Lord and rejoiced greatly. "If now,"
said the prophet on this occasion, " ye will fear the
Lord and obey his commandments, then shall both ye
and your king continue to follow him ; but if not, his
hand shall be against you. Now, therefore, stand
and behold a sign, that this is the Lord's doing ! "
It was the dry season of the wheat harvest ; never-
theless, on a sudden the heavens were darkened,
black clouds marshalled themselves and amid rolling
thunder copious rains poured down all day. Thus
ended the theocracy, and thus amid awful omens and
admonitions began the sovereignty of Israel. The
outcome — is it not written in the chronicles of the
nation, from the time of Saul until the sceptre passed
from Judah, and the King whose right alone it was
to reign sat over upon the slopes of Olivet and
mourned : "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would
I have gathered your children as a hen doth gather
her brood under her wings and ye would not"?

All powers and dignities whatsoever — didactic,
pontifical and political — centre in Christ. He is our
Prophet, Priest and King. The administration of
this world's affairs is committed to him. The ancient
line of prophets, a mere temporary makeshift and ex-
pedient, moving through history, comes at length to
Bethlehem and vanishes in the glory of him of whom
it had been written, " A prophet shall the Lord your

"FOR CHRIST S CROWN. 9

God raise up from among your brethren ; him shall
ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto
you." And he alone is Prophet since that day. In
like manner the priestly line came down through the
centuries, kindling the altar fires on either side to
symbolize the atonement of Calvary, until it also came
to Bethlehem and lost itself in him of whom it had
been written, " He is an high priest forever after the
order of Melchizedek " ; who was to offer himself
once for all as a sacrifice for the world's sin, to lift
the veil and enter with blood-stained hands into the
Holiest of All, where he ever liveth to make interces-
sion for us. And there has never been a priest, save
by usurpation of authority, from that time until now.
So all the kings of the earth, the Sauls and Caesars
and Alexanders, are mere signs and silhouettes of
Christ's Kingship, pointing on to the glory of that
ultimate reign when the revolted kingdoms and do-
minions of this world shall become the kingdom of
Christ. "Now unto the King eternal, immortal, in-
visible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for-
ever and ever !"

The Kingship of Christ runs like a golden thread
through ancient prophecy : " For unto us a child is
born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall
be upon his shoulder ; his name shall be called Won-
derful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father and the Prince of Peace." He was seen in the
visions of Isaiah clothed in regal splendor and marked
with the tokens of a glorious triumph : "Who is this
that Cometh from Edom, this that is glorious in his
apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength ? "
" I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save."
" Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy

10 "FOR CHRIST 9- CROWN.

garments like him that treadeth in the wine-fat ? "
" I have trodden the wine-press alone ; and of the
people there was none with me ; for the day of ven-
geance is in my heart, and the year of my redeemed
is come,"

This was ''the hope of Israel." All through the
centuries of her sin and suffering she looked for the
coming of her King. He was David's son, and his
reign was to be marked by a magnificence beyond
that of Solomon in all his glory. The song of the
procession that wound around the spur of Olivet,
leading the man of Nazareth to the Holy City, was
an historic song : " Hosanna ! hosanna ! to the Son of
David ; blessed is he that cometh in the name of the
Lord ! "

And Christ in his Messianic character claimed
this regal authority : " Ye call me Lord and Master,
and ye say well for so I am." He had much to say
of " the kingdom." This is the key of his preaching.
He came to set up, amid the chaos and confusion of
earthly principalities, the kingdom of truth, the king-
dom of righteousness, the kingdom of heaven, the
kingdom of God. He came to restore the simple
glory of the theocracy, the Commonwealth of God.
The charge brought against him for which he was
haled to judgment and ultimately dragged to Calvary,
was that he made himself a king. His judge took
him aside from Gabbatha and gave him an opportu-
nity to clear himself of this accusation. " Art thou
a king?" he asked. And Jesus answered, in the
strongest form of affirmation that was possible in the
Aramaic tongue, '^ Thou sayest it." And this accusa-
tion was written over his head : /esu Nazaret Rex

"for CHRIST S crown. II

ludceorum — Jesus the man of Nazareth, the King of the
whole Israel of God !

And here runs the party line — the line of separa-
tion between citizens of the kingdom and aliens from
the household of faith. The human race is divided
in twain along this line, the acceptance or rejection
of the Kingly claim of Christ. The Jews and their
Roman confreres committed the unpardonable sin.
They reviled his royalty, placing a crown of thorns
upon his head, throwing about him the cast-off
purple of a Roman magistrate, putting an impotent
reed in his hand, bowing before him and crying in
derision, " Hail, O King ! " The same sin is com-
mitted still by those who reduce the dignity of this
eternal King to that of a mere man, dispossessing
him of his scepter and degrading him to the level of
the creatures of his hand, as well as by those who
reject his authority with a sturdy disclaimer, saying,
"We will not have him to rule over us."

But, blessed be his name, there is a vast and ever
increasing number of such as acknowledge his be-
nignant sway. They believe that he, being the only-
begotten Son of the Father, came into this world to
set up a kingdom whose cardinal truth is righteous-
ness, laying its foundation in the great atonement of
the cross. And they count it their highest joy to pass
under his yoke and call themselves citizens of the
commonwealth of which he alone is ruler.

How came they into this citizenship ? By faith ;
an implicit, appropriating, obedient faith in the Mes-
sianic claims of Christ. By an absolute surrender to
his authority and a joyous acquiescence in his word,
"If any man will come after me, let him deny him-
self, take up his cross and follow me."

12 "FOR CHRIST S CROWN.

But while faith in this sovereign Christ marks the
birth of a sinner into the kingdom and so assures his
deliverance from sin and death, it is only the begin-
ning of his citizenship ; that is to say, of his spiritual
life. Two things now follow, not so much because
they are enjoined as because they naturally and in-
evitably proceed from loyalty to the King :

I. Confession. He who truly believes in the sover-
eignty of Jesus as King of kings and Lord of lords
will obviously not hesitate to acknowledge him.

Did you ever hear an assembly of Englishmen sing
"God save the Queen " ? Not long ago I was in a
company of Scottish gentlemen at a banquet reach-
ing into the wee sma' hours, and when they closed
their conference with that inspiring hymn, my Anglo-
Saxon blood was quickened by the enthusiasm of
their devotion to Her Majesty. She is neither tall nor
fair. Not by the largest stretch of the imagination
can she be called beautiful. But you will speak a
word against her on British soil at your peril-
Ashamed of Victoria ? Not they. She represents the
greatness of that empire on whose dominion the sun
never sets. She represents in her own person the
armies and navies of the realm. She stands for the
history of five centuries of political splendor and for
the hope of brighter glories and nobler conquests yet
to come. Ashamed of Queen Victoria? O no !

Followers of Christ, up with your hearts, up with
your voices alway, " God save the King ! " '' Long live
the King ! " He hath upon his vesture and his thigh
a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
Behold his diadem of stars. What are the crown
jewels of the nations to this ? Behold his girdle of
almighty power, his vesture like the snow, his eyes

"for CHRIST S crown. I3

like flaming fire. Think of his conquests, the hearts
he has subdued, the evil powers he has vanquished)
the Caesars he has scourged to their tombs, the em-
pires he has touched and they have crumbled into
dust.

Jesus ! and shall it ever be,
A mortal man ashamed of thee?
Ashamed of thee, whom angels praise,
Whose glories shine through endless days?

Ashamed of Jesus ! sooner far
Let evening blush to own a star ;
He sheds the beams of light divine
O'er this benighted soul of mine.

Ashamed of Jesus ! yes, I may,
When I've no guilt to wash away ;
No tear to wipe, no good to crave,
No fears to quell, no soul to save.

Till then — nor is my boasting vain —
Till then, I boast a Saviour slain !
And, oh, may this my glory be
That Christ is not ashamed of me !

II. Obedience — frank, implicit and absolute. Obe-
dience in all things. Obedience unquestioning. Obe-
dience joyous and unto death.

All the problems of life are solved for Chris-
tian people in this word obedience. These are the
matters of supreme moment to us : truth, character
and service. And these are the three great problems:
What shall I believe ? What shall I be ? and What
shall I do ? All these are solved at the footstool of
the King.

(i) What shall I believe ? Believe what the Master
says. His word is the final dictum for the formula-
tion of our creed. He himself is the court of last

14 ''for CHRIST S crown.

appeal in all matters pertaining to truth. When our
Sovereign speaks there is an end of controversy. Let
infallible popes and councils and ecclesiastical courts
stand out of our light. Tradition must yield to his
ipse dixit. In our quest for truth we have been sent
forth like sailors in a staunch ship over a great sea
and our Lord has provided us with a trusty pilot and
a trustworthy chart. Our chart is the Bible, as he
said, " Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye
have eternal life and these are they which testify of
me." Our pilot is his Spirit, as he said, "If I go
away, I will send unto you the Comforter ; he shall
lead you into all truth." If we fall into error, it is
because we doubt his word or deny his Spirit. ^

(2) What shall I be ? Be like Christ. His char-
acter must be our rule of character. To imitate him
is to grow unto the full stature of a man. Here again^
for our guidance, he has given us his word and his
Spirit. In that word we have his portrait — the ideal
Man, the chiefest among ten thousand, the one al-
together lovely. We attain unto perfection just in the
measure in which we copy him and in that effort we
have the assistance of his Spirit. The fruit of that
Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. The effort of
our life, as royal subjects of the King, is to make that
bundle of graces ours. ''Add to your faith virtue;
and to virtue knowledge ; and to knowledge temper-
ance ; and to temperance patience ; and to patience
godliness ; and to godliness brotherly kindness ; and
to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be
in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall
neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of
our Lord Jesus Christ."

15

(3) What shall I do 2 Do what the King commands.
This is the secret of a successful Christian life. And
the King's command is this, Seek ye the kingdom.
Seek ye first the kingdom. Seek ye first of all the
kingdom. As citizens of this divine Commonwealth
it is our business to do our utmost toward the exten-
sion of our Sovereign's realms. And we have our in-
structions in that word, '* Go ye into all the world and
evangelize, beginning at home."

The work of the kingdom begins at home ; in
the narrow circle of your immediate environment. If
you love the King, see that his name is honored by
your intimate friends and associates. " Go down
to your own house," said Jesus to the man of Gadara,
"and tell what great things the Lord hath done for
thee."

Then the broader provinces — the city, the common-
wealth, the nation, the world. Oh, for an enlarge-
ment of our hearts ; for it devolves upon every true
follower of Christ to extend his influence to the very
uttermost. This is involved in loyalty to the King.
His purpose is to subjugate the world ; he is setting
up the kingdom which shall ultimately extend from
the river to the uttermost parts of the earth. To this
end the campaign has been marked out and as loyal
and obedient servants of Christ it is not for us to pre-
sume to criticise his methods. It should be enough
for us that he has said, *' Go ye."

In view of the recent massacre of missionaries in
China, the question has again been broached, " Do
missions pay?" It is discussed in labored editorials
in our secular newspapers. Do missions pay ? Pay !
Who said anything about paying? Look to your
marching orders! If every missionary that ever set

i6 "for Christ's crown."

out to preach the glorious gospel in the habitations
of cruelty had been murdered in cold blood ; if there
were not one native convert to show for the great ex-
penditure of wealth and energy from the time of
William Carey, the consecrated cobbler, until now; it
would still remain the indubitable duty of the Church>
calmly, unquestioningly, without hesitation and
with implicit faith, to push the propaganda to the re-
motest corners of the globe. The word of the King
has gone forth ; who are we that we should reply
against him ?

But missions do pay. Let the question be looked
at from any standpoint whatever ; commercial, scien-
tific, industrial, moral or spiritual. Missions do pay.
The history of the last one hundred years, the one
hundred years of missionary enterprise, is the history
of modern civilization. The King's blessing has been
placed upon the obedience of his fai*:hful people in
the c:?nversion of multitudes, the enlightenment of
nations and the opening up of the whole world to the
benignant grace of the Son of Righteousness. The
royal standards onward go!

And the ultimate triumph is sure. " Let the kings
of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take coun-
sel together. He that sitteth in the heavens shall
laugh : the Lord shall hold them in derision." The
battalions who were seen going forth on their white
horses in the vision of the Apocalypse, are already
returning from conquest : One riding at their head in
garments stained with blood. " Worthy art thou ! "
is the cry of the veteran host, and " Worthy art thou !"
is the response of angels and archangels at heaven's
gate, "to receive honor and glory and power and
dominion for ever and ever,"

"for CHRIST S crown. I7

Thanks be to God for the honor of serving the
King! A brave word was that of the wounded Spar-
tan who, having distinguished himself in battle, was
asked by his king, " What wilt thou ? A wreath, a
noble title, a lucrative province ? What wilt thou ? "
And he answered, " Let me march, O king, in the
van of the army." There is no higher distinction
than that. Let us push to the front, O followers of
Christ ; close to the royal banner, close to the person
of the King.

Not long ago in the Gallery of the Luxem-
bourg I saw a picture called, " The Return of the
Martyr." The scene is in the catacombs. Yonder
through the door-way, seen by the flickering light of
torches, the mangled body of one slain in the amphi-
theatre is being carried in. Friends are weeping ;
some are gazing with a sorrow too deep for tears. The
minister stretches forth his hands in welcome to the
dead. A mother lifts her babe that the shadow of the
bier may fall in blessing over it. Yonder is the niche
in the wall awaiting its treasure of dust. A palm-
branch is ready to be placed beside it. And as I looked
upon that picture I thought, what if some artist could
paint the entrance of yon martyr's soul into the heaven-
ly glory ? Ah, that were a theme to make a man im-
mortal. But who shall show the rolling back of the
pearly gates, the rainbow arch, the crystal sea, the
waving palms, the dazzling splendor of the throne ?
And who shall paint the glow upon the faces of those
who press forward to salute the veteran, or the ma-
jesty of him who stretches forth his hands, saying,
"Well done, good servant. Enter into joy " ? All
heaven is in that word. " Be thou faithful unto death,
and I will give thee a crown of life." Oh, to come

i8 "for Christ's crown"

thither and enter into the eternal peace of that bene-
diction ! Oh, to behold at last the King in his beauty!
"Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the
only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever.
Amen."

THE UNSPEAKABLE TURK.

" There is Elam and all her multitude round about her grave ; all of them slain,
fallen by the sword, which are gone down uncircumcised into the nether
parts of the earth, which caused their terror in the land of the living ; yet
have they borne their shame with them that go down to the pit. —
EzEK. xxxii. 24,

The land of Elam here referred to lay west of
Persia and south of Assyria and was, therefore, in
part, identical with the "Turkey in Asia" of to-day.
It was a mighty power as far back as the time of
Abraham. There is a set of tablets in the British
Museum taken from the royal library of Ass-
urbanipal on one of which is a war bulletin signed
by Assurbanipal himself, in which he says: **I
directed the march against Elam. I overwhelmed
Elam from end to end. I cut off the head of the
king Te-umman, who was ever devising evil. I
slew a multitude of his soldiers. I swept over
the land for a month and a day." This was about
B.C. 650. The bloody and barbarous land of Elam
has a worthy successor in the Sublime Porte; and
the kings of Elam, from Te-umman down to His
Majesty the present Sultan Abdul-Hamid II., have
ever been " devising evil." The face of Abdul-
Hamid tells its own story — the low sensual brows,
the cunning eyes, the sinister lips. The government
of Elam has suffered the usual vicissitudes of time ;
but king and people remain as cruel and barbarous

as ever.

(19)

20 THE UNSPEAKABLE TURK.

The Armenians also are an ancient nation. In
Xenophon's " Retreat of the Ten Thousand " he refers
to them as a courageous people devoted to industrial
pursuits. They may be still characterized in that
way. The Armenians are the leading merchants,
skilled artisans and farmers of the Turkish Empire.
They are, moreover, a deeply religious people. It is
claimed that the Armenian Church is the oldest
Christian Church on earth. The story runs that King
Abgarus sent a letter to Jesus of Nazareth enquiring
as to the new religion which he was introducing
among the Jews. He received a courteous reply
through Thaddeus and Bartholomew, who preached
the gospel to Abgarus and his people. It may be
asserted, without passing judgment upon the truth
of this venerable legend, that the Armenians have
stood for their ancestral religion as far back as run-
neth the memory of man.

The Turk stands as the pre-eminent representative
and champion of Islam. Turk versus Armenian is
but another phrase for Mohammed versus Christ*
The relation of these two neighboring peoples has
been for centuries a story of continuous strife and
oppression. It was back in the fourteenth century
that Timour the Tartar celebrated the triumphs oj
his crescentade by piling up outside the gates of
Baghdad a pyramid of Christian skulls.

The narrative of this conflict is in two chapters,
(i) Conversion. For some hundreds of years the
effort of the Turks was to win over the Armenians to
the Mohammedan faith. The sword was the constant
instrument of this propaganda aided by tyrannies and
oppressions of every sort, including the imposition of
unjust taxes and burdens greater than any people

THE UNSPEAKABLE TURK. 21

could bear. (2) Extermination. Failing in the
endeavor to convert the Armenians by even the
strongest methods of force, the Sublime Porte has ap-
parently resorted to the plan of wholly destroying the
Armenians as a people. The Kurds — a wild nomadic
people without industry, devoted to plunder and un-
scrupulous in slaughter — have been organized for the
accomplishment of this purpose. A faint parallel to
this may be found in the appeal made by Gen. Bur-
goyne at the beginning of the American Revolution
to the Mohawk and other Indians, urging them
to march against the American colonists, — an appeal
against which Pitt remonstrated in a speech in Par-
liament in 1777, saying, "Such abominable methods
are equally abhorrent to religion and to humanity."
The Sultan has organized these Kurds into cohorts of
cavalry, which have, during recent years, committed
dreadful outrages against the Armenians under his
authority and with the open support of the Turkish
army.

I. This condition of things is a belated fact in the
history of civilization. The world has moved on
magnificently since the rising of the Day-Star at the
beginning of the Christian era ; the light has been
diffused everywhere. But here, in the Turkish
Empire, is a deep, dark corner of hell still remaining
in the midst of the general progress of the race.

The massacre of Sassoun, which occurred two
years ago, was but an episode in this policy of ex-
termination. With the approval of the Sultan, an
army of three thousand Kurds was let loose upon the
Armenians. For two horrible weeks they plundered
and killed. The details are too harrowing for words.
Men, women and children were slaughtered until the

22 THE UNSPEAKABLE TURK.

air was foul with the stench of the unburied dead.
No less than seventy villages were wholly or in part
destroyed. The Kurds, during this fortnight of in-
human slaughter, carried aloft upon their spears the
heads of the slain and the bodies of unborn children
torn from their worse than murdered mothers. A
company of sixty young women and girls having
suffered beyond all possibility of portrayal were, on
one occasion during this march of devastation,
offered life on certain indescribable conditions if
they would abjure their faith. " Our fathers and
brothers," they answered, " lie yonder dead ; we are
no better than they. In mercy, kill us ! " I know of
nothing better than that in the chronicles of heroism.
It is estimated that more than ten thousand victims
fell in this massacre. Their blood crieth from the
ground !

"The massacre of Sassoun," says Dr. Dillon, who
speaks from personal observation as special com-
missioner of the London Daily Telegraph to Armenia,
"sends a shudder to the hearts of the most callous.
But that butchery was a divine mercy compared with
the hellish deeds that are being done every week and
every day of the year. The piteous moans of famish-
ing children ; the groans of old men who have lived
to see what can never be embodied in words ; the
piercing cries of violated maidenhood, nay, of tender
childhood ; the shrieks of mothers made childless by
crimes compared with which murder would be a
blessing; the screams, scarcely human, of women
writhing under the lash ; and all the vain voices of
blood and agony that die away in that dreary desert
without having found a responsive echo on earth or
in heaven, combine to throw Sassoun and all its hor^
rors into the shade."

THE UNSPEAKABLE TURK. 2$

It thus appears that the story of Sassoun was a
mere incident in the continuous effort of the Turkish
Government to exterminate this people. An eye-
witness of a more recent massacre at Trebizond
writes as follows : " On October 8th, all danger
seemed to be over and shops were opened and people
walked in the st/eets. Suddenly, at ii a.m., people
in the streets were shot down. Men standing or
sitting at their shop doors were dropped with a
bullet through their heads or hearts. The aim of the
Turks was deadly ; I have heard of no wounded men.
Some were slashed with swords until life was extinct.
Generally, the Turks allowed the women and younger
children to live. For five hours this horrid work
of inhuman butchery went on, the cracking of
musketry, sometimes like a volley from a platoon of
soldiers, but more often single shots from near and
distant points, the crashing in of doors, and the thud,
thud of sword blows sounded on our ears. Then the
sound of musketry died away, and the work of loot-
ing began. Every shop of an Armenian in the
market was gutted, and the victors in this cowardly
and brutal way glutted themselves with the spoils.
For hours bales of broadcloth, cotton goods and
every conceivable kind of merchandise passed along
without molestation to the homes of the spoilers. So
far as appearance went, the police and the soldiers
distinctly aided in this savage work. They were
mingled with the armed men, and, so far as we could
see, made not the least effort to check them. Not
one of the perpetrators of these outrages has been
arrested or disarmed, but all have moved about with
the utmost freedom to accomplish their nefarious
purposes. On the other hand, many of the Armen-

24 THE UNSPEAKABLE TURK.

ians are in prison. There is no telling how many-
have perished in this outbreak. Four hundred is a
moderate estimate."

Time and again they have appealed to the nations
of Christendom for help. A petition signed by three
hundred and six of the principal inhabitants of Ar-
menia runs as follows: *' We now solemnly assure
you that the butchery of Sassoun is but a drop in the
ocean of Armenia blood, shed gradually and silently-
all over the empire since the late Turko-Russian war.
Year by year, month by month, day by day, innocent
men, women and children have been shot down,
stabbed, or clubbed to death in their houses and in
their fields, tortured in strange, fiendish ways in fetid
prison cells, or left to rot in exile under the scorching
suns of Arabia. During the progress of that long and
horrible tragedy no voice was raised for mercy, no
hand extended to help us. That process is still going
on; it has already entered upon its final phases, and
the Armenian people are at the last gasp. Is Euro-
pean sympathy destined to take the form of a cross
upon our graves ? "

The suffering and destitution of this people have
touched the hearts of the Christian Churches in
America, who have sent contributions of food and cloth-
ing to be distributed by their missionaries among
them. A telegram from Constantinople bearing the
date of October 31st,* reads as follows : "The Turks
demand that the American missionaries, who are dis-
tributing relief to the suffering people of Sassoun,
withdraw from there in three days, otherwise, they
say, they fear there will be a repetition of the mas-

* This sermon was preached on November 3, iSgSu

THE UNSPEAKABLE TURK. 25

sacres. In view of this critical situation, the United
States Ambassador, Alexander W. Terrell, has ad-
vised the American missionaries to withdraw tempo-
rarily from Sassoun. The Kurds are held in check
by the missionaries, fearing to commit excesses in
their presence." Withdraw from Sassoun under such
circumstances? Our missionaries withdraw from
Sassoun for the accommodation of the Kurds who de-
sire to continue their work of blood and violence?
The good God forbid ! The mere suggestion on the
part of our national representative is suggestive of
cowardice most contemptible. The followers of the
crucified Christ, who uphold the banner of his cross
in yonder land of persecution, can ill afford to pre-
serve their lives at such a cost. Let them stand there
in the spirit of their Master, like Aaron in the plague-
stricken camp of Israel, waving their censers between
the living and the dead !

II. To what shall we trace the origin of this dread-
ful tragedy ? To the Oriental blood ? Nay. The
Turks stand almost alone among the Oriental nations
in this murderous policy. To the fact that they are
only semi-civilized ? Nay; barbaric nations are not
all cruel. The trouble lies deeper down and further
back than this, in the religion of the Turks. They
stand as sponsors and defenders of Mohammedanism.
We hear it said that the Turk is on trial. True. The
Turk has been on trial for long centuries and was
found guilty of crimes nameless and intolerable long
centuries ago. But Islam is on trial ! The Turk is
what his religion makes him. " By their fruits ye shall
know them " is true of religions as of individuals. If it
be answered, " Has not Christianity also drawn the
sword?" We answer, "Yes; but never in the spirit
of Christ." Note the following facts :

2^ THE UNSPEAKABLE TURK.

(i) The policy of blood is ingrained in the very-
fabric of Islam. The Lord Christ came as Prince of
Peace. He said to Peter : "Put up thy sword into
the sheath, for they that take the sword shall perish by
it." He marked out the plan for the propagation of
the Christian faith in the peaceable preaching of the
gospel of good will. But Mohammed at the very out-
set declared a crescentade of blood. He sent forth
eight of his followers from Medina to waylay a cara-
van in the valley of Nakhla ; they returned with the
announcement that they had killed one and taken
two prisoners. " Allah be praised ! " said the prophet.
The tiger had tasted blood and his appetite was
whetted for more. A Jewish tribe entrenched in its
stronghold was presently besieged and overcome ;
eight hundred prisoners were led out in companies of
sixes and butchered in cold blood, while Mohammed
stood by, praising God. The sword of Islam has
never been sheathed from that day to this. It is
written in the Koran: " Fight against the unbelievers
until the true religion stands alone upon the earth."
Those who are accustomed to believe that one religion
is as good as another, who speak kindly of Islam,
may well ponder the following prayer — the official
prayer of Islam, which is repeated daily in the great
university at Cairo by ten thousand theological stu-
dents and is used throughout the Turkish dominions;
'*I seek refuge with Allah from Satan, the accursed.
In the name of Allah the Compassionate, the Merci-
ful ! O Lord of all Creatures ! O Allah ! Destroy
the infidels and polytheists, thine enemies, the ene-
mies of the religion ! O Allah ! Make their children
orphans, and defile their abodes ! Cause their feet to
slip; give them and their families, their households,

THE UNSPEAKABLE TURK. 2^

and their women, their children and their relations by
marriage, their brothers and their friends, their pos-
sessions and their race, their wealth and their lands,
as booty to the Moslems, O Lord of all Creatures ! "
(2) The shedding of blood — occurring in Christian
history at intervals as an outburst of human wicked-
ness and in distinct contravention of the mind and in-
junction of Jesus — is the settled policy of the Moham-
medan religion, and has been the continuous method
of Islam from the beginning until now. The Jehad,
or Holy War, is a sacramental observance. To perish
in the Jehad is better than to make a pilgrimage to
Mecca. He who dies with his sword drawn against
an unbeliever goes straight to Paradise, to receive the
most splendid rewards and to be waited upon forever
by beautiful houris. It is estimated that the number
of Christian subjects massacred in Turkey since 1820
is above ninety-three thousand. In this connection
it will be profitable to recall the words of Gladstone,
uttered with reference to the Turkish massacres in
Bulgaria in 1876 : " I entreat my countrymen, upon
whom far more than perhaps any other people of
Europe it depends, to require and to insist that our
government, which has been working in one direction,
shall work in the other, and shall apply all its vigor
to concur with the other states of Europe in obtain-
ing the extinction of the Turkish power in Bulgaria.
Let the Turks now carry away their abuses in the
only possible manner — namely, by carrying off them-
selves. Their Zaptiehs and their Mudirs, their Bim-
bashis and their Yuzbachis, their Kaimakams and
their Pashas — one and all, bag and baggage — clear
out from the province they have desolated and pro-
faned. This thorough riddance, this most blessed de-

28 THE UNSPEAKABLE TURK.

liverance, is the only reparation we can make to tne
memory of those heaps on heaps of dead ; to the
violated purity alike o matron, of maiden, and of
child ; to the civilization which has been affronted
and shamed ; to the laws of God, or, if you like, of
Allah ; to the moral sense of mankind at large. There
is not a criminal in a European jail, there is not a
cannibal in the South Sea Islands, whose indignation
would not arise and overboil at the recital of that
which has been done ; which has too late been exam-
ined, but which remains unavenged ; which has left
behind all the foul and all the fierce passions that
produced it; and which may again spring up, in an-
other murderous harvest, from the soil soaked and
reeking with blood, and in the air tainted with every
imaginable deed of crime and shame. That such
things should be done once is a damning disgrace to
the portion of our race which did them ; that a door
should be left open for their ever-so-barely possible
repetition would spread that shame over the whole.
Better, we may justly tell the Sultan, almost any in-
convenience, difficulty, or loss associated with Bul-
garia,

' Than thou reseated in thy place of light,
The mockery of thy people and their bane.'

We may ransack the annals of the world, but I know
not what research can furnish us with so portentous
an example of the fiendish misuse of the powers es-
tablished by God ' for the punishment of evil-doers*
and for the encouragement of them that do well.
No government ever has so sinned ; none has proved
itself so incorrigible in sin, or, which is the same, so
impotent for reformation. If it be allowable that the
executive power of Turkey should renew, at this great

THE UNSPEAKABLE TURK. 29

crisis, by permission or authority of Europe, the
charter of its existence in Bulgaria, then there is not
on record, since the beginnings of political society, a
protest that man has lodged against intolerable mis-
government, or a stroke he has dealt at loathsome
tyranny, that ought not henceforth forward to be
branded as a crime."

(3) It should be observed also that the attitude of
the followers of Mohammed in these persecutions is
one of open defiance. No denial is offered ; no apol-
ogy is made. When the foreign Consuls took it upon
themselves to remonstrate with the governor of Erze-
roum in behalf of the suffering Armenians, he replied
in substance as follows : "Would you presume to in-
terfere with the affairs of my harem ? Would you
question my right to strip and starve and beat my
wives ? The relation of the Turk to the Armenian is
that of a husband to his wife, and you must not pre-
sume to interfere with it."

In view of such considerations we are justified in
the assertion that the responsibility for these deeds of
violence must be laid upon the Mohammedan religion
For hundreds of years its representatives have carried
on their propaganda with sword in hand and fortified
on either side by the harem and the slave market.
These are the three historic forces of Islam : the
sword, slavery and licentiousness. Back of these lies
the two-fold doctrine of the system : there is one God,
and Mohammed is his Prophet. The doctrine of the
one God has been characterized as the infinite truth.
Let us go one step further and characterize the other
doctrine, "Mohammed is his Prophet," as the infinite
lie. It is in the spreading of this falsehood that the
Turks have manifested their most fanatical intoler-

^O THE UNSPEAKABLE TURK.

ance. The Sublime Porte is what Islam has made it.

III. As to the remedy. We have reached a point
in the history of civilization where the responsibility
for the solution of a problem so momentous must be
laid upon all nations and all the children of men. A
mere expression of grief or anger or sympathy goes
for naught.

Shall we look for a political solution of the diffi-
culty ? One would think that France and Germany
and Russia and England — great Christian nations all
— would somehow solve the problem. But there is
one insuperable difficulty in the way — the " Balance
of Power." The Turkish Government has, for a
quarter of a century, been called the ''sick man," and
this " sick man " would have died long ago but for
the fact that the great powers of Europe dare not let
him die. England is afraid of such a result — a con-
summation otherwise most devoutly to be wished —
because Russia would, in all probability, become
the residuary legatee. England stands sponsor,
therefore, for Turkey's power in Asia ; pledged to the
integrity and perpetuity of her dominions there. Nay,
furthermore, forty-one millions of the one hundred and
seventy millions of Mohammedans on earth are sub-
jects of the English crown. Wherefore it may be said
with little fear of question, that England stands sponsor
for the perpetuity of Islam. Under these conditions
it is well nigh hopeless to look for deliverance toward
the great powers of Europe ; unless, indeed, in God's
providence, a war should be precipitated for the set-
tlement of the Eastern Question, in which event the
God of battles would in all likelihood put an utter
end to the government of the unspeakable Turk.

In the meantime, is it too much to hope that Amer-

THE UNSPEAKABLE TURK.

31

ica, the youngest of the Christian nations, and the
only great nation which is unhampered by considera-
tions of the " Balance of Power," should make her in-
fluence felt? We may at least demand that our mis-
sionaries and their native proteges, their churches and
schools, with the Armenian children gathered in them,
shall be protected in their life and liberty and posses-
sions. It may be that in God's providence our nation
may yet be able, by the use of a courageous policy
in the defense of its own foreign rights, to accomplish
what has seemed to be impossible to nations involved
in the perplexities of the Eastern Question.

But the ultimate solution of this and all kindred
difficulties lies in the calm and sure processes of the
gospel of Christ. It was the word spoken by Paul
from the Mammertine prison that destroyed the
power of the Roman Empire and ushered in the
Christian Italy of to-day. It was the gospel from
the lips of Boniface, in the eighth century, that blasted
the oaks of Odin and transformed the barbarism of
the Northland into the Christian civilization of the
Germany of to-day. It was the gospel from the lips
of Irenaeus, who met a martyr's death in the reign of
Marcus Aurelius, that dissipated the darkness of
pagan Gaul and made the Christian France of to-
day. It was the gospel preached by St. Augustine
among the Druids of Britain that shattered the
Cromlechs and prepared the way for the splendid
civilization of the England of to-day. So, in process
of time, will the religion of Christ make itself felt in
the dominions of Islam. Up to this time, however,
the number of missionaries sent into Turkey for its
evangelization would scarcely make the one-half of
a regiment in our American army. And the total ex-

32 THE UNSPEAKABLE TURK.

penditure on Foreign Missions among the Moham-
medans since the beginning of the Christian era is
estimated at less than ten millions of dollars — less
than we spend upon one of our great metropolitan
hostelries ; a mere fraction of the money spent on
our East River Bridge. Is it not true that we are
** playing at missions " ? When the Church sets about
the conversion of the Moslem world in earnest, the
work will be done. Meanwhile the kingdom of Christ
in that distant land, as everywhere, is like a mustard
seed planted in the ground, which indeed is the least
of all seeds ; but when it is grown, it becometh a tree,
and the fowls of the air lodge in the branches of it.

MORS JANUA VIT^.

" But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world."— Gal. vi. 14.

Here is a statement of a great truth — Life out of
Death. " He that loveth his life," said Jesus, " shall
lose it ; and he that hateth his life for my sake and
the Gospel's, shall keep it." And again, " I, if I be
lifted up, will draw all men unto me."

It is the law of the acorn, of the chrysalis, of the
graveyard ; life out of death, and out of death only.
" Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die,
it abideth alone ; but if it die, it bringeth forth much
fruit." What is this that the husbandman scatters
over his ploughed field ? Bread. The bread which
is necessary to sustain his own life ; bread for his
children's hunger. Why then, O husbandman, do
you thus broadcast it ? Why throw it away ? — Lift up
your eyes and see. The fields are white unto the har-
vest. The loaded wains come groaning to the gran-
aries. The family gathers about the generous board.
The corn of wheat died, and lo, it has passed into an
infinitely vaster life.

This is the occasion of Paul's glorying. In these
triumphant words he furnishes a threefold illustra-
tion of the great law. Here are three deaths and
three resurrections to newness of life.

(33)

34 MORS JANUA VIT^.

I. The cross of Jesus Christ. He died, not only
that he might deliver the world from its penalty of
death, but that through the portals of his self-re-
nunciation he might himself enter upon a more glo-
rious life.

The Lord Christ is dead. See him yonder upon
the cross, his limbs distorted in the last anguish. No
need of any death certificate here. '' Is he quite
dead?" asked the Centurion of his guard. *' Aye,
this is the spear which I thrust into his side but a
moment ago ; and when it was withdrawn, it gave
sure token that his heart had ceased to beat." The
Jews, Priests and Rabbis passed by, and, noting the
pallor of his face, they said, "The Man of Nazareth
is dead ; we shall hear no further of his doctrines and
wonderful works. He will trouble us no more." The
disciples as they loosed him from the tree felt of his
hands, and they were cold ; and of his pulse, and it
was still. "We hoped," they lamented, ''that it was
he who should deliver Israel ; but, alas ! he is dead."

Dead ! Then why all this commotion ? Why this
controversy among the children of men ? Is it possi-
ble that the world is still moved, troubled, about a
dead man — one who died and was buried eighteen
centuries ago ?

What does this mean ? There are some hundreds
of millions of people who gather at intervals about a
table where a frugal repast is spread. They break
the bread and say, "Lo, thus his flesh was bruised."
They pour the wine and say, " Lo, thus his blood was
shed." And then they lift their hearts and voices
and speak with him as a living Christ, laying all their
plans and purposes and hopes before him.

And what means this ever increasing multitude

MORS JANUA VITiE. ' 35

of men and women who declare that he, with a
mighty hand, has lifted them out of the miry pit and
set their feet upon an everlasting rock ? He said to
the paralytic in Capernaum, "Son, thy sins be for-
given thee " ; and he has been loosing paralytics from
their infirmity and forgiving their sins from then
until now. He said to the sinful woman who
anointed his feet with oil of spikenard, *' Daughter,
go in peace ; thy sins be forgiven thee " ; and through
all the centuries he has been saving Magdalenes and
restoring them to self-respect and to divine peace.
He said to the dying thief on Golgotha, "To-day
thou shalt be with me in paradise"; and there are
multitudes of malefactors as guilty as poor Dysmas,
who are prepared to testify that just now he met
them with the same message of pardoning grace.

And how is it that the name of Jesus is to-day the
most potent name in war and diplomacy ? His figure
towers aloft in the affairs of nations like the Brocken
of the Alps. What has become of other magnates
who ruled the earth in centuries gone by ?

" Imperial Caesar, dead and turned to clay,
May stop a hole to keep the wind away."

But Christ is the most influential arbiter in the affairs
of men and nations. Let Napoleon speak from his
lonely retreat at St. Helena : "You speak of Caesars,
of Alexanders, of their conquests, of the enthusiasm
which they kindle in the hearts of their soldiers ; but
think of the conquests of this dead Man. Can you
conceive of Caesar as the eternal Emperor of the Ro-
man Senate and from the depth of his mausoleum
governing the empire, watching over the destinies of
Rome? Yet here is an Arm thatfor eighteen centuries

^6 MORS JANUA YITM.

has protected the Church from the storms which have
threatened to engulf it."

It may be that Macaulay's vision will come true,
and at some future time a New Zealander will
stand upon a broken arch of London Bridge to sketch
the ruins of St. Paul's. If so, however, it will be be-
cause the New Zealander himself will be the last con-
summate fruit of Christian culture ; a man of higher
attainments in moral power than those who reared
the fabric of St. Paul's. For Christ is a living and
omnipotent force moving the world, through each
succeeding sun, into a clearer light ; and this will
continue until, in the restitution of all things, every
knee shall bow before him and every tongue confess
in the full glory of his millennial reign, that he alone
is King over all.

II. lam crucified with Christ. Who is this "I"?
In the philosophy of St. Paul, man has a dual person-
ality. The lower nature and the higher nature are
ever struggling for the mastery. The " old man "
grapples with the " new man who is created in
Christ unto righteousness and true holiness." The
antagonists are elsewhere characterized as "flesh"
and " Spirit." As where it is written, " There is,
therefore, now no condemnation to them which are
in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after
the Spirit ; for to be carnally minded is death, but to
be spiritually minded is life and peace."

It is this lower Ego or self which is crucified with
Christ. But from the death and burial of this lower
nature, the truer self rises into newness of life. '' I
am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, and yet
not I, but Christ liveth in me."

I live now as never before for the true advantage

MORS JANUA VIT/E. 37

of self. So long as my carnal nature had the mas-
tery, the story of my life was constant degeneration.
But now that my better nature has triumphed, I en-
ter upon a process of progressive sanctification. I
shall never cease to grow in character, but will con-
tinue to increase from grace to grace and from glory
to glory, ever approaching the full stature of a man.

I live now more than ever toward others. The
lower nature is selfish. The " old man " was given
over to self-gratification, but the '* new man " follows
close in the footsteps of him of whom it was written :
" He went about doing good." The influence of one
whose sordid self has perished on the cross is an ever-
increasing influence for good. The close of his
earthly career does not end it. " Fear not, Brother
Ridley; we do light a candle in England to-day which
by God's grace shall never be put out."

And I live now more than ever towards God. The
unregenerate man who lives after the flesh and not
after the Spirit, is of little or no consequence in the
kingdom of truth and righteousness. He bears to the
household of faith the same relation that a scape-
grace son does to any family circle. But as I come
forth out of the death of the flesh into the life of the
Spirit, I assume a new and vital relation toward the
kingdom of God. The King counts me now a loyal
subject and condescends to work through me for the
casting down of the strongholds of wickedness and
the building up of truth and righteousness on earth.
I am living on a higher level and breathing a new
atmosphere ; as one who stands upon the summit of a
mountain looking down on those who plod along the
lower paths. What mites and midgets they are, who
bustle to and fro in quest of things that perish with

38 MORS JANUA VIT^.

the using! Up here are life and immortality. I died
down yonder on the cross to live up here with God-
I buried all and have all. I was crucified, yet I live ;
nay, Christ liveth in me.

Ill, The world is crucified to me. What is this
" world " which is impaled on yonder cross — the
world that is dead to me ? It is the habitat of those
who live in the flesh, who spend their energies in
sordid pursuits. This is the world that ever comes
between a man and his own eternal life. This is the
world of which it is written, "The friendship of the
world is enmity against God." This is the world
which was in the mind of Jesus when he said to the
young ruler who had great possessions, " Go, sell all
thou hast and come, follow me.'

But the world which thus dies to the spiritual man
has also a glorious resurrection. It lives again. It
lives to me in all that makes life worth living ; in all
the dear pursuits which legitimately belong to this
beautiful world in which God has placed me.

I am free as never before to pursue wealth. It is
the business of every follower of Christ to acquire
wealth so far as is possible by honest methods, be-
cause in so doing he shall increase his power for God.
It takes money to print Bibles, to equip churches, to
build schools and hospitals and reformatories, to
charter missionary ships and propagate the gospel in
distant lands. But let it be observed that the spirit-
ually quickened man is urged to the acquisition of
wealth by a motive far higher than that which pre-
viously prompted him. He is now the servant of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and whatever he gets or gains is
to be used wholly for the advancement of his cause.
He is no longer an owner, but a trustee. He acquires,

MORS JANUA VIT.E. 39

not for the sake of getting, or of hoarding, or of
spending ; but that he may with his substance glorify
his Lord. And in all this he is amassing for himself
a great treasure — not here, but all in bags that wax
not old. He is putting all his treasure beyond the
reach of rust that corrupts and of thieves that break
through and steal. He is making himself rich forever
toward God.

I am free also to pursue pleasure. It is not fair to
say to a young Christian, " You must surrender all the
pleasures of this world when you enter on the higher
life." It is wiser and truer to say, "You now enter
upon the enjoyment of all innocent delights with ten-
fold zest." " Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth ;
but remember ! " Remember that as a servant of the
Lord Christ you must needs keep your conscience
pure and sweet. No amusement is lawful now that
comes between me and the complacent smile of my
new Master. No amusement is banned that does
not dull the fine edge of the moral sense. Keep your
heart sweet, your conscience clean. Let all your
pleasure be as merry and as harmless as the laughter
of a child. Get all the good out of this blessed world
that God intended for you. Go down with Jesus to
the marriage supper at Cana and make merry there
with him. Away with passion, gluttony, sensual ex-
citement, mad dissipation, the laughter like the crack-
ling of thorns ; and welcome the smiling peace of a
conscience in harmony with the purposes of Christ.
Let the tranquil satisfaction of doing your best, and
the generous pleasure of kindly deeds, be ever yours.
And, withal, remember that the milk and honey are
beyond the wilderness. The sweetest pleasures of this
present world are but clusters from the vineyards of

40 MORS JANUA YITJE.

the better country. " At the right hand of the Lord
are pleasures forevermore."

And I am free also to pursue honor — not for its
own sake indeed, but I ought to make the most of
myself and enlarge my influence to the uttermost,
because I am serving the Lord Christ. The man
who realizes that all earthly honors and emoluments
are merely a trust to be used for the highest good, is
the man who, in the long run of history, gets the
greatest honor. Not long ago, one of our fellow-
citizens was appointed to a place of authority and
straightway, in pursuance of his oath, set out to
enforce the laws without fear or favor. The beasts
of Ephesus, with the foam of malt-madness dripping
from their lips came, out against him. To his honor
be it said, he has stood consistently for the sanctity
of law ; and to-day, despite all cavil and malignant
opposition, there is no man in America held in
higher honor than he. The blessing of heaven rests
upon all who wear their laurel wreaths as servitors
of truth and justice and who care more for God's
"Well done, good servant," than for what is called,
popularity. It is for such as these that the promise
is given, "To him that overcometh will I give to sit
with me in my throne."

So then in Paul's manifesto we have the apologue
of a noble life. Here are three crosses. On one
hangs Christ the Author and Finisher of our faith,
dead ; but we look beyond and see his majestic pres-
ence, potent among all nations and the children of
men, and we hear a voice saying, " I am he that liveth
and was dead, and behold I am alive forevermore ;
and have the keys of death and hell." On the second
cross I am crucified with Christ. Dead, also ; dead

MORS JANUA VTT/E. 4I

to the world. Yet here am I thrilled through and
through with the life of the risen One. Entering into
fellowship with his death, I have also come into fel-
lowship with his resurrection. My life that seemed
to have passed away is hid with Christ in God. On
the third cross the world is impaled — the world of
shame and selfishness and wrong ambition, dead.
But beyond it, see another world ; harvests ripening
from the wheat that died ; mountain slopes whereon
the soul stands surveying great truths and vast possi-
bilities ; rivers where we stoop to drink of living
water. It is a royal demesne, and the King stands
yonder, crown in hand, ready to welcome us.

These are the visions that strengthened the heart
of Paul awaiting his departure. These are the visions
that moved him to say, " All things are yours ;
Paul, Apollos, Cephas, things present, things to come,
the world, life, death ; all are yours ; and ye are
Christ's, and Christ is God's."

THE FORM OF GODLINESS.

"Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof."— II. Tim. iii. 5.

The best definition of religion is in the word itself
which is said to be derived from religare^ meaning
"to bind back." Religion is godliness ; that is God-
likeness. It is the binding back of the soul to God.

There is a "form of godliness." All substantial
things indeed have both essence and form, God
himself is the only exception, he being without "body,
parts or passions." There are frames for pictures,
trellises for climbing plants and cups for wine. Re-
ligion finds expression in outward forms ; towards
God in praise and prayer and faithful service, to-
wards man in the reflection of the divine character.

But while essence without form is unthinkable,
the obverse is to be found on every side. There are
frames without pictures, trellises without honey-suck-
les, and empty cups. There is art without the artis-
tic instinct, poetry without the divine aftlatus, music
without a soul. In like manner we note the form of
godliness with none of its power. The correspond-
ence is that of a manikin to a man. Here is the form
of the eye, but no seeing ; the form of the ear,
but no hearing ; the form of the heart, but no throb-
bing pulse ; the venous system, but no flowing blood;
the nervous system, yet you may tread with impunity
on this manikin's foot, for no sympathetic thrill will

(42)

THE FORM OF GODLINESS. 4^

fly to its finger tips. What is needed ? Life. Power;
the power to feel, to think, to act.

We have various kinds of formalists in the world.

I. The aboriginal formalist. The prophet Isaiah
pictures him going out into the forest to hew him
down a cedar : "And he taketh a part thereof to burn;
he kindleth it, and baketh bread ; he roasteth roast,
and is satisfied ; yea, he warmeth himself, and saith,
Aha ! I am warm, I have seen the fire. And the resi-
due thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image;
he worketh it out with a line, he fitteth it with planes
and the compass and maketh it after the figure of a
man. He falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it,
saying. Deliver me, for thou art my God." Poor soul;
he surely knows better than this. He must be aware
that a lie is in his right hand. He cannot for a mo-
ment believe that the dull eyes of this image behold
him as he prostrates himself before it ; or that its
carven hands can be stretched forth to help him.
Here is formalism of a base and vulgar sort indeed.
But who shall show to this bond slave of superstition
the wiser and better way ?

n. The philosophic formalist. The Apostle Paul
portrays him in his best estate in cultured Athens :
"I observe, O men of Athens, that ye are exceedingly
devout." The instinct of worship expressed itself
here in numberless shrines. It was a proverb that in
Athens gods were more numerous than men. There
were gods and goddesses for every episode of life.
Lucina presided at the birth ; Rumina attended to
the nursing ; Nundina was invoked at the christen-
ing ; Potina prescribed the drink and Educa the food;
Statina directed the first step ; Farinus unloosed the
tongue and Locutinos taught the child to speak.

44 THE FORM OF GODLINESS.

There were lares and penates ; gods on domes and
pedestals, worn as armlets about the neck or carried
in the girdle. There were avenues of gods. If the
king put his left sandal on the right foot a score of
pontiffs must be summoned to rectify the blunder.
If a crow lighted on the Parthenon, the sacred men
of all Greece must join their supplications to avert
the evil omen. Aye, the men of Athens were exceed-
ingly devout ; but withal, they were notoriously un-
godly. Their piety was wholly divorced from life.

Then came the philosophers ; they were the Prot-
estants of Greece. It was their purpose to get be-
neath the surface of things. By the banks of the
Ilyssus they walked in solemn converse searching for
truth. In no spirit of disloyalty to their gods, they
still believed that there was a kernel of life in the
form of devotion ; but alas ! they failed to find it.
Socrates, the best of all that goodly fellowship,
divided much of his time between the home of the
courtesan Aspasia and the temple of his god, ^scu-
lapius. Bad morals were the rule upon the banks of
the Ilyssus as elsewhere in Athens. Those were the
days of frivolty, of dishonesty, of sensuality, of fash-
ionable infanticide. Those were the days when wo-
men counted their divorces by the rings upon their
fingers which they flaunted before the public gaze.
Greek culture was attended by a carnival of vice.
The form of godliness was there, but there was a
universal denial of the power of it.

III. The Jewish for7nalist. The palmiest days of
Jewish ceremonialism were the ungodliest. The
temple service was elaborated to the utmost, while
the whole head was sick and the whole heart faint.
"Bring no more vain oblations, saith the Lord ; your

THE FORM OF GODLINESS. 45

incense is an abomination unto me ; your new moons
and your appointed feasts my soul hateth ; they are a
trouble unto me ; I am weary to bear them. Your
hands are full of blood ; wash you, make you clean.
Cease to do evil ; learn to do well."

Then came the Pharisees. They were the Prot-
estants of Israel, The meaning of their name was
separatists. But they lapsed presently into the com-
mon error. With respect to doctrine they were strict
constructionists. As to the proprieties of worship
they were scrupulous to the last degree. On their
garments they wore four tassels of blue ; on their
phylacteries and on the frontlet between their eyes
were passages of Scripture, such as, " Hear, O Israel,
the Lord your God is one Lord." They fasted twice in
the week — more than the law required. They paid
tithes, not only of the common products of the field
but of their garden herbs — mint, anise, and cummin.
They were extremely careful as to their ablutions
— the cleansing of cups, platters and couches. They
had a rigid rule of hand-washing ; the water must first
be poured into the palm of the right hand, then the
left, then the palms must be turned upside down and
left to drip. They were conscious of a superior
righteousness, insomuch that they drew aside their
garments from common sinners, saying, "Stand
by thyself, for I am holier than thou."

It was against these religionists that the Lord
complained, saying, "They honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me." It was upon these
that his severest anger fell : " Woe unto you scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites ! who strain out a gnat and
swallow a camel. Ye make long prayers and devour
widow's houses. Ye are like whited sepulchres ;

46 THE FORM OF GODLINESS.

fair without, but within full of dead men's bones and
all uncleanness.'* Here was form without power.
Here was a show of godliness but no life.

IV. Christiaii formalists. "And unto the angel of
the Church at Laodicea write, I know thy works.
Because thou sayest, I am rich and increased with
goods, and have need of nothing ; and knowest not
that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and
blind and naked ; I counsel thee to buy of me gold
tried in the fire that thou mayest be rich ; and white
raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the
shame of thy nakedness do not appear ; and anoint
thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. I
know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot.
I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou
art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew
thee out of my mouth."

They were church members, and, so far as we
know, in "good and regular standing." In all prob-
ability they were sticklers for orthodoxy, regular in
their attendance on the sacraments, devoted to the
institutions of the church ; but alas ! there was noth-
ing to correspond with this scrupulosity in their out-
ward lives. Their walk and conversation were not
such as became the avowed followers of Christ.

A recent traveller tells of a scene which he wit-
nessed in a gambling house in Madrid. A company
of men were shuffling cards and casting dice and in-
dulging in profane and unholy jests, when the tink-
ling of a bell was heard without. A procession of
priests was passing through the streets, bearing the
consecrated wafer to the bed-side of the dying. At
the sound all in this iniquitous place fell upon their
knees and muttered their prayers. The bell ceased

THE FORM OF GODLINESS. 47

and they resumed their pleasure. Here was Chris-
tian formalism at its worst and basest ; but at its best,
there is something abhorrent in it.

We complain of the criticisms which the world
passes on those who have made a religious profes-
sion. But indeed religion invites scrutiny. Thanks
to the critics, the cavillers, the fault finders. Turn on
the lights. If there are counterfeits, shall not the
government itself be most interested in exposing
them ?

V. Non-Christian formalists. For Christians are
not alone in making professions. There are multi-
tudes of excellent people as the world goes — who pay
their debts, comply with all the requirements of the
civil law and are blameless in their outward life — who
profess to be so self-sufficient as to need no church,
no support of Christian fellowship, no atonement of
Christ. They are like the young ruler who came to
Jesus desiring to know the way of life, and on being
enjoined to keep the commandments, protested in all
sincerity, that he had kept them all from his youth
up. ''One thing thou lackest," said Jesus. One
thing. A new heart ; a changed nature ; regenera-
tion. For without this all apparent goodness is mere
veneering. "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except
a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of
God."

But why should we discriminate between these
various classes of formalists, when in truth there is
no difference ? They are all of one family ; all having
the form of godliness, but denying the power
thereof. All dying for the one thing needful, namely,
life ; the life that can only come through the regen-
erating touch of God.

48 THE FORM OF GODLINESS.

No sort of formalism can please God. He looketh
on the heart. The fig tree that put forth leaves
but bore no fruit, was placed under the ban of
eternal barrenness : " No man eat fruit of thee for-
ever." This is the curse which is ever laid upon a
profession void of life.

No sort of formalism can satisfy the soul.
" Wherefore do ye spend your money for that which
is not bread and your labor for that which satisfieth
not?" An eminent Churchwoman on her death bed
lamented that, with all her good works, her devotion
to church and charity, hers had been a Christless
Christianity and she had never truly known God. To
live thus is to sit at a Barmecide feast and to warm
one's self at a painted fire.

" Not all the blood of beasts
On Jewish altars slain,
Can give the guilty conscience peace,
Nor take away its stain."

And, saddest of all, a formal profession is impotent
to save. The five foolish virgins stood knocking at
the door of the marriage hall, crying, " Lord, Lord,
open unto us ! " But the door was closed against
them. They had lamps in hand, but because they
had no reserve of oil in their vessels for their lamps,
their lights had gone out. " And many shall say in
that day, Lord, Lord, open unto us. We have eaten
and drunk in thy presence and thou hast taught in
our streets. We have cast out devils in thy name.
But he from within shall answer, I know ye net
whence ye are ; depart from me."

The woman of Samaria was divided betwixt the
claims of Zion and Gerizim. Her mind was running
wholly on the respective claims of Jewish and Sa-

THE FORM OF GODLINESS. 49

maritan forms of worship. And the Master said,
"Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall
neither in this mountain nor at Jerusalem, worship the
Father. The hour cometh and now is when the true
worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in
truth ; for the Father seeketh such to worship him,
God is a Spirit and they that worship him mus' \\ nr-
ship him in spirit and in truth."

The only escape from the bondage of formalism is
in the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The bones in the
valley of Ezekiel's vision were "very dry" ; insomuch
that the prophet could scarcely believe that life was
possible to them. But the voice said, " Come from
the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these
bones that they may live." And there was a noise
and a shaking, and the bones came together and the
sinews were knit upon them. And again the voice
said, "Come from the four winds, O breath, and
breathe upon these slain. And the breath came in-
to them and they lived, and stood up upon their feet."

O Spirit of God, come, and with quickening energy,
awake us to newness of life ! Lay thy vivifying hand
upon our Bibles till their pages glow, and we
see the living Christ walking through them like a
king through the colonnades of his palace ! Touch
our pulpits until they shall seem transformed into
temple courts where Christ himself shall stand, as in
the great day of the feast, crying, " If any man thirst,
let him come unto me and drink ; and the water that
I shall give him shall be in him a well of water
springing up into everlasting life ! " Touch our com-
munion tables until every crumb of bread shall quiver
like bruised flesh and every drop of wine shall say,,
" He died for thee " ! Touch the mercy-seat where

50 THE FORM OF GODLINESS.

we kneel at morning and night till it shall sound, like
a harp string, the promises of him who ever liveth to
make intercession for us ! Touch our eyes until they
shall see apocalyptic visions of God and heaven and
truth and righteousness and all eternal verities !
Touch our lips until they shall burn to speak the gos-
pel story as if kindled with a living coal from off the
heavenly altar ! Touch our hands until they thrill
with longing to do those greater works which are
possible to those who are baptized with power from
on high ! Touch our feet until they ache with eager-
ness to go about in the Master's steps, doing good !
Touch our wills until they cry " Amen " to every
word of invitation and command ! Touch our con-
sciences that they may be quick to discern between
the evil and the good ! Touch our hearts until they
throb and yearn with the unselfishness of the great
heart that broke on Calvary for us ! Touch our souls
through and through until they live and love and
long forevermore for the life and love that dwelt in
infinite fulness in the heart of the Lord Christ ! And
the honor and glory shall be thine for ever and ever.
Amen,

THE STORY OF AN OUTCAST.

" And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the
Gadarenes. And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there
met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwell-
ing among the lombs ; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains:
because that he had been ofteti biund with fetters and chains, and the
chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in
pieces: neither could any man tame him And always, night and day,
he was in the mountains, and in tne tombs, crying, and cutting himself
with stones."— Mark V. 1-5.

It had been a busy day. The Lord had been
teaching in parables to the people on the beach at
Capernaum and had wrought many miracles of heal-
ing. He was weary. As the day wore on he looked
across the lake to the green slopes of Gadara and
longed.for rest and a breath of the country air. " Let
us go over," he said to his disciples, "to the other
side." Not without misgivings — for there were signs
of an approaching storm — they pushed out. The
Master lay down in the stern of the little boat with
his head on the pilot's pillow and fell asleep. Look
at him now. "We have an High Priest that can be
touched with a feeling of our infirmities; he took not
on him the nature of angels, but of men."

On a sudden the wind came roaring through the
deep ravines on the eastern side of the lake and
whipped the water into a foaming tempest. The
fishermen sprang to the shrouds. Only one was un-
concerned — the sleeper. They wakened him, " Carest
thou not, Master, that we perish ? " He arose, looked
into their scared faces, then out upon the troubled

(51)

52 THE STORY OF AN OUTCAST.

sea. He lifted his hands and with the quiei voice of
one conscious of power, said, " Peace be still." The
winds went moaning to their caverns ; the waves fell
sobbing asleep !

It was a wondrous thing. Who but the Almighty-
Son of God could have wrought this miracle ?
Canute, the Dane, attempted it ; standing on the
heights, when the storm was beating against the
rocks beneath, he cried, " Be still! " and the tempest
laughed at him. Xerxes, the Persian, tried it ; com-
manding his courtiers to place his throne upon the
beach, he said to the flowing tide '' No further " ; but
it drew nearer, nearer until it lapped his feet and they
carried him back and proceeded by his orders to lay
a penalty of three hundred lashes on the irreverent
sea. Akbar, the Saracen, thought to do it ; he
spurred his horse down into the water calling out de-
fiance to old Neptune ; fetlock deep, knee deep, now
to the saddle girth, when the horse, wiser than his
rider, turned and fled shoreward and old Neptune
roared after him. But Jesus of Nazareth calmed the
stormy sea with a word.

However, we are to see a greater miracle than this.
The little boat has touched the strand. The stern
anchor is thrown, the bow made fast. Look yonder !
What creature is that ? A man ? a demon ? his hair
flying, his clothes torn from him, his face distorted,
foam issuing from his lips ; muttering, shrieking out
blasphemy, rattling a broken chain from his uplifted
arms ! Let us fasten our eyes on him as he runs furi-
ously this way — for here is the power of sin— the
monstrous power of sin !

Time was when yonder demoniac was a babe on
his mother's breast ; she fondled his chubby hands.

THE STORY OF AN OUTCAST. 53

kissed his lips, looked down into his sweet blue eyes,
and dreamed a mother's dreams. Then he was a
merry lad; his laughter ringing clear as he mingled
with his playmates in the village street.

Life went a-Maying

With Nature, Hope and Poesy,
When he was young.

And then a young man with all a young man's
hopes and aspirations. What possibilities of honor
and influence awaited him ! But some evil power
met him. Was it a siren with a sweet alluring voice ?
Was it a fiend with a crimson cup in hand ? He
yielded and fell and yonder he is. In him let us be-
hold what sin can do. Nay, rather what sin in its
approach to ripeness is ever bound to do.

We need in these days a deeper apprehension of
this awful truth. The reason why men do not all
hunger and thirst for salvation is because they are
not sufficiently sensible of sin. The truth with all its
dread significance is not pressed upon them. The
sick must know their malady before they are willing
to call a physician. Conviction precedes conversion.
The needle of the law must enter the soul before the
thread of the gospel.

It will not be unprofitable for us, therefore, to study
in this miserable victim the full effects of sin.

I. Sin had unlawed this man. *' He could not be
bound, no, not with chains. He could not be tamed."
In the controversies of the early Church a word was
used to characterize sin v/hich has since passed out of
use and we have no other which precisely takes its
place; to wit, anomia^ which may be rendered, "un-
lawry." Sin and law are opposites. Sin is trespass,
transgression, climbing a fence, intruding upon a pre-

54 THE STORY OF AN OUTCAST.

serve, breaking open a bolted door, a protest against
restraint in any form.

Man was originally created under law ; he was a
normal being. He lived in an atmosphere of obedi-
ence. He moved in calm conformity with the laws of
his own being. In such condition he was absolutely
and ideally free. For freedom is defined to be per-
fect obedience to perfect law.

He fell. Fell from what ? From law. He lost
something. What? His freedom. And what did he
gain instead ? License, lawlessness, aversion to re-
straint ; that is to say, sin. Some are fond of char-
acterizing this acquisition as personal freedom; mean-
ing by that, the liberty to defy God and the rights of
one's fellow-men. It is in pursuance of this perverted
sense of freedom that assaults are made upon our
Sabbath laws, our temperance laws, our marriage
laws, and all rules and regulations which are intended
to conserve our happiness and prosperity in social life.
Here the demon of sin clothes himself in the name of
freedom and appears as an ang.el of light. He pours
forth philippics against law and order. His other
name is Anarchy. He was seen at his worst and
ripest in that famous Haymarket meeting in Chicago
where, amid the hissing of bombs, the cry arose,
'' Throttle the law!"

II. Sin had unshamed this 7?ian. His clothes were
torn from him. He was heedless of the common de-
cencies of life. There is a form of sin which one is
reluctant even to mention to polite ears ; but it must
needs be.

It stares at us from the dead walls in painted
placards, and from the windows of photographers'
establishments along the thoroughfares. It looks us

THE STORY OF AN OUTCAST. 55

boldly in the face from our illustrated periodicals,
and utters its vile pleasantries in the daily papers.
It assumes the form of advanced culture on the walls
of our art galleries. This is nothing new. It is as
old as Satan. The same sort of "culture" frescoed
the walls of Pompeii with cartoons that made that
city the reproach of the old-time world. And God
looked down upon it with eyes of flaming fire. At
his command the ashes of Vesuvius were belched
forth over that iniquitous city and buried it from the
sight of men.

This form of sin is conspicuous in much of our
current literature. It is estimated that more than
one-half of the English novels issued during the past
year have presented, as their heroines for public
consideration, a class of creatures so disreputable
that no self-respecting man or modest woman would
for a moment think of saluting them if they were to
spring into life and pass along the street. What a
procession of "living pictures" with Trilby at their
head ! And many of us, the followers of the meek
and lowly Jesus, men and women professing to
honor the things that are pure and lovely and of good
report, have welcomed them into the sanctity of our
home-life !

And the drama ? It is not necessary just now
to advert to the question whether or no it is right to
attend the theatre. Let it suffice to say that at this
moment, by common consent, there are almost no
plays presented in New York which can be witnessed
with impunity by people of clean character. The
contagion has seized not only on the concert halls
and vaudeville resorts, but upon the two or three
theatres which have hitherto assumed to be respect-

56 THE STORY OF AN OUTCAST.

able. Within a stone's throw of this pulpit, in the
play-house which has hitherto been assigned to the
highest place of virtuous trustworthiness, there is a
play on the boards of such a character that a man or
woman witnessing it, while able to preserve an "anato-
mical virtue," can by no stretch of the imagination re-
main morally pure. One such spectacle as that rubs
off the bloom of the peach.

In answer to such observations as this it is cus-
tomary to remark, " To the pure all things are pure."
Flat and nauseous sophism ! Dirt is dirt anywhere
and everywhere. Obscenity is obscenity. No ad-
mixture of antiseptic can change a dish of offal into
a lemon-ice. It is impossible to take pitch into the
bosom and not be defiled. Avoid it, therefore ; pass
by on the other side ; go not near it.

III. Furthermore, sin isolated this man. *' He made
his dwelling among the tombs." Here were
ghosts gibbering by moonlight ; but he was not
afraid. His proper home was among the dead. Here
were the sepulchres of hope and promise and noble
aspiration all about him. Dust and ashes of the
past. A place of solitude and barrenness. He could
see the village just yonder, hear the echo of its
laughter and the hum of its industry. But he had
no part nor lot in it. By night he saw the lights kind-
ling in the windows. One light yonder in the win-
dow of his own home where wife and children were ;
but he had no business there. That was a village
full of honest folk ; he had ruled himself out. Sin
always rules us out, robs us of the sweets of fellow-
ship, shuts us up to selfish envy and jealousy, drives
us alone to our own place. The sorrow of perdition
lies in those words, " outer darkness." The soul

THE STORY OF AN OUTCAST. 57

exiled to wander there is not excluded from heaven
by closed gates, for heaven's gates are always open ;
he is shut out by his own character — fixed, formu-
lated, crystallized in his earthly life. He is here
among congenial associations. There is only one
place in the universe that would be more dismal than
hell to him, that is heaven ; because he has disquali-
fied himself for it. If he drawls near to an open gate
he hears the voice of prayer, but prayer is not for
him ; he hears the voice of singing,

"All hail the power of Jesus' name
Let angels prostrate fall."

But what sympathy has he with that coronation song?
If God were to send forth his angels and archangels
to constrain that poor soul to enter in, he would run
shrieking to the furthest caves of night. He can never
be at home save in his own place. " For without are
dogs and sorcerers and whoremongers and murderers
and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie."

IV. Sin 77iade this man injurious to himself. *' He
cut himself with stones." We are accustomed to say
of a man who is under the dominion of some tyran-
nical passion that he is his own worst enemy. But
the sin in any man antagonizes his best interests;
it robs him of all that makes life worth living and, in
the long run, when it is finished it bringeth forth
death.

A plant flourishes so long as it lives in harmony
with the laws that environ it ; the moment it disobeys,
refuses to assimilate the dew or sunlight or turns
aside from any of the rules of its being, it begins to
wither and fade. A star lives so long as it regards
its orbit ; if it deviate an inch, it loses its place in the
universal system, whizzes through space, and enters

58 ' THE STORY OF AN OUTCAST.

Upon a career which means ultimate ruin. The soul
that defies the moral laws that are interwoven with its
very being, proceeds along the same path. Any form
of transgression is self-injurious, as it is written, " He
that sinneth against God, wrongeth his own soul."
It is not easy to perceive in the earlier stages of sin
when it assumes the form of stolen pleasure, this
sure tendency towards death. But the tendency is
there ; and as sure as gravitation in the natural world,
I recall five scenes in the life of a young man whose
face comes to me from the days of my early youth.
I saw him first with his sleeves rolled up, at work in
the hay field. He was the only son of his mother and
she was a widow. He was pointed out as an indus-
trious young man, but with wild ways. I saw him
again as I looked through the windows of a gilded
gin palace ; he was standing with a group of well-
dressed men before the bar ; his matted hair fallen
upon his forehead, his hat thrown back, a half empty
glass before him. I saw him again reeling through
the street, out at elbows now, reeling along the
downward way. I saw him again with his face against
the barred window, his eyes red and wild, seeing
phantoms. He had reached mania a potu. I saw him
once more laid out for his burial ; his face black and
bloated, his mother bowed down with both her arms
around him, kissing that poor face. His sin was
"finished " ; it had killed him.

V. Sin fnade this man injurious to others ; as Luke
says, "Travellers could not pass that way." We are
all depending upon one another in this world. We
are all travelling along by the way of the tombs,
hoping to reach some better place. It is our business
to help each other to bear one another's burdens, to

THE STORY OF AN OUTCAST. 59

relieve one another of pain and weariness, to make
life tolerable and, if possible, happy for all. But,
alas ! sin makes us selfish and envious and injurious.
Under its malignant power we are unsafe friends and
comrades. We hurt where we should help. We in-
crease the burden where we should lighten it.

If a man could die unto himself alone ; if he could
waste his life, squander his energies and go out alone
into the eternal night, that would be sufficiently
dreadful — but that is not the worst. No man can die
unto himself. A train follows after him. The sins of
which he has been guilty are as stumbling blocks
over which other souls fall and perish.

On last Thursday a man under the influence of
liquor came to his home on Fifty-third Street. He
was not a bad man ordinarily as drunkards go, but,
being out of work, he had for weeks yielded to his
besetting sin. His wife not being at home to wel-
come him, he walked up and down the room in anger.
His only child, an infant of nine months, lay sleep-
ing on the couch. His wife who had gone out per-
haps to earn a little bread threw open the door and
faced him. He began to curse her, and in a moment
seized his child and threw the little one at its mother
with such violence that it struck her and fell upon the
floor dead ! It is bad enough that he should now be
shut up in a prison cell to contemplate his awful
crime under the shadow of a gallows tree. But think
of the consequences that his sin entails ; a deserted
home, a murdered child, a wife broken-hearted, worse
than widowed, doomed to shame wherever she goes.
If he die upon the gallows tree, will that end it ? Nay,
the ghost of his iniquity will still live, to drive, as with
a whip of scorpions, other souls to follow in his steps.

6o THE STORY OF AN OUTCAST.

We shall all agree probably that the case made
against sin in the person of this demoniac is bad
enough. It is not with sin in him, however, that we
have to do. It is of no profit to look on sin yonder
at a distance as an objective thing. The theft of the
little ewe lamb did indeed arouse the indignation
and wrath of King David when he heard it; but a
conviction deeper than that and more salutary came
when the prophet pointed his finger and cried,
"Thou art the man ! " We have practically to do,
not with sin in this demoniac of Gadara, but with sin
as it is in ourselves, in you and me ; for there is not
one among us who can plead innocence. The best
we can say is, that sin, as yet, is not finished in us;
but we all shall fall upon our knees to-night if we are
honest men and women, and confess before God " I
have sinned and done evil in thy sight." If sin have
indeed in itself such potency and possibility as we
have been contemplating, shall we not cry out " Who
shall deliver us from the body of this death ? Who
shall deliver me ?"

The little boat has been waiting during this medi-
tation by the beach at Gadara. The demoniac with
hideous cries hastens this way. The Man of Naza-
reth, concious of his power, is not affrighted. He
faces the sinner and his sin and cries " Come out of
him ! " A moment later, the man lies sobbing before
his feet. We shall see him presently clothed and in
his right mind.

It is glorious to think in the presence of such an
awful scourge as sin, that there is One mighter than sin.
One that has power on earth to forgive sin. Nay, more
he has power to deliver from the bondage of sin.
If ever there was a desperate case it was that of this

THE STORY OF AN OUTCAST. 6l

demoniac. All entreaties and remonstrances had been
vain. Law, penalty, fetters, and manacles had been
futile. His friends had given him up. But did you
never observe how Jesus loved to deal with desperate
cases ? If a paralytic were brought to him, it was
only when all the poor victim's money had been
wasted on physicians, and his last strength and re-
source were all gone, and he could by no means lift
himself up. If a leper presented himself, it was in
the last stages of his disease when his fingers were
dropping from their joints. Or, perhaps, Jesus was
called to a desolated home, from which the dear one
had been carried out four days ago to his burial, so
that corruption had already seized upon him. But
here lay his great strength. He knew no hopeless-
ness. Nothing was impossible to him. He healed
them every one. O his name is The Mighty to Save !
If there is a man who feels himself so wholly under
the power of a long-cherished habit that he has sur-
rendered all hope of deliverance, to him the Lord
Jesus speaks the word of hope. If there is a mother
whose scapegrace boy has gone off into the far
country and wasted his substance, whom no mater-
nal love or entreaty has been able to reach, to her
this Omnipotent Son of God speaks the word of
hope. Bring your loved one to Jesus ; he is able to
save unto the uttermost.

The old cobbler who laid his hand upon the
shoulder of an inebriate, who was staggering through
the streets of Nantucket long ago, saying, kindly,
"John, there is One that can help you," wrought bet-
ter than he dreamed. For those words had in them
the ring of new strength and comfort, and John B.
Gough lived to testify for forty glorious years to the

62 THE STORY OF AN OUTCAST.

power of the One that had helped him. There is help
here. There is help nowhere else. Jesus is master of
sin. All others are in less or greater measure servants
of sin. He has power to forgive. He has power to
deliver. " He is able to save unto the uttermost all
that come unto God by him."

THE STORY OF AN OUTCAST.— THE
SEQUEL

*' And they see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion,
sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind." — Mark v. 15.

It is said that when the demoniac came into the
village and told the strange thing that had happened
" all men did marvel." And no wonder. If a man is
disposed to reject the supernatural, he will find diffi-
culties innumerable in this narrative.

(i) There, to begin with, is the suggestion of a
personal devil. There are many excellent people who
decline to believe anything of the sort. Sin, indwel-
ling corruption, an evil principle ; aye, by all means.
But a personal devil, they will have none of it. There
was a time when I disbelieved in that particular form
of highway robbery known as "garroting." But one
morning an old acquaintance came in to tell me that
he had been garroted on the previous night, and
showed me in evidence a purple mark around his
neck. There was no reasoning against that. In like
manner there are multitudes of people who bear
about in their bodies the marks of a personal devil, —
stigmata that can scarcely be traced to an impersonal
principle.

(2) Demonianism or demoniacal possession. Here
is another difficulty which some are disposed to cir»

(63)

64 THE STORY OF AN OUTCAST. THE SEQUEL.

cumvent by assigning this phenomenon to the cate-
gory of mere physical maladies. But this will not
answer. The Lord Jesus Christ had come into the
world to deliver it from the bondage of sin. In other
words, he was making an invasion upon the realms of
the Prince of Darkness. Was it to be expected that
the ruler of this world would allow his sovereignty to
slip out of his hands without making a desperate
effort to retain it ? Demonianism was the outward
token of this tremendous conflict at close duarters.
The Son of God stood alone as the knight-errant of
the fallen race ; his adversary summoned all the hosts
of the nether world to his aid. As God was expres-
ising himself in the incarnate form of Jesus of Naza-
reth, so the Prince of Darkness must needs oppose
him through mortal agency. Therefore the emis-
saries of evil entered in and took possession wherever
the door of a human heart lay open. All heaven and
hell stood looking on. And whenever this Jesus met
his adversary hand to hand, it was as when Samson
met the lion on the way to Timnath ; " He rent him
as he would have rent a kid,"

(3) There is adifficulty also in the matterof the swine.
Yet nothing in the narrative is more reasonable than
this. Where else could the unclean spirits have found
a refuge so congenial ? See the swine yonder seeking
their sustenance among the offal heaps. At the word
of commission the unclean spirits take possession of
them; then a sudden panic in the herd. They are
rolling in the mire, uttering strange half-human cries,
jostling one another, plunging headlong down the
declivity and so into the water. Then a mighty com->
motion ; they are struggling, strangling, drowning.
They have left naught behind them but bubbling con.

THE STORY OF AN OUTCAST. THE SEQUEL. 65

fusion and widening, vanishing circles. All is over.
The unclean spirits have gone to their own place and
they have gone in their own way. It is an exquisite
touch of nature. This was their fitting end.

(4) The most serious difficulty of all, however, in
the narrative is the strange transformation in this
man. There is nothing so marvellous in all the meta-
morphoses of Ovid. An hour ago we saw him
running down the cliffs toward the lake, naked, hands
uplifted, rattling a broken chain, foaming at the lips
and shouting forth obscene blasphemies. Now here
he lies, bound as chains never could bind him ; tamed
as laws could never tame him ; transformed by the
power of the Son of God !

We saw him under the power of sin — a hard task-
master. It is related of Scirion, the robber, that he
kept his captives always four days. On the first they
were entertained with lavish hospitality at his table ;
on the second they were required to wash his feet
and those of his robber band ; on the third they were
confined in a prison cell ; on the fourth they were
brought to the edge of a precipitous cliff and pushed
into the sea. And therein vv^e mark the downward
steps of sin. It begins with self-indulgence ; the
feast of stolen pleasures.

" Haste thee, nymph, and bring with thee
Jest and youthful Jollity,
Quips, and cranks, and wanton wiles,
Nods, and becks, and wreathed smiles,
Sport that wrinkled Care derides.
And Laughter holding both his sides ! "

Next come the menial services of vice — the loss of
self-respect, license, the gratification of the lower na-
ture and sensuality. Then bondage ; " For, whoso-

66 THE STORY OF AN OUTCAST. THE SEQUEL.

ever committeth sin is the servant of it." And finally
death ; the cup is drunk to its dregs ; there remains
only enough to betray the fact that all along we have
been partaking of slow poison. Death ; spiritual and
eternal death. Come Shame, Regret, Remorse, De-
spair, Retribution and push him out into the night !
Probation is past ; eternity begins. " He that is un-
just let him be unjust still." Aton ion aionon — for-
ever and ever !

The demoniac of Gadara had reached the last and
most portentous chapter of his guilty life and was be-
ing pushed by all the furies headlong down to death,
when he met — O, would to God that all who are in
like extremity might meet him too — the mighty Son
of God. At his word of command the furies fled and
the unclean spirits abandoned their prey. Mark now
the stupendous change ; he lies prone before Jesus
trembling in every sinew and sobbing out his m.ingled
grief and gratitude. " John, Peter, lend a hand !
Wash his open wounds and anoint them. Break off
this clanking chain ! Andrew, cast thy tunic over him
and give him a little parched corn from thy girdle,
with a drink of cool water from the lake ! Now raise
him up !"

This is conversion. The schoolmen might call it
regeneration, but regeneration is the divine side of
the great change and we have practically nothing to
do with it. But conversion is a turning about. We
turn about under the power of God. Our backs to
the darkness ; our faces to the light. Our backs to
the world, the flesh and the devil ; our faces toward
God and the endless life. This is a revolutionary
change. It is not a mere veneering, but runs through
and through the human fabric. The old colonial

THE STORY OF AN OUTCAST. — THE SEQUEL. 67

clock that stands in your hallway is adjusted every
morning by the turning of its hands, nor will it ever
keep time in a trustworthy way, until you have sum-
moned an expert to heal its constitutional infirmity.
A man may turn over a new leaf, but as to his being
made over again, that can only be done when he sub-
mits himself to God. A heart disease cannot be
healed with a fly-blister. " Not by might, nor by
power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord." The
change in this demoniac has been wrought from
above. He is a new creature in Christ Jesus; new
will, new heart, new conscience, new life. Old things
are passed away, behold, all things are become new.
Observe some of the tokens of this change :

I. He is ^'' clothe dy That is to say, he has re-
gained his self-respect, and with it a respect for the
courtesies of social life. Yesterday he would have
declaimed loudly about personal liberty ; his right to
be clothed or unclothed according to his pleasure.
But to-day he thinks not of himself only, but of his
fellow-men.

II. He is " in his right mind^ He was previously
wrong-minded as to all important things. God was
not in all his thoughts. Immortality was nothing to
him ; he lived for the present hour. His philosophy
was, " Let us eat and drink for to-morrow we die."
As to the beauty of holiness, this was repugnant to
him. He was accustomed to think of religion as
mere sanctimoniousness — a straight-laced melan-
choly. Perhaps he had seen it misrepresented in the
lives of professed religionists and he had no desire
for it. Now he longs for holiness ; it seems the most
delightsome thing in the world to him. And then as
to the person and character of Christ. If he knew

68 THE STORY OF AN OUTCAST. THE SEQUEL.

Christ at all, it was only to hate and despise him.
He was a root out of a dry ground and there was no
form or beauty in Him that this man should desire
him. Now there is no other in the universe so dear as
Jesus. No other face like his ; the chiefest among
ten thousand and the one altogether lovely. And
with respect to duty. Duty ! What had he formerly
to do with duty ? Now it is the principal thing.
Duty is destined henceforth to be the largest word in
his vocabulary — larger than sympathy, larger than
honor, larger than pleasure, larger than life. This
conviction marks the beginning of the spiritual life.
" What wilt thou have me to do ? " cried Saul of Tar-
sus, under the great sun-burst from heaven. " Let
me be with thee," cries the demoniac of Gadara,
" Let me sit at thy feet as a disciple ; let me follow in
thy steps." " Nay," said Jesus, " go down to thy
home and tell thy friends how great things the Lord
hath done for thee,"

in. At home. This man wanted to go with
Jesus ; but there were reasons why he could ac^
complish more in the narrow circle of his acquaints
ances than by joining the group of followers who ac.
companied Christ in his missionary work.

The home-coming of this saved man was most
pathetic. It may be that an old mother had for
years been praying for his return and hoping against
hope. God bless the dear faithful mothers who never
give up their wayward sons and daughters ; who
never forget the covenant and never lose hope! There
she sat, her withered hands folded in her lap, when
he stood in the door-way. Who shall tell the glad-
ness in her heart ? Who shall paint the brightness in
her dimmed eyes ? ... It would appear that a

THE STORY OF AN OUTCAST. — THE SEQUEL. 69

wife awaited him. Time was when at the altar she
passed with him under an arch of flowers out into the
joys and cares of wedded-life. He had promised to
love, honor and protect her. But as time passed
there came a cooling of love, neglect, a remaining
from home far into the night, a returning with red
eyes and angry words, and oh ! the horrible breath
of the wine cup. Then one night, when he did not
return at all, where had he gone ? Some of the
neighbors had seen him out in the tombs yonder,
gashed and bleeding and muttering to himself. On
stormy nights she lay awake and thought of him.
God be praised for conjugal life ; the love of the
faithful wife that weathers all gales ; the patience
of hopeful wives that holds fast to early vows and the
memory of former joys and the hope of a better time
coming. He sees her standing yonder by the door.
'* Wife, I've come back," he says. " I've come back
to begin again. I've seen Jesus of Nazareth and he has
cast out the demons. I've come back to you and the
children ; to life and God." . . . And his chil-
dren, how they dreaded his approach. They knew
his savage ways. They had been accustomed to run
and hide when he drew near, waving his hands and
uttering his angry blasphemies. Now they stand at
a distance awe-struck and wondering ; they had never
seen it on this fashion. " Come here," he says, " little
daughter, I will not hurt you " ; and the eldest re-
luctantly approaches. He parts her hair from her
forehead and with sad, loving words makes his con-
fession ; " I've been a bad father, dear ; but I've
met Jesus of Nazareth and the demons are gone."
His other children sidle near, wondering. At what?
At the same mystery of regeneration which puzzles

70 THE STORY OF AN OUTCAST. — THE SEQUEL.

the older people. And they allow themselves to be
taken upon his knees. He kisses them one by one
and the past is gone.

Up yonder on the wall is a chain hanging,
"Let us take it down, good wife. Please God, you
shall never call in the neighbors to bind me again."
And as he looks this way there is something glisten-
ing on his cheek, — a strong man's tear. Aye ; and
there is a rainbow of promise in it. " The sacrifices
of God are a broken spirit ; a broken and contrite
heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." So the new
life begins. There are scars on the man's face, his
cheeks are still white and thin, and he will long carry
about with him the marks of that awful nightmare
in the tombs. But here with wife and children
about him, ah, this is heaven begun on earth!

Is that all ? Oh no. On the evening of that day
he gathers his wife and children about him and tells
them the whole story, how it all happened. How he
saw the little boat upon the lake and ran down with
curses to meet it. How the strong Man looked who,
standing in the bow of the little boat, boldly faced
him. How, with a ring of conscious power in his
voice. He uttered those words, "Come out of him ! "
And then the awful struggle for a moment when life
and death tugged for the mastery within him ; and
how life won. "The Lord bade me,*' he con-
tinues, " return here to the old home and live down my
past and do good as I may have opportunity, by a
holy and helpful life. But I can't do that without
prayer. I am helpless and hopeless except as I have
strength from above. Let us kneel down, therefore,
and pray, * Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to thy loving kindness and according unto the multi-

THE STORY OF AN OUTCAST. THE SEQUEL. 7 I

tude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgres-
sions. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean ;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Open
thou my lips that my mouth shall show forth thy
praise.' A long pause, ^nd then : ' Bless the Lord,
O my soul, and all that is within me bless his holy
name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all
his benefits ; who forgiveth all thine iniquities and
redeemeth thy life from destruction. The Lord is
merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in
mercy. As far as the east is from the west, so far
hath he removed our transgressions from us. Bless
the Lord ye his angels that excel in strength ; that
do his commandments, hearkening to his voice. Bless
the Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion.
Bless the Lord, O my soul! ' " And thus the changed
man has changed his poverty-stricken home into the;
very gate of heaven. There may have been no tapes-
tries or pictures there ; little meal in the barrel, or
oil in the cruise ; but there was love and there was
the family altar. It was like the house of Obed-edom
with the Ark of the Covenant in the midst of it.

And was that all ? The next morning his neigh-
bors dropped in to see ; old friends who had known
him in earlier and better days ; some who had
joined in his revels and tarried with him long at the
wine. And they marvelled. His earnest face, his
evident sincerity, his interest in their welfare, won
for him a hearing. There was no gainsaying his
word. He told his simple story, keeping Jesus
always in the center of it. He was never weary of
sounding the praises of his friend. " He published
throughout the whole city what Jesus had done for
him."

72 THE STORY OF AN OUTCAST. THE SEQUEL.

Nor was that all. One chapter more remains. So
far as we are aware this man never saw Jesus again.
Nor did the Master ever return to Gadara. The
people, immediately after this miracle and before
they knew its whole bearing, had implored him to de-
part out of their coasts. It was a dreadful thing to
do on the impulse of the moment. And he had gone.
They stood and watched the little boat as it crossed
the lake, and knew not what they were losing. Fare-
well, O Christ ; Saviour, Helper, Friend of sinners, —
farewell ! The little boat has vanished and the light
of a great possibility has gone with it. Nay, not
wholly so ; for Christ in leaving had provided for the
need of these Gadarenes in his instructions to this
man. He required him to abide among them a liv-
ing epistle respecting His power to save. He was
true to that commission and went about doing good,
preaching the gospel in his humble way ; and at length
he fell on sleep. One moment he closed his eyes on
earth ; the next he opened them in heaven. Yonder
on the throne sat One like unto the Son of Man. O
light and glory unapproachable ! He was the same,
yet not the same. His hands were stretched out in
welcome, and the demoniac fell down before him, as
once before he had fallen before him at the lake-
shore, and cried, " Oh Jesus of Nazareth, let all
heaven hear ! I am the demoniac of Gadara. I
am he that dwelt among the tombs. I am he that
broke the silence of the night with cries of blas-
phemy, and thou didst restore me to hope and man-
hood and life. Thou are worthy to receive honor and
glory and power and dominion ; for thou hast brought
me into the land of everlasting peace ! "

And this is the gospel which I preach unto you,

THE STORY OF AN OUTCAST — THE SEQUEL. 73

the gospel of a glorious salvation, of a Christ able to
save sinners of the deepest dye, — a mighty gospel ;
to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks
foolishness ; but to them which believe, the wisdom
and the power of God I

THE ASCENT OF MAN.

" I will make a man more precious than fine goldf even than the golden wedge
of Ophir."— IsA. xiii. 12.

We come upon these words in a prophecy respect-
ing the fall of Babylon. Babylon stands for the
world-power; for wealth and arrogance; for carnal
pleasures and selfish pursuits. It stands for fleets
and armies ; for the subordination of the people to
princes, of the many to the few. The overthrow of
Babylon means the restitution of all things, the
building up of the kingdom of heaven on earth, the
uprooting of envy and jealousy and inordinate am-
bition, the ushering in of the Golden Age. Of the
tokens of the approach of this millenial epoch none
is more significant than this, that manhood shall be
placed at its true value. " I will make a man more
precious than fine gold ; even than the golden wedge
of Ophir."

The two ever-present thoughts of Scripture are
God and Man. We say, " I believe in God the Father
Almighty." How easy it is to utter the name, but
who shall tell what infinite universes of meaning are
in it ? God ; — infinite, eternal, unchangeable in his
being and attributes. God ; — omnipotent, omniscient,
omnipresent ! And along with this runs the thought
of Man, — Man, who borrows all his greatness from his
relations with God. " When I consider thy heavens^ the

(74)

THE ASCENT OF MAN. 75

work of thy fingers^ the moon and the stars, which thou hast
ordained ; what is man, that thou art mind/til of him ? and
the son of man, that thou visitest him ? For thou hast
made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned
him with glory aftd honor. Thou madest him to have do-
minion over the work of thy hands ; thou hast put all things
under his feet : all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of
the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and
whatsoever passeth throtigh the paths of the sea'' The
apostrophe of Edward Young is but a paraphrase :

" How poor, how rich, how abject, how august,
How complicate, how wonderful, is man !
How passing wonder He who made him such !
Who centred in our make such strange extremes,
From different natures marvellously mixed,
Connection exquisite of distant worlds !
Distinguished link in being's endless chain !
Midway from nothing to Deity !
A beam ethereal, sullied, and absorpt !
Though sullied and dishonored, still divine I
Dim miniature of greatness absolute !
An heir of glory ! a frail child of dust !
Helpless immortal ! insect infinite !
A worm ! a God !"

The subject of our thought is the Christian doc-
trine of Man. The Scriptures are very definite as to
three points :

First. The divine origin of Man. We are intro-
duced into a council of the ineffable Trinity in which
we hear the several persons of the Godhead saying,
to one another, " Let us make man in our image, after
our likeness." Here is God's masterpiece, the crown-
ing work of his creative hand.

Set over against that Scriptural statement the words
of Charles Darwin : "Man is descended from a hairy

76 THE ASCENT OF MAN.

quadruped, arboreal in its habits." If the Scriptural
record is to be believed, man stands at the summit of
all created things. He is vicegerent under the uni-
versal King; ''having," as Emerson says, "in his
senses the morning and night and the unfathomable
galaxy, and in his brain the geometry of the city of
God." But if Darwin is to be believed, Man is the
product of insensate laws acting on dead atoms ; the
last outgrowth of a pedigree of bestial ancestors ; the
sum total of environment, air, food, water, nurses
physicians, associations and culture. Let Thomas
Carlyle speak : " I have known three generations of
the Darwins, grandfather, father and son ; atheists
all. It is related that among the grandfather's effects
was found a seal engraven with this legend, Om7iia
ex conchis^ — Everything from a clam-shell. A good
sort of man is this Darwin and well meaning, but
with very little intellect. Ah, it's a sad and terrible
thing to see a whole generation of men and women,
professing to be cultivated, looking around in a pur-
blind fashion and rinding no God in this universe. I
suppose it is a reaction from the reign of Kant. And
this is what we have got to. All things from frog-
spawn ! The gospel of dirt the order of the day."

If we must needs choose between the two theories
of human origin, let us cling to the traditional self-
respect v/hich comes from our belief that we are born
of God. Give us to feel ourselves the kings and
prophets of this world and the blessed world to come.

The philosophers of the olden time were greatly
puzzled to find a definition of man. The best that
Plato — who stood head and shoulders above them all
— could do, was to say, after long thinking, "Man is a
featherless biped." How splendidly in contrast with

THE ASCENT OF MAN. 77

that sage observation, shines the Scriptural record:
" So God created man in his own image ; in the
image of God, created He him. And He gave him
dominion over the fish of the sea, and the fowl of the
air and over all the earth and over every creeping
thing."

" O mighty brother soul of man
Where'er thou art, or low or high,
Thy skyey arches with exultant span
O'er-roof infinity."

A triple inheritance comes to us by reason of this
divine origin :

(i) Mind. Not simply that faculty of perception
and calculation which is seen in many of the lower
orders — by which the fox, for example, can measure
the brook before he undertakes to leap it — but a fac-
ulty by which we are enabled to confront the great
verities and problems of the endless life. By this
faculty we are enabled, furthermore, to confer with
the Infinite, as it is written ; " Come now, saith the
Lord, let us reason together."

(2) Conscience. By this we are enabled to deter-
mine between right and wrong, or as Plato said, "to
discern between the worse and better reason." Our
moral sense brings us into an apprehension of the
word "ought ; " by which are resolved all the ques-
tions of human responsibility ; that is to say, all
questions which concern our immediate relations with
God.

(3) Will. A sovereign will. It is difficult, if not
impossible, to see how God could have created man
in his own likeness without endowing him with an
independent will. Yet, obviously, that way lies dan-
ger. For here is suggested the possibility of going

78 THE ASCENT OF MAN.

either right or wrong. It is common in these days to
speak of "the reign of law. " All things in the universe
are indeed under the reign of law. There is no crys-
tal which is not formed according to an invariable
rule. The stars of heaven revolve without swerving
an inch from their appointed orbit. The flowers of
the field are in perfect harmony with the laws of their
being. The birds migrate and return when nature
strikes the hour. Nowhere will you find disobedi-
ence until you come to the province of man. He is
distinguished from ail existing things, animate or in-
animate, in this, that when law says "Thou shalt ! "
he can answer "I will not ! " And in this very free-
dom of the will, which is perverted into wilfulness,
the bitter source of all his miseries, we find the pre-
eminent evidence of his kinship with God.

Second. The Scriptures have a definite message as to
the destiny of man. We are reminded at this point that
the Scriptures do not assert the immortality of the
soul. But why should they ? This is the fundamen-
tal postulate on which the whole fabric of Scripture
rests. If the soul is not immortal, this volume of
revelation is as meaningless as a last year's almanac.
But in fact while immortality is not stated as a prop-
osition or in syllogistic form, the Book is everywhere
full of it.

It says, among other things, that when God
created man he breathed into his nostrils the breath
of life, and he became a living soul. So then the
life of man is the breath of God. A zephyr comes
this way laden with the fragrance of an oriental gar-
den or the faint murmur of a distant song and passes
by. What has become of it? Has it ceased to be ?
O no. A mere tyro in science will tell you that even

THE ASCENT OF MAN. 79

SO slender a force as a zephyr can never cease to be.
What then becomes of this breath which God has
breathed into every man ? Can death destroy it ?
Nay ; this is but the passing of the soul. It still lives
somewhere and is destined to live forever and ever,

A like suggestion is found in the old problem,
" What shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole
world and lose his own soul ? or what shall a man
give in exchange for his soul ? " Here is a drunkard
in the ditch — red-faced, filthy, ragged, his blood pol-
luted, his flesh sodden, the flies buzzing about him.
You can scarcely abide the sight. But look again
and deeper, for there is a man within this man, down
deeper than clothes and cuticle. A man made in
God's image and made to live somewhere forever.
You will note the proof of his greatness when he
presently rises from his shame and reels along his
way muttering his maudlin sorrow. He struggles to
his feet. He enters into conflict, ill or well, with his
passions. He weeps over his sins. He repents and
begins a noble life. Not so do swine return from
their wallow or dogs from their vomit. There is
all the time something still lingering in this poor
wretch far superior to anything which you may find
in the lower orders of life. It is his divineness, his
manhood, buttressed by a sweet memory and an un-
speakably precious hope.

And what mean all these apocalyptic visions ; for
the Scriptures are a book of visions ? Here are doors
opening before us, and yonder toward the night be-
hold the smoke of torment ascending and hear cries
and curses and sobs of despair. And yonder a city
with gates of pearl and pavements of gold ; light,
beauty and the singing of a multitude like the far-off

8o THE ASCENT OF MAN.

murmuring of many waters. " Who are these %\\
white robes with palms in their hands and whetice
came they ? These are they which came up out of
great tribulation and have washed their robes in the
blood of the Lamb. And they shall hunger no more,
neither thirst any more ; neither shall the sun light
on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in
the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall
lead them unto living fountains of waters ; and God
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes."

Third. A clear light is also thrown upo7i the history
of man — the long history that lies between his origin
and the ultimate fulfilment of his destiny. It is
written in two chapters :

(i) The Fall. The man who was created in God's
likeness passes out of the garden, his head fallen upon
his breast and his heart bowed under an unspeakable
burden of shame. Something has happened. Call it
The Fall, or whatever you will. A new and calamitous
factor has come into the problem, to-wit, — sin. We
follow this man as he turns his back upon the gate of
paradise, guarded by its flaming sword. We shall see
him tilling the earth, which is accursed for his sake,
with groans of weariness. We shall see him bending
over his dead with bitter tears. We shall find him
mingling in wars and confusions, his garments dipped
in blood. Aye, something has happened. It is a
long way from Eden to Esdraelon. This man is but
a ruin of his former self. The glory is departed. He
is, however, a magnificent ruin ! As in some old
temple we can close our eyes and see the priest dis-
robed, discrowned, walking amid the crumbling walls
and bewailing the glory of the former days, so is it
with this fallen child of God.

THE ASCENT OF MAN. 8t

(2) The Restoration. In the midst of the deso-
lation is raised the cross and the word goes forth ; "I
will make a man more precious than fine gold; even
than the p^olden wedge of Ophir."

It is plain at the outset that there can be no resto-
ration of this ruin until there has been a clearing
away of the debris. The past must, somehow, be
gotten out of the way. It is vain to speak of char-
acter building so long as our sin abides upon us,
But here is our promise ; '* Come now, saith the Lord.
let us reason together, though your sins be as scarlet
they shall be as white as snow." "The blood of
Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin."

Then the upbuilding. God who made us, can re-
make us. The same Spirit that breathed into our
nostrils the breath of life can again breathe into us a
new and nobler life. The man who, sensible of God's
pardoning grace in Jesus Christ, undertakes to perfect
himself in manhood, may rest assured of divine re-
enforcement. He is referred to the precepts of Scrip-
ture for his guidance in conduct. He is referred
to Jesus Christ, the ideal Man, as his Exemplar,
and is instructed to proceed in this holy endeavor
looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of his
faith. And still further, he receives the enabling
influence of the Holy Ghost. "Work out your own
salvation, for it is God that worketh in you." "Add,"
"grow," "be strong," "go on unto perfection."
Thus the temple rises. The graces are as living
stones and life is a long endeavor to attain unto the
full stature of a man.

In this connection let us bear with us two practi-
cal thoughts : First^ Know thyself. Know thine ori-
gin and destiny as a child of God. The shield of

82 THE ASCENT OF MAN.

Luther bore on one side two hammers, the token of
his father's handicraft ; and on the obverse a winged-
heart with this legend, Astra petimus. A man may be
bound down to the sordid toil of the workshop, but
never in such a manner as that he may not realize
the responsibility of vaster, nobler tasks.

" Rise my soul and stretch thy wings,
Thy better portion trace.
Rise from transitory things,
Toward heaven, thy native place."

Knd finally. Know thy neighbor. Know him also
as a child of God. As we pass along the crowded
thoroughfare, let us realize that every one we jostle is
destined to eternity. Let us return to our drunkard
fallen by the way and gaze upon him with an infinite
sorrow and compassion, nearing meanwhile that di-
vine word : " What shall it profit a man if he gain the
whole world and lose his own soul?" By the side of
this poor wretch pile up a mountain of gold, private
fortunes, national exchequers, crowns, royal jewels,
diadems of the Pharaohs and Caesars, pearls of the
ocean, all the gold that lies buried in the bosom of
the everlasting hills, and reflect that this Popo-
catapetl of wealth is nothing, nothing, in comparison
with the value of that drunkard's soul. Then let us go
our way and remember, that as children of the King-
dom we have no business but to co-operate with
Christ in the restoring of all such to their original
glory as children of God. The way is clear, the cross
has been uplifted, the fountam of blood has been
opened for uncleanness, the Spirit of power de-
scends upon us. Let us lend a hand to the glorious
work of restoring the race. For this is the true and
only "Ascent of Man.'*

"LOOSE HIM AND LET HIM GO."

" Loose him and let him go." — John xi. 44.

We are introduced in the home at Bethany to the
commonplace life of a brother and two dependent
sisters. Of the latter we have clear information.
Mary was a woman of strong affections, attached to
the members of her own household, and devotedly
fond of the Nazarene prophet, who was frequently
entertained here as a welcome guest. We behold her
sitting, in rapt attention and reverent love, at Jesus*
feet. Martha was cumbered with much serving ; the
care of the household fell upon her, and little wonder
if she occasionally lost her equanimity amid the fret
and worry of her multitudinous tasks. Yet, under
the troubled surface of her life ran also a clear stream
of affectionate and practical loyalty to Christ. It is
a curious fact, however, that we know next to nothing
of Lazarus. Was he possessed of brilliant gifts or
extraordinary traits of character? What was his
handicraft ? We have no record of a single word
that ever fell from his lips. It is said, however, that
"Jesus loved him." And when the end drew near —
the dark shadow in the doorway, the breath fluttering
and the pulse beating slow — a message was sent to
Jesus over at Bethabara : " He whom thou lovest is

(83)

84 "loose him and let him go."

sick." That was enough. The Master — taking his
own time, as if to teach the lesson of patience in faith —
answered the summons ; and here he is facing the
tomb.

It is the crisis of a great battle. The Prince of
Life and the King of Terrors are at close quarters
Naught separates them but yonder stone at the mouth
of the sepulchre. Christ has no fear of the issue —
nay, he is eager to meet his adversary. "Take ye
away the stone ! " The attendants had already laid
their hands upon it when Martha interposed : " Nay,
Lord, he hath been dead four days ; by this time
there is corruption." Death ? corruption ? dust ?
What are these to the Sovereign of Life ? " Did I
not tell thee, Martha, that if thou wouldst believe,
thou shouldst see the glory of God ? " And then
again, " Roll ye away the stone ! "

It was done. A moment's prayer. Then the bat-
tle was joined. With a loud voice Jesus cried, "Lazarus^
come forth ! " See yonder in the far recesses of the
tomb there are shadows moving. He comes this way,
swathed in white, bound about his face with a napkin,
moving with tardy, shuffling steps — a blind man
groping his way from darkness to light ; a dead man
feeling his way to newness of life. "Quick; John!
Peter ! James ! Why stand ye trembling and shiver-
ing? Unswathe his bandages, unbind the napkin
about his face, loose him and let him go ! "

So Lazarus returned among men. But of what
he did, how he deported himself in the after time, we
are as ignorant as of his former life. Did he ever
speak, in answer lo the eager questioning of his
townsmen, of what he had seen and heard during
those four days among the shades ? Or had God

LOOSE HIM AND LET HLM GO." 85

in some manner sealed his lips ? It is quite certain
that those mysterious days had not been passed
in unconsciousness. "Soul sleeping" has no place
in reason or in common sense. "To-day shalt thou
be with me in paradise" is the Master's word to
the soul on the further borders of time. Lazarus had
been somewhere mingling with the immortals, and
we may venture to assume that the remembrance of
that brief sojourn in the spiritual world was not
without its influence on his after life.

Tne word of Jesus, " Come forth," had called him
out of the land of shadows into a renewal of the com-
mon tasks of life among men. His friends, in re-
sponse to the injunction, " Loose him and let him go,"
were given an opportunity of joining hands with
Jesus in the induction of this man into newness of
life.

I. He came forth into the glorious liberty of the chil-
dren of God. But what does that mean — the glorious
liberty of the children of God ?

It means, to begin with, the liberty of truth. He
is the free man whom the truth makes free. We are
mistaken in attributing to the so-called freethinker a
freedom which does not belong to those who pursue
reverently and with due regard for the laws and
limitations of thought, the quest of spiritual and eter-
nal truth. The man who doubts is more or less be-
wildered, and bewilderment is not freedom, but bond-
age. The man who yields to prejudice is likewise not
his own master. A Brahman, under bonds to ob-
serve the sanctity of law, was shown through the
microscope a drop of water swarming with animal-
culae. He could drink no water henceforth without,
as he supposed, perpetrating ten thousand murders at

S6 ''loose him and let him go."

a draught. *' Is there another microscope in this
country?' asked he. On being assured that this
was the only one, he broke it in pieces ; and so, re-
storing himself to his former bondage under false-
hood, rejoiced to call himself free. Such is human
nature. Such is prejudice, but, O for a glimpse into
eternity ! When Lazarus returned, it was to an
untrammelled franchise over all the thoroughfares of
truth.

And he entered, also, into the liberty of duty. His
conviction as to the great verities must have affected
his life. Duty took upon itself a new significance and
emphasis. He was henceforth free to do right. He
was a citizen of the great Commonwealth which is
organized under the Higher Law. Earth seemed
small to him and heaven great. Wealth, pleasure,
and the emoluments of earthly glory, were as the
small dust of the balance in contrast with the great
responsibilities which had revealed themselves to
him. The tasks of a holy life were no more bond-
age, but joyous service. The things which had been
difficult would now be easy. I have seen a little child
lean over the taffrail, and with her slender fingers
help the boatswain draw a bucket of water out of the
ocean ; and she found no difficulty at all until the
burden came to the surface ; then all her strength
could not budge it. So all tasks are easy when we
are working " in our element." To do the things of
the kingdom is grievous bondage to those outside of
the kingdom. But when we have realized the truth
and importance of eternal things, then we rejoice in
duty as the Master did when he said, "In the volume
of the Book it is written of me, I rejoice to do thy
will."

" LOOSE HIM AND LET HIM GO.** 87

II. It may also be safely said that Lazarus in com-
ing out of his old life, through a brief sojourn in
eternity into a renewal of his earthly tasks, entered
upon a wise apprehension of the dignity of nian.

He must have regarded himself with an increased
respect. If ever he had doubted his immortality, he
could doubt no more. He knew whence he came and
whither he was bound. He knew his place in the
kingdom of truth and righteousness. The Scribes
and Pharisees viewed him with suspicion and would
have put him to death for his innocent part in this
miracle. But what cared he ? The Apostle Paul on
one occasion was moved to say, with respect to cer-
tain criticisms which had been passed upon him,
" Let no man trouble me ; I bear about in my body the
marks of the Lord Jesus." A glorious declaration of
independence ! He was branded with the stigmata
of faithful service. Marks of the scourge, the callous
marks of fetters on his wrists, bruises made by the
shower of stones. He was entitled to the service-
chevron. So Lazarus might say with an added em-
phasis, " I have been through the valley of the shadow.
I have lain in the dungeon of the King of Terrors.
I have worn the cerements of night. The pains of
death are loosed. Trouble me not ! I have looked
with open eyes upon my destiny. I know my man-
hood; and mark me, if henceforth I quit myself not
like a man."

And by the same token he was prepared to ac-
knowledge the equal dignity of all his fellow-men.
The adventitious circumstances by which men are
placed on various levels were as nothing to him.
Gold was sordid dust. Crowns were toys for chil-
dren to play with. Manhood was everything. Here

88 ''loose him and let him go."

is the glory of the gospel, " The secret of Messiah
is the secret of man."

The great manifesto of human equality was that
which Paul uttered by divine inspiration on Mars
Hill: ''God hath made of one blood all nations of
men for to dwell upon the face of the earth." The
best transcript ever made of that statement is in
the preamble of our American Magna Charta : "All
men are created free and equal and with certain
inalienable rights." This, however, will not bear
analysis. In point of fact all men are not created
free ; multitudes are born into a condition of natural
servitude or under horrible bonds of inherited vice
and disease and shame. Nor are all men created
equal ; multitudes are born inferior to their fellows
in natural and inherited gifts; born dwarfs, idiots,
hopeless paupers. So that if the proposition is to
be regarded as true, it must be only as stated in its
original form: all are of "one blood," and are
therefore entitled to equal rights as children of
God.

III. In his return from the grave Lazarus, more-
over, entered into the gospel of reco7iciliation ; he came
forth to the service of jnen.

In view of his brief experience in the unseen world
he must have understood thenceforth that salvation
for himself was not a mere process of personal deliver-
ance from death. In recognition of the possibilities
of human nature it devolved upon him to bring others
to a knowledge of truth. He saw men with his
Master's eyes. He saw them as sheep without a shep-
herd. He could not leave them to their fate without
an utmost endeavor to admonish and persuade them
respecting the endless life.

"loose him and let him go." 89

You may never have observed the incompleteness
of the first part of the " Pilgrim's Progress." In that
great allegory the man who flees from the City of
Destruction is represented as going alone, leaving
his dear ones behind, and crying as he turned his
back on the former things, " Life ! Life ! Eternal
life ! " Alone he pursues his journey, save as here
and there he falls in with fellow-travellers intent
like himself on a personal salvation, until he passes
through the gate into the City of God. Not so
does the Christian life appear to those who have
caught its spirit from an intimate acquaintance with
the unseen or from the example of the Christ. "They
that be wise, shall shine as the brightness of the firm-
ament ; and they that turn many to righteousness, as
the stars forever and ever." And John Bunyan was
not unmindful of this fact, for the sequel tells of the
pilgrimage of Christiana and her children.

The reconciliation of the gospel, however, is not
merely a restoration of right relations between men
and God ; it is a gospel of peace on earth and good-
will among men. On January ist, 1863, with a stroke
of his pen, President Lincoln liberated four millions of
slaves. It was an infinitely grander deed that was
accomplished on Calvary when Jesus cried, " It is
finished!" There was a rattling of broken chains
in that instant over all the earth and down along the
ages. Here was the great at-one-ment, not only of
man with God, but of man with his fellow-men, in
the consummation of which all wrongs shall ultimately
be righted. Swords shall be beaten into plough-
shares and spears into pruning hooks, and peace shall
reign from the river unto the ends of the earth.

As you walk about the streets of Paris you may

go "loose him and let HtM GO.

see upon the walls of churches, palaces, legislative
halls, everywhere, these cabalistic words : ^''Liberty,
Equality, Fraternity !'' What memories gather about
them. They recall the Reign of Terror, the Medicis,
the Girondists, the Bastile, the guillotine, mobs, mur-
ders and conflagrations, the turnings and overturn-
ings of long despair and a last futile struggle. There
is nothing, or next to nothing, to show for it. Yet
those words represent the deepest, highest, divinest
longings of man in his relations with his fellow-men.

It will be observed that the new world of Lazarus
to which he returned from those mysterious days of
absence, was represented by these truths : Liberty,
Equality, Fraternity ; that is to say, the glorious
liberty of the children of God, a wise apprehension
of the true dignity of man, and the gospel of rec-
onciliation. The world in which we are living, will
in the Golden Age be dominated by these truths.
And the years of history are hastening on to this con-
summation.

What the violence of the dreadful period of the
French Revolution and of all wars and convulsions
have not been able to accomplish, is being brought
about by the calm operation of the gospel of peace.
If it were proposed to bring down Gibraltar to the
level of the sea by the use of gunpowder, it would be
regarded as the fancy of an unsettled brain ; but the
atmosphere and sunlight are doing that very thing.
Slowly, silently they are crumbling the mighty rock
and sifting it into the sea. So is the gospel doing its
work. Wars, tumults, revolutions, play their part in
the age-long problem ; but it is the power of the sun-
light that gathers about the cross and of the atmos-
phere that emanates from that stupendous manifes-

"LOOSE HIM AND LET HIM GO. 01

tation of infinite love, that will ultimately bring about
the restitution of all things.

Let us rejoice meanwhile that we are chosen to
co-operate in this work. " Roll ye away the stone,"
said Jesus to his disciples ; not because he could not
have himself attended to that small task, but he would
enlist their service. " Loose him and let him go," he
said; he could himself have unwound the bandages,
but that is not his way of doing things. He is saving
the world through us. There are multitudes of souls
awakening to the glory of the better life — moving,
like Lazarus, with slow, uncertain, tottering steps
from darkness to light. His word to every one of his
followers is, ** Lend a hand. Loose them and let
them go." Why stand we idle at the grave's mouth ?
We cannot regenerate, we cannot quicken from the
dead ; but we can suffer the Master to use us. The
great Emancipator speaks. Unbind the cerements !
This is practical "Altruism.'* This is the work of all
true believers. So may we help our Master in accom-
plishing the restoration of the race to the glory of
God.

THE GENEALOGY OF JESUS.

" The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ."— Matt. i. i.

It is a significant fact that the genealogy of Jesus
is given twice in the Gospels, to-wit ; by St. Matthew
and St. Luke. We think it dry reading — this cata-
logue of names variously spelled and not easy to pro-
nounce ; but there is a sufficient reason for it.

"All Scripture given by inspiration is profitable."
We readily concede this as applied to certain favorite
portions of Holy Writ, such as the twenty-third Psalm,
the story of a pilgrim coming out of the wilderness
leaning on his beloved ; the fifty-third of Isaiah, a
splendid foregleam of the coming of Messias ; the
fourteenth of John, the home-bringing of God's chil-
dren ; the thirteenth of first Corinthians, " Now abide
faith, hope and charity, and the greatest of these is
charity ; " the fifteenth of first Corinthians, life and
immortality brought to light. But the statement ap-
plies with equal force to all other portions of Scrip-
ture ; and notably to this genealogical table which is
as dry as Homer's catalogue of ships.

I. We may learn from this genealogical table that
the Christian religion centers in a personality. At this
point it is differentiated from all other religions.
Observe,

(9a)

THE GENEALOGY OF JESUS. 93

(i) It does not principally consist in a creed ; that
is to say, a system of formulated truths. It must not
be inferred from this, however, that doctrines are un-
important. At this moment the people of America
are discussing with great interest and earnestness the
Monroe Doctrine ; for the defense of which it has ap-
peared possible that we may be plunged into war
with our brethren beyond the sea. Let us pray that
this may not be the outcome. Indeed war is unlikely
for two reasons, namely; England cannot afford it
and America cannot afford it. Let this, however, be
said, that the so-called Monroe Doctrine — a formu-
lation of the truth that the great powers beyond
the Atlantic must not interfere with the integrity of
American States and governments — represents a prin-
ciple which is of vital importance to the welfare and
perpetuity of our Republic. Is it not strange, how-
ever, that while all our people are practically united
in recognition of this political " Doctrine" there should
be such a general disposition to deny the importance
of "doctrines" in the far higher realm of spiritual
things ?

(2) Neither does our religion place its fundamen-
tal emphasis upon a moral code. It offers indeed the
only perfect ethical system in the world ; consisting,
in brief, of the Decalogue and the Sermon on the
Mount ; the latter being Christ's exposition of the
former. No man can be a true follower of Christ
without recognizing the importance of these rules of
conduct and adjusting his life and character to them.
Nevertheless the heart of Christianity is deeper than
this. Buddhism boasts of an elaborate system called
"The Noble Eight-fold Path ;" touching every pos-
sible or conceivable relation of human life. But it

94 THE GENEALOGY OF JESUS.

begins and ends in selfishness. There is no spiritual
uplift in it.

(3) Nor shall we find the essence of Christianity
in ritual. The teaching of our Lord Jesus is very
distinct upon this point. He denounced the hypoc-
risy of the Scribes and Pharisees because, while out-
wardly blameless and most scrupulous as to the ob-
servance of the rites and ceremonies of Israel, they
were quite devoid of inward spiritual life. He took
occasion to wipe out of existence, with a wave of his
hand, the whole ceremonial system of the Old Econo-
my, on the ground that it was fulfilled in the Gospel.
In so doing, he preserved the memory of that system,
with all that it contained of value, in two simple sac-
raments, namely ; Baptism and the Lord's Supper.
And in establishing these sacraments — the former to
take the place of all purifications, the latter of all
sacrifices — he was careful to prescribe the utmost
simplicity in their observance. We, therefore, recog-
nize the importance of these rites, but only in their
proper place as incidental to the great underlying
and indwelling life of Christianity.

This life of Christianity is in a personal relation
of the soul with Jesus Christ, He is Alpha and
Omega ; the first and last letters of the alphabet of
life and character. He is the beginning of all high
purpose and splendid hope ; the end of all true am-
bition and holy endeavor. He is first, last, midst, and
all in all.

II. We learn again from this genealogical table
that Jesus, as the living centre of Christianity, was " very
man of very man.'' He was of common blood and
lineage with those whom he came to redeem. We
shall find his divinity brought out clearly in other

THE GENEALOGY OF JESUS. 95

portions of Scripture as "very God of very God ;"
but at this point the distinct emphasis is put upon the
fact that he took part of our human nature. And
this it would appear was necessary to the accomplish-
ment of his work.

God might have revealed himself indeed in angelic
form, as when he stood before Joshua with drawn
sword announcing himself as Captain of the host.
He might possibly have manifested his divine glory
without the intervention of fleshly form. He might
have withdrawn the curtains of heaven and appeared in
glory, seated upon his throne. But in that event men,
corrupted by sin and disabled for such bright visions,
would have fled affrighted before him, calling upon
the rocks and the hills to cover them. He might
possibly have come as the Gnostics and Docetists
thought, as the mere inhabitant of a fleshly form with-
out the assumption of human nature — a theophany
whose human appearance was a mere phantom. But
this is not the doctrine of the incarnation. The fact
of the incarnation is that God so assumed a fleshly
body as that Godhood and manhood were blended
into a single personality, woven in warp and woof of
the Theanthropic Christ.

It is not easy to conceive how otherwise he could
so have entered into fellowship with humanity as to
accomplish its deliverance from sin. It is said of
Warren Hastings that he lived only to repair the lost
fortunes of his family. He was the son of a village
clergyman. As a lad he stood in the doorway of his
father's house and looked out on the vast estate as
far as his young eyes could see and remembered that
these had belonged to his fathers. He resolved then
that he would yet be Hastings of Daylesford; and

g6 THE GENEALOGY OF JESUS.

through all his long life he pursued that resolution
with dauntless will and courage. Macaulay says :
" When under a tropical sun he ruled over fifty mil-
lions of Asiatics, his hopes, amid all the cares of war,
finance and legislation, still pointed to Daylesford.
And when his long public life, so singularly checkered
with good and evil, with glory and obloquy, had at
length closed forever, it was to Daylesford that he re-
turned todie." So the only begotten Son of God entered
into fellowship with us that he might retrieve the fort-
unes of the family name. He purposed to buy back the
heritage which was ours by birth but had been squan-
dered through sin. He took our name, he assumed
our blood, in order that he might become our Goel,
our Daysman. He became flesh of our flesh, bone of
our bone ; taking not on him the nature of angels,
but of men. He paid the ransomed price on Calvary
and restored the glory of man.

ni. It is made to appear from this genealogical
list that Jesus was of noble ancestry. It need scarcely
be said that this was not for the mere purpose of
blazoning his name. There is no more frivolous
business in this world than tuft-hunting.

" Honor and shame from no condition rise,
Act well your part, there all the honor lies."

There was, however, a special reason for establish-
ing the legitimacy of Jesus. An inheritance was in-
volved and the succession to a throne. If Jesus is to
be recognized as the Messiah, three points must be
distinctly shown. First ; He must be in the direct
line of David. The promise given to David was that
the sovereignty should abide in his family until the
coming of Emmanuel, in whom the ultimate hope of

THE GENEALOGY OF JESUS. 97

Israel should be fulfilled. In this genealogy it is
made to appear that Jesus was the son of David.
Second; It must be shown that he was descended in
an unbroken line from Abraham. For the covenant
with Abraham was this, ''In thy seed shall all the
nations of the earth be blessed." At this point also
the messianic claim of Jesus is unimpeached and un-
impeachable ; he is the son of Abraham. Third ; As
he is to be an universal Saviour and King of the
whole human race, his lineage must be traced to
Adam. This also is made clear. He vindicates his
title as Son of Man.

IV. There are some names in this lineage which are
obviously no better than they ought to be. Here is Ruth, a
Moabitess ; outside of the Commonwealth of Israel
and belonging to a tribe forbidden to enter God's
house unto the tenth generation. Here is Rahab, the
harlot, and of the abominable seed of the Canaan-
ites. Here is Bath-sheba, the wife of Uriah, co-par-
cener with David in his dreadful sin. Here is Ahaz,
a gross idolater who required his own children to pass
through the fires. Here is Manasseh, who was trans-
ported to Babylon to wear out, in a shameful bond-
age, the penalty of his misdeeds. Here is Amon,
one of the very basest of kings, who was murdered
by his servants. Strange links these in the genea-
logical chain of the Messiah. Why are these incor-
porated here ?

(i) Perhaps to teach that he who would establish
his birthright must take the units of succession as
they come. Those who are beggars of the past can-
not be choosers of their blood. We would probably
be slow to utter Burns' words :

98 THE GENEALOGY OF JESUS.

" My ancient but ignoble blood

Has crept through scoundrels ever since the flood."

Nevertheless it is greatly to be doubted if there is
a living man who can trace his lineage backward
without discovering any taint of dishonor. And even
at this point Jesus, as the Son of Man, became our
fellow. The mixed blood of good, bad and indifferent
people flows through his veins.

(2) It means moreover that wicked people have a
place in the divine economy. They cannot block the
divine purpose but are used and overruled so as to
accomplish God's glory. Some of our young En-
deavorers have recently united in prayer for one of our
notorious infidels. The wisdom of so doing is called
in question. No promise is given that prayer shall
be answered for the gratification of a whim. One
soul is of no more value than another soul. Never-
theless all prayer is answered as God deems wisest
and best. He forced Sennacherib to serve his own
great purpose and said, " I will put my hook in his
nose and my bridle in his lips and will lead him back
by the way that he came." No doubt some of those
who are named in this genealogical table of Jesus would
have been glad, if the matter had been submitted to
them, to prevent the coming of the Christ. But they
were not consulted. God simply used them. They
had a place in his general plan. " He maketh the
wrath of men to praise him."

(3) The occurrence of these names gives us also
to understand that no man is a mere creature of hered-
ity or circumstance. The blood of evil ancestry
flowed in the veins of the Nazarene, but he was supe-
rior to it. Heredity is indeed a momentous fact, but
it is not entitled to a small fraction of the importance

THE GENEALOGY OF JESUS. 99

which is assigned to it in moral and material thera-
peutics. A man is arrested for theft and brought be-
fore our civil courts ; his attorney searches among
his ancestors and discovers that some of them were
guilty of theft, and immediately enters this fact as an
extenuating plea ; and his client is cleared as a klep-
tomaniac. He is not a kleptomaniac ; he is a thief.
A man acquires the drinking habit and disgraces
himself; a search is made along his pedigree, and it
is discovered that he has inherited his taste for liquor;
so he is pronounced a dipsomaniac. All rubbish! He
is not a dipsomaniac, but a plain drunkard. The fact
is that if the taint of ancestral blood could be justly
entered as an extenuation for ill-doing, we should all
be exculpated. But, blessed be God, we have in the
grace of Jesus Christ power over both heredity and
environment, and the test of true manhood is to
prove one's self superior to them. Every man is,
under God, the architect of his own fortune. Every
man, be he saint or sinner, is a self-made man.

V. The length of this genealogical table marks the ful-
ness of time. There is not a name too few or too many,
It was said by Napoleon that the Austrians were de-
feated at the battle of Rivoli "because they were not
on the minute." God is never too early, never too
late. He never hurries, yet is he not slack concern-
ing his promise.

The time represented by this succession of names
was some thousands of years. Meanwhile the world
was waiting for Christ. The hearts of the faithful
were agonizing for his advent. Souls were perishing
in multitudes, groping after truth and passing out
into the endless night. How long, O Lord .? how
long? But there were reasons for this long delay.

94032

lOO THE GENEALOGY OF JESUS.

A three-fold preparation was necessary for the com-
ing of the Christ. The Jews, as the chosen people,
were entrusted with the work of leavening the nations
with monotheism ; and they were doing it. The
Greeks must perfect themselves in the philosophic
method and must formulate a language for the ex-
pression of spiritual truths ; and they were doing it.
The Romans must conquer the earth and cast up an
highway for the coming of the King ; and they were
doing it. The roads which were built to the remotest
corners of the earth were supposed to be for the con-
venience of Caesar and his armies, but in God's pur-
pose they were for the coming of Messiah and the
speeding of his messengers with the tidings of life.
As soon as this three-fold preparation had been ac-
complished, the signal was given and the angels sang
their advent song : " Glory to God in the highest,
peace on earth, good will toward men."

All history — from chaos to the Christian Era —
Eden, the Deluge, the Confusion of Tongues, the
Egyptian bondage, the Deliverance, the Conquest of
the promised Land ; rural life, pastoral life, city life,
royalty, yeomanry, handicraft, braincraft, statecraft ;
Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Rome ; leg-
end, tradition, chronicle — all history passes before us,
in this genealogical table, on its way toward Bethle-
them where it finds in the Christ-child the consumma-
tion of all.

The most extensive river course on earth is the
Amazon, which rises among the Andes and, flowing
along a channel of about four thousand miles, empties
itself just under the Equator into the sea. Its current
is perceptible two hundred miles out in the ocean and
the tides are felt through an upward course of four

THE GENEALOGY OF JESUS. lOI

thousand miles. It waters a valley of not less than
two million five hundred thousand square miles. In
all that area there is not a river, not a brook, not a
fountain gushing from the hills which does not pour
itself into the Amazon and flow onward into the sea.
In like manner all the history of the early ages, its
war and peace, its vicissitudes of men and nations,
lead up to the coming of the Christ.

VI. The 7tame of Jesus Diarks the end of the family line.
He suffered the greatest sorrow that could befall a son
of Israel in that he lived and died a childless man. So
it was prophesied; "He shall be taken from prison and
from judgment: and who shall declare his generation ?
For he shall be cut off out of the land of the living."
Had he then no posterity ? No sons nor daughters ?

Read on in the prophecy: "It pleased the Lord to
bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt
make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed^
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord
shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of
his soul, and shall be satisfied." Children? O yes; an
innumerable multitude. The old lineage was indeed
cut off; but A fino Domini marks the divisional point in
the history of the race. A new family line begins.
Jesus is the refounder of humanity, the second Adam,
the first born among many brethren.

Read again in this prophecy: " For ye shall go out
with joy and be led forth with peace. The mountains
and the hills shall break forth before you into singing,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. In-
stead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead
of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; and it shall
be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that
shall not be cut off .'' Aye, an undyingname; an endless

102 THE GENEALOGY OF JESUS.

posterity ! Souls like the fluttering leaves of Vallom-
brosa. Trees clapping their hands; mountains sing-
ing; the gladness of a regenerated race. And up in
heaven a voice like the sound of many waters. Souls
redeemed ; ten thousand times ten thousand and
thousands of thousands.

" One family we dwell in him,
One church above, beneath.
Though now divided by the stream.
The narrow stream of death."

It is our privilege — and higher privilege there can-
not be — to belong to the new family line which was
thus begun in Jesus the Christ. It is recorded that
on one occasion, when he was preaching and a great
multitude were gathered about him, a message was
brought, *' Thy mother and thy brethren (that is,
kinsmen, probably his cousins) stand without desiring
to speak with thee." It was at a critical time in his
ministry; these kinsmen loved him; they perceived
that he was involving himself in danger and were
deeply perplexed and anxious for him. They would
save him from impending evil and bring him back, if
possible, to the quiet of his Nazareth home. But it
was too late. The die was cast; the Rubicon had
been crossed. The shadow of Calvary was over him.
They had never quite understood his mission; how
he must be about his Father's business. He could
not, therefore, hearken to them at this juncture. His
words were: "Who is my mother and who are my
brethren ? Whosoever shall do the will of my Father
which is in heaven, the same is my mother, my brother,
my sister."

THE GENEALOGY OF JESUS. IO3

What does this mean? Blood is indeed thicker
than water; but there is no earthly bond of consan-
guinity so strong or precious as that which binds
together those who believe in the Christ and follow
him. This mystic bond is set forth in the parable
of the vine and the branches ; we dwell in Christ
and Christ dwelleth in us. He is not ashamed to call
us brethren. We are members of his body, of his
flesh and of his bone. In him we are received by
adoption into that great household which, finds its
shibboleth of unity in those sweet words, "Abba
Father." " Now are we the Sons of God and it doth
not yet appear what we shall be." How all personal
kinship dwindles in view of this glorious truth. Far
better to be of this lineage than of the line royal.
Far better to inherit its wealth than that of all earth's
multi-millionaires. Sons of God ! " And if sons,
then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus
Christ to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and
that fadeth not away."

ARMAGEDDON.

"And he gathered them together in a place called in the Hebrew tongue Ar-
mageddon." — Rev. xvi, i6.

It would be foreign to our purpose to enter into
the controversy as to the precise location of Arma-
geddon. Place is neither here nor there. The im-
portant point is, that there is to be ultimately some-
where a great decisive conflict between the powers
of good and evil ; the outcome of which will be the
complete overthrow of the Prince of Darkness and
the undisputed reign of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ.

There is a considerable number of eminently good
people who believe that the world is going from bad
to worse, that the Church is being more and more
honeycombed with worldliness and that the present
order of things will end in a shipwreck out of which
a few superexcellent saints will escape like the crew
at Melita " on boards and broken pieces of the ship."
But the great majority of Christians do not share in
this melancholy outlook. They are not unmindful of
the fact that the Evil One clings with a tenacious
grip to his dominion ; but they clearly see that there
has been a sure, constant, uninterrupted progress in
truth and righteousness from the beginning of the

(104)

ARMAGEDDON. I05

Christian era, and they have faith to believe that the
Sun of Righteousness will shine upon this sin-
stricken world brighter and brighter until the per-
fect day.

For right is right, since God is God ;

And right the day must win ;
To doubt would be disloyalty,
To falter would be sin.

But why, it is asked, has not God arrested the
power of evil ? Why did he not long ago put an end
to the dominion of the Prince of Darkness ? For the
same reason that a surgeon allows a felon to come to
a head before he lances it. God does nothing except
in the fulness of time.

A cursory glance at current events will make it
appear that the malignant forces at work on earth
are growing more and more desperate, and are dis-
playing themselves in most hateful and abominable
forms. It is this very fact which will precipitate
the ultimate conflict and put a final end to the
power of the Evil One. The Prophet Daniel says
that the end of the present aeon is to be marked
as "a time of trouble." Christ says, "Ye shall
hear of wars and rumors of wars ; nation shall rise
against nation, and kingdom against kingdom ; and
there shall be earthquakes and famines and troubles;
these are the beginnings of sorrows." And again,
" There shall be great tribulation, such as was not
from the beginning of the world nor ever shall be."

The captains of the contending armies in the
great conflict are the beast — a most characteristic term
— and the Lamb, that is to say, " the Lamb of God
slain from the foundation of the world " who is else-
where called, Faithful and True, making war in

Vo6 ARMAGEDDON.

righteousness, clothed with a vesture dipped in blood.
The former is followed by a great multitude, bearing
on their foreheads ''the mark of the beast " ; the lat-
ter by a greater multitude of such as bear the name
of Jesus and have the love of truth and righteous-
ness enshrined in their hearts. The contending
armies meet with a shock that staggers the heavens
and the earth. When the smoke of the conflict clears
away, the armies of Christ are in possession of the
field; a cry is heard, *' Babylon the great is fallen, is
fallen !" and amid a sound of rattling of chains, the
beast and his followers are hurled into the pit and
"the smoke of their torment ascendeth up."

To this event all history has been tending through
the centuries, and the Prince of Darkness is hastening
it by his desperate designs. He is fulfilling the
prophecy that evil men and seducers shall wax worse
and worse, and that wickedness shall abound more
and more until the last time. As truth and right-
eousness increase in potency so much the more does
the beast oppose them ; he is ever doing his worst
and utmost to interrupt the calm progress of Christ.
When the tension has reached its last degree, then
will come Armageddon. The ultimate demonstration
of evil on earth will be like that of the unclean spirit,
of which it is written, " He tare the man before he
came out of him."

In pursuance of this thought it will be profitable
to mark the manifestations of evil in these last days ;
and then on the other hand to observe some of the
sure tokens of the triumph of Christ. .

I. Let us note at the outset the aggravated forms of
Avarice which prevail in these days. This is the Drama
of the Street. Ycu may stand upon the corner any-

ARMAGEDDON.

107

where and perceive it in the restless eye, the wrinkled
brow, the eager step of those who pass by. Aurt
sacra fames! It is not to be observed merely in the
increased power of grasping monopolies ; it is not the
sin of the rich alone; but the humbler people, handi-
craftsmen, the very beggars with their hands stretched
out, are addicted to it. The horse leech's daughters
are everywhere crying, " Give ! Give ! " At this mo-
ment seven thousand Jews in this city are suffering
from a " lockout," Jews from Bohemia, Servia, Rou-
mania, Russia — thin, haggard, hungry, patient toil-
ers, who beg for the privilege of working ten hours a
day, with their needles, for one dollar or less. All
that they want, is enough to keep body and soul to-
gether. And why not? Because there are middle-
men — "sweaters" — of their own kith and kin who,
unmindful of their ancestral laws as to oppression,
are grinding the life out of these poor men. Here is
but a symptom of an awful malady which affects the
race. The scramble for wealth is universal, with all
its attending selfishness and brutality. There never
has been a time in history when it was more malig-
nant or more manifest than just now.

2. Observe also the defiant front of Intemperance
in our time. It is organized anarchy ; an open and
flagrant defiance of all law, human and divine. It
is the enemy of our home-life, our social life, our
political life. It devours the wealth of our republic
at the rate of one billion two hundred million dollars
per annum. It consumes the wages of a vast multi-
tude of our workingmen, depriving their families of
the common means of livelihood and exposing them
to unspeakable shame and distress. An employer
in this vicinity, in order to test the question as to

Io8 ARMAGEDDON.

what proportion of his workmen's wages was squan-
dered in drink, recently paid his hands on Saturday-
night in marked bills. The total amount which they
received was seven thousand dollars, of which four
thousand one hundred dollars was passed into the
hands of rum-sellers by those who received it. Who
shall portray the want and sorrow involved in that
fact ! Just now it is stated that the liquor men of
the State of New York have contributed a large sum
of money wherewith to influence the legislation of the
Assembly which is about to convene. They can afford
to do it, for this Legislature is arranging to amend our
Excise Laws. These are mere intimations of the des-
perate power of this organized evil. It was never so
brazen, never so defiant, since the beginning of time.
3. As to Sensuality . We recall with horror how the
Virgin Mary was torn from her shrine above the high
altar in Notre Dame in the Reign of Terror, to give
place to a courtesan to whom were paid divine honors.
But was that worse than the movement in behalf of
uncleanness which we observe in our social life to-day?
Look into the books upon your table written by
Hardy, Du Maurier and the like. Run down the
amusement column of the newspapers and see how
lust, passion, carnality, are holding revel in these
days. The bestial man and neurotic woman go reel-
ing and smirking hand in hand along our streets.
The mark of the beast is on their foreheads. Pop-
psea of the Roman court, Aspasia of Athens, Pom-
padour of the time of Louis XV. are outdone. And,
alas ! many of the mothers and daughters among us
are wittingly or unwittingly surrendering themselves
unblushingly to the shame of the carnival. " Public
sentiment" favors it.

ARMAGEDDON.

109

4. Another of the current forms of malignant evil
is Bibliophobia, or hatred of the Scriptures as the Word
of God. This is the fashionable form of infidelity.
God is no longer denied; atheism is out of fashion.
Christ is no longer rejected; no, fulsome adulation of
Christ is the order of the day. The Church is no
longer assailed; the Church is a great institution, a
splendid organism for humanitarian effort. But the
Scriptures, which are the very citadel of the Christian
religion, are assailed with unparalleled fury; and the
worst of this movement is that its force comes from
within the Church of God. The enemies of the Bible
are not avowed atheists and unbelievers; they are
Biblical exegetes, whose assaults upon inspiration are
met with plaudits from many who profess to be the
followers of Christ.

It is said that Agamemnon, king of Greece,
besieged Troy for ten weary years without avail;
then making a wooden horse, he filled its capa-
cious belly with armed men, and introduced it into
the beleagured city; the bolts were drawn and Troy
fell. It is by a similar strategem that the enemy assails
the stronghold of Christianity to-day. Wheel in the
Trojan horse — into the pulpit, into the theological
chair, into the Sabbath school, into the Christian
home. In this manner the Adversary hopes to de-
stroy the power of the Word of God.

5. Sabbath Desecration. Here again the assault upon
the power of the Christian religion is in most specious
and malignant form; and it comes not from without,
but from within the Church. We view with conster-
nation the covert assault made upon the American
Sabbath in our legislatures by propositions to legal-
ize various forms of labor and amusement, as well as

no ARMAGEDDON.

the rum traffic, on that day. But the real danger lies in
the sentiment of Christian people. There is an outcry
against the Puritan Sabbath. There is a disposition
to hold that the requirements of the Fourth Com-
mandment are met by a cessation of toil. "Why
should we not have the Continental Sabbath, in which
men and women lend themselves to the pleasures of
the drama and musical entertainment ? " It should be
remembered, however, that the divine law calls not
merely for rest from labor, but also from doing our
own pleasure on the Lord's day. Are we to conclude
that we have wrought a real deliverance of our labor-
ing classes from the bondage of their secular life,
when we have liberated them from the workshop, only
to let them loose into the dissipations of the wine-
shop and the beer garden, there to squander their
earnings which should be given to the replenishing of
the oil in the cruise and the meal in the barrel ? Nay,
it were far better if men were required to toil seven
days in every week and three hundred and sixty-five
days in every year. Far better never to rest, rather
than to rest in pleasures and dissipations which de-
stroy the real sanctions and all the just benefits of
the Sabbath. The Fourth Commandment begins
with the word, '' Remember " ; this suggests the
danger of forgetting. In this new phase of Christian
sentiment, with respect to the Sabbath, we observe
again the craft and the desperation of the Power of
Evil.

6. As to Persecution. We thought that the days of
persecution had gone by; but we have lived to see in
this Nineteenth Century of boasted Christian civili-
zation, such an outburst of malignant hatred against
Christianity as the world never witnessed. It is esti-

ARMAGEDDON. Ill

mated that one hundred thousand of the Armenians
are slain and thousands more reduced to beggary,
Nero kindling his living torches, the bones of the
Waldenses "scattered on the Alpine mountains cold,"
the horrors of St. Bartholomew's day, are outdone.
And while all this is going on the great Christian
powers of Europe stand idly by. Not a hand is up-
lifted to save the persecuted nation from this fiendish
violence.

Let us hear a parable : A certain nation fell among
thieves, thugs and murderers, who stripped it of rai-
ment and wounded it and departed leaving it half
dead. And by chance the Christian Czar of Russia
came down that way and he saw this wounded nation
and said, " I would gladly help were it possible,
but I cannot risk the possibility of gaining a seaport
on the Mediterranean " ; and he passed by on the
other side. And likewise the Christian war-lord of
Germany came that way and he said, "Alas ! here is
a melancholy sight and I would fain help, but I must
needs remember Alsace and Lorraine and the people
beyond who await an opportunity of falling upon
me " ; and he passed by on the other side. And like-
wise the Christian Queen of England came that way
and she said, " Woe is me ! Here is a dire calamity
for Christian eyes to gaze upon. I would that it
were possible for me to help, but I must needs pro-
tect my Colonies, collect my opium tax, defend my
commerce " ; and she passed by on the other side.
And the wounded nation lay weltering in blood and
crying and wailing, " Is there none among the Chris-
tian nations to bind up my wounds, to pour in oil and
wine and to bring me to an inn ?" And, alas, there
was none. There was no eye to pity and no arm to

112 ARMAGEDDON.

save ! And the Power of Evil smiled with satisfac-
tion as he beheld it.

7. War. The most horridly repulsive of the
dragon's heads is war. We have been saying all
along that because of the developments of Christian
civilization, war between the great nations of the
earth was impossible. Yet how near we have been to
it ! A war that would have set the two greatest of
Christian nations against each other. A war in which
probably all the important governments of Europe
would have been directly or indirectly involved as
well as the lesser governments of America. Has it
been averted ? Shall it be averted ? If so, it will not
be by any sentimental consideration of an alleged
kinship between the American and English people.
William Watson, candidate for the appointment
of Poet Laureate, has published the following appeal
to the people of the United States:

" O towering daughter, Titan of the West !

Behind a thousand leagues of foam secure ;

Thou toward whom our inmost heart is pure
Of ill intent, although thou threatenest
With most unfilial hand thy mother's breast :

Not for one breathing space may earth endure

The thought of war's intolerable cure
For such vague pains as vex to-day thy breast."

But England is not the mother, and America is
not the daughter. We are not an English people.
The smallest strain of blood that flows in America's
veins is English blood. Our laws, our institutions,
are not English. The most that can be said is that
we speak a kindred dialect of an ancient Germanic
tongue.

Nor if this war is to be averted, will it be

ARMAGEDDON. II3

by any sentimental appeal to the magnanimity of
England. That, by the record of history, is wholly a
fabulous factor, or at best an infinitesimal quantity in
the problem. When have we had national experience
of the magnanimity of England ? At the time of the
Stamp act? During the War of 1812 ? During the
long and awful period of our Civil War ? In our con-
tention respecting the cod fisheries or the seal fisher-
ies ? In our contention respecting Alaska or the
Nicaragua Canal ? In our commercial relations ?
Never once.

Nor, if this war is to be averted, will it be
by a surrender of our just cause. The Monroe
Doctrine is the expression of a principle which is
bound to be vindicated sooner or later ; because it is
right, and because it is absolutely necessary to the
welfare and perpetuity of our Republic. There is a
"balance of power" on the other side of the Atlantic
which is accounted necessary to the preservation of
peace. The great powers over yonder would not for
a moment tolerate an encroachment on one another's
rights or possessions. The Monroe Doctrine is simply
an expression of the same principle on this side of the
water. The balance of power here must be preserved;
and certainly the United States, as the overwhelm-
ingly greatest of American governments, can tolerate
no encroachment from beyond the sea.

But if this war is to be averted, it will be by virtue
of two considerations : Firsts We are afraid. Both
parties to the controversy are afraid. So much of
blood and treasure is involved ! And second, The de-
termining factor in the argument will be, must be, a
Christian consideration. Both England and America
recognize the power of Christian truth, of the spirit

114 ARMAGEDDON.

of our Lord, of the Golden Rule. This appeals with
tremendous power to our sober second thought. It
expresses itself specifically in tne term "arbitration."
[t is a noteworthy fact that just when the war excite-
ment was at its warmest, when we were reckoning up
our fleets and armies and exchequers with a view to
the awful contingency, there came an interruption.
The Christmas-tide was here ; the song of Bethlehem
was heard : " Glory to God in the highest, peace on
earth and good will to men."

We have spoken of the forces of evil at work for
the disturbance of men and nations. These are fore-
tokens of Armageddon. The tension grows tighter
and tighter. The signal may be given at any mo-
ment that will plunge the nations into an universal
conflict. There is a moment in the history of a snow-
drift on the Alps when the mighty mass is poised for
its plunge. The bleating of a lost kid, the scream of
an eagle, the scurrying of a rodent from its hole may
disturb the mass ; and then the avalanche.

Let us turn now to the brighter side. If the beast has
been manifesting his power in a desperate effort to
retain the dominion of the world, the Lamb, the cham-
pion of truth and righteousness, has not been inactive.
The world has been growing better constantly and
Christ has been distancing his foe. It will be suffi-
cient, without entering into detail as to the various
manifestations of the power of the gospel, to indicate
a few points which mark the certain triumph of
Christ.

I. The Scriptures as divijie truth have a deeper hold
than ever on the hearts of Christian people. It has not
been for nothing that all the powers of adverse criti-
cism in the Church and outside of it, have been

ARMAGEDDON. II5

brought to bear for years upon the Word. The
lights have been turned on. The knife of destructive
criticism has been ruthlessly applied to the Book.
The corrosive acid of irreverence has been poured
over its pages. And the Scriptures have come forth
out of the fierce ordeal as gold seven times tried. No
praise to those who have assailed the oracles; God
hath made the wrath of men to praise him.

It is as when the Philistines carried away the Ark of
the Covenant from the battle of Ebenezer. They
brought it into the house of Dagon, and on the next
morning, lo, Dagon had fallen on his face before it.
They replaced their idol upon its pedestal; and on the
next morning again he had fallen upon his face and
his head and the palms of his hands were cut off. In
capturing this symbol of the divine presence, the
Philistines were now beginning to realize that they
had undertaken more than they could manage. In
their city of Ashdod the people were afflicted with a
painful malady. Their homes were filled with shame
and misery, so that the cry of the city went up to
heaven. The Ark of the Covenant was too much for
them. What should they do with it ? They sent it
back to Israel.

In like manner God has been pleased to bring
to naught the machinations of men who hope
to overthrow his Word. The old Book is cher-
ished as it never was cherished before; is studied
more earnestly ; is believed in more cordially. " The
Word of the Lord is tried." It has been vindicated,
triumphantly vindicated as a true volume from be-
ginning to end. In this we behold a token of God's
special providence ; for what can his Church do with-
out the Scriptures ? It is vain to contend with the

Il6 ARMAGEDDON.

Adversary unless we can hold in our right hand the
Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.

2. Christ is served in his Church more loyally and ef-
fectively than ever. We have a new conception of
church membership to-day. The time was when to
be a member of the Church meant little more than a
name on the roster, an interest in social communion,
a sense of salvation from death, and then to sit and
sing one's self away to everlasting bliss. But a
mighty change has transpired. To-day church mem-
bership means, above all, an individual responsi-
bility for service. We are living in an epoch of or-
ganizations within the Church ; the men, the women,
the young people, the children, are banded together
in leagues and committees and associations; the ob-
ject of which is to assign a specific duty to every one.

In the days of Nehemiah the rebuilders of the wall
toiled with weapon in one hand and trowel in the
other ; heeding not the taunts of Sanballat and
Tobiah, since all alike were concerned in doing
a great work "and could not come down." The
secret of the success of those rebuilders is re-
corded in the words, ^^So built we the wall." In
like manner the disciples of Christ are beginning to
understand the importance of working each over
against his own place.

The various denominations of believers are agreed
as to essentials, tolerant as to non-essentials, and
cordial in co-operating for the advancement of the
kingdom. There is perfect harmony among them.
The cry for Church union has given way to a more
reasonable insistence on Christian union. There is
indeed more of unity among the denominations
to-day than there is between the various parties in

ARMAGEDDON.

117

the Roman Catholic Church or between the divi-
sional sects in the Anglican Church. For this we
praise God and take courage. We are approaching
a realization of the dream of Wesley, "All at it,
always at it, altogether at it."

3. The personality a7id poiver of the Holy Ghost are
recognized in the Church as never before. We have a
new conception of the Holy Spirit. It is not many
years since the substance of controversy was Chris-
tological. To-day we are dwelling on the importance
of honoring the Holy Ghost.

It is recorded that on a certain occasion Paul
coming to Ephesus found a company of believers to
whom he said, "Have ye received the Holy Ghost
since ye believed ?" They answered, "We have not
so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost."
Whereupon he laid his hands upon them, conferring
the unspeakable gift, and straightway they began to
speak with tongues and prophesied. It will be a
great day for the Christian Church when the truth as
to the Holy Spirit shall pervade all hearts.

We are living in the dispensation of the Holy
Ghost. We are working under his supervision for
the building up of the kingdom of Christ. The Bible
is a meaningless book until he illumines its pages
and touches our eyes that we may read and under-
stand it. Christ is a mystery until he takes of the
things of Jesus and shows them unto us. True ser-
vice is out of the question until he quickens, enables
and directs us. This is pre-eminently the age of the
Holy Ghost and by the same token it is the epoch of
missionary progress. We are living among the
miracles of missions. Under the guidance of the
Holy Ghost an army of messengers are going out in

Il8 ARMAGEDDON.

all directions to declare the riches of the Gospel and
are meeting with unprecedented successes. This
means Christ for the world and the world for
Christ.

So have the two forces of good and evil been mov-
ing onward toward the final struggle and the con-
summation of all things. The times are ripe for
momentous events. As the Nineteenth Century
draws towards its close we find that, while wicked-
ness grows worse and worse unto desperation, the
Lord's army is more and more mobilized for the last
march and the perpetual triumph.

In Mid-Summer Night's Dream the last degree of
improbability is suggested when Puck declares

*' I'll put a girdle round the earth."

But the thing which seemed so distant and inconceiv-
able has indeed been done. It is proposed to celebrate
the incoming of the Twentieth Century by a circular
commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ; to be-
gin at London and continue successively at Jerusa-
lem, at Hong Kong, at Yokohama, at Honolulu, at
San Francisco, eastward to New York and thence
across the ocean to London; thus girdling the globe.
While the followers of Christ have been lamenting
the slow advance of his Gospel, he has been all along
the centuries unceasingly accomplishing a splendid
progress. The sun never sets on his dominions. The
dream of Tennyson is almost realized when the earth
shall be every way " bound as with gold chains about
the feet of God."

It is not for us to speak definitely as to times
and seasons, but when the signal shall be given
for the last conflict and all nations shall have

ARMAGEDDON. lig

done their part at Armageddon, the lifting smoke
will disclose a conclusive and perfect victory. Then
the tabernacle of God shall come down among men
and he will dwell among them and they shall be his
people and God himself shall be their God.

THE STORY OF A WAYWARD YOUTH.

Luke 15, 1-24.

It is strange that no playwright has ever drama-
tized this Pearl of Parables. It contains a "plot"
of surpassing interest, and unlikely to become super-
annuated, inasmuch as it is true to every age, and
likely to occur among all sorts and conditions of
men.

Scene I. — The old home. A farm cottage on the
hills of Palestine. The proprietor is a well-to-do
farmer with broad acres of pasturage for his abundant
flocks and herds, and vineyards on the hill sides
sloping toward the south. There are evidences of
prosperity on every side. But the shadow of
affliction is here ; it is a motherless home. Possibly
the story might have been different, had the loving,
restraining hand of a mother been present. There are
two sons, like Jacob and Esau. The elder is a thrifty,
industrious, close-handed, narrow-minded youth ; the
younger is full of generous impulses, fond of com-
panionship and pleasure, a bundle of undeveloped
potencies, and is just coming of age.

To this younger son the old-fashioned home was
like a cave of gloom. He was restive and discon-

(120)

THE STORY OF A WAYWARD YOUTH. 121

Cented. He looked toward the hills and dreamed of
the world beyond. He saw the caravans that wound
their way along the thoroughfare on the distant
heights, as they journeyed from Dam.ascus to Egypt;
and the bright apparel of the merchants and the gleam-
ing trappings of the camels gave him a tantalizing
glimpse into a larger life. He went up, perhaps, with
his father and brother to the annual feasts at Jerusa-
lem, and saw there the thronging multitudes from far
distant lands, and sometimes princes and dignitaries ;
and the sight awoke within him a longing for inde-
pendence, — a desire to see and touch the wondrous
things that lay beyond the horizon of his life.

And he said unto his father, " Father, give me the
portion of goods that falleth to me."

"Why so, my son ; has anything gone wrong?"

*' No, father, but I want to see the world. I can-
not be a farmer's boy forever."

" But, my son, you are young still and there is
time enough. The years are all before you."

" I know ; but I am of age and I am entitled to it.
I am not a boy any longer ; let me have my way."

And he had his way. What is it the poet says?
" A boy's will is the wind's will." The time has come
for the youth's departure. I see him at the door-
way. His brother has said, " Farewell." His sad-
faced father has kissed the lad on either cheek and
is giving his blessing in a broken voice : "The Lord
bless thee, my son ; the God of Israel be with thee ! "

Down the road he goes with a long, swinging step
gaily -apparelled, his wallet full of coin, humming
cheerily to himself. At the turn of the road he looks
backward and sees in the doorway a bowed figure
which he will remember in the coming days. He

122 THE STORY OF A WAYWARD YOUTH.

waves his hand. Farewell ! Free at last ! Now for a
joyous life ; a glorious future. Farewell, old-fash-
ioned home, discipline and bondage. Farewell, loved
ones, homely peace and comfort. Farewell, boyhood
and innocence. Farewell ! Farewell !

Scene II. — In the far country. As far as possible
from the old life. And here he enters upon his career
at a rapid pace.

His first step downward is into bad company.
There is no lack of companionship. The wolves
are always ready when there is a lamb. But woe
to the youth who thus enters upon his city life.
"Can one touch pitch and not be defiled by it ?" Or,
" Can one take fire into his bosom and not be
burned ? " A man is like a tree-toad which takes its
color from its surroundings ; gray against the bark
of an elm, green on the growing corn. A man is
known by his companions. Our youth has chosen
the " fast crowd." His friends are hail fellows well
met.

The next downward step is into lawless pleasure ;
revels, carousals. He is sowing his wild oats. Let
him take heed : " He that soweth the wind shall reap
the whirlwind." Thousands in our city to-day are
sowing, thousands are reaping the awful harvest.

In the time of the English Commonwealth it was
customary to punish intemperance with '* the drunk-
ard's cloak." The culprit was placed in a barrel, with
his head protruding from the top and holes for his
arms on either side. In such guise he was compelled
to walk about the streets. What a cooper's proces-
sion there would be on Broadway if that sort of pen-
alty were inflicted now ; old drunkards and young

THE STORY OF A WAYWARD YOUTH. 1 23

drunkards ; sots, tipplers and topers ; red-eyed and
reeling.

It is said that Diogenes once met a young man on
his way to a bacchanalian feast and fastening his arms
about him, despite all resistance, carried him back to
his friends. O would it were possible to carry back
these thoughtless youths who are ruining their pres-
ent and future alike, in drink, sensuality and the
" pleasures of the green baize field " ; would it were
possible to carry them back to friends, to happy
homes, to praying parents, to purity and hope !

" And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty
famine in that land, and he began to be in want." His
wallet was empty, his clothes were thread-bare, his sub-
stance was wasted. Wasted! Alas! that's the sorrow of
it, the awful waste. His money was gone, but that was
least of all. He had squandered his physical strength
as well ; his eyes were red and watery; his limbs were
tremulous ; his liver was out of order, his digestion
bad ; his nerves were unstrung ; his breath polluted ;
his brain confused. He was incapacitated for the
common tasks of life. — He had wasted his good name
also. In vain did he apply for a situation. In every
case he was asked for "credentials"; but who would
give him credentials ? All knew his record; none had
confidence in him. It was hard times; situations were
scarce ; there were plenty of trustworthy young
men. — And he had wasted his self-respect too.
He knew himself to be a ne'er do weel. Parity
and honesty and character were gone. It began to
dawn upon him that he had played the fool. — He had
wasted opportunity, also. What a splendid chance he
had had of making something of himself, and he
had lost it. — Moreover his friends were gone. He

124 THE STORY OF A WAYWARD YOUTH.

felt the pangs of hunger, and, approaching one of
his former comrades, asked for the loan of a few
farthings. " I am sorry," was the answer, '* but I
have nothing with me." One by one they shook
him off. Friends ! Fair-weather friends; they had
squeezed him dry, poor fool ; and had no further
need of him. They no longer recognized him as they
passed by. He had reached the end of his tether.

It was under circumstances like these that Lord
Chesterfield said : " I have enjoyed all the pleasures
of the world. I have been behind the curtain, have
seen the dirty ropes and pulleys that work the ma-
chinery. I have smelled the guttering candles that
furnish the illumination, to the amazement of the
juvenile audience. And I am sick and tired of it."

Scene III. — In the swine field. " And he went
and joined himself to a citizen of that country, who
sent him into the fields to feed swine." A swine-herd
— and he a Jew ! But he had no alternative ; beggars
must not be choosers. It was that or starve.

So here he is. See him sitting on the trough;
pale, haggard, in rags and tatters. Around him are
the swine ; the unclean things, the rooting, jostling
wallowing, gluttonous things. Yet his situation is
not so bad as it might be.

" • • • Sweet are the uses of adversity ;
As night to stars, woe lustre gives to man."

There is something to be said for the swine field.
God knows how to deal with the wayward, when to
allow them to reach the very depths of shame. Time
was when this young man had no taste for solitude ;
now it is forced upon him. He looks into his own
face and sees himself in his proper guise. A fool, if

THE STORY OF A WAYWARD YOUTH. 1 25

ever there was one ! There is nothing here to inter-
rupt the current of his honest thoughts. His con-
science is at work. And memory is at work too.
He looks over his shoulder at the past. He gazes off
toward the hills and recalls the old home life and
how gaily he tripped away from it. " In my father's
house," he says within himself, " there is bread enough
and to spare, and I perish here with hunger." What
pleasant days those were by the fireside ; under the
tree before the door-way; out in the fields harvesting,
or among the flocks !

The boys who are away at boarding schools and
those who have come to the great city to make their
fortunes — who have begun at the foot of the ladder
and are working up — get together in their social
coteries and sing the old songs. It was so when we
sat on the college fence through the evening and into
the night. And why do we always drift into songs
like this ?

" How dear to my heart are the scenes of my childhood,
When fond recollection presents them to view !
The orchard, the meadow, the deep-tangled wildwood,
And every loved spot which my infancy knew."

Or this ?

Those evening bells ! those evening bells !
How many a tale their music tells
Of youth, and home, and that sweet time
"When last I heard their soothing chime ! "

Or this ?

'Way down upon the Swanee river,

Far, far away;
There's where my heart is turning ever.

There's where the old folks stay."

126 THE STORY OF A WAYWARD YOUTH.

Or this ?

" Oft in the stilly night,

Ere slumber's chain has bound me,
Fond Memory brings the light
Of other days around me :
The smiles, the tears
Of bygone years,
The words of love then spoken ;
The eyes that shone,
Now dimmed and gone,
The cheerful hearts now broken."

Or this — always this when the other songs were sung
and we were breaking up?

" 'Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home !
Home ! home ! sweet, sweet home ! "

And as this youth in the swine-field thought and remem-
bered there came to his mind the possibility of better
things. All was not lost. He was a young man still.
''The sun is not down," said Napoleon to his dis-
heartened troops, " the sun is not down, there is time
to win this battle yet." The wayward youth is com-
ing to himself ; he awakes from his miserable life, as
from a bad dream. A resolve is born within him ; he
says, '* I will " — What ?

" I will turn over a new leaf. I will be faithful in
my position as a swine-herd and work my way up-
ward. I will ask no odds of anybody, but prove my-
self a man yet." No ; this will not answer. He must
get out of this country, awa}^ from his old associa-
tions. He must cut loose from the past.

"I will write home and see if my father still lives;
and, if so, whether he would welcome me." No. His

THE STORY OF A WAYWARD YOUTH. 127

extremity is too great ; his heart is too sore. His
longing is too deep and honest.

" I will arise and go unto my father ! " This is as
it should be. There is good stuff in this youth ; the
stuff that men are made of. — And he arose and went.

It was not for nothing that God had suffered this
young man to reach the very depths of despair. An
English soldier, who had been wounded in one of the
battles of Egypt and left behind on the march, lay
under the shadow of a rock in the desert. He had
given up heart and hope ; but as he looked upward
he saw a vulture circling about him and waiting,
waiting for its prey. The sight drove him to quick
resolve. He struggled to his feet and staggered on
with a purpose to live. So does the prodigal betake
himself from the swine-field with his face toward
home.

Scene IV. — On the journey. A veritable tramp,
ragged and haggard, staff in hand. It is a long
journey. Would that he had not gone so far.
But he trudges on, making up his speech as he goes :
" I will say unto my father, Father, I have sinned
against heaven and in thy sight. I am no more
worthy to be called thy son; make me as thy hired
servant." No place can be too humble for him, he
thinks, even that of a door-keeper or a toiler in the
fields. Why not ? His part of the inheritance is
wasted ; the right of a son is no longer his.

Had he but known what had been happening
meanwhile at the old home ! His father had been
waiting ; not a night when he had not prayed for the
return of his wayward son ; not a morning when he
did not stand in the doorway and look away toward
the hills and move his lips until the mist came over

128 THE STORY OF A WAYWARD YOUTH.

his eyes. He had heard rumors of the lad's wild ex-
cesses in the far country. His heart was heavy, but
he hoped against hope. Ah, if his son had only
known !

The heart of the returning wanderer misgave him
many a time. Would he receive a welcome ? Was
the game worth the candle ? His father might be
dead ; his brother's heart might be hardened against
him ; but the youth trudged on. Aye, there is good
stuff in him. It is this sort of experience that tries
the soul of a man. So Milton, old and blind, his
fondest hopes all blighted, wrote :

" I argue not
Against Heaven's hand or will, nor bate a jot
Of heart or hope ; but still bear up, and steer
Right onward ! "

The wanderer climbed a rock beside the highroad
and saw in the distance his old home. The trees
were there ; the fields where he used to play. And
then for a little, — weak, despondent, and half-fam-
ished, — the heart almost went out of him. But
presently he arose, tightened his girdle and trudged
on. It was in the after part of the day when he came
out upon a slope fronting his home. He drew as
near as he dared, trembling now in every limb, and
paused. A thousand doubts, misgivings, eager hopes
were struggling in his breast. He leaned upon the top
of his staff, like Jacob of old, and wept and prayed.

In the door-way of the farm-house stood the old
father, shading his eyes and looking off toward
the hills. What was yon figure at the spur of the
road ? It was like his boy ; but O so thin, so rag-
ged, so hopeless in his attitude ! Nevertheless he

THE STORY OF A WAYWARD YOUTH. I2g

knew him. " Bring me my staff ! " he cried, and
down the path he staggered, his lips moving as he
went, his eyes lifted now and then toward the height.
The figure was still there, but " a great way off." As
he comes near he begins to cry, " My son ! my son ! "
He has fallen upon his neck and kissed him ! And
the youth is sobbing out — '^ O my father ! I have
sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and am no
more worthy to be called thy son ; make me — make
me — " ; but he cannot finish that fine speech ; —
there is that in his father's eyes which makes it im.
possible to finish it ; — a lump comes up in his throat
and checks him so that he cannot say, "as one of
thy hired servants." Nay, he knows that he shall
again be his father's son.

Is there anything like that in the dry disquisitions
of the schools on the Divine Attributes ? O no ; but
it is true ; this is the loving God, the patient God,
the waiting God, the forgiving God. He giveth us
the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba Father !

Scene V. — At home again. There is a fire in the
great fireplace. The returning prodigal has satisfied
his hunger and is clothed in comfortable garments.
No questions are asked, for everybody knows. No
explanations are offered ; one word has told it all, " I
have sinned." The pride has all gone out of this
young man. He watches his father here and there,
and notes the love-light in his eyes, and thinks,
" How I wronged him ! "

As twilight falls, the lights are kindled and the
neighbors come in. There is to be a banquet. The
fatted calf has been killed. There is music. The
table is spread ; they are taking their places ; the
wayward son is moving toward the foot of the table ;

130 THE STORY OF A WAYWARD YOUTH.

but his father leads him to the place of honor. There
are shoes on his feet, the token of sonship ; the best
robe has been put upon him and a ring upon his
hand, — the last degree of favor. The father speaks :
"Neighbors, rejoice with me ; this my son was dead
and is alive again, he was lost and is found."

We leave him there. There is an unwritten chap-
ter of life and usefulness ; the new life upon which
this youth has entered, in which he seeks to expiate
the past. But let that go. Amid the lights and music
and laughter the curtain falls.

And what does all this mean ? You know why

Jesus told this parable. It was because the Scribes

and Pharisees had murmured, "He receiveth sinners.''

You know what he meant by the telling of this sweet

story of the return from sin to the happiness of a

manly life.

" There's a wideness in God's mercy,

Like the wideness of the sea ;

There's a kindness in his justice,

Which is more than liberty."

The new year has begun. Some have already come
home and are sitting at the table in the Father's
house. Some have set out upon the journey. Others
are still in the far country. But there is a light in
the window for all wanderers. There is a welcome
for all who feel the pangs of famine in their souls.
God waits ; his hands are stretched out still. Let
God be praised for adversity, if it awakens in the
breast a longing for better things.

" Blest be the sorr<iw, kind the storm,
That drives us nearer home. "

One thing only is necessary, the resolution, " I will
arise and go unto my Father."

THE STORY OF A WAYWARD YOUTH. 131

In one of our Western military posts a volunteer,
who had run away from his home and enlisted, was
walking up and down on patrol duty. It was Sab-
bath night and there was divine service in one of the
tents. He heard the voice of singing:

•' We're travelling home to heaven above ;
Will you go ? Will you go ?
To sing the Saviour's dying love;
Will you go ? Will you go?"

The sentry's memory was busy with former days.
He saw the sad mistake of his life, and felt his sin.
His heart was tender.

" We're going to see the bleeding Lamb;
Will you go ? Will you go ?
In rapturous strains to praise his name;
Will you go ? Will you go ? "

He was resolved. He looked toward the stars, lifted
his hand and solemnly said, ''By the grace of God, I
will go." So begins the better life. And will you go?
All things are ready. The fatlings are killed ; the
invitations are gone out. And there is no doubt as
to the welcome that awaits you. Here is a word that,
as an ambassador of Christ, I bring straight from
heaven's gate: " Him that cometh unto me, I will in
no wise cast out."

THE PART OF THE HAND THAT
WROTE.

' In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against
the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace ; and the
king saw the part of the hand that wrote."— Daniel v. s.

This Belshazzar was a reckless fool — a weak, sen-
sual, impulsive, arrogant, headstrong fool. He had
been admonished again and again in vain. He should
have learned wisdom from his father's dreams and the
sad afflictions which had befallen him. But all lessons
were lost upon him.

At this time his capital city was under siege. En-
gines of war were planted on the walls round about
it; great stones from the catapults went hurtling
through the air. Belshazzar ought to have been
superintending the defence of the city ; but here he
sat at a magnificent revel. Imagine him in the midst
of his oriental palace with its fountains and hanging
gardens ; its walls frescoed with pagan parables,
winged figures of the national deities and ascriptions
of glory to victorious kings. A thousand of his lords
are gathered about him, with his wives and concu-
bines. They drink long and deep. The enemy are
thundering at the gates ; but what matters it ? they
drink defiance to alien gods and men.

A happy thought ! To add to the abandon of the
(132)

THE PART OF THE HAND THAT WROTE. 133

revels let the golden vessels be brought, which Nebu-
chadnezzar had taken from the temple at Jerusalem ;
the cups and chalices are brought and filled to the
brim. " Confusion to Jehovah ! " is the toast. They
drink to Bel and Nebo, to gods of gold and silver and
brass and iron and wood and stone. And then, with
blasphemous, fevered lips, "Confusion to Jehovah ! "
He that planted the ear, shall he not hear ; he that
created the eye, shall he not see ?

Look yonder ! A spectral hand is moving along
the wall. The king is transfixed with terror ; his
face is ashen, his eyes are starting from their sockets,
his knees smite together. Slowly the hand writes ;
O how slowly! in strange characters : MENE, MENE,
TEKEL, UPHARSIN. Come hither, seers, prophets'
astrologers, soothsayers, necromancers, let us know
the meaning of it !

A hand ? No, only the fingers. Why not the
whole hand ? Why not the clear outline of the mys-
terious Scribe ! Because this is not the order of na-
ture or of grace. We know in part. We see as
through a glass darkly. The veil is only slightly
withdrawn. Something is left for faith and reason to
fill out.

But why this consternation ? Why this blanching
of the face and trembling of the knees? It is an il-
lustration of a universal fact : we are afraid of the
unseen. Children are frightened in the dark. We
can remember when the dear mother, having made
the good-night prayer and tucked us in, vanished
with the light. And then? — then we cowered down
and drew the coverlet over our faces. Why ? Give
a reason if you can. When the mother came back
and sat beside us and remonstrated and explained and

134 THE PART OF THE HAND THAT WROTE.

once more vanished with the light, lo, the room was full
of bogies again. There is no reason in it. So we call
it an instinct, an intuition. The unseen suggests the
supernatural ; the fingers imply a hand ; the hand a
personalit/. Who or what is it ?

First. In nature. This is the problem of science.
The scientist sees nothing but the fingers of the hand.
Here is a maple leaf, bearing the tracery of an ex-
quisite figure ; a comparison with ten thousand times
ten thousand maple leaves will show an infinite di-
versity of detail with an absolute uniformity of plan.
Here is the veiling of power. One thing is plain, law.
A step further will bring us into the presence of a
law-giver ; but that step must not be taken because it
is an inference and unsustained by visible facts ; for
want of that farther step the scientist becomes an ag-
nostic. What is beyond those fingers ? He answers,
"I do not know." A child might suggest a solution
of the problem, but the undevout scientist will have
none of it. He would rather guess than reason by
faith. So we have all sorts of conjectures expressed
in such terms as law, force, protoplasm, bathybius,
universum, the unconscious absolute, elementary life-
stuff. But these furnish in fact no solution of the
problem. We have made no progress beyond the
fingers that write.

Second. In providence. We know ourselves to be
under the domination of a power not ourselves. We
plan, and our plans fall about our ears like card
houses. Man proposes, but something else disposes.
There is something that "shapes our ends, rough hew
them how we will."

We are in the grip of the invisible. Among the
last words of David Strauss, the infidel, were these :

THE PART OF THE HAND THAT WROTE. 135

"In the enormous machine of the universe, amid
the incessant whirl and hiss of its wheels and the
pounding of its ponderous stamps and hammers,
in all this terrific commotion, I find myself a
helpless and defenseless man, not sure for a moment
that a wheel may not seize and rend me, or a hammer
crush me into powder." This was the language of a
man who practically insisted on eliminating the su-
pernatural from the problem of life.

But who or what is this that overrules and thwarts
us ? Joseph sets out to watch his flocks and finds
himself upon the throne of Egypt. Moses sets o-it to
watch his flocks and finds himself in command of an
army of fugitive slaves. David sets out to watch his
flocks and is turned aside into the forefront of the his-
tory of the most important people on earth. Whence
is this interference ? We are like the patriarch who
by the brookside felt himself grappled by unseen
hands. All night he wrestled and would fain have
known his antagonist ; but he vanished with the
break of day. Before he went, however, he asked of the
patriarch, "What is thy name?" And he said, "Ja-
cob," and added, " Tell me, I pray thee, thy name."
And the unseen one said, " Wherefore dost thou ask
it ?" We must reason out for ourselves the problem
of providence. There is something beyond the fin-
gers, which faith alone can fill out.

Third. In history. " Go to," they said in the land
of Shinar, "let us make brick and burn them thor-
oughly." "Go to," they said, "let us build a city."
" Go to, let us rear a tower which shall stand like a
finger of defiance pointed at the unseen and super-
natural." But the supernatural said, " Go to, let us

136 THE PART OF THE HAND THAT WROTE.

go down and confound thein ; " and the builders were

scattered '^n.. Meft off to build."

It Lhe parable of history. We look back over

the s^^ory of the past and lo, there are dim shadows ;

call them Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne ; they are

shadows and nothing more. The thing that hath

been, shall be. This is the spirit dance of which

Prosperosaid :

"Our actors
Are melted into air, into thin air.
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The clouci-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like the n^ubstantial pageant faHed, ^

Leave not '^ behind. We are such t?;uff

A& c'i^earr ;.de of, and ourlittlevlfe • r]

Is roundt 1 sleep." - [

If this has a ^nificance whatever, it means

that the Gre-'t P^ ^f history have been under the

inresiuible ''f^tr ^ a power beyond themselves.
There '^ mo losophy of History which does

not r.j jKon . ^ t j fingers of the hand. Faith, by

which alone \Vu grapple with the problem of the

invisible, is the necessary part of the equipment of an
historian who v/ould get below the 'face of things.
If we pause here, we arehopw./f .j x>cwildered. Na-
ture, Provider" , History, areri?-ordian knots whicl^
no in'-enuityna ' i, and .n- ':uteness '»f intelleci

can Sv er. I'' lyGoetf whose only deity wa's

hun, ,''ity, d" iming, ''Light! moVe light*! '^

This ' , the German phi'los jpher, died

muiL J truth, where is it?" This-''

v:hy I ^be. ; 2ist, died in an agony of unc

tainty, saying, •" I am taking a fearful leap into

THE PART OF THE HAND THAT WROTE. I37

dark ! " These men had refused to reason beyond
the part of the hand which they saw. ^

At this point, however, we are not left t^, conjec-
ture. The spectral fingers write and they write/' over
against the candlestick," so that he who runs may
read. Let us look again at the wall of Belshazzar's
palace and read what we may.

First. God. An unlettered, unarticulated word.
It appears in th blaze of light which furnishes a back-
ground for the inscription. The frightened king,
when he turned his face that way, had no need to be
told there is a God. No need for seer or necromancer
to make that announcement. On the instant he per-
:eived it. p .

This i, the great truth bac- ^'..the fingers. This
la the infe. jnce to which thf ^lat" rally springs

-rom the veiling of power. t throws a great

light into the problems which vise remain unan-

swered.

In nature. There is a . f,\.' of God. in

every grass blade. I do not st istr^tion of

God. There is always room r and «o, /<?;'

^^«/r^, alwpys room for unbelief. . the fingers are

there, and the fingers argue a himd, and the hand a
personality, ar the personality a brain and heart.
He who is-williiife ^ f. son by faith will not need to
go to theological '••Cxiools for the P *:rine of God.
He will find.it ever} here ; in /• ,.i. rs \ air anj| sky.
A Red Republican \ > saying -r'^i-gittaasant/sDEf La
V^end-ee, " vVe are going to puU ' yc^ir^StVrmes,

your churobjes, your monumen :'■?/ bkfecan

recall to mind the superanh; 'arsod/'

-•^5*hen," said the peasant, "do na.io^. j .io p*. I down
,, .: stars." He was right ; for so long as a twinkling

138 THE PART OF THE HAND THAT WROTE.

beam is left in heaven, there must be a system of
theology on earth. You must take away the fingers
if you would prevent us simple folk from going
straight on to the hand, the intellect, the heart of God.
In providence. Here again a demonstration is
futile. And indeed it is impossible if by "demon-
stration " you mean a mathematical proof by facts
that lie within the reach of one's finger tips. Never-
theless we are conscious of God. You would find it
a difficult matter to describe flame to a blind man ;
or to analyze caloric in such a manner as that he should
comprehend it. But when the blind man stands by
the hearth, he apprehends the fire and says, I feel it.
So are we sensible of God. In him we live and move
and have our being. Every breath I draw is an irre-
futable argument in theology, though in the province
of faith. For what is behind this principle of life?
Is life automatic ? Nothing is automatic. There are
no fingers without a hand ; no hand without some-
thing behind it. " Whither shall I go to escape from
his presence ? If I take the wings of the morning and
flee unto the uttermost parts of the sea, even there
shall his hand lead me and his right hand hold me."
Our response to the Doctrine of God in providence is
like that of the ocean to the heavenly powers that
wield it :

" And as the waxing moon can take
The tidal waters in her wake,
And lead them round and round to break,
Obedient to her drawings dim,
So may the movements of His mind,
The great all-Father of mankind.
Affect with answering movements mind
And draw the souls that live by Him."
In history. The philosophy of history now becomes

THE PART OF THE HAND THAT WROTE. 139

plain. Politics take definite shape. We hear much at
this moment of the Great Powers---the syndicate of
Great Powers beyond the sea. Here are armies and
imposing fleets ; here are captains and commanders
with decorations on the lapels of their coats; admirals
in flag-ships and secretaries in bureaus of state. But
above them all is One, dimly revealed, in whose hand
are the issues of life for nations as well as for men. It
is a splendid game, this game of politics. Pawns and
castles and knights play their part and in turn are
tumbled off the board, but the play goes on. Only
the King is never taken.

Great Powers ! Look down the path of history
and see the Great Ruins. This is nothing new. The
thing that hath been shall be. Rome, Egypt, Assyria,
Babylon, Medo-Persia, gone ! Conferences, decrees,
protocols, manifestoes, treaties, child's play ! There
is a Power above and behind them all. God alone is
great. The blaze of light on the palace wall of
Belshazzar dimmed all the cuneiform inscriptions
there ; the bulletins of battles ; the epitaphs on
valiant men, the eulogiums of kings ; the processions
of victories ; commanders with captives at their
chariot wheels. The spectral fingers wrote above
them all: God alone is great !

Second. Judgment. The fingers are writing in that
blaze of light : MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.
The part of the divine hand that we see is always
writing, always writing the same thing : *' Weighed,
Wanting, Divided ! " The truth was recognized in
that palace hall. The king surmised what it meant
before it was interpreted to him. Little wonder that
he shook and trembled. Conscience makes cowards
of us all.

140 THE PART OF THE HAND THAT WROTE.

" That night they slew him on his father's throne,
The deed unnoticed and the hand unknown ;
Crownless and sceptreless Belshazzar lay,
A robe of purple round a form of clay."

Was it God's hand that slew him ? We are not called
upon to relieve God of responsibility. The hand that
drove that dagger was divinely allowed to do it. We
may make the most of that. What does it mean ?
Law was allowed to take its course. The Buddhist
doctrine of Karma — the doctrine of consequences — is
tremendously true. " The soul that sinneth, it shall
die." " As a man soweth, so also shall he reap."
The hand behind these fingers has a sword in it.
"When he shall whet his glittering sword, who shall
stand before him ? "

That phosphorescent inscription in Belshazzar's
hall is a foregleam of judgment. Weighed, Wanting,
Divided ! We must give an account of the deeds
done in the body. There is to be a great assize.
The account kept here so imperfectly is to be bal-
anced sometime. Things will not be left forever at
odds and ends. There is reason in the present dis-
order of justice. If all sins were punished in this
present life, we would think there is to be no judg-
ment because there is no need of it. If no sins were
punished in this present life, we would conclude that
there is to be no judgment because there is no God.
We see the fingers only and are left to infer the right
arm. Here is enough to set men thinking. Here is
enough to drive men to a conclusion.

It is as Robertson says: "The judgment-coming
of Christ is like the springing of a mine. There is a
moment of deep suspense after the match has been
applied to the fuse ; men stand at a distance and

THE PART OF THE HAND THAT WROTE. I41

hold their breath ; there is nothing seen but a thin
column of white smoke rising fainter and fainter till
it seems to die away. Then men breathe again ; and
the inexperienced would approach the place thinking
that the thing had been a failure ; but just when expec-
tation has begun to cease, the low, deep thunder sends
up the earth to heaven, and all that was on it comes
crushing down again in its far circle, shattered and
blackened with the blast." The foolish see a slight
token of the doctrine of retribution and give no heed ;
but the wise are admonished and avoid it.

Third. Here also is a7i afinoimcemenf of God's milder
attributes. God is love. Was that announced in Bel-
shazzar's hall ? Aye, it was. Daniel the prophet was
sent for to interpret the writing ; Daniel the Mes-
sianic prophet who could not enter that palace hall
without bringing with him the message of pardoning
mercy ; Daniel the prophet whose whole life and
character were bound up in the hope of Messiah — the
Christ of God. It was he who called Messiah by
name ; who prophesied his vicarious death in behalf
of the people. He announced His coming in the ful-
ness of time. It was Daniel the prophet who inter-
preted the vision of the great image and the stone
cut out of the mountain without hands. It was he
who interpreted the vision of the four beasts, the
great world-powers that vanished to give way to the
empire of the Son of Man. As Daniel draws near,
the Saviour comes upon the scene.

Here is the whole hand. The hand with the nail-
prints in it. Here is the hand that explains the fingers
of all prophecy. Here is the bleeding hand that in-
terprets the significance of all sacrifice — the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world.

142 THE PART OF THE HAND THAT WROTE.

The mysteries are clearing now. Ihe problem of
nature finds its solution in the word of Christ : *' Con-
sider the lilies of the field how they grow ; they toil
not, they spin not, yet your Father careth for them."
The problem of providejice is solved in him: "Much
more shall he care for you." And, *' God so loved
the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have
everlasting life." We call that "grace" ; but indeed
it is the very consummation of providence — the one
supreme " special providence " in behalf of sinful men.
And the probkfn of history is cleared up. Yonder is
the effigy of the cross against the sky and over it is
the superscription : " I. N.R.I." — Jesus of Nazareth,
King of the whole Israel of God. Set that inscription
over against the words that were written on Belshaz-
zar*s banquet hall. It means that above all kings and
potentates, He, whose right it is to reign, shall be su-
preme over all.

But who hath believed our report ? And to whom
is the arm of the Lord revealed ? The arm of the
Lord ! When God approached the work of redemp-
tion he is represented as rolling back his sleeve like a
workman addressing himself to some tremendous
task. He made bare his arm on Calvary. The arm
of the Lord is made manifest in the redemptive power
of his only begotten and well-beloved Son. But to
whom is that arm revealed ? He shall grow up as a
tender plant and as a root out of dry ground, and
there is no form nor comeliness that we should desire
him. Nevertheless, he is wounded for our transgres-
sions, and by his stripes we are healed. When he
shall give his soul an offering for sin, he shall see

THE PART OF THE HAND THAT WROTE. 143

his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure
of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

This is the conclusion of the whole matter. This
is the quod erat demonstrandum at which we arrive
when we proceed from the fingers to the hand, from
the pierced hand to the strong arm, from the strong
arm to the infinite intellect, and from that intellect
to the loving, omnipotent heart. Faith can no
further go. Here is the end of all problems in
nature, providence, history. His kingdom is an
everlasting kingdom, and his dominion endureth
forever and ever. Amen.

THE CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE
LIQUOR TRAFFIC.

A Complaint*

I take pleasure in the opportunity of being heard
for my cause. The fraternity which I represent is
engaged in a legitimate traffic. The law recognizes
and sanctions it. At this juncture, however, owing
to a long-continued appeal to prejudice and passion,
there is a manifest conspiracy in many quarters
against us. We feel that we are wronged, and the
class of people represented in this congregation
is largely responsible for the wrong which is being
inflicted upon us. We are satisfied, nevertheless,
that you will be willing to accord us fair treatment
when you have listened to our plea. The counts of
our complaint are as follows :

I. The courts are against us. In nearly all cases,
which have recently been submitted to their arbitra-
tion, the decisions have been adverse to our interests.
The last instance is of a most flagrant character. It has

* The preacher in introducing the subject remarked: "It
is only just to give the rumsellera hearing before condemning
him. He complains that there is a conspiracy against him.
He is entitled to fair play. Let him therefore speak for him-
self."

(144)

A CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC. I45

been decided that we cannot do business "within two
hundred feet of any church or public school." It is
conceded that there is an ancient law to that effect on
the statute books, but, as everybody is aware, that law
has been regarded as a dead letter for many years.
It is now proposed to enforce it rigidly.

It is obvious that under this decision a shameful
stigma is put upon our business. No other industry
is excluded from the immediate vicinity of churches
or public schools. Why should a discrimination be
made against us ? In this manner we are branded
like lepers of the olden time who were required to
stand afar off, with their fingers upon their lips, cry-
ing, " Unclean ! unclean ! "

We are involved in another hardship by this de-
cision of the court. A considerable number of liquor
establishments were set up within the prescribed
limit under the old order of things. Of course we
knew that the law referred to was in existence, but
we had no reason to expect that it would be used
against us. In one section of this city there are no
less than twenty saloons within two hundred feet of
a church. The proprietors of these establishments
must, as matters now stand, retire from business. It
must be obvious to any fair-minded man that this is
not in the nature of fair play.

It is our desire to keep on the best possible terms
with all reputable classes of people. We especially
desire to cultivate good feeling with the churches.
But this unjust provision opens an unnecessary gulf
between us. We would be pleased to establish
the same terms with the churches which now
exist between us and the play-houses and resorts of
similar character. The proper relation is that which

146 A CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC.

was to be seen in Bristcl, England, where a church
stood upon the summit of a hill and at the foot of the
stairway a liquor store. A wag wrote this inscription
half way up :

" There's a spirit above and a spirit below,
A spirit of love and a spirit of woe ;
The spirit above is the Spirit Divine ;
The spirit below is the spirit of wine."

This is as it should be — barring some unfortunate
expressions. There is no reason why there should be
any ill-feeling between us,

II. There is a combination of the police against us. A
man named Roosevelt has recently come into power
in this city and the dear old times are gone. His
preposterous position is this: that he is not appointed
to make laws or interpret them, but simply to enforce
them. And he is enforcing the laws. And things
are getting to be intolerable.

As matters were under the old regime, the pro-
prietor of a saloon, with perhaps a gambling place
overhead and a brothel attached, had merely to
"see" the police captain of the precinct and possibly
the patrolman, and he was never molested. Now,
however, the screws are turned on: we are obliged to
keep the laws just like grocers, preachers, handicrafts-
men, millionaires and other people.

This is in contravention of all precedent. It has
never been expected of liquor-dealers that they would
keep the laws. Indeed we have been given to under-
stand that the law-makers and the magistrates them-
selves did not expect that we should observe them.
We have no objection to law; our objection is simply
to its construction as bearing against us. The fact is

A CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 147

that we have never before been included among the
law-observing classes. Superintendent Byrnes, be-
fore he retired from his place, made the statement
that a large majority of the saloon-keepers of New
York were openly and avowedly conducting their
business in violation of the Excise Law, All this,
however, has been changed. We would be glad to
" see " the captain of the precinct, the magistrates if
necessary, the patrolman, and all who are concerned
in these premises, but we are informed that this would
merely be a further violation of law.

III. We are 7iot allowed to do business on Sunday. The
injustice of the situation at this point is evident from
the fact that we are not Puritans, do not believe in
the Fourth Commandment, take no stock in the Bible
or Blue Laws.

If it be said that Sunday is recognized as dies non
in the constitutional fabric of our republic, we reply
that we ought not to be subjected to the imposition
of laws which are distinctively American, because our
fraternity is almost exclusively made up of foreigners.
The population of this country is conglomerate,
made up of people from every quarter of the globe.
It ought to be clear that, if we are to continue in
peace with one another, the laws and customs of the
country must be adjusted to the various elements of
its population. The Irish will be irritated if they are
prevented from raising the green flag upon the City
Hall. The Turks — and the Turkish contingent in
our city is by no means inconsiderable — ought to be
allowed to observe the marital customs of their na-
tive land, where every man is permitted to have four
wives if he can afford it. And the Germans, who
have their beer gardens in the Fatherland, should be

148 A CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC.

allowed to have their beer gardens here. Have
Uitlanders no rights ? How can Germans live with-
out their beer on Sunday ? Let every nationality be
permitted to have its own way. This is the proper
method of running a free government. The will of
the majority has nothing to do with it.

It should be considered also that Sunday is our
most profitable day. More than one-third of our en-
tire receipts are from our Sunday sale of liquors.
The workingmen get their wages on Saturday night;
if in the good old times you had looked into our
places of business on Sunday, we could have shown
you what became of those wages. In order that our
traffic might be as unobtrusive as possible, we have
been willing to close our establishments in front and
admit patrons through the side-door. But it has
been decided that we shall not be permitted to do
this. In taking this position you are robbing us and
our families of our livelihood. The laboring man's
wages, which, if allowed to take their normal course,
would come into our tills, are spent for his family's
food and clothing, and we get practically none of it.

IV. We are forbidden to sell liquor to minors. The
law respecting this matter has hitherto been re-
garded as a dead letter ; but we are now admonished
that we must observe it.

A considerable part of our income is from this
source. There are some of our fraternity who have
had special doors for the accommodation of children.
You have no idea how many boys and girls have been
accustomed to patronize us. If you will consult the
records of the Gerry Society, you will observe how
important this source of income is to our prosperity-
A few days ago a lad of seven years was carried away

A CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC. I49

to one of our police stations and pronounced by-
physicians to be a confirmed inebriate. That is the
work we are doing. That is where our bread and
butter largely come from. That is how we are en-
abled to build our comfortable homes, provide our-
selves with diamonds and our wives with jewels, and
erect great breweries and distilleries. It must be
perceived that the proposition to curtail our income
at this point is in the nature of downright robbery.

And further consider the disreputable methods
which are being employed to enforce this antique law
against us. The man Roosevelt has stooped to the
employment of children as spies in order to convict
us. The very boys and girls who have been our reg-
ular patrons day after day, have been hired to come
in with pails and bottles for liquor, and subsequently
to testify against us. Think what a debauchingof the
youthful mind and conscience is involved in such a
course as this ! How can the children who come under
the malign influence of Roosevelt in this manner ever
be expected to grow up into good citizens and orna-
ments of society ? The newspapers have duly venti-
lated the true character of such methods. They have
grasped the situation and join us in uttering an indig-
nant protest in the name of violated humanity.
Childhood is sacred ; let it not be thus wronged and
perverted ; for it is a true saying, " The child is
father of the man." Where are the churches that
they do not properly grasp this matter and lift up
their voices against it ? Have they forgotten what
their divine Teacher said : ''Whosoever shall offend
one of these my little ones, it were better that a
millstone were hanged about his neck and that he
were drowned in the depths of the sea " ?

150 A CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC.

V. // is proposed to raise the license. A bill is now
before the Assembly of the State of New York, look-
ing to this end. We have sent, however, an imposing
delegation to Albany to checkmate this proposed in-
fringement of our rights.

Why indeed should there be any license upon our
traffic at all? Is not ours a legitimate business?
Did not God make alcohol ? Every creature of God
is good. We agree with you that it is to be used as
not abusing it. The most of you, however, will con-
cede that it is right to drink. But if it is right to use
intoxicating liquor as a beverage, it is obviously right
to buy and sell it. That gives the saloon a lawful
standing as real as that of the meat-market or the
tailor shop.

But if there must be a license, let it be as low as
possible so that any honest man, who is disposed to
enter upon our business, can do so. The argument that
because ninety-five percent, of the paupers, criminals
and insane people are made so by intoxicating liquor,
therefore the saloon should be taxed to support
the jails, poor houses, and insane asylums, is all
rubbish. What is the state for, we enquire, but to
take care of its dependent wards? And inasmuch as
the people constitute the state, there should manifestly
be an equable apportionment of taxes among all.

To increase the license fee at this juncture will
freeze out many of the poor but honest rumsellers who
find it difficult even under present conditions to make
both ends meet. And what will become of them?
They cannot dig ; to beg they are ashamed. They
have never served an apprenticeship in any handi-
craft. Their skill in mixing drinks, shaking dice and
discussing municipal politics, would go for nothing

A CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 151

in any other position of life. If you force them out
of their present business, you will drive them into
sonje such vulgar industry as hod-carrying or raking
the streets. This would be an offense to their man-
hood and self-respect. Their proud spirits would
bow and break, if they were forced to pass from a
life of genteel leisure and come under the curse pro-
nounced upon the race, "In the sweat of thy face,
shalt thou eat bread."

VI. The public schools are arrayed against us. A
bill has recently passed the Legislature calling for
temperance education. The effect of this will be to
cut off our supplies at the very source. Our patrons
are dying off at the rate of a million or there-
abouts every year. It is estimated that a hundred
thousand of these die from drunkenness. But are
we to blame for their overdoing the thing ? Our
whole constituency is practically wiped out every ten
years. Where are the further patrons of the liquor
traffic to come from, if the rising generation is to re-
ceive fanatical instruction as to the influence of alco-
hol on the human system ?

We are aware that for many years there was a law
upon the statute books requiring such temperance in-
struction, but this law was prudently drawn in such
a manner as that no penalties were affixed to the viola-
tion of it. This left the teachers in our public schools
to consult their own pleasure. Many of these teachers
— particularly such as were indebted for their ap-
pointment to the friends of the liquor traffic in our
municipal government and elsewhere — had conscien-
tious scruples against such instruction, and accord-
ingly they forbore to give it.

The new law was passed a year ago in defiance of the

152 A CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC.

united protest of our friends. As it differs from the
former law chiefly in the fact that penalties are af-
fixed to it, the brewers, distillers, wholesale liquor
dealers and dramsellers were a unit in opposing it.
No attention, however, was paid to this imposing
array of respectable influence. The bill was passed
in both houses of the Legislature without a single
dissenting vote.

In our opposition to this law we were reinforced,
also, by " The Church Temperance Society " — which, it
may be said in passing, is the only organization of this
character which we can endorse. It denounces
drunkenness, which we also cordially disapprove.
But it favors temperance in the proper and scriptural
sense — that is, moderation in the use of intoxica-
ting drinks as in every thing else — and so do we. But
despite this combination of forces, the law was en-
acted, and it is now being carried out with more or
less of sympathetic acquiescence by the teachers in
our public schools.

We were still further aided in our efforts to pre-
vent the enactment of this law by the State Superin-
tendent of Public Instruction, who addressed to
teachers a personal circular, in which they were in-
vited to join with him in a petition to the Governor
calling for a veto of this pernicious bill. Many of
the teachers who, from conscientious conviction,
had previously refused to give temperance instruc-
tion to their classes, joined willingly with the State
Superintendent in this petition. But it was of no
avail ; there were other influences at work over which
we had no control, and at the eleventh hour the
Governor signed the bill. The result is, that at this
moment the boys and girls are being taught that

A CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 153

alcohol is a poison, that used in excess it defiles the
blood, soddens the flesh, injures the digestion, dis-
arranges the nervous system and weakens the func-
tions of the brain. It must be clear to all right-think-
ing people'that this is a blow aimed at our prosperity,
and that an unfair advantage is being taken of us.

An effort is being made, however, in the present
legislature to so amend this law as to eliminate its
objectionable features, and in behalf of justice and hu-
manity it is hoped that no serious opposition may be
made to it. If the proposed measure goes through,
the form of the temperance education law will remain;
but no real or effective penalties will be attached for
disobedience. This is as it should be. Laws are
unobjectionable— if only they are not enforced. No-
body, for example, would make any objection to the
Monroe Doctrine at this present juncture but for the
unfortunate disposition in some quarters to enforce it.

VII. We co7nplain of the attitude of the churches.
What is the church ? A religious organization. It is
the business of the church to teach free will, fixed
fate, foreknowledge absolute. As one of the poets
has said :

" Content you with monopolizing heaven,
And let this little rolling ball alone."

But what have we ? A scandalous exhibition of
ecclesiastical degeneration. A general and complete
departure from the policy of him who said, " My
kingdom is not of this world."

The preachers have taken to preaching politics !
What have ihey to do with politics ? That is our
affair. From time immemorial we have been per-
mitted to do as we pleased with legislatures and

154 A CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC.

courts. We have been permitted to manage primaries,
frame laws, control magistrates, and name, from among
our own fraternity, members of the Excise Board.
Now everything is at odds and ends. The church
has assumed such an attitude that the managers of
both political parties are no longer free to consult our
wishes. We are frankly admonished that Christian
citizens henceforth propose to vote as they pray. If
this continues, if the Church so far forgets her high
calling as to persist in interfering in the manage-
ment of sublunary things, what is to become of us?

Nor is this all. Misfortunes never come singly.
Until recently we have felt sure of the recognition
and the moral support of the Roman Catholic
Church. But lo and behold, the papal delegate,
Satolli, has recently decided, in the case of an Ohio
appeal, that liquor dealers shall not be admitted to
the sacrament, and, if they refuse to throw up their
business, may be expelled from Catholic Associations.
This means that we have no longer an ecclesiastical
refuge. It is of momentous significance in view of
the fact that a large number, if not a majority, of our
fraternity are members of the Catholic communion.
" Rum and Romanism " is to be no longer a combina-
tion to juggle with. His Holiness Leo XIII. has turned
his back upon us ; we are delivered over to the uncove-
nanted mercies of God !

It is manifest, therefore, that there is a conspiracy
against us. And under these circumstances we have
no alternative but to enter our complaint and to pre-
sent an earnest plea for fair dealing. The people are
probably not informed generally of the dimensions
of the liquor traffic. It is an industry of immense
importance to the financial well-being of the land.

A CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 155

We have about nine thousand saloons in New York
City alone ; that is, one for every twenty-five families.
If these saloons were drawn up in line, they would
make a street thirty miles long ; the windows on either
side filled with red bottles and nude pictures, and the
sidewalks lined with kegs, barrels and loafers. The
amount of money which passes through our hands is
something immense. It is estimated that last year
not less than one thousand millions of dollars was
employed in this country in the manufacture and sale
of intoxicating liquors. The Chamber of Commerce
in this city understands the importance of this traffic;
it has accordingly issued its manifesto and appointed
its lobbyists to influence legislation in our behalf.
Now unless something is done to arrest the present
agitation, this great industry must be immensely in-
jured, if not, as some fanatics desire, practically
blotted out. We present our complaint, therefore, to
you, reasonable people, in the name of justice, of
humanity, of pure and undefiled religion, of indus-
trial prosperity, of the proper training of childhood,
of the welfare of the working-classes, of personal
freedom and of our own prosperity and well-being.
Let this conspiracy cease. Leave the rum-seller to
the possession of those rights to which he, in com-
mon with all other citizens of this free common-
wealth, is entitled, to wit, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness.*

*At the conclusion of this plea, the preacher said, " If I
were counsel for the conspirators, I should be willing to submit
the case to this jury without argument. As it is, I have but
two words to offer, and these are words of the living God. The
first is with respect to th-t rumseller : ' Cursed is every one that
putteth the bottle to his neighbor's lips.' The second has to do
with his victim : 'No drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of
God.' "

THE WHITE SOLAR RAY.

'•Because it is written. Be ye holy, for I am holy,"— I. Pet. i. i6.

It is safe to say that the average hearer takes no
special interest in the doctrine of the divine holiness.
Is it because he cannot apprehend it ? Yet there is
no more of mystery here than with reference to any
other of the attributes of God. His love passeth all
understanding ; his judgments are a mighty deep.
Or is it because there is no practical value in a con-
sideration of this theme ? But surely we are interested
in our own lineage ; our father's honesty, our mother's
purity are matters of concern to us. The suggestion
of a bar sinster on our shield would be instantly re-
sented. Surely then since God is our father, the study
of his character should be of deep interest to us. The
fact is, however, there is something within us which
is antipathetic to the divine holiness — something which
is offended by it. This is a serious matter. The eye
was made for Jight and is of no value except as it is
properly adjusted to it. If the eye shrinks from the
light, or cannot bear it, the time has come for an oc-
culist to exercise his skill upon it.

The importance of this doctrine is indirectly certi-
fied by the fact that infidelity has so virulently as-
sailed it. David Strauss argues against the divine
holiness because, as he says, " It involves the thought

(156)

THE WHITE SOLAR RAY. I57

of susceptibility to impressions ab extra, which is in-
consistent with absolute being." But what of that?
God is not "absolute being," if indeed there is any-
such thing as absolute being ; he is a distinct and
concrete personality whom we delight to call Our
Father. Another objection urged in a similar quarter
against the divine holiness is that it implies a vital
relation to law ; the fact being that Deity is ex lex j
that is outside of law. But this is not true. So far
from being outside of law, God is the very source
and centre of it. The laws of the universe, natural
and moral, radiate from him as the light of the solar
system does from the central sun. Still another ob-
jection urged against God's holiness is that it sug-
gests bondage, while Deity must, in the nature of the
case, be morally free. This objection, however, rests
upon a wrong idea of freedom, namely, an equilibrium
between right and wrong. On the other hand free-
dom is rightly defined to be felix necessitas bom, or
perfect obedience to perfect law. In this sense holi-
ness is indispensable to it.

In the Scriptures God is more frequently charac-
terized by his holiness than in any other way. His
name is the Holy One of Israel. He dwells in a holy
hill, sits on a throne of holiness, and his robe is a gar-
ment of holiness. He swears by his holiness and
those who would worship him must approach in the
beauty of holiness. The whole system of rites and
ceremonies in the Old Economy had reference to this
attribute. This system may be broadly classified
under the heads of purifyings and sacrifices. Water
and fire are the great purifiers. There were "divers
washings;" hands and feet, beds and dishes, the
person of the leper, — all were sprinkled with water.

158 THE WHITE SOLAR RAY.

The sacrifices were of similar import ; they were in-
tended to set forth that moral purification which is
accomplished by the expiatory burning out of guilt.
Now turn to the New Economy and we shall find
that Christ, in nailing to his cross the handwriting
of ordinances which was against us and taking it
away, preserved the whole ancient ritual in the two
simple sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper.
In Baptism is set forth symbolically the washing of
the waters of regeneration, and in the Lord's Supper
we have a compendium of all burnt offerings in the
presentation of the bruised flesh and shed blood of him
who was sacrificed once for all. Thus the ceremonial
of both the Old and New Dispensations is at all
points significant of holiness — God's holiness and
the necessity for holiness of all who would approach
him.

Once under the Old Economy there was a distinct
vision of God. It was at a time when Isaiah was
greatly troubled on account of Israel's sin. The
national religion was honeycombed with formality
and worldliness. "Hear, O heavens," cried the Prophet,
" and give ear, O earth : for the Lord hath spoken ; I
have nourished and brought up children, and they
have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his owner,
and the ass his master's crib ; but Israel doth not
know, my people doth not consider. Ah, sinful nation,
ye have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger.
Why should ye be stricken any more ? The whole
head is sick, and the whole heart faint. Your hands
are full of blood. Wash ye, make you clean ; cease
to do evil ; learn to do well." Then came the prophet's
vision ; he was transported to a palace of indescribable
splendor where he saw the Lord sitting upon a throne

THE WHITE SOLAR RAY. I59

high and lifted up. Above it stood the seraphim,
each having six wings ; with twain he covered his
face, and with twain he did cover his feet, and with
twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and
said, " Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts." The
prophet was overwhelmed with his vision : " Woe is
me ! for I am undone ; I am a man of unclean lips,
and dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips,
and mine eyes have seen the King." Then flew one of
the seraphim, having a live coal which he had taken
from the altar ; and he laid it upon the prophet's lips,
saying, '^ Lo, thine iniquity is taken away." And a
voice was heard, saying, "Whom shall we send and
who will go for us ? " Then the prophet, uplifted and
invigorated by his glimpse of the Holy One, answered,
" Here am I ; send me."

Once at the beginning of the New Economy we
come upon a similar vision. John the Evangelist, old
and weary, saw from his desert exile the rising smoke
of martyr-fires. He knew that his Christian brethren
were suffering all manner of persecution for the truth's
sake. ** How long, O Lord," he cried, "how long?"
Then a door was opened into heaven and he saw the
great white throne, " and he that sat was to look upon
like a jasper and a sardine stone; and there was a rain-
bow above him in sight like unto an emerald." Then,
amid the glory of golden lamps and swinging censers
and beauty indescribable, the rush of angel wings
and the rapt faces of an innumerable host of wor-
shippers, he heard the Trisagion : " They cried one
to another, saying, Holy, holy, holy. Lord God Al-
mighty! " And the dreamer fell at his feet as one
dead ; then a kindly hand was laid upon him, and
a voice said, " Fear not, I am he that liveth and

l6o THE WHITE SOLAR RAY.

was dead and am alive forevermore." And John
arose from this vision of the divine holiness and went
forth to meet with renewed courage the cares and re-
sponsibilities of life.

It is not a vain thing, therefore, to address our-
selves to the study of the divine holiness and our
personal relation to it. The clearer our view of our
Father's majesty, the more distinctly shall we appre-
hend the possibilities of our own nature as his chil-
dren ; and the more earnestly shall we be moved to
keep ourselves unspotted from the world that we may
resume our normal relations with him.

But what do we mean by God's holiness? We
have spoken of it as an attribute, but in fact it is a
bundle of his attributes rolled into one. If a sunbeam
be transmitted through a prism, it will resolve itself
into the seven primary colors, to wit : violet, indigo,
blue, green, yellow, orange and red, and always in that
order. It is thus that from the earthward side we
perceive the attributes of God. In heaven the angels
and archangels know him as the Holy One ; but here
we emphasize his love, his justice, his truth and all
the other qualities that are found in the analysis
of holiness. But if we catch the seven primary
colors in a concave mirror, we shall find them
reunited at its focus, and again we shall have the
white solar ray.

The best definition of holiness is to be found in
the primitive meaning of the word itself, whole-ness.
God's holiness is the symmetry of all divine graces.
One of the early fathers said, "The divine holiness is
a most perfect pulchritude, which cannot be seen with
human eyes nor declared with fleshly lips."

How does this attribute manifest itself before us ?

THE WHITE SOLAR RAY. l6l

(i) Negatively, in a perfect freedom from sin. It
would seem to be a gratuitous thing to speak of the
sinlessness of God inasmuch as we are accustomed
always to think of him in that way. In fact, how-
ever, he is differentiated in this particular from
nearly all the pagan conceptions of deity. The
best the cultivated Greeks and Romans could do
in formulating the divine ideal was to be seen in their
Olympic assemblage. And what a gathering of gods !
What crimes and revels ! what mobs and quarrels !
Here is Bacchus, a drunken vagabond. Here is
Venus, a drab, whose name is associated with un-
cleanness in literature and in the drama to this day.
Here is Mercury, a thief, the patron god of the ban-
ditti who still in our time infest the Italian moun-
tains. And here is Jupiter, the father of the gods,
who was defiled with countless vices ; who hung up
his faithless wife in mid- heaven with anvils tied to
her heels. Look on that picture and then on this.
What a contrast ! God is light ; in him is no dark-
ness at all. He is of purer eyes than to behold in-
iquity. The stars of heaven are not clean in his
sight. Angels and archangels veil their faces before
him and cry continually, " Holy ! Holy ! "

This glorious divine attribute is shown positively
in God's hatred of everything that savors of sin. Sin
is the only thing in all the universe which he hates,
and he hates it with loathing unspeakable. Why
not? Sin has defiled the world which he created and
pronounced very good ; has covered it with battle-
fields and filled it with graves. Sin has ruined his
masterpiece, man, whom he created in his own image,
but a little lower than the angels, has embittered
man's heart in rebellion against his own beneficent

l62 THE WHITE SOLAR RAY.

authority, and has alienated it from all things pure
and lovely and of good report. Nay, beyond all
things, sin slew his only begotten and well-beloved
Son. It is written that the sons of King Zedekiah
were murdered before his eyes. How, think you, did
Zedekiah regard the sword that was drawn dripping
from their hearts ? Was he indifferent to it ? That
would have been most unnatural. God hates sin
with an infinite hatred because it nailed his Beloved
One to the accursed tree.

And God must needs punish sin. He is the ex-
ecutive of law throughout the universe. His admoni-
tion is as clear in Scripture as articulate speech can
make it : ''The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Nor
are we left to any uncertainty as to the meaning of
this death. It is set forth under such figures as these :
the fire that is never quenched, the worm that dieth
not, outer darkness, weeping and wailing and gnash-
ing of teeth.

" There is a death whose pangs

Outlive this fleeting breath.
Oh, what eternal horrors hang

Around the second death ! "

If it be said that these are mere figures of speech,
granted ; but this symbolism is quite meaningless and
would certainly never have been used unless there
were something in fact to correspond with it.

Let us look now at the other and more practical
side of this truth: " Be ye holy ; for I am holy."
There is a world of meaning in that illative conjunc-
tion. The ultimate ground of all moral character
lies in the fact that as God is our Father, we must
evermore strive to be like him.

Let us note the problem, The publican stands

THE WHITE SOLAR RAY. 163

yonder, beating upon his breast — because he knows
that the trouble lies there — and crying, "God be merci-
ful to me a sinner ! '" Off yonder is the sanctuary at
a great distance from him. The name of the sanctu-
ary suggests its character ; it is the holy place. All
things within that enclosure are holy ; the posts and
curtains, the altar, the candlestick, the lamps and
censers, the gifts, the frankincense, every knop and
almond blossom and pomegranate, the priest's mitre
and breast-plate and gem-clasped girdle, the tinkling
bells, wreathen chains and jeweled hangings, are all
consecrated to "holiness unto the Lord." At the
further extreme of this sacred enclosure is the Holiest
of All ; within it is the Ark of the Covenant with its
cherubim between whose outstretched wings was the
token of the peculiar presence of the Holy One. It
is meet and proper that the publican should stand
"afar off" from that sanctuary, for he is a sinner, and
without holiness no man shall see God.

Here is the problem : How to bring that publican,
without offense to law or justice, within the precincts
of that holy place ? It is an iteration of the old ques-
tion : How can God be just and yet the justifier of
the ungodly? or, from man's side. How can a man
be just with God ?

At the very outset it is obvious, that this sinner
must be cleansed from his sin. This will, however,
bring him into possession of a merely negative holi-
ness ; but he can make no further progress until he
has acquired it. The laver stands before the altar of
incense. The heathen themselves, with their imper-
fect conceptions of deity, were sensible of this fact.
Procul ! Procul I Abeste profa?iiI cried the guard
before the heathen shrines. When ^Eneas returned

164 THE WHITE SOLAR RAY.

from the wars and was invited to worship, he said to
his father, Anchises, " Do you draw nigh and sacri-
fice ; as for me, this is not lawful until I have cleansed
myself at the running stream." God has made pro-
vision for this cleansing in his gospel. The blood of
Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth from all sin. Come
now, saith the Lord, let us reason together ; though
your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as
snow ; though they be red like crimson, they shall be
as wool.

But this negative holiness, brought about by the
pardon of sin, does not entitle the sinner to enter the
presence of the Holy One. He must be born again
and he must be built up in character. Provision is
made for this also by the influence of the Holy
Ghost. The Apostle John says, " Ye have an
unction from the Holy One." The reference is to
the athletes or agonistai, who were accustomed
to prepare themselves for the games by a long course
of training, in which they persistently anointed them-
selves with unguents, to secure grace and suppleness.
This was not a mere superficial anointing. The skin
indeed shone, but the very flesh of the athlete was
pervaded and permeated through and through with
the ointment. Such is the influence of the Spirit in
sanctification. He is called the Holy Spirit because
his special and particular function is to endow the
forgiven sinner with those graces which shall qualify
him to enter heaven. Here again we come upon the
fact that holiness is the sum total of all graces. If
the fruits of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance,
be bound together, we shall have the same resultant

THE WHITE SOLAR RAY. 165

that we get from uniting the primary colors of the
spectrum, namely, the white solar ray.

In the acquiring of these graces we fit ourselves
for the duties and responsibilities of common life.
It is written that when Alexander and his army laid
siege to Jerusalem, the High Priest, Jaddua — all
other hope of repelling the enemy having failed —
arrayed himself in his white garments and bound on
his breast-plate whereon was the inscription. Holi-
ness unto the Lord. At his approach, the legend
says, so bright was that whiteness and so dazzling
the splendor of the breast-plate, that Alexander and
his army were overpowered and fell prostrate before
him. So are we qualified by the cultivation of godli-
ness to meet all the trials that await us.

In the same manner are we prepared for
death. Could anything be more beautiful than the
passing of Chrysostom ? He had not time even to lie
down on his couch ; but as he sat in his chair en-
gaged in devotions, he felt the approach of the death
angel. "Bring me," said he to his attendant, "the
white garments which I have prepared against this
hour.'* And thus arrayed in "fine linen clean and
white" he went over to meet God. The time comes
when we also shall be called to pass over. As we ap-
proach the gate we shall note this inscription above
it, " There shall in no wise enter here anything that
defileth^ neither anything that worketh an abomi-
nation, or maketh a lie ; but they which are written in
the Lamb's book of life.' And as we cross the thresh-
old we shall find ourselves in the presence of a great
multitude which no man can number, all of them
arrayed in white. Here are men and women who;
during their earthly lives, were sinners like ourselves,

l66 THE WHITE SOLAR RAY.

but they were washed in the blood of Christ and
built up in Christian character by the influence of
the Spirit of God.

And a voice said, " What are these which are ar-
rayed in white robes and whence came they ? " And
I said unto him, "Sir, thou knowest." And he
answered, '* These are they which have washed their
robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Therefore are they before the throne of God and
serve him day and night in his temple. And he that
sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them; they
shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more;
neither shall the sun light on them nor any heat. For
the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall
feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains
of waters; and God shall wipe away all tears from
their eyes."

THE UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM.*

"At the teet of Gamaliel.— Acts xxii. 3.

On the bow of a Phoenician grain-ship ploughing
her way through the Mediterranean stood a lad of
fifteen years or thereabouts, shading his eyes and look-
ing away toward the south. He was '^ going to col-
lege." What a world of dreams and aspirations is in
that phrase, "going to college!" Up to this time
the lad had pursued his studies at Tarsus ; he was
now bound for Jerusalem, where greater opportunities
were afforded for the obtaining of a liberal educa-
tion. He was a " Hebrew of the Hebrews," and his
heart throbbed fast with all the hopes and prejudices
of his race. He could scarcely wait to see Jerusalem
that lay yonder in the southern mist. On the left, as
they skirted the shore, he saw the snow-crowned
heights of Lebanon with the green mantle of cedar
along its slopes ; and further on, Carmel, fraught
with memories of the Lord's controversy, whose
cliffs had echoed to the people's cry, ** The Lord,
he is the God ! " It was on the second day out,
possibly, that the ship came to anchor in the port
^f Caesarea. A brief land-journey brought the youth

*This sermom was preached by invitadon of the Student's
Club of New York.

(167)

l68 THE UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM.

to an eminence, from which the scene he had so
longed to behold burst suddenly upon his view.
Jerusalem, beautiful for situation, the joy of the
whole earth ! Yonder were its homes and palaces ;
in the midst of them a roof of gold glittering in the
sun, with marble porticoes around it ; this v/as the
" House Magnifical." A little later, the youth stood
before the city gate, which he did not enter, probably,
without recalling the Psalmist's rhapsody : "Our feet
shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem. Peace be
within thy walls and prosperity within thy palaces.
For my brethren and companions' sakes, I will now
say. Peace be within thee. For the sake of the
house of the Lord our God I will seek thy good."

On entering the city he betook himself at once to
the school of Gamaliel. The Jews at this period were
divided into two rival sects, known by the names of
their leaders, Hillel and Shammai ; the former the
defender of the traditions of the elders, the latter a
strict constructionist who stood for the exclusive
sanctity of the Mosaic Law. The most eminent parti-
san of Hillel at this time was Gamaliel, whose school
has been called, "The University of Jerusalem."
He was one of the seven theological teachers of Israel
who were entitled to the rank of Rabban. He was
familiarly knov/n as " The Flower of the Law." He
was a Pharisee, but comparatively free from the nar-
row prejudices of that sect, insomuch that he was
"had in reputation of all the people." He was so
greatly beloved by his pupils that at his death they
raised to his memory such a costly funeral pile "as
had never been known except at the burial of a king."

It is easy to imagine the routine of Saul's life at
this school. The head-master sat upon an elevated

THE UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM. 169

dais with his pupils gathered about him in a semi-
circle, literally, sitting at Gamaliel's feet. Here they
studied the Hebrew Scriptures with the aid of the
traditions and all the learned disquisitions and com-
mentaries of the elders. Still further, they addressed
themselves to the Greek language and philosophy ;
this school being distinguished for its liberal policy
in that particular. It was here that Saul acquired
his knowledge of Stoicism and Epicureanism, and
also of classic poetry.

While Saul was thus engaged, another youth, some-
what older than he, was attending the priestly school
at Hebron, whose voice would presently be heard as the
herald of the King, proclaiming, *' Repent ye, for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand." A group of fishermen
up at Gennesaret were mending their nets and plying
their traffic all unconscious of the fact that they were
appointed to lead the vanguard in the propaganda
of the universal religion. A young man stood in a
carpenter shop at Nazareth, chips and shavings about
his feet and the implements of his trade upon the
bench before him, preparing himself for the an-
nouncement of an evangel which should shake the
temple of Judaism to its foundation and cause the
palaces of the Caesars to crumble into dust. All this,
however, was nothing to Saul the student. His world
was hemmed in by the horizons of his ancestral faith.
He was busily engaged in the mastery of Jewish
dogma, clever feats of logic, the form and signifi-
cance of rite and ceremony. He was developing an
intense zeal, scrupulosity and self-righteousness.
His greatest ambition was to become a zealot in de-
fense of Judaism. At length he passed his exami-
nations and, as we have reason to believe, received

1 76 The university of Jerusalem.

his diploma cum laude. A great future opened before
him. In all Jewry there was not a youth of greater
promise than he. So under the rainbow of hope he
passed into the world of busy life.

We shall find him referring many times, directly
or indirectly, to the training which he received at
this school ; he never forgot its associations. There
is something constitutionally wrong with the man
who does not gratefully cherish the memories of his
college life. Is there in all this land an alumnus of
Phillips Academy who does not remember the winds
that swept over Andover Hill ; the pump at the
corner where we paused on our way to the morning
prayers ; the faces of the boys who sat together in
" Number Nine " at the feet of Dr. Taylor ?

" O for the touch of a vanished hand,
And the sound of a voice that is still."

Is there an alumnus of Yale who does not fondly re-
call the campus, the over-shadowing elms, the college
fence where we were wont to sing our merry songs
far into the night? Is there a Union Seminary man
who does not look back gratefully to the golden age
of that institution of theological learning with its
historic triumvirate, Schaff, Hitchcock and Shedd ?
Haec olim meminisse juvabit.

I rejoice in the opportunity of addressing myself
to-night to college men and students generally. Let
me ask them to consider the Privilege, the Tempta-
tions and the Safeguards of their student life.

I. The Privilege. They are engaged in the pur-
suit of knowledge. What is better than this ? It
was a proud day for Jason and the Argonauts when
they sailed forth in search of the golden fleece, hop-

tHE UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM. I^l

ing to snatch it from beneath the sleepless eyes of the
dragon and the bulls breathing flame. A splendid
enterprise was that of Launcelot and his fellow-
knights of the round table who sought the San Greal,
the Sacramental cup which, tradition said, had
touched the Saviour's lips. A noble quest was that
of Ponce de Leon after the fountain of perpetual
youth. But what were these to the quest of knowl-
edge ? Wisdom is the principal thing. It is more
precious than rubies, it cannot be valued with the
gold of Ophir. Therefore, get wisdom ; and with all
thy getting, get understanding.

Truth is to be esteemed for its own sake. All truth is
of value. Light ; more light ; sun-light, moon-light,
star-light, rush-light, glowworm, firefly. Anything
is better than the darkness of ignorance. It was a
quaint picture that rare Ben Johnson made of Truth:

" Upon her head she wears a crown of stars,

Through which her orient hair waves to her waist,

By which believing mortals hold her fast,

And in those golden cords are carried, even

Till with her breath she blows them up to heaven."

But truth is to be most highly esteemed for its pur-
chasing value. We are living in a utilitarian age.
The only science worth acquiring is " applied science."
No man now-a-days will take the trouble to cross the
•Pon^ Asinorum unless he wishes to go somewhere.
Jt is a true saying, " Knowledge is power." It is
more than power, however ; it is wealth, honor, influ-
ence, happiness. These are things which lie within
its purchasing value.

// forms a basis of character. What a man knows
is the index of what he is. The word "belief" is
said to come from the Saxon, " bi-lif ian ; " that is,

172 THE UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM.

what we live by. " As a man thinketh in his heart,
so is he." " I'm a made man! " cried James Marshall
when he rode into camp in 1848 with a few shining
nuggets which he had gathered from among the
pebbles of a brook. There are other discoveries
which are of more value than gold. To know that
there is a God ; that man is immortal ; that Jesus is
the Christ ; that the Bible is true ; — is to have a sub-
stratum for the building of character. It is such
truths as these that formulate life. He who has set-
tled such problems can say with reason, " I am a
made man. "

But further, knowledge is of value because // fur-
nishes an equip7nent for usefulness. Truth is the stock
in trade of the man who wishes to make his life tell.
One of Aristotle's wise sayings was this : " How does
the educated man differ from the uneducated? As
the living from the dead." The acquisitions of our
student-life are to be measured by their utility in the
broad world of duty and responsibility.

The fact that a flexible thing is contracted by
moisture is of little importance in itself. Why should
a scholar congratulate himself on knowing it ? But
the great obelisk, now standing in the square of St.
Peter's at Rome, attests the real value of that simple
truth. This obelisk was raised to its place by order of
Pope Sixtus V. in 1586. Great preparations were
made. High Mass was said in the morning. The
architect and workmen received the Papal benedic-
tion. At the blast of a trumpet a great number of
workmen and horses appeared and set to work.
Fifty-two vain attempts were made with ropes and
pulleys. The great monolith was raised from the
e?\rth higher and higher to the very verge of the ped-

THE UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM. 173

estal, and there it halted. Man-power and horse-
power had done their best ; the ropes had reached
their utmost tension. And yet an inch was lacking.
Then a voice was heard from among the crowd,
"Wet the ropes." It was done ; the needed inch was
gained. Knowledge is power. The obelisk was raised
to its place, and there it stands to-day.

A scholar's worth in this busy world of ours is
measured by his success in using his information for
the general weal. Why was Peter Cooper made Doc-
tor of Laws ? It was not because he had what is known
as a liberal education, for he had attended school only
a single year. Whatever of knowledge he acquired
was through much dithculty and by persistent appli-
cation. But the secret of his deserved fame lies in
the fact that every atom of his acquisition was used
for the good of those about him. In the corner-stone
of Cooper Institute there is a scroll which bears this
inscription : " The object which I desire to accom-
plish in raising this fabric, is to open avenues of
knowledge to the youth of our country, that they
may learn to love Him from whom cometh every
good and perfect gift."

II. The Temptations of Student life. The most im-
portant and alluring of these is one which, by reason
of its intangible and specious character, is likely to be
unobserved, to wit, an exaggerated idea of the importance
of knowledge as an end and not as a means to an end.
There ought to be some word in the English language
with which to label this vice, but there is none.
An overweening regard for wealth is called *' avarice."
And the man who pursues wealth for its own sake,
neither giving nor spending, but always loving and
hoarding, is a miser. The love of pleasure, mere

174 THE UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM.

pleasure for itself alone, is sensuality. And the man
who pursues pleasure to the disregard of better and
other things is called by many names — a sybarite, a
voluptuary, an epicurean, a sensualist. But there is
no name by which to characterize this other vice or
the man who pursues it. The seeking of knowledge
for itself alone is a sordid quest, as really as the
pursuit of wealth or pleasure ; and he who sets
his heart upon knowledge for its own sake is as little
worthy of his manhood as the miser or the voluptuary,
for he is a thoroughly selfish man. Such an one was
Sir Thomas Browne, whose ambition was to know all
that could be known about dead men's bones, ashes,
cerements, graveyards and epitaphs. He lived in the
time of the English Commonwealth and wrote " Hy-
driotaphia " in his room overlooking the Strand in
London. The busy life that surged along the thor-
oughfare below had no interest for him. Thrones
and empires were tottering and falling. Cromwell
and the Roundheads were fighting at Marston Moor.
The great controversies of the afterglow of the Refor-
mation were being contested in courts and councils.
The King's head fell from the block on Tower Hill.
The face of the civilized world was being changed.
But all this was nothing to Sir Thomas Browne. He
knew about bones and cerements, and he cared to know
nothing more. He sat in his room on the Strand and
wrote " Urn Burial," in sweet forgetfulness of all the
duties and obligations of the time which weighed so
heavily on the hearts of his countrymen.

Another of the most constant temptations of stu-
dent-life is in Cameraderie. Here a word must be
borrowed because there is none in the English lan-
guage that can describe student comradeship. It is

THE UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM. 1 75

more than friendship. The story of the two friends
who came to Vulcan's forge and asked him to lay
their hearts upon his anvil and beat them into one, is
not a fable ; it is the simple tale of what is always
transpiring in school life. We read in Scripture of
the sanctity of the laying on of hands ; but there is
an almost equal sanctity in the clasping of hands.
Heart thrills against heart ; life blends with life.
There is a transference of faith and of character.
Take heed, therefore, to your boon companionship.
Edgar Allen Poe was an orphan lad, the adopted
son of a Baltimore merchant who sent him to London
and placed him in a boarding school at the early age
of seven years. If at that period he had received a
little mothering, poor lad, or if he had fallen in with
helpful friends, there is no telling what might have
been the subsequent story of that mighty brain and
generous heart. But the shadow of evil friendships
fell over him. He was led into the downward path,
and fell at the very verge of his manhood a victim to
the influence of evil associations. He has left on
record his own sorrow in these pathetic words :

" And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting,
On the pallid bust of Pallas, just above mj'- chamber door ;
And his eyes have all the meaning of a demon that is dream-
ing,
And the lamplight o'er him streaming throws his shadow

on the floor ;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the
floor

Shall be lifted — ne7JertnoreI "

It would be impossible to make profitable mention
of the temptations of youth at this preparatory period
without reference to certain vulgar vices. One of
them is named in the ninth chapter of Proverbs : "^

176 THE UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM.

woman sitteth at the door of her house to call passengers
who go right on in their ways : ' Whoso is simple, let
him turn in hither; ' and as for him that wanteth under-
standing, she saith to him, ''Stolen waters are sweet and
bread eaten in secret is pleasant' But he knoweth 7iot that
the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of
hell." Another is referred to in the twenty-third
chapter of the same book : ^^Look not thou upon the
wine when it is red, when it give th its color in the cup, when
it moveth itself aright; for at last it biteth like a serpent
and stingeth like an adder'' There are still others with
which Solomon, with all his sad experience of illicit
pleasure, was not familiar ; such as the impurity that
lurks in current fiction and in the public drama ; an
impurity that burns its way into heart and con-
science and irreparably dulls the fine edge of man-
hood and womanhood.

The students who are present in this company will
remember how Virgil made reference to the conse-
quences of yielding to these forms of temptations :

" Facilis descensus Averni ;
Sed revocare gradum, superasque evadere ad auras,
Hie labor, hoc opus est."

It is true indeed, the descent to the realms of dark-
ness is easy, but to retrace one's steps and reascend
to truth and purity, this is the task that tries the soul
of a man.

It is such resistance, however, that develops the
true metal of manhood. Gold is refined in furnace
fires. When Prince Hal was surrounded by his foes,
a herald sped across the field post-haste and said to
the king, "Thy son must have reinforcements. Sire ;
he is encircled by his foes and his horse is shot from

THE UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM. 177

under him." The king answered, " Is he wounded
unto death ? " " Nay, but he is hard bestead." "Tell
Prince Hal," said the king, ''that he hath never had
so golden an opportunity of winning his spurs."

III. The Safeguards of Student-life. It is said that
two hundred and seventeen of the three hundred and
sixty-nine members of the senior class at Yale are
members of the church. This is probably a larger
proportion than can be found in any other simi-
lar school of learning. And it is of importance
in view of recent statements respecting the moral in-
fluences at New Haven. It must be granted, however,
that Satan is to be found in every school and college
in the land and that he is not waiting for youth to
pay their addresses to him, but is pressing his atten-
tions upon them, "seeking whom he may devour."
Five mischievous or wicked youth in any community
of students can create the impression of a Reign of
Terror. But if a young man yields to temptation in
a voluntary surrender of his manhood, it is absolutely
his own fault ; for there are many helpful influences
to hold him to truth and righteousness.

To begin with, he has his sense of honor. And
the average youth has a deep sense of honor. When
James Harper, the founder of the publishing house,
was leaving his home to learn the printer's trade
in the great metropolis, his mother, bidding him
farewell at the gate, said, "James, remember you
have good blood in you." This is an appeal which
touches the heart of every true man.

*' Who misses or who wins the prize,
Go, lose or conquer as you cam
Or if you fall or if you rise,

Be each, pray God, a gentleman."

lyS THE UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM.

A noble ambition is among the most helpful influ-
ences of student-life. The higher this ambition is the
better. Horace Bushnell said, '' Grasp the handle of
your being." Ralph Waldo Emerson said something
better, " Hitch your wagon to a star." One of the
noblest masterpieces of hand-wrought art in iron is
the well-curb in the market-place of Antwerp, There-
by hangs a tale. Quentin Matsys, a blacksmith's
apprentice, fell in love with an artist's daughter. The
girl's father curtly refused him, saying, " Never, until
thou hast made a splendid work of art." In no wise
abashed, he set himself to the task. The difficulties
in his way were as nothing because of the prize before
him. With no implements but hammer and file he
made the well-curb and won his wife. No man can
work well unless he can speak as the great Master
did of the '' joy set before him."

And this leads me to the greatest of all safeguards
and the most encouraging of all stimulating influences
to a noble life ; that is, the power of personal religion.
We need something outside of and beyond ourselves.
Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I !

I speak to many young men and women who have
professed the Gospel of Christ. You can look back
to the time when you consecrated yourselves to him.
Remember you are not your own, you are bought
with a price ; not silver and gold, but the precious
blood of Jesus as of a lamb without blemish and
without spot. Be true to your profession. Be loyal
to Christ and to the Christian Church. Be faithful
to your moral convictions. Make much of the Bible,
which is your only weapon of defense, the sword of
the Spirit which is the Word of God. Make much
of prayer. You are like couriers bearing a treasure

THE UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM. 179

through a wilderness infested by robbers on either
side. If you are to uphold yourselves in Christian
faithfulness, it will be because God's presence is round
about you.

It is related that only two men ever lived who
were able to resist the song of the sirens — the tempt-
resses who frequented the rock Peloris off the coast
of Sicily and allured passing mariners with songs of
gold and glory and pleasure. One who resisted was
Ulysses who, as he voyaged homeward after the siege
of Troy, hearing the songs afar off, had himself bound
to the mast, and so was held despite his own struggles
while the ship swept by. So may a man be held by
the stern sense of duty, constrained by his obligation
to what he believes to be right. But there is still a
better way. The other of the two who resisted was
Orpheus who, as he heard the alluring songs touched
his lyre and sang the praises of heaven so sweetly,
so divinely, that the sirens themselves paused to
listen as he swept by. It is well to be held as
with golden chains to the noblest and best ; it is better
still to have religion so interwoven with the very
fibres of our being as that duty itself shall become
pleasure, and life's trials shall turn aside to leave us
to the even tenor of our way. This was the mind of
Christ Jesus, who was so bound up in his beneficent
purpose that earthly and sordid things could take
no hold of him ; his heart was fixed ; the prince of
this world came and had nothing in him.

I speak to others who have never professed de-
votion to Christ. When Saul of Tarsus received his
diploma from the hands of Gamaliel, he may have
supposed that his education was complete. One
thing, however, was lacking. It came to him as he

l8o THE UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM.

journeyed along the Damascus highway, — an inquisi-
tor breathing out slaughter against the followers of the
Nazarene prophet ; — a light above the brightness of
the sun shone down upon him and he fell to the earth.
He was blinded in that instant, but saw such visions
as fleshly eyes can never look on. The great truth
came to him like a sun-burst, and his whole nature
responded in the word, " Lord, what wilt thou have
me to do ? " This was really the beginning of his
life ; he laid everything in that moment at Jesus'
feet ; his birth, learning, Roman citizenship, rhetori-
cal skill, hope, ambition ; so that he was able to say
thereafter, " I know nothing but Christ and him
crucified ; the love of Christ constraineth me." Oh,
that those before me, who have never known a like
experience, might make the same response to God's
appeal to-night, so that the new life with all its
blessed hopes andpossibilities might open before them.

And this last word to all. We are nothing of our-
selves save as our all is consecrated to God. Are you
an art student ? Let your love of the beautiful be
devoted to him as really as was the skill of Bezaleel
who wrought upon the posts and curtains of the
temple. Are you a student of music ? Let your
skill be devoted to him as was the harp of David,
which he made to minister to minds diseased and
used continually to magnify the glory of God. Are
you a medical student ? Follow in the footsteps of
that good Physician whose life was spent in allaying
pain and soothing sorrow, opening blind eyes, heal-
ing diseases, raising the dead, and all subsidiary to
the more gracious power of delivering souls from sin.
Duty calls you. Be ready to answer, " Here am L"

When Col. Newcome lay dying, he recalled the

THE UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM. l8l

days which he had spent at the Charity School. He
sat again among the boys and heard the voice of
the head-master calling the roll. He rose upon his
arm in bed and listened until he seemed to hear his
own name called, then answering, Adsum, he fell back
on the pillow and slept his last sleep. There is
nothing better than this, to answer *' Present " at the
call of the Master, Christ.

The blessing of the Lord be with you all.

AS THE HART PANTETH.

" As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O
God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God : when shall I come
and appear before God ? "—Psalm xlii. 1-2.

The love of David for Absalom was the bitter
fountain of the most poignant sorrows of his life. Oh,
how he loved that wayward boy! And indeed there
was much in him to love and admire. He was a
handsome youth, with long, flowing hair ; vain, am-
bitious, inordinately fond of display, usually attended
by a troop of fifty life-guardsmen. His father could
not bear to put a salutary restraint upon him, much
less to chastise him. So it happened in the irrever-
sible course of nature that his heart was burdened
with ever-increasing sorrows, until at last he stag-
gered up the winding stair-way to his chamber of
prayer on the house-top, crying as he went, " O Ab-
salom, my son, my son ; would God that I had died
for thee" !

Now there were rumors of an insurrection, and

with unspeakable grief the king learned that Absalom

was chief conspirator. What should he do ? He could

not take up arms against his favorite son. His love

had cut the sinews of his strength. He arose and

fled ; accompanied by a few faithful friends he crossed

(182)

AS THE HART PANTETH. 183

the ford of the Kedron, weeping, with his head cov-
ered, and went up by the ascent of Mt. Olivet toward
the wilderness.

In camp among the trans-Jordanic cliffs, the exiled
king was joined by all sorts of adventurers ; gather-
ing about him a very Falstaff's army of motley men.
Peasants of the surrounding country gave token of
their affection by generous gifts of wheat and barley,
beans and lentils, butter and provisions of every sort.
Nevertheless the king's soul was burdened ; not for
the loss of his kingdom, for he could endure that.
Not supremely for the baseness of Absalom, though
indeed he was learning to his great anguish how
sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thank-
less child. But his sins sat heavy on his conscience
and God's face was hidden from him. He knew now
that he should have thought twice before he married
the beautiful Maacah, a pagan princess, the mother
of this lad. And there were other sins still more
heinous that rose like spectres now to shake their
fingers at him.

He stood alone on one of the barren heights, as in
a great sanctuary, communing with his own soul and
seeking to commune with God. What a sanctuary
was this ! Its roof was the canopy of heaven. Its
aisles were the valleys below where the wild goats
were grazing. Its pillars and arches were the rug-
ged cliffs ; its tapestries, the verdure of forest and
field. As he stood amid the glories of this great
cathedral of nature, there was a rustling of boughs
near by, and a deer, wounded by the archers, wild
with terror, with hot eyeballs, panting sides, distended
nostrils, an arrow quivering in its flank, bounded past
and onward through the forest glade to quench the

184 AS THE HART PANTETH.

fever of its thirst. And David found his prayer at
last ; "As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so
panteth my soul after thee, O God." It is himself he
sees ; a troubled, wounded, frightened soul, wounded
unto death, hearing God's voice afar off like the mur-
mur of water trickling from the rock. "So panteth
my soul after thee, O God."

What have we here for the experience of common
life ? What are the lessons for us ?

I. A lesson in soul thirst. It is a false saying, " Man
wants but little here below, nor wants that little long."
We are born with a cry ; " Like our shadows, our
wishes lengthen as our sun declines " ; we end our
lives with a groan, or else a cry of deliverance like
the song of a captive bird escaping from its cage into
light and sunshine and the freedom of the upper air
Ixion bound to the wheel ; Sisyphus rolling the stone
up hill only to have it rolled back again from the
summit and so forever and ever ; Tantalus standing
up to his lips in a fountain whose waters recede
whenever he would drink, stretching his hand to-
ward clusters of fruit that are carried out of reach
just as he would pluck them — these are not fables,
these are pictures of common life. " Man never is,
but always to be, blest."

And the waters of this world can never satisfy
our thirst. There is enough and to spare, but it only
tantalizes us. It is like the fountain of Marah, bitter
and brackish. It is like the taunting miles of sea
that lay before the eyes of the ancient mariner :

" Water, water everywhere,

And all the boards did shrink ;
Water, water everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink ! "

AS THE HART PANTETH. 185

What do these people want, that jostle each other
along the streets with restless eyes and furrowed
brows and troubled faces ? They are not satisfied.
What would they have ? Gold ? They spend their
days in grasping — bags, boxes, bonds, and mortgages,
houses and lands, thousands, millions, but the
wrinkles are still there. One day there is a dimness
before their eyes, a sense of cold fingers groping to-
ward the heart, death ! The hands unclasp at last ;
they lie there open and empty. What would these
people have ? Pleasure ? Go to, I will try thee with
mirth. Eat, drink and be merry ! The glass, the
cymbals, the dice. One day a spectre comes, grim
and forbidding, and the laughter dies in a long moan
like the sighing of a twilight wind. I said of laugh-
ter, It is mad ; and of mirth. What doeth it ? Vanity
of vanities, alt is vanity and vexation of spirit. What
do they want ? Honor ? Here is the most eager
chase of human life. For yonder wreath of laurel
they plan and worry and fret and agonize. At last
they grasp it ; and lo, it drops from the hand a withered
thing, dry, valueless ; it crumbles into dust. The
man whom we Americans have placed upon the
highest pedestal of fame was fond of repeating to
himself these words :

" The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power,

And all that beauty, all that wealth ere gave.
Await alike the inevitable hour —

The paths of glory lead but to the grave."

n. The diag7iosis of the souVs moral pain. My soul
thirsteth for God.

The wounded deer can interpret its need. Nature
has taught it. When lips are dry, v/hen eyes are hot,
when throat is parched, water alone can satisfy.

l86 AS THE HART PANTETH.

Would ihat we were as wise as the wounded deer to
interpret the longing of our souls. Why did the
Greeks rear in the public square at Athens that altar
" to the unknown God " ? They had Athene, Aphro-
dite, Poseidon, Father Zeus, a vast Pantheon of
helpers, and still they thirsted. This altar is the con-
fession of that thirst. It was from this inscription
that Paul found occasion for his sermon on Mars
Hill : " God hath made of one blood all nations
of men, for to dwell on the face of the earth ; and
hath determined the times before appointed and the
bounds of their habitation ; that they should seek the
Lord if haply they might feel after him and find him,
though he be out far from every one of us ; for in
him we live and move and have our being ; as certain
of your own poets also have said, For we are also his
offspring." They were seeking the Lord in a poor,
helpless way, like blind men groping along the wall.

The plant that struggles into being in the cellar,
a poor peasant thing, a child of solitude and prisoner
of night, feels with its blanched tendrils, like thin
fingers, toward yonder chink in the wall ; life groping
its way toward light ! An apt symbol of the soul
panting for God.

Here is the token of our divine birth. They say
that when Africanus returned from his campaign the
Censors took his father's ring from off his hand be-
cause he was unworthy to bear it. But we, de-
generate children of a divine Father, have still in this
inarticulate cry that throbs forth from our souls the
lingering token of our lineage. My soul panteth for
God!

Here also is the abiding hope of our immortal
destiny. The starling in its cage that cries continu-

AS THE HART PANTETH. 187

ally, " I can't get out ! " pays tribute to its birth-riglit
and to its franchise for the freedom of the open air.
How shall we deal fairly with our poor imprisoned
souls ? A caravan of famishing men went staggering
through a dry and thirsty land. A cry was raised,
" Let loose the antelopes ! " It was done and the fleet-
footed creatures set out all in one direction ; for the
secret of the fountains was in their breasts. Oh, that
we were willing to let loose our love, our reverence,
our holy instincts and aspirations ! If they had free-
dom they would soon find God.

III. Our want can find satisfaction only in Christ.
For Christ alone is God's manifestation of himself
among men.

The oldest of the patriarchs expressed his longing
in this wise : " Oh, that I knew where I might find
God ; that I might come even to his seat ! I would
order my cause before him and fill my mouth with
arguments. But, behold, I go forward and he is not
there ; and backward, but I cannot perceive him ; on
the left hand, but I cannot behold him; he hideth him-
self on the right hand that I cannot see him." From
that vain quest of the patriarch we pass to the upper
chamber where Christ is conversing with his disciples:
"And Philip saith unto him, Lord show us the
Father and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him.
Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou
not known me, Philip ? he that hath seen me hath
seen the Father ; how sayest thou then, Shew us
the Father. Believest thou not that I am in the Fa-
ther and the Father in me"? Here then is the
answer to the old despairing cry, *' Canst thou by
searching find out God " ?

(i) Here is the living God. My soul thirsteth for

l88 AS THE HART PANTETH.

the living God ; when shall I come and appear before
him ? It is not enough to bow before a graven
image, crying, " O Baal, hear us " ! Our souls do not
respond to the philosophy that bids us worship law,
force, energy. Shall we make our prayers to the
star-dust, or pour out our sorrows to the primordial
germ ? Nor can pantheism meet the desire of our
souls. As well try to worship the impalpable ether
that fills the interstellar fields of space. No, no; my
soul thirsteth for the living God. We are not satis-
fied even with the word that came to Moses at the
burning bush, " I AM THAT I AM." This is but a
voice, a definition, a m.ystery. We must needs find
the living God. And here he is coming to us through
the tempest in the dark night : " It is I, be not afraid."
He comes aboard the little ship ; we are fallen at his
feet ; the storm is hushed ; the ship is at the shore.

{2) Here is the incarnate God. Flesh of our flesh
and bone of our bone. Nearer to us God cannot
come than in Jesus Christ. A letter was taken from
one of the postal boxes, written by a poor, friendless
child, and addressed to God. It read thus: ''Dear
God, — We are very poor. We have no bread, no
C;lothes, no fire. Dear God, come and help us." We
are taught out of the mouth of babes and sucklings.
Here is the God we need, and this the way to ap-
proach him. "Except ye become as little children, ye
shall in no wise enter the kingdom of God."

(3) Here is the satisfying God. " In hym ye
ben fylled." Our thought of deity is not as of one
who stands upon the shore looking out over the ocean
with shaded eyes, but as one bending over the brook
that trickles from the heights. Our Lord stood by
the woman of Sychar at the well and said, "Whoso-

AS THE HEART PANTETH. 189

ever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall
never thirst ; but the water that I shall give him shall
be in him a well of water springing up into everlast-
ing life."

In a recent conference of ministers in this city a
good deal was said as to the importance of returning
to the old method of presenting the sterner attributes
of God. '^ Let us be faithful, however reluctant, in
preaching the terrors of the Law," said one ; ''let us
not shrink from preaching hell." No doubt this rests
upon us as a stern obligation ; to preach hell with
bated breath, tenderly, lovingly, faithfully ; ever
mindful of the fact that while God is love he is also
a consuming fire. But what is hell? "It came to
pass that the rich man died and was buried ; and in
hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and cried,
saying. Have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he
may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my
tongue." The pain of eternal retribution is here rep-
resented as a vain regret, despair, unavailing sorrow,
an eternal thirst. And the minister must needs pre-
sent this truth as he would be faithful in declaring
the whole counsel of God.

But, behold, I show unto you a better way. Preach
Christ ! Christ who came into the world to quench
the burning thirst of the children of men. As he
hung in his last agony on the cross, the night closed
about him — that awful darkness at noon-day — and in
his solitary anguish he cried, "I thirst"! His lips
were dry, his throat was parched, his eyes were hot ;
"I thirst" ! In that moment he, as we are wont to
say in our historic creed, "descended into hell" for
us. But standing here beneath the cross, in view of
that vicarious sacrifice, I hear the patter of rain drops

igo

AS THE HART PANTETH.

in the grassy fields of Caanan ; I hear the ripple of
brooks on their way down the mountain slopes of the
land that floweth with milk and honey ; I hear the
roll of the river, the river of life that flows from the
cleft rock beneath the throne of God.

Dip down and drink and live. If any man thirst
let him come unto me and drink to his fill. O blessed
salvation ! It is free as the air ; the element of life
for bird and beast and man. It is free as the sun-
light ; the king at his window enjoys its warmth and
sees the beggar who lies beside his gate basking in it.
It is free as ihe water ; there is enough and to spare;
the clouds are full of it, the rivers are full of it, the
fountains are full of it.

One word from the Old Economy : '' Ho, every one
that thirsteth, come ye to the waters ; and he that
hath no money, come ye, buy and eat ; yea, come,
buy wine and milk without money and without
price." And one word from the New : "The Spirit
and the bride say. Come. And let him that heareth
say. Come. And let him that is athirst come ; and
whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."
Drink, drink, and thirst no more !

THE CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE.

" 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 lables ; amd said unto them that sold doves.
Take these things hence ; make not my Father's house an house of mer-
chandise. And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of
thine house hath eaten me up." John ii. 13-17.

The Jews were expecting the Messiah. The signs
of the times all pointed to his near advent. It was
written in their oracles, *' The Lord whom ye seek
shall suddenly come to this temple." What a day
that would be when Prince Shiloh, crowned with
honor, his face radiant with the glory of heaven,
should enter the sacred precincts, lift his hands in
blessing and restore to Israel the splendor of former
times. This, they thought, would be the manner of
his coming. But how strangely was that prophecy
fulfilled. A man in the garb of a Galilean peasant,
whip in hand, eyes aflame with holy indignation,
scourges the traffickers from the temple court and
lashes their rulers with reproaches for their defile-
ment of the sacred place. A strange coming of the
Christ ! Yet so he ever comes ; for is it not written,
" Judgment must begin at the house of God " ?

How are we to interpret this incident ? Was it
intended to teach that a place dedicated to the wor-
ship of Almighty God must not be prostituted to
secular uses ? Aye, and something more. I was in

(19O

192

THE CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE.

St. Paul's in London a few years ago, when a poor
fellow, over in one corner of the Cathedral, shot him-
self through the heart. The sacred edifice was so de-
filed by his blood spattered upon its wall, that it was
presently re-consecrated with solemn rites. It is hard
to understand how such a proceeding could be justi-
fied except upon the lowest and narrowest view of
the sanctity of the place. There are worse things
than the blood of a suicide upon the floor and walls
of our sanctuaries. And if there must be re-consecra-
tion for every defilement, we must needs be intoning
our formulae and swinging our censers all day long.
No, this is not the way to keep the house clean. As
well undertake to purify a leper by washing his san-
dals. There is a much current superstition respect-
ing the holiness of a church building. It must in-
deed be reserved for purposes of worship exclusively,
but

" What's hallowed ground ? Has earth a clod

Its Maker meant not to be trod

By man the image of his God ?"

The house is merely the outward shell of the true
temple. It has no sacredness except for the fact that
thither the tribes go up to worship God ; its pillars
and curtains are wood and flax. The Church, Ecclesta,
exceeds all bounds of roof and walls. No outward
garnishing of nave and transept can commend to
Heaven a company of worshipers whose hands are
unclean and whose hearts are impure. A clean plat-
ter may serve to furnish forth a most unwholesome
feast.

The Jews were a chosen people — chosen to evangel-
ize the world. Their commission was as wide as that
of the Christian Church. For its accomplishment they

THE CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE. I93

were entrusted with the oracles and the prophecies of
theChrist. The temple was the center of their work of
evangelization ; its rites and symbols and elaborate
ceremonial were all significant of that purpose. To
this end there was a Court of the Gentiles ; the outer
and larger portion of the sacred enclosure, which the
heathen of all nations might visit. Its use was pre-
cisely that which is served by the so-called ''altar" in
some of our modern churches, namely, a place of
welcome for outsiders who desire to acknowledge the
true God. At the time of our text this Court of the
Gentiles had passed into disuse. There was no gen-
eral desire to receive proselytes into the Jewish
Church. Why then should not the space allotted to
them be devoted to other purposes ? It was leased
accordingly to those who sold sheep and oxen and
turtle doves for sacrifice, and to money-changers who
were ready to exchange, for a consideration of five per
cent., the coin of other countries for the Jewish half-
shekel with which every loyal son of Israel must pay
his annual poll-tax.

The cleansing of the temple occurred twice ; at
the beginning and again at the close of Christ's min-
istry. On the first occasion he had come down
from the north with a caravan of pilgrims to attend
the Passover. On a hot April day he reached Jerusa-
lem and betook himself at once to the temple. As
he ascended the marble steps, he heard sounds of
traffic, the shouts of drovers, the lowing of cattle and
bleating of flocks, the clinking of money on the tables
of the money-changers. I would give much to have
seen the look of righteous indignation on the face of
the Nazarene prophet as he stooped to gather from
the floor the handful of rushes with which he drave

194 THE CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE

them out. " Take these things hence ; make not my
Father's house an house of merchandise ! " And there
was no resistance. Why? Why did not Ahab arrest
Elijah at the gate of Naboth's vineyard ? Why did
not the magistrates of Nineveh lay hands on Jonah as
he went up and down the streets crying, "Yet forty
days and this city shall be destroyed"? Why did
not the people mob Moses when he hurled the golden
calf from its pedestal in the midst of the idolatrous
multitude? "Conscience makes cowards of us all,"
and "he is thrice armed who hath his quarrel just."
O, there is an unspeakable power in a transport of
righteous indignation ! Who shall measure the
power of that indignation when it flamed forth from
the eyes of the incarnate Son of God ?

The other occasion of the cleansing of the temple
was four days before the crucifixion. Jesus had
come down again to attend the Passover. He was
accompanied by many pilgrims on their way to
the feast. And as he came along the road from Olivet
he was met also by a multitude from the city who
cast their garments before him and cried, " Hosanna !
Hosanna, to the Son of David ! " As he entered the
gate and passed along the street the people leaned
from their lattices and stood in the doorways of the
bazaars wondering at this strange procession. Again
he entered the temple. Three years had elapsed, but
he found the same condition of things. The colon-
nades had again been invaded by the merchants ;
here were pens and stalls for sheep and cattle ; here
were the drovers and the money-changers. Again he
drove them out, and again none dared resist his holy
zeal. This done, he remained in the Court of the
Gentiles ; preaching ancj healing the sick who were

THE CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE. I95

brought to him, while from within came the voices of
children and the songs of the pilgrims : " Hosanna!
Hosanna, to the Son of David ! Blessed is he that
Cometh in the name of the Lord ! "

I have never known a time during my ministry of
twenty-five years when there seemed to be such a
general desire for a revival of true religion in the
Churches as just now. The matter is referred to con-
stantly in our preachers' meetings, and the prayers of
the people in our devotional services indicate the drift
of common desire. O for the coming of the Lord in
power to the saving of a multitude of souls ! But are
we ready ? Is the Church prepared for a work of
heavenly grace ? If the Lord were to come presently,
would there be no occasion for his scourge before the
lifting of his hands in benediction ? Is it not possible
that with us also, ** judgment must first begin at the
house of God " ? And if so, what evils would the Lord
find to arouse his just and holy wrath ?

I. One of the prevailing sins of Christian people
is covetousnessj that is, the turning aside of divine
things to personal and selfish uses.

The priests of Israel had appropriated the Court
of the Gentiles to the purposes of merchandise, be-
cause of the income they derived from it. Why not?
What harm was there in leasing this unused space for
such trafficking as indirectly ministered to the altar?
Thus they justified themselves in turning it to their
own account. The canker of gold had infected heart
and conscience.

Tt is stated that the annual gifts of the Christian
people of America to the work of missions outside the
local parish are about ten cents per capita ; that is,
one-fiftieth of one per cent, of the average income

196 THE CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE.

of a laboring man. And the people who are making
such contributions are offering up, day by day, the
prayer, '' Thy kingdom come." The yearly gifts
of all the nations of Christendom for missions
would not pay the liquor bill of America for three
days. The people of the world — the witnesses who
compass us about — when they learn such facts as
these, must be led to strange conclusions. For they
know that, as Christians, we have consecrated our-
selves body and soul, talents and possessions, wholly
and absolutely to the service of Christ. And this is
the outcome !

We are living in hard times. The long strain is
felt in all our Christian beneficences. Our Missionary
Boards are all laboring under a heavy burden of
debt ; our institutions of Christian education are run-
ning behind. Whose fault is it? There is money
enough in the hands of Christ's disciples in
our own country to pay off all the indebtedness
of these enterprises without feeling it. I could
point my finger at five Christian men in America,
multi-millionaires, having in their possession trust-
funds belonging to the Lord Jesus Christ, who could
place all our missionary boards and charitable insti-
tutions on a basis of permanent prosperity by parting
with a mere modicum of their wealth. The time has
come when God places a clear requisition upon such
possessions ; he does not call for a tithe of the income ;
he does not ask the whole of the interest ; he demands
that those to whom he has entrusted riches shall now
cut in upon the principal, for that principal belongs
to him. No doubt we have all been impressed by the
severity with which our Lord in his preaching spoke of
rich men, as where he said, " How hardly shall they

THE CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE. I97

that have ricnes enter into the kingdom of God ! It
is easier for a camel to pass through a needle's eye
than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of
God." It may be that in this passage he desired to
teach the impossibility of the salvation .of a man
whose heart is set upon the acquisition of wealth
and upon its selfish use. Or it may be that he re-
ferred to that gate of Jerusalem called " The Needle's
Eye," which is said to have been large enough to ad-
mit a camel, but not with a load upon its back. Un-
load if you would enter in ! The silver and the gold
are God's; his people must recognize that fact. Souls
cannot be saved while the Court of the Gentiles is
perverted to selfish uses.

II. Another of the current sins of the Church in
these times is externalism. At the very time when
the temple court was filled with sounds of chaffering
merchants and the bleating of sheep and oxen, the
priests within were devoting their utmost attention to
the scrupulosity of outward form. Censers were
swinging and antiphonal choirs were chanting, " Oh,
that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and
for his wonderful works to the children of men."
This was the golden age of ceremonialism in Israel,
and God hated if. " Bring no more vain oblations,"
he said. "Your incense is an abomination unto me ;
your new moons and appointed feasts my soul hateth ;
I am weary to bear them. Wash you, make you
clean. Cease to do evil ; learn to do well." Jesus in
like manner rebuked it. The long prayers, the broad
phylacteries, the ringing of the resounding gifts in
Corban; how he denounced them ! " Ye are as whited
sepulchres, fair without, but within full of dead men's
bones and all uncleanness."

198 THE CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE.

There is a ritualistic tendency in our time which
is greatly to be deplored; a turning away from the
simplicity of pure worship to spectacular display.
Let it be remembered that our Lord in setting up the
religion of the New Economy announced the fulfill-
ment of former rites and ceremonies and the reduc-
tion of religion to its very simplest form. The
Church at Laodicea incurred his grave displeasure
because it was neither cold in abandoning the faith
nor hot in zealously defending it ; but eminently re-
spectable. The letter which killeth was there, but
there was an absence of the Spirit which maketh
alive. " So then because thou art lukewarm, and
neither cold or hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
And because thou sayest : ^ I am rich, and increased
with goods, and have need of nothing '; and knowest
not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor,
and blind, and naked ; I counsel thee to buy of me
gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich ; and
white raiment that thou mayest be clothed, and that
the shame of thy nakedness do not appear ; and
anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest
see."

There is no more specious temptation to the
Church than that of captivating and unwarranted
forms in worship. Let it be remembered tjiat what-
soever is not of God is of sin. At the well of Sychar
our Lord said to the woman of Samaria, who was
much concerned about the rival claims of Moriah and
Gerizim with their divers rites and symbols: "Wo-
man, believe me the hour cometh when ye shall
neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship
the Father. The hour cometh and now is when the
true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit

THE CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE. 199

and in truth ; for he seeketh such to worship him.
God is a Spirit; and they that worship him, must
worship him in spirit and in truth."

III. Mention must also be made of the prevalent
sin of intolerance. The priests of the ancient temple
were at this time ready to welcome almost any form
of heresy; and they had engrafted upon their religion
much of pagan philosophy. If liberalism were needed,
they had enough of it ; but they were intolerant to-
ward truth and impatient of the teachings of their
own scriptures. At this hour they were full of hatred
toward Christ and his doctrine, and were devising
measures to accomplish his death.

There are many of God's people who incline to-
ward liberalism in their treatment of false philoso-
phies; but who cannot abide a reference to the old
landmarks, or the " traditional view " of the doctrine
of Christ. As ministers and laymen, we stand
pledged in solemn covenant to the loyal upholding of
Christ and the Scriptures ; the Written and the Incar-
nate Word of God. The bigot of these days is not
the man who insists upon loyalty to those funda-
mental facts, but rather the one who extends the
right hand of fellowship to such as reject them, while
denouncing the upholders of the faith once de-
livered to the saints as bigots and fanatics. This is
a practical renunciation of loyalty to the gospel
of Christ. Let us be liberal toward truth and toward
all lovers of truth, and generously disposed toward
all who reject the truth in praying that they may be
brought to a knowledge of it.

The broadest and most generous of the Apostles
was John the Evangelist. He is represented as
leaning upon the Master's breast. His constant
theme was Love ; insomuch that when he was an

200 THE CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE.

old man and burdened with his years, he is said to
have been carried to the church to deliver his brief
sermon, " Little children, love one another." This
was the man who, toward the close of his life, writing
to the Elect Lady, said, "This is love, that we walk
after his commandments. For many deceivers are
entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus
Christ is come in the flesh. Whosoever transgresseth
and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not
God. If there come any unto you and bring not this
doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid
him God-speed : for he that biddeth him God-speed
is partaker of his evil deeds.'' This is the sort of
tolerance which prevailed in the Apostolic Church.
It is liberalism of another sort that has largely para-
lyzed the energies of the Church in Holland, in Ger-
many, in Scotland and in England to-day. We can-
not afford to compromise with error. To compromise
with error is to be intolerant toward truth. We must
love those who are without and seek their conversion ;
but must frankly refuse, in the interest of truth, to
hold religious fellowship with them.

IV. Still another of the sins prevalent in the
Church to-day is spiritual conceit. The Jews were
aware of God's plan as to the conversion of the na-
tions. They knew that there would have been no
Court of the Gentiles but for his desire that the Gen-
tiles should be brought in. But they did not approve
of his plan. They thought of themselves as a select
company of people entrusted with the oracles and
possessed of certain exclusive privileges. As to out-
siders, they were wont to speak of them as " dogs of
Gentiles." They had no desire to gather them in.

Our Lord has left us in no doubt as to his pur-
pose respecting the Church. It is the great living or-

THE CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE. 201

ganism through which he is working for the bringing
of all nations to the knowledge of truth. He came
back after his crucifixion and spent forty days with
his disciples, apparently for the purpose of marking
out the plan of campaign. He said to them repeat-
edly, from his first meeting of them in the upper
room, to his last address on the mount of ascension,
" Go ye into all the world and evangelize ; and lo, I
am with you alway, even unto the end." His meaning
is perfectly clear. And yet it is not an uncommon
thing in our time to hear professing Christians say,
" I do not believe in Foreign Missions." Was there
ever greater arrogance ? What right has any believer
to set up his own opinion as against the distinct com-
mandment of his Lord ? What assumption ! what
self-opinionated vanity is here ! No use for the Court
of the Gentiles indeed. What is the Church then?
A coterie of saints ? A mutual-admiration society ?
A fellowship of good people who desire to sit and
sing their souls away to everlasting bliss ? Nay ;
Christ settled it. This is his business ; let us allow
him to manage it in his own way.

Before we can receive the blessing which the
Church needs, the Temple must be purged. The
Lord of the Temple already stands in the Court of
the Gentiles ; the scourge in his hand falls on the
backs of our pleasant and cherished sins. He bids us
remove from our hearts and lives the covetousness
which has robbed God, the externalism which has
mocked God, the intolerance which has rejected truth
instead of error, and the spiritual narrowness and
self-sufficiency which have dared to limit God's saving
grace to us and ours. When the Temple is cleansed,
his glory will shine in it like the glory of the sun.

"COME AND SEE."

" Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?
Philip saith unto him, Come and see." John i, 47.

It would appear that Nathanael had been com-
muning with himself " under the fig-tree." He had
perhaps been praying there, and, as an "Israelite in-
deed," longing for the coming of the Christ. To him
came Philip, saying, " We have found the Messiah,
the long-looked-for One." Where? — "Jesus of Naz-
areth." — "Impossible"! At this point Nathanael
showed himself to be a prejudiced man. He was fa-
miliar with two proverbs of the time, to wit ; "Out of
Galilee ariseth no prophet," and, " Can any good
thing come out of Nazareth " ? These proverbs rep-
resented tradition and public opinion ; the sub-
stratum of prejudice. "What the people say " has
greater weight in many quarters than, " What is
truth " ?

In his reply to this rebuff, which spoke with the
voice of prejudice, Philip showed great wisdom.
He might have railed at Nathanael as a warped,
jaundiced, narrow-minded, unreasonable man ; but
that would have done no good. Vinegar swarms no
bees. Or he might have argued with him ; but

" A man convinced against his will
Is of the same opinion still."
(202)

*'COME AND SEE. 203

He very properly appealed to the evidence of Na-
thanael's own senses : " Come and see."

This is the right sort of preaching. As ambassa-
dors of Christ we are appointed, not to display our
rhetorical or argumentative skill so much as to stand
with pointed finger, saying, " Behold the Lamb of
God " ! The world cares little for our personal ipse
dixit : " I am Sir Oracle, and when I open my lips let
no dog bark." Men do their own thinking in these
days. There is only one man on earth who claims
infallibility, and he does not seem to be absolutely
sure about it. The best we can do in the pulpit is to
present our claim, namely, that Jesus is the Christ ;
and then appeal to the fair-minded judgment of our
congregations, urging them to use their own facul-
ties : '* Behold the Lamb of God."

In pursuance of this method I would lead you to-
day, as Philip led Nathanael, into the presence of
Jesus of Nazareth, saying, " Come and see." See
what ?

\. See a Man. Is there anything remarkable in
that ? Aye ; a man is not easy to find. We have all
sorts of lay figures, manikins, leather and prunella
imitations ; but where will you find a man ? Call in
Diogenes with his lantern and let him search the
world over ; then turn your eyes toward this Jesus of
Nazareth and behold him. Ecce Homo! A man;
a veritable man ; a man without a fault :
— " the elements
So mixed in him, that nature might stand up
And say to all the world, * This is a Man."'

There are four particulars in which this Jesus of
Nazareth differs from all other men :

(1) In respect to his intellect; it was perfectly

204 * COME AND SEE.

clear to discern truth. He saw things in every prov-
ince of knowledge precisely as they are. An oculist
will tell you that there is probably not one pair of ab-
solutely perfect eyes on earth ; there is a twist of
some sort in everybody's sight. But Jesus saw
clearly ; saw to the very heart of every mystery ; saw
the great verities, God and immortality and heaven
and hell. He solved the great problems. He untied the
knots of philosophy without resorting to any Gordian
trick. He touched these things with a fearless hand,
and made them so simple in his discourse that it was
said, " Never man spake like this man."

(2) As to his heart ; it was wholly pure and be-
nevolent. He hated sin only. The wisest detective
of whom I have any knowledge, was an old Spartan
judge, who, in order to detect the real criminal among
a number of suspects, placed his ear to the bosom of
each in succession until he came to one of whom he
said, " Thou art the man." He knew him by the quick
palpitation of his heart. No human heart beats pre-
cisely as it should, because no man is wholly free
from sin. This Jesus, however, confidently said,
"Wholayeth anything to my charge " ? He taught
us to pray, " Forgive us our debts as we forgive our
debtors" ; but never once did he make such a prayer
in his own behalf. He was without sin.

(3) In respect to his conscience ; it was clear to
discern betwixt the worse and better reason. No ship
that sails the sea is without its compass ; yet there is
no magnetic needle which points with absolute exact-
ness towards the North. It may be diverted from its
proper direction by the magnetism in the atmosphere,
by something in the ship's cargo, by the very nails
that fasten the craft together ; so the needle always

*' COME AND SEE. 205

vibrates on its pivot and deviates more or less from
its true direction. Tiie moral sense of the race is
diverted in like manner by sin. The conscience of
Jesus, however, pointed ever toward God and right.

(4) As to his will ; it led him always to obey the
perfect will of God. We complain of a war in our
members, so that the good we would, we do not, and
the evil that we would not, that we do. But there
was no such war in the members of Christ. The
source of our trouble is in our perverted wills. When
Israel Putnam was leading his Green Mountain boys
toward the north in the French War his march was
intercepted by a gunboat which had been launched
upon the lake. He waited until nightfall and then,
providing himself with a beetle and wedge, rowed out
under the stern of the boat and drove the wedge be-
hind its rudder. The next morning the gunboat lay
there helpless with flapping sails. This is precisely
what sin has done for the human will. But the moral
sense of Jesus led him into a perfect harmony with
the mind of God.

Here then was a quadrilateral man ; quite perfect
in intellect, heart, conscience and will. For this rea-
son, among others, he was called the Son of Man ;
that is, the unique, the singular, the incomparable
man; the *' recapitulation of humanity," the Ideal
Man.

II. See, furthermore, the Son of God. But what is
peculiar in that ? I also am a son of God. Was I
not created in his likeness and after his image ?
Have I not, by his infinite grace, been received by the
Spirit of adoption so that I have a double right to
say, "Abba, Father " ? But not in the sense in which
this Jesus of Nazareth was called the Son of God.

2o6 "come and see."

He is th<; only-begotten and well-beloved One. Thrice
was he so acknowledged from heaven. When he stood
in the verge of the Jordan at his baptism, a voice from
above was heard to say, " This is my beloved Son, in
whom I am well pleased." Again on the Mount of
Transfiguration, when the disciples, fearing, entered
into the luminous cloud and saw Jesus glorified, his
garments white and glistening, a voice was heard,
'' This is my beloved Son, hear ye him." And once
more when he was crucified ; the earth rumbling pro-
claimed it with an inarticulate voice, and the light-
nings wrote it against the dark noonday sky in mys-
tic characters, " This is my only-begotten and well-
beloved Son."

He is distinguished from all other and lower sons
of God in four particulars.

(i) No other can claim pre-existence. He said to
the Scribes and Pharisees, who tempted him when
he was preaching in the temple porch, " Before Abra-
ham was, I am." Not, " I was," which would be far
beyond what any mortal could say, but " I am " ; this
being an arrogation to himself of the old incommuni-
cable name of Deity, "I AM THAT I AM." He
thus claims self-existent being. He is very God of
very God, to whom there is neither past, present, nor
future ; whose life-time is an everlasting now. So it
is elsewhere written of him : "In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word
was God ; the same was in the beginning with God."
(2) No other son of God ever held such a commis-
sion as this Jesus of Nazareth. Pie was the " Sent
One." He said of himself : " The Father hath sent
me." The persons of the ineffable Godhead are met
in council to determine what should be done for the

*COME AND SEE. 207

ruined race ; the cry of men's misery has come up to
heaven ; and the Three are represented as say-
ing, ''Whom shall we send and who will go for us ?'*
The Son volunteers to go to the earth as a knight
errant for the deliverance of the race, saying, ^* Here
am I, send me." The incarnation was the result.
He has come under a three-fold commission : to teach
the truth ; to illustrate in his own life and character
the graces which qualify for kinship with God ; and
pre-eminently to bear the world's sin in his own body
on the tree.

The cross is the consummation of his work. He
there uplifts, as a great Atlas, the sin of the world
upon his mighty shoulders, even while his heart
breaks under the crushing burden. A man went
forth into the forest and measured the trees with
his eye until he found a suitable one ; then he cut
it down and had it conveyed to his work shop ;
there he laid upon it his measuring line and said,
"The cross-piece must be twelve spans and the up-
lift must be ten cubits ; " and thus he measured and
made the cross whereon this Jesus died. But who
shall measure that cross ? It is vast as the procession
of the ages ; it is broad as the world ; it is high as
heaven ; it is deep as hell ; and he who hangs upon
it — is this Joseph's son ? Nay, this is the great living
magnet of the universe who said of himself: "I, if I
be thus lifted up, will draw all men unto me."

(3) Noother sonof God ever went to heaven like this
one. He gathered his disciples about him and said,
" All power is given unto me, in heaven and on earth j
go ye therefore into all the world and evangelize, and,
lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end." Then
he began to ascend out of the midst of them. No

2o8 "come and see."

chariot, no horses of flame came to bear him upward ;
by his own power, in apparent defiance of nature's
laws, he arose with hands outstretched in a last bene*
diction until the opening heavens received him So he
went as he had prophesied, to resume the "glory
which he had with the Father before the world was."

(4) And he will come again ! "Why stand ye
gazing upward " ? said the angels to the bewildered
disciples. " He shall so come as ye have seen him
go." There is one chapter still to be written in the
life of this Jesus of Nazareth on earth. He is yet to
reign in visible splendor among men.

III. Behold the Messiah. The Son of Man and the
Son of God are the two distinctive Messianic titles ;
the blending of perfect manhood with Godhood con-
stitutes the theanthropic person of the Christ.

Let the conversation of Christ with Nathaniel be
observed: "And Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him
and said, * Behold an Israelite indeed in whom there is
no guile.' " (By this he meant, not that Nathanael was
without sin, but that he, as a true Israelite, was pre-
pared in all frankness to receive the Christ when he
should find him. The children of Israel were called a
"chosen people"; chosen to possess and transmit
the oracles which were in type and symbol and pro-
phecy a declaration of the coming of the Christ. For
this reason the expectation of Messiah was called
"The Hope of Israel." Jesus saw in Nathanael a
genuine and guileless Israelite, who held himself ever
in readiness to accept the fulfillment of that hope.)

" And Nathanael said unto him, * Whence knowest
thou me ?'

Jesus answered, * When thou wast under the fig-
tree I saw thee.' " (There is a prudent reserve at

" COME AND SEE." 209

this point. Jesus respects the man's secret, even as
he declares his acquaintance with it.)

" And Nathanael saith unto him, 'Rabbi, thou art
the Son of God ; thou art the King of Israel ! ' " (He
knew he was in the presence of one whose eyes
pierce with an all-revealing light. This Jesus had
perceived the secret imagination of his heart. By-
such a glimpse of omniscience, he was persuaded that
Jesus of Nazareth was none other than the long-ex-
pected One.)

"And Jesus answered, 'Because I said, "I saw
thee under the fig-tree," believest thou ? Thou shalt
see greater things than these. Verily, verily, I say
unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven opened and
the angels of God ascending and descending upon the
Son of Man.' " (Nathanael had called him Son of
God ; he calls himself Son of Man. Son of God and
Son of Man — the Messiah ; the intermediary betwixt
heaven and earth, like Jacob's ladder whose foot was
on a barren mountain, whose top round was by the
throne of God, along which angels ascending bore the
prayers of suffering men and returned with blessings
from on high.)

In this ladder we have a significant figure of the
work of Jesus of Nazareth who, as the great Medi-
ator, is ever present with us. He is present among
the children of men. His great work is the con-
version of souls ; this is his constant miracle. We
wonder at the conversion of Saul of Tarsus : at
one moment breathing out slaughter against the
followers of Jesus, the next moment rolling upward
his blinded eyes and crying, " Lord, what wilt
thou have me do ? " We wonder at the conver-
sion of Luther : one moment a bond slave in the

COME AND SEE,

superstitions of a degenerate church, and the next
half way up Sancta Scala^ hearing the voice, " The
just shall live by faith," and so entering into newness
of life. We wonder at the conversion of John New-
ton : a pirate swinging in his hammock and seeing a
vision of the Christ, and rising to indite his faith in
the hymn : —

" Amazing grace ! how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me ;
I once was lost, but now am found ;
Was blind, but now I see."

But there is nothing wonderful here. Such conver-
sions are occurring constantly around us. Regenera-
tion is an " earthly thing." Men and women are be-
ing taken out of their misery and set upon their feet;
brought out of chains into freedom, out of darkness
into light, out of death into newness of life, every
hour of every day. And it is the power of Messiah, an
ever-present Christ, that is doing it.

He is at work among the nations in like manner.
He converts a nation just as he converts a man. Take
a map of the world at the beginning of the Christian
era, and beside it spread out a map of the world of
to-day ; mark how the Christ has during these eigh-
teen centuries laid his hand on one nation after an-
other, and lifted it out of the darkness of paganism
and superstition into the light and glory of Chris-
tendom. And to-day he is apparently working in
this way. Japan is on her knees under conviction of
sin. China is trembling under his glance. Turkey is
writhing under his anger as if it were a whip of scor-
pions. It is doubtful if there was ever a time in his-
tory when the nations of the earth were in such com-
motion as just now. We are looking to diplomacy

COME AND SEE. 211

for a settlement of international affairs : — to the War-
lord of Germany, to Salisbury, to our own Secretary
of State. Who are these that we should put our con-
fidence in them ? The Messiah is walking among the
nations ; the heart of the king is in his hand as the
rivers of water. He is working out his own purposes.
He is accomplishing his great work. He is moving on
toward the deliverance of the whole world from sin.

Nebuchadnezzar in his dream saw a great image ;
head of gold, breast of silver, loins of brass, legs of
iron, feet of clay. The prophet was called in to in-
terpret the dream. What is this image ? It is the
Great Powers. And a stone from the mountain side
was seen to detach itself and roll downward until it
smote the image and ground it to powder ; and a
mighty wind arose and swept away the dust of the
Great Powers as chaff is swept from the threshing
floor ; and, behold, the stone increased until it be-
came a mountain and filled the earth. This is the
parable of Messiah's work. All kings and poten-
tates and statesmen and diplomats are as puppets be-
fore him. All powers and principalities are but as
card-houses in contrast with the kingdom of Christ.
He shall rule when all have vanished. The glory of
his kingdom shall cover the earth as the waters cover
the sea.

All that is needed in order that men should ac-
knowledge that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, is a
frank treatment of his claim. To look calmly into his
face is to be convinced. But, alas, men do not stop to
think. The average man is too busy with the sordid
affairs of this present life to gaze fixedly upon him.

At the beginning of this present century Sir
Gilbert West and Lord Lyttleton, who were in pro-

found sympathy with the infidelity which had been
developed in the French Encyclopedia, determined
on a master stroke for the suppression of the Gospel.
It seemed to them that the two great alleged miracles
were the Resurrection of Christ and the Conversion
of Saul of Tarsus. Gilbert West agreed to write a
refutation of the resurrection of Christ, and Lord Lyt-
tleton a refutation of the conversion of Saul. At the
conclusion of their work they met by appointment.
Lord Lyttleton asked, *' What is the result of your
work ? " The answer was, " I have thoroughly in-
vestigated the resurrection of Christ, and have come
to the conclusion that he who is said to have come
forth from the sepulchre of Joseph's garden, was, as
he claimed to be, the veritable Son of God." And
Lord Lyttleton said, '' I have fully investigated the
narrative of the conversion of St. Paul and am satis-
fied that this man, on his journey along the Damas-
cus highway, really saw Jesus of Nazareth, and that
this Jesus was the very Christ of God." The two
essays which were written by these men became
classics in Christian Apologetics. Would that
all men might be persuaded to pursue, as calmly
and thoroughly as they did, the study of the great
verities of the Gospel. If they are true, they are
awfully and eternally true ; and they are of stupend-
ous importance to every one of us. Judge ye as wise
men. We speak that we do know and testify that we
have seen. This Jesus is the Christ. That which our
ears have heard, that which our eyes have seen, that
which our hands have handled of the word of life,
declare we unto you. Behold the Lamb of God !

PROTESTANTISM.

"And Gamaliel said, Refrain from these men, and let them alone : for if this
counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought : but if it be of
God, ve cannot overthrow it ; last haply ye be found even to fight against
God."— Acts v. 38, 39.

This was wise counsel. The new religion was
making a great stir and the leaders of the Jews were
much concerned about it. What should be done?
Should they oppose it ? Sword and fagot never yet
killed a cause. The blood of the martyrs is the seed
of the Church. There was nothing to do but to let it
alone and trust to the logic of events.

Truth crushed to the earth will rise again,
The eternal years of God are hers ;

But error wounded, writhes with pain
And dies among her worshippers.

In the great square at Wittemberg there stands a mon-
ument to the Reformation, on the base of which is
this inscription : *' Ist's Gottes Werk, so wird's
bestehen. Ist's Menschen Werk wird's untergehen."
The outcome of these three hundred years of Pro-
testantism proves the wisdom of that apothegm.
If this work had been of men, it would long ago have
come to naught ; but since it is of God, the gates of
hell have not been able to prevail against it.

The word Protestant suggests a negative attitude.
(213)

214 PROTESTANTISM.

This is unfortunate, because Protestantism is dis-
tinctly positive and structural. All truths, howevei
are bi-frontal. You must deny before you can affirm.
You must fell the forest before you can till the field.
You must clear away the debris before you can lay
the foundations of your temple. The sun protests
before it asserts. It protests against the night, the
moon and stars, miasm and disease and death, owls
and jackals, ghosts and spectres. But even while pro-
testing it affirms ; the birds begin to sing, the heavens
are illumined with red and azure glory, the grass
blades of the meadow are hung with diamonds, the
wheels of commerce revolve, and the roar of indus-
try is heard in the great centres of life.

It is a mistake, however, to suppose that Protes-
tantism began with the Reformation. The Refor-
mation was merely the revival of a dormant principle.
In the hand of one of Belzoni's mummies, taken from
a crypt by the river side in Egypt a hundred years
ago, was found a bulb. It had been within the clasp
of that dead hand for three thousand years ; but
being planted it put forth newness of life. All that
the reformers did was to unclasp the stiff fingers of a
Church dead in formalism and take therefrom a form
of religion, which, though it shared in the darkness of
death, had never died ; and they planted it, and like the
mustard seed it has grown and become a tree, so that
the fowls of the air lodge in the branches of it.

But what is Protestantism ? What is its doctrinal
fabric? Wherein does it differ from the Greek relig-
ion and from Roman Catholicism ? There is a differ-
ence between apologetics and polemics. It is not at
all necessary that in vindicating our position as Pro-
testants, we should make war upon those who differ

PROTESTANTISM. 21^

with US ; they are entitled to respectful treatment.
At the same time it is becoming that all who are in
the Protestant communion should be able to give, to
every one that asketh, a reason for their faith. The
fundamental facts on which Protestantism rests are
three, to- wit : Christy Scripture and Freedom. Let us
address ourselves to these.

(I) Christ. At the outset Protestantism protests
against the relegation of Christ to a subordinate place
in Christian doctrine and life. In making this pro-
test, it formulates a great truth in most positive
terms.

(i) Christ is the foundation of the Church. Protes-
tants believe that when Christ said, *' Thou art Fetros,
and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates
of hell shall not prevail against it," he meant not
that Peter was to be the foundation of the Church,
but rather the great truth to which Peter had just
given utterance : " Thou art the Christ the Son of
the living God." To say that Peter is the Rock is
bad philology, bad philosophy, bad history, bad relig-
ion and bad common sense. The Apostle was called
FetroSy a stone, because, on account of his brave
statement of the great fundamental truth, he was as a
stone hewn out of the rock ; just as Scipio was
called Africanus because he had traversed Africa,
and just as Balboa was called Pacificus because,
from the crags of Panama, he first had seen the
great western sea. This view is consistent with
Scripture ; for '' other foundation can no man lay than
hath been laid, which is Jesus Christ." It is also con-
sistent with history ; for in point of fact Christ, and
not Peter, has been and is the foundation of the
Christian Church. Had it been otherwise, the story

2l6 PROTESTANTISM.

of the Church would in all probability have been
written in these words : " The rains descended and
the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon it,
and it fell." As it is, however, the history stands
thus : *' The rains descended and the floods came and
the winds blew and beat upon it, and it fell not, be-
cause it was founded upon a rock." Thus the prom-
ise is fulfilled, *' The gates of hell shall not prevail
against it."

(2) Christ stands alone in his relation to the Church.
Indeed he is alone everywhere ; in his incarnation, in
his unique life and character, in his passion, in his
triumph over the grave, and in his intercession at the
throne of the heavenly grace. That was a signifi-
cant event which occurred on the Mount of Trans-
figuration where five of the most distinguished be-
lievers who ever lived were met in conference with
Christ as to the decease which he was presently to ac-
complish for sinful men. The two sons of thunder
were there and Peter himself ; Moses the representa-
tive of the Law, and Elijah, who stood for the his-
toric line of Prophets. And when the luminous cloud
enclosed them and Jesus had appeared to them in
garments white and glistering, it was Peter who
said, "Lord, let us make here three tabernacles; one
for thee and one for Moses and one for Elias." But
he wist not what he said. The cloud vanished ;
Moses and Elijah went their way ; *' and they saw no
man, but Jesus only." Jesus only ! He is first, last,
midst, and all in all. The saints in glory are at an
infinite remove from Him. Mary, the virgin mother,
was blessed among women, but she was a mere wo-
man, after all. It was a grave rebuke that was ad-
ministered to John in Patmos when he fell at the

PROTESTANTISM. 2sy

feet of the angel to worship him. If ever a being,
other than God himself, was worthy of adoration, it
was surely that strong angel who, with glowing face,
had drawn the veil to reveal to the exiled evangelist
his visions of the endless life. But when John would
have accorded to him this honor, he recoiled with
horror from it, saying, " See thou do it not ; for I am
thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren the prophets ;
worship God." This is why we Protestants have
no saints in our calendar. This is why we have no
Ave Marias in our liturgy. We J^elieve that the word
is imperative and final : " Worship God ! "

(3) Christ is accessible to all. We deny the need of
any intermediaries between the soul and him. His
word is, "Come unto me." The rending of the veil
from the top to the bottom in the very hour when
Jesus dying, cried, upon the cross, "It is finished !"
meant that a new and living way was now opened
into the holiest of all. Let priests and pontiffs and
ecclesiastical principalities and powers of every sort
now stand aside ! Out of the way ! The function
of the Church and her ministers is not to guard the
mercy-seat against the approach of the sinner, but
simply to announce that Jesus waits to hear and com-
fort and strengthen and pardon and save him. Medi-
ators? Oh no. Intercessors? Oh no. Confessors?
Oh no. This is child's play, but with serious conse-
quences. Out upon all such interference with the
sovereignty of Christ in holy things. In the new dis-
pensation of the Spirit every man is made a king and
priest unto God.

II. The Bible. Here also we begin with a protest;
a protest against the co-ordination of the Scriptures
with any other writings on earth. The positive state-

2lS PROTESTANTISM.

ment of our belief is this: "The Scriptures are the
only infallible rule of faith and practice."

(i) We believe in the inspiration of the Scriptures as
the veritable Word of God. It is not for us to closely
define inspiration or declare the method of it. The
Mohammedans can tell you precisely how the Koran
was delivered to them. It had been recorded from
all eternity on the tables beside the throne of God.
In fulness of time it was transcribed by the angel
Gabriel who caused it to be written on palm leaves,
the shoulder blades of camels and the breasts of men,
and so placed before Mohammed's eyes and made
current among men. But we cannot speak so clearly
as to the manner in which our Scriptures came from
God. It is quite enough for us to know that holy
men wrote as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
We are satisfied with the assurance that all Scripture
given by inspiration is profitable for us. The word
is, Theopneustos; that is, God-breathed. God breathed
it.

(2) The Scriptures thus delivered stand alone as our
infallible rule of life. They are separated by their
absolute truth and trustworthiness from all other
books. We sometimes speak of the inspiration of
Homer and Dante and Virgil and Shakespeare ; it is
hardly necessary to say, however, that their inspira-
tion is of a totally different sort and implies no gift
of infallibility. The holy men who were chosen to
write Scripture were endued with power to declare
without error the whole counsel of God. The touch-
stone of Scripture is inerrancy. There is a vast ac-
cumulation of apocryphal writings, traditions and
pseudo-gospels which are not without historical value,
but not to be mentioned in the same breath with

PROTESTANTISM. 219

the inspired Word. The man who denies the truth-
fulness of Scripture sets himself against the con-
sensus of the Protestant Churches and is, so far forth,
a rationalist. The Protestant Church asserts its faith
in Scripture as a true declaration of the divine will.

(3) The Scriptures are free and open to every man.
The Reformation began when Luther, rummaging
through the library of the University at Erfurt, came
upon a dusty copy of the Scriptures and opened it.
He read there, "The just shall live by faith"; a
truth which came to be known historically as the doc-
trine of a standing or a falling Church. And still
further he read, *' Search the Scriptures ; for in them
ye think ye have eternal life, and these are they which
testify of me." Here was the search-warrant placed
by the Master in the hand of every believer, entitling
him to read for himself and interpret for himself this
revealed Word. In pursuance of that truth the Prot-
estant Churches have multiplied the Scriptures in the
vernacular until they are now circulated in more than
three hundred various tongues and scattered over the
world like leaves of the tree of life. We hold that all
power is in this Word ; the power of conversion, as it
is written, " The Word of God is quick and powerful
and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even
to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit";
the power of sanctification, as implied in our Master's
pontifical prayer, " Sanctify them by thy truth, thy
Word is truth " ; the power of the world's ultimate
deliverance, as it is written, " Go ye, evangelize," and
again, "Preach the Word," and again, "As the rain
Cometh down and the snow from heaven and returneth
not hither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it to
bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the

220 PROTESTANTISM.

sower, and bread to the eater : so shall my Word be
that goeth forth out of my mouth ; it shall not re-
turn unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which
I please, and prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."

The last three hundred years are the glory of all
history. At the beginning of the i6th century the
world was in darkness. The Scriptures were laid
away in monasteries, where the monks were engaged
in illuminating missals, chanting prayers and swing-
ing censers. The people without, the unshod people
under the shadow of the monasteries, were in mid-
night darkness. The truth in the open Scriptures
flew abroad like Milton's angel with the flaming
torch. Schools, hospitals and institutions of mercy
were multiplied along the way. The people became
a power. The world began to recognize the dignity
of man. Light came not in a sun-burst, but, as it
pierced the primeval shadows of chaos, glimmering
and trembling, brighter and brighter unto the perfect
day. So the world moves on, under the illuminating
power of the Scriptures, toward the restitution of all
things.

III. Freedom. Here again, we begin by protesting
against the subjugation of the individual mind and
conscience to any other than God. Then we affirm
the freedom of mind, conscience and heart ; the
voluntary principle in religion, the enfranchisement
of the nations, and the deliverance of the race from
spiritual bondage into the glorious liberty of the
children of God.

( I ) The underlying principle is that of personal re-
sponsibility. Every man must answer for himself at
the judgment bar. It is said that when our fore-
fathers came together in the Continental Congress to

PROTESTANTISM. 221

consider the Declaration of Independence, there was
a long silence. Why ? They had before them a
manifesto to which it was proposed to mutually
pledge their lives, their fortunes and their sacred
honor, and for which they would be called to account,
not en masse, but personally. It was not the Continental
Congress, but John Adams, Roger Sherman, John
Hancock, Chailes Carroll of Carrolton and the other
members of that Congress who, one by one, must
answer for the decision of that day. Well might
they be silent. In like manner we face all the great
duties of life. The thought of a personal judgment
is thrown backward over all that we do.

(2) It follows, therefore, that as we are personally
accountable, we can take orders only from God. In
vindication of this principle the great battles of
Protestantism have been fought. The glory of the
recent history of civilization gathers about the Pro-
testant Quadrilateral; the four peoples who have stood
as in a solid square confronting the aggressions of
ecclesiastical tyranny. The Waldenses, whose bones
lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold; the Beggars
of Holland, at cost of home, treasure and life, facing
the Spanish Fury ; the Covenanters of Scotland,
exiled from their churches, worshipping in conven-
ticles among the hills and uplifting the banner " For
Christ's Crown and Covenant ; " and the Huguenots
reddening the pavements of Paris and the soil of all
France with their consecrated blood. These consti-
tute the great battalion who, devoting themselves to
death for the truth's sake, have liberated the nations
of Christendom in refusing to receive orders from
priest, presbytery, oecumenical council or ecclesiastical
judicatory; from anywhere save the throne of God.

222 PROTESTANTISM.

(3) And this accou?its for modern progress. Lay
down the map of Christendom and see how that pro-
gress has been limited by the boundaries of Protes-
tant nations. The motto of the Protestant Church is
not '''Semper ide7n^'' but ""Niinquam idem.'' There are
only two great facts that abide ever the same. Jesus
is the same yesterday, to-day and forever ; yet all the
world is ever catching new glimpses of the beauty of
his face. The Scriptures, also, abide unaltered, be-
cause God sealed the Book with seven seals and
marked it, " Finis." There is no appendix, no adden-
dum. The revelation was adjusted to the progress
of all time. Nevertheless, as John Robinson said,
there are new truths ever bursting forth from the
Word. But between these two abiding facts, Christ
and the Bible, the Church moves onward in new
enterprises to ever greater conquests of faith. It is
from the bell towers of the Protestant Churches that
the announcement of progress is heard.

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky !
Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring out the false, ring in the true,
Ring out old shapes of foul disease,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.
Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand,
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be !

We say in the historic creed of the centuries, " I
believe in the Holy Catholic Church." Holy, because
it magnifies the perfection of the life and character
of the only begotten Son of God. Catholic, because
its only rule of faith and practice is the Scripture
which is adjusted to the needs of every soul of man.

PROTESTANTISM. 223

Indestructible, because it rests upon the eternal
Rock and the gates of hell shall not prevail against
it.

This is Protestanism. Its only pontiff is Christ,
whose name is above every other which is named in
heaven or on earth. Its only hierarchy is the proces-
sion of torch bearers, who go forth to illuminate
the dark places of cruelty and the habitations of
death, and of reapers who come from harvest fields
bringing their sheaves with them. Its only Book is
that which was written by holy men who were moved
by the Holy Ghost ; and its only creed is that which
is framed from the Scriptures by men sitting at the
feet of Christ. Its grandest cathedrals are the lives
of holy men who realize their holy birth and destiny
and who " know their rights and knowing dare main-
tain." Its most fervent litany is this, From all
tyranny of mind and conscience and heart, good Lord
deliver us. Its grandest music is the breaking of
chains ; and its magnificent gloria is — Ave Maria^
Hail Mary, mother of God, pray for us ? No ! No !
No ! But this,

"All hail the power of Jesus' name !
Let angels prostrate fall,
Bring forth the royal diadem,
And crown Him Lord of all."

Ih*

KING SAUL AT THE WITCH'S CAVE.

"Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar
spirit, that I may go to her, and inquire of her. And his servants said to
him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at En-dor."
I Samuel xxviii. 7.

It is said, "There is no character in a photograph,
because it is a portrait taken at a single sitting."
The "composite photograph" gives the best impres-
sion of the real man. We want therefore to view
Saul at different periods of his life.

Our first glimpse of him is out upon the moun-
tains where he seeks his father's asses. He is "a
choice young man and a goodly, and among the chil-
dren of Israel there is not a goodlier person than he."
His stature and sturdy bearing remind us instantly
of John Ridd in ** Lorna Doone." In the course of
his quest he comes upon the home of the prophet
Samuel, of whom he inquires the whereabouts of the
lost asses. The prophet replied, "Set not thy mind
on them, for they are found. And on whom is all the
desire of Israel ? Is it not upon thee ? "

He is next seen at the school of the prophets.
Here he is getting rid of some of his roughness, the
odor of the soil, and preparing in a measure, un-
awares, for the high office that awaits him. His char-
acter is changed; as it is written, "God gave him an-
other heart, and the Spirit of- God came upon him."

(234)

KING SAUL AT THE WITCh's CAVE. 221?

He is moved by new hopes and purposes. His re-
markable presence in this company ''coming down
from the high place with a psaltery, and a tabret and
a pipe and a harp before them," is remarked upon
in a phrase which afterwards becomes a proverb — " Is
Saul also among the prophets " ?

Next at Mizpeh. The people have been called to-
gether in solemn assemblage for the formal choice of
a king. The lot is taken, and it falls upon the tribe
of Benjamin; of the tribe of Benjamin the family of
Matri is chosen; and in the family of Matri, the lot
falls upon Saul, the son of Kish. He is sought for
and cannot be found, for " behold, he hath hid him-
self among the stuff"; that is, the baggage which
surrounds the camp. He is brought forth into the
midst of the assembly, and his presence inspires the
greatest enthusiasm, for when he stands among the
people he is higher than any of them from his shoul-
der and upwards. And all the people shout, *' God
save the King "!

But Saul himself seems to have been indifferent to
his high calling. There were some among the people
who looked upon him as a mere yeoman, and said,
"How shall this man save us"? The king-elect
returned to his farm. He gloried in the open air and
the sunlight. He loved to throw back his shoulders
and rejoice in the freedom of the fields. He was fol-
lowing the plow when messengers came to announce
an incursion of the Ammonites. The town of Jabesh-
gilead was besieged, and the cry of the terror,
stricken people rang in his ears. He hewed in pieces
a yoke of oxen, after the rude custom of that time,
and sent them throughout the borders of Israel to
enkindle their patriotic zeal, as the Scots were

226 KING SAUL AT THE WITCH's CAVE.

aroused in later times by the flaming cross upon
their hills. He found himself at the head of a consid-
erable army of volunteers; the martial spirit was
aroused within him; he marched to the relief of the
besieged city, and accomplished a great deliverance;
as it is written, "He slew the Ammonites until the
heat of the day."

Then Saul assumed his proper place in the palace.
He v/as every inch a king, just and resolute, ruling
in equity. A cabinet of remarkable counselors was
gathered about him. Samuel was his court chaplain
Abner was his secretary of war, Abiathar was the
high priest; David soon became his lieutenant and
confidential friend. The king now showed him-
self a man of magnetic control, and entered upon a
remarkable career. Victory succeeded victory in the
field. Those of the people who had formerly dis.
trusted Saul now gathered loyally about him.

But as time passed a strange malady falls upon
him. We find him giving way to his passions and
eccentric impulses. He is filled with envy and jeal-
ousy. He shows himself cruel and vindictive to-
wards those who oppose him. At Michmash, in the
absence of Samuel, desiring to offer sacrifice before
the battle, he profanely takes matters into his own
hands. He hurls his javelin at David, who seeks to
comfort his melancholy. He massacres the priests at
Nob. Is it the intoxication of power that has seized
him? Is he realizing, in moral bondage, the result of
his self-indulgence; as it is written, "He that doeth
sin is the servant of it"? Or is he indeed possessed
of an evil spirit? He rejects all divine counsels and
admonitions, and seems determined to run upon the
bosses of the shield of God, There is scarcely a more

KING SAUL AND THE WITCH's CAVE. 227

lamentable picture of the decay of character than
this :

So fallen! so lost! the light withdrawn

Which once he wore!
The glory from his gray hairs gone

Forevermore!

Of all "we loved and honored, naught

Save power remains —
A fallen angel's pride of thought,

Still strong in chains.

All else is gone; from those great eyes

The soul has fled.
When faith is lost, when honor dies,

The man is dead!

Then pay the reverence of old days

To his dead fame;
Walk backward, with averted gaze,

And hide the shame!*

The affairs of the kingdom have now reached a
crisis. The Philistines have crowded their way-
through the borders of Israel and massed themselves
at the old battle-field of Esdraelon like a Tartar
horde. The desperate and remorseful king knows
not where to turn. His old adviser, Samuel, is dead.
Abiathar, the priest, has gone and taken the Urim
and Thummim with him. The priests, outraged by
the massacre of their brethren, have forsaken him.
He is no more counseled in dreams and visions of the
night. The chill shadow of approaching disaster has
fallen over him. He cannot go into this battle with
out some supernatural support. He is at his wits*

* These words were written by Whittier on the political
recreancy of Daniel Webster in 1850.

228 KING SAUL AT THE WITCH's CAVE.

end. At this point he learns of a female necromancer
who plies her lawless trade among the hills. He dis-
guises himself, and with two faithful friends makes
his way to the witch's cave at En dor. It is night.

And the king said, " I pray thee, divine unto me by
the familiar spirit and bring me him up whom I shall
name unto thee."

Then said the woman, " Whom shall I bring up
unto thee?"

And he said, " Bring me up Samuel " — Samuel of
all men — whom he had loved and hated, grieved and
persecuted, and ultimately driven to his death !

The witch waved her wand, mumbled her cabalistic
charms and suddenly uttered a shriek of surprise.
And the king said, " Be not afraid. What seest
thou ? "

The woman said, *' I see a god rising from the
earth " ; and then, " An old man cometh up ; he is
covered with a mantle." The king bowed himself
to the earth and received the intimation of his ap-
proaching defeat and death.

It is an open question whether or no it was the
real Samuel who appeared on this occasion. Not that
the spirits of the dead may not return on occasion to
this world ; for did not Moses and Elijah commune
with the Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration?
But there are two suspicious facts in the present case ;
one is that Saul did not see Samuel. He took the
witch's word for it, and he was in the very mood to
believe that it was he. The other is that the message
delivered by the spectre was nothing new. The king
had previously been warned again and again of the
calamity which was to overtake him. But I am not
disposed to turn aside here into irrelevant or collateral

KING SAUL AT THE WITCH 'S CAVE. 229

questions, for there are certain practical truths and
lessons which demand our attention.

I. As to the probationary character of life. Saul had
all along been on trial. In his call to the throne he
had been required to meet certain tasks and respon-
sibilities and was endowed with peculiar gifts
and faculties for the discharge of them. If ever God
was patient, it was with this man. He surrounded
him with faithful counsellors who warned, exhorted
and entreated him. He had a fair chance to make a
success of character and life. So have we all — " a
fighting chance " ; no more, no less. In many ways
our circumstances are against us ; but the " mark of
true greatness is for a man to prove himself su-
perior to his environment." It is for us to say
whether we will fight down our lower nature and be
true to our best impulses and to the God who is ever
stimulating and remonstrating with us, or give way
to our besetting sins and temptations. To triumph
means character and usefulness ; to yield means an
utter loss of manhood and ultimate exile from God

II. The touch-stone of spiritual success is obedie?ice.
There is no room for wilfulness in the better life.
Saul was determined to have his own way and he had
it. The turning point in his life was in his famous
campaign against the Amalekites. The Lord had
said/* Go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all
that they have, and spare them not." The result was
an utter rout of the enemy ; " Saul smote the Amal-
ekites from Havilah until thou comest to Shur ; and
he took Agag, the king, alive ; and spared also the
best of the sheep and the oxen and the fatlings, and
would not utterly destroy them." On his return from
battle he met Samuel and said, " Blessed be thou of

230 KING SAUL AT THE WITCh's CAVE.

the Lord ; I have performed the commandment ot
the Lord." And Samuel said, " What meaneth then
this bleating of sheep and lowing of oxen which
I hear?" The truth was, Saul had spared Agag to
grace his own triumph ; but he was probably right
when he excused himself further by saying, "I have
spared the sheep and oxen to sacrifice unto the Lord
thy God." And the prophet said, '' Why didst not
thou obey the voice of the Lord ? To obey is better
than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams."
And rending his mantle, he said, "The-Lord hath
rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day."

The beginning of the higher life is in a covenant of
absolute subjection to the divine will. There must
be no reservation. There can be no wilfulness. *' Ye
are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you."
No half-hearted service will answer. " My son give
me thy heart." All or nothing ! We cannot serve
God and have our own way. " Whatsoever he saith
unto you, do it."

in. There is such a thing as ''''grieving the Spirit *j
this is for those who profess to be the people of God.
For the impenitent there is another phrase, " quench-
ing the Spirit"; this is done in rejecting the over-
tures of mercy which are extended from time to time,
as one puts out a kindling flame by repeatedly throw-
ing water upon it. But we *' grieve " those whom we
profess to love, our friends, our mothers, our counsel-
ors ; we grieve them by repeated slights and
affronts and inattentions. Our best friend is the Holy
Spirit ; he is constantly urging us to larger measures
of grace and virtue and fruitfulness. He is grieved
when we refuse his invitations and admonitions. He
is grieved by habitual disobedience, by worldliness,

KING SAUL AT THE WITCH's CAVE. 23 1

by neglect of known duty, by persistence in sin.
And with what result ? Coldness of heart, discom-
fort, self-accusation, departure farther and farther
from God. Then misery and hopelessness ; no more
Urim and Thummim ; no more blessed visions in the
night watches ; no more walking with God in the
cool of the day. We feel ourselves to be as Saul was, —
alone, forsaken. The awful consummation of such a
course is seen in the bitterness of Christ's anguish on
the cross, when, not for himself, but in behalf of those
who have exposed themselves to this grievous pain of
abandonment, he cried, '' My God ! My God ! Why
hast thou forsaken me ?"

IV. But we must have soffie sort of religion. I call
you to witness that no matter how far we may have
wandered from our original devotion to Christ, we
cannot live without some form of devotion. The soul
craves it. If we cannot find God, we shall seek the
witch of En-dor. We know that we belong to two
worlds. We must keep up our communication with
the invisible and supernatural. The soul's thirst must
be slaked at wayside pools if not at the river of life.

Whither shall we go in our wandering? Into
atheism? That is most unnatural; the evidence
of "a power not ourselves making for righteousness"
is so interwoven with the fibres of our being that
denying God is like wrenching off an arm or plucking
out an eye. It is the fool, and the fool only, who hath
said in his heart, " There is no God."

If not into atheism, where then ? Into rationalism ?
To reject the revelation from above in order that we
may follow the dictates of unaided reason is pure
wilfulness ; it leads us into all manner of error and
unbelief. We wander about like a man lost on the

232 KING SAUL AT THE WITCH S CAVE.

prairie, with no landmarks anywhere, A level stretch
of boundless, monotonous prospect on every side ; no
path except that made by our own foot-prints, to
which we ever return. We refuse to get our bearings
from the only hopeful quarter, the stars that shine in
heaven above us. This is to be lost indeed.

Or if not into rationalism, perhaps into agnosti-
cism ? This is the logical outcome of the habit of re-
jecting truths which are constantly set before us. We
begin by doubting and end by saying, " I know not.
There may be a God ; but I cannot see him. It is
possible that there is a future life ; but no one has re-
turned to speak definitely about it. The Scriptures
may be true ; but there is a difference of opinion, and
I am not wise enough to solve it." So we find our-
selves at the last like those eyeless fish in the waters
of the Mammoth Cave, who have nothing but scars to
show that once they could see.

Or it may be that we find ourselves joined to some
form of base superstition. Saul was a spiritualist.
I do not say that there is no truth underlying this
most specious form of falsehood. But for the so-called
*' spiritualism " of these times I have no feeling but of
contempt and abhorrence. The idea that our dear
ones who have gone to glory, to sit at the feet of
Jesus in the heavenly splendors, should return to
earth to tap tables and hide in cabinets and submit to
materialization in darkened rooms, to drivel senti-
mental nothings and meaningless trivialities at the
call of male and female transcendentalists of generally
doubtful character, is too puerile and contemptible
for a moment's thought. And experience proves that
danger lies that way.

I had a schoolmate once, the son of a clergyman,

KING SAUL AT THE WITCH's CAVE. 233

taught by a Christian mother to receive the simple
truths of the Gospel, who as time passed, following
his own inclinations, forsook the covenant with its
moral precepts and yielded himself a willing attend-
ant at the witch's cave. He deemed himself a pro-
found thinker, and asserted that he had found a sys-
tem of philosophy far better than the Gospel of
Christ. He finished his course in the murder of Presi-
dent Garfield ; and he excused himself for that dread-
ful crime by saying that he was under the control
of a supernatural influence.

The danger point is at the divergence of the paths.
The star that swings out of its orbit by a single inch,
is lost forever in infinite space. God, the Bible, the
influence of the Spirit, these mark the appointed route
of the Christian life. The moment we depart from
them we are on dangerous ground. The Christian
system is like a chain whose strength is lost if but a
single link be broken. To say that we believe with a
reservation, is to say that we do not believe at all.
And this is the tendency of our time, — to place one's
own heart and reason over against the divine author-
ity. " For I bear them record that they have a zeal
of God ; but not according to knowledge ; for they
being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going
about to establish their own righteousness, have not
submitted themselves unio the righteousness of God."
If we persist in such a course, wilful and unrestrained,
it is certain that we shall ultimately be "given over
to believe a lie."

The last chapter in the history of Saul remains to
be told. On the heights of Gilboa he met the Philis-
tines. The figure of the stalwart king was to be seen
amid a shower of arrows, desperation in his face.

234 KING SAUL AT THE WITCH S CAVE.

despair in his heart. A troop of the enemy had
driven him up a steep hill, and there he stood at
bay. His three sons had been slain; his armor-
bearer lay dead beside him; his shield, stained with
blood, had been cast away, and he leaned heavily upon
his spear, weak from a self-inflicted wound. The
dizziness and darkness of death were before him; he
reeled and fell. The next morning his armor was
fastened above the altar of the Ashtaroth and his head-
less body was impaled on the wall of Beth-shan like a
captured bird of prey.

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.
Back to thy first love, O believer in Christ! Back to
thy covenant and thy vow^s of espousal! Back to the
old-fashioned Book which is thy only infallible rule
of faith and practice! Back to the mercy seat where
once thy communion was so sweet with. God! It is
not too late; the hands of mercy are stretched out
still.

In the recent exhibit at the Luxembourg there
was one picture by an American artist which attracted
great attention. It was called "The Return." A
wandering son in rags and tatters has come home;
he kneels in an attitude of hopeless anguish by the
side of the high bed whereon his father lies dead with
the candles about him. Too late! too late!

This is not true. The Father never dies; the
prodigal may. The Father waits with outstretched
hands. Here is the divine record, "And he arose and
came to his father. But when he was a great way off
his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and
fell on his neck and kissed him."

HOW JERICHO FELL

** By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after Ihey were compassed about
seven days. Heb. xi, 30.

The children of Israel were at the borders of the
promised land. They had crossed the river and were
encamped at Gilgal in the edge of a magnificent
grove of palm trees. Two miles away they could see
Jericho, a strong city with " walls up to heaven," en-
circled by an amphitheatre of hills ; and beyond that
was the land flowing with milk and honey, the land
which had been promised to Abraham four hundred
and thirty years before. The key of the situation was
Jericho. It stood like a sentinel guarding the way.

At night Joshua went out to reconnoitre. He
passed through the palm-grove and surveyed the
barred gates and towering walls, searching for some
point of attack. On a sudden there stood over
against him a man with a drawn sword in his hand.
" Who goes there ? " He instantly stood on guard and
uttered the challenge, thinking the intruder to be one
of the enemy. The answer was, " Nay, but as captain
of the Lord's host am I come." It was the Angel of
the Covenant. Then ensued a conference respecting
the siege of Jericho.

The plan traversed in that conference was carried
out in due time. It was a singular performance, the

236 HOW JERICHO FELL.

like of which has never been seen in military tactics.
This was the arrangement of the army that was to
compass the city : a band of armed men led the
way; then came seven priests with rams' horns ; after
them the Levites bearing the Ark of the Covenant ;
then again the armed men. There was to be perfect
silence in the ranks, except for the blowing of the
rams' horns.

On the first day the guards, who stood upon the
walls of Jericho, saw this strange procession come
down the road from Gilgal and begin its march
around the city. On the second day they probably
remarked upon the singularity of the proceeding. On
the third day they looked into each other's faces and
smiled. On the fourth everybody in Jericho probably
turned out to see it. There they come ! the same
priests, the same order, the same wooden chest, the
same rams' horns, the same solemn silence. It is safe
to say that on the fifth day and the sixth there was
much derision and laughter ;

" The King of France, with twice ten thousand men,
Marched up the hill, and then marched down again."

On the seventh day the procession having com-
pleted its living circumvallation, did not turn out
into the Gilgal road, but proceeded to compass the
city again, and so on until seven times. Then, on
reaching the gate, they paused ; the priests lifted the
twisted horns to their lips and sounded a blast ;
whereat the armed men began to shout with one ac
cord, perhaps, Jehovah Nissi ! "The Lord our banner!"
The people of Jericho, watching with smiling interest,
felt the stone fabric under their feet begin to shake
and tremble as if ten thousand giants were tugging

HOW JERICHO FELL. 237

and straining at the parapet ; their laughter ceased ;
their faces blanched, and in another moment the
great bulwarks tottered and fell asunder ! Then
amid the cries of the wounded and dying, over the
ruined heaps the army of Israel rushed in to pos-
sess the city.

How shall we explain this ? The secret, if known
to the Great Powers of Europe, would save them an
expenditure of millions of money for arms and arma-
ments. It would be of incalculable value to the
Church also ; for an important part of her work is the
casting down of the strongholds of evil. There is
Islam, a frowning Jericho, standing in the way of
Christian progress. There is Judaism, founded deep
in divine tradition and with walls towering to heaven.
There is infidelity entrenched in bulwarks that have
resisted the assaults of ages. There are the dram
shop, licentiousness. Sabbath desecration — Jerichos
all. How shall the church reduce them ? Here is
the secret : " By faith the walls of Jericho fell down."
By faith ! Let us see how Faith proceeded to the
task.

I. It began by throwing up its hands. It confessed
an utter inability. When Joshua on that moonlight
night saw the barred gates and towering walls, he
knew that the task was hopeless. But just here is the
beginning of strength. "I will glory in my infirmities,"
says Paul, " that the power of Christ may rest upon
me. I take pleasure in my infirmities for Christ sake;
for when I am weak then am I strong. I can do all
things through him who strengtheneth me."

II. Y^\\.\).fell on its knees and called on God. At this
time the children of Isiael kept the Passover. It in-
volved them in a delay of an entire week and gave

238 HOW JERICHO FELL.

the enemy an opportunity of strengthening his de-
fences. But no matter ; the Passover must be kept.
The lamb was slain, the altar blazed, the prayers were
made, and Israel was set right before God.

The Duke of Alva, engaged in a campaign, was
asked if he had observed the eclipse. " No," he re-
plied, " I am quite too busy to look toward the sky."
This is a common fault. But he makes a grievous
mistake who enters upon a day of solemn tasks and
duties without the morning prayer; and you will be
a foolish man if you to-night shall go into the un-
known country of darkness and danger without, at
the least, folding your hands as the dear mother
taught you long ago, and saying,

" Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep."

III. '^QXt,Ysi\t\\ got hold of a promise. The captain
of the Lord's host said, '' I deliver Jericho into thy
hand." That was enough ; Joshua believed it.

It is a great thing to have a promise at the out-
set. A young man from a western town wrote me
recently, " I am ambitious to come to New York and
make my way. Can you give me a word of encour-
agement ? I must have something to bank on." O,
what enheartenment there is in a word from heaven!
And the Book is full of promises. Here is one of
boundless possibilities : "Ask and it shall be given
you, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be
opened unto you." Here is another that rings like a
trumpet: " They that wait upon the Lord shall re-
new their strength ; they shall mount up with wings
as eagles ; they shall run and not be weary, and they
shall walk and not faint." Here is another as a

HOW JERICHO FELL. 239

Strong staff to lean on : " Lo, I am with you alway
even unto the end of the world." Get hold of a
promise, my friend. It will be a starting point for
your journey ; a postulate for the great argument of
life. Get. hold of a promise ; spread it out ; medi-
tate upon it night and day ; grasp it tighter ; stretch
it wider, wider ; lie down upon it ; rest in it. The
great bridge over the Niagara began with a kite
string, then a whip-cord, then a rope, then a larger
rope, then a wire, then a strand of wire, a cable, a
larger cable, a foot bridge, and finally a magnificent
fabric over which the loaded trains are passing to-day.

IV. FsiiXh found out a divine plan and fell in with it.
If you or I had been in Joshua's place, it is probable
that we would have called a council of war. One
would have said the way to reduce Jericho is by sap-
ping and mining ; another would have suggested
that catapults should be put on the hills round about
to batter down the gates ; and still another might
have insisted that the only hope lay in a protracted
siege and the slow processes of famine. But Joshua
did the better thing ; he hearkened to what the cap-
tain of the Lord's host had to say.

God's plan for our daily life is all marked out in
Scripture. The plan of salvation is here : repent, be-
lieve and be baptized ; that is to say, turn your back
on sin, accept the Lord Jesus Christ and confess him
before men. The plan of sanctification also is here,
to-wit : a creed, an ethical code and a rule of service.
Our creed is whatever God says as to spiritual truth.
Our code of morals is the Decalogue plus all the other
precepts of the divine law. And our rule of service
is, Go evangelize ; do good a? you have opportunity
unto all men.

240 HOW JERICHO FELL.

There are other plans of salvation besides that of
Scripture, but this is the only one that saves ; as it is
written, *' There is none other name under heaven
given among men, whereby we must be saved, than
that of Jesus Christ."

Other methods of sanctification are proposed also,
but the Scripture plan which brings us under the in-
fluence of the Holy Spirit is the only one that brings
us into Christ-likeness and up to the full stature of a
man.

V. Faith then pj'oceeded to business. Joshua and the
children of Israel did precisely as the Angel of the
Covenant had commanded them to do. They formed
in line, took the Ark along with them, kept perfect
silence in the ranks, marched round and round once
every day, seven times on the Sabbath, and then
shouted. Here was exact obedience. This is the
secret of success in serving God.

A passive faith is no faith at all. Faith without
works is dead. People do not reach heaven by sitting
in their pews and singing hymns. Off yonder is a
vessel on the sea ; let us hail it.

" Ship ahoy ! "

"Ay! ay! "

" Whither are you bound ? "

" To Canaan's happy shore."

" Where's your skipper ? "

" Down below."

" Where's your helmsman .?"

*' Down below."

*' Where are your crew ? "

" Down below."

" What are you doing ? "

" Drifting."

HOW JERICHO FELL. 241

" You'll never get there ! "

And they never will. People do not reach Canaan
that way.

It took courage for the children of Israel to carry
out the divine plan. No doubt while they were
marching around the city, many an arrow came from
the walls, and, worse than that, laughter and derision ;
but they kept right on.

It took patience also. Patientia omnia vincit ! A
little fellow in kilts with a fire shovel in hand was
engaged in carrying a ton of coal from the sidewalk
to the shute. A gentleman passing by said, " Do
you expect to shovel that all in?" "Yes, sir,'
said the little fellow, " if I keep at it." There was
a world of philosophy in that reply. He that be-
lieveth shall not make haste. All things are accom-
plished by bravely, patiently keeping at it.

VI. But after all, Faith did nothing ; nothing at all.
The rams' horns did not blow down those walls.
There was no virtue in that weary tramp, tramp, of
the queer procession. The final shout had surely
nothing to do with it. Who then or what overthrew
those walls ? God did it. And God has everything
to do with the triumphs of our spiritual life, that all
the glory may be his.

It is so in the matter of our salvation : repent, be-
lieve, be baptized ; these are conditions precedent,
but the one thing needful is regeneration, and that is
wholly the work of God. " Not by might nor by
power ; but by my spirit, saith the Lord." '' Except
a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of
God."

It is so in our sanctification. " Work out your own
salvation with fear and trembling." Work it out —

242 HOW JERICHO FELL.

that is, to its glorious fullness and consummation in
Christ-like character ; " for it is God that worketh in
you both to will and do of his own good pleasure."
If we breathe spiritually, it is because God furnishes
the air. If we eat, it is God's bread. If we drink, it
is water out of the King's well. All glory to him !

It is so also in service. Paul may plant and
Apollos water, but God giveth the increase. In all
things faith is a conditional but not an efficient cause.
No matter what we do, we come up ultimately against
the absolute need of a miracle. The children of
Israel went out of Egypt and down the road toward
Canaan until they reached the border of the sea.
They could go no farther ; on either side were the
mountains and behind them they heard the rumbling
of Pharaoh's chariots ; they were wholly in the power
of the foe, as far from deliverance as ever. All their
doing thus far was as naught. In their impotency
they fell upon their knees and cried to heaven. Then
came the word, " Stand still and see the salvation of
your God." The waters of the sea were piled up in
crystal walls on either side ; they passed through dry
shod ; and on the further shore they sang, not of what
they themselves had done, but of what the Almighty
God had wrought in their behalf ; " Who is like unto
thee, O God, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises,
doing wonders ? The horse and his rider hast thou
cast into the sea."

Here is the secret of self-conquest. All earnest
men and women are engaged in a stern conflict with
the pride and passion of unregenerate nature. We
wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against prin-
cipalities and powers. Let us begin aright by kneel-
ing at Calvary and invoking the help of him who

HOW JERICHO FELL. 243

said, '^ No man shall pluck you out of my hand.*' It
is a serious warfare and there is no discharge in this
war.

O watch and fight and pray,

The battle never give o'er ;
Renew it boldly every day,
And help divine implore.

And here is the secret of the conquest of the
world. Out of the upper chamber went a little com-
pany of humble folk to be the vanguard of a great
procession, who have ever since been compassing the
world. Their only weapon is the sword of the Spirit,
which is the Word of God. The " foolishness of
preaching" by force of example as well as in pulpit
ministration is destined to overthrow all the strong-
holds of evil. The very essence of preaching is fool-
ishness ; as it is written, "We preach Christ cruci-
fied ; to the Jews a stumbling block ; to the Greeks
foolishness ; but to them which are saved the wisdom
and the power of God."

Marching, rams' horns, silence, shouting; O this
seems a hopeless task ! But we are going to win
the world yet. This is the victory which over-
cometh the world, even your faith. We follow the
divine plan; and just in the measure of our obedi-
ence we are winning the world for God. It is a
glorious work. Lend a hand, good friend ! To hold
aloof would be the mistake of your life. The un-
speakable joy of heaven will be that you had some
part in it.

"TOM BROWN OF RUGBY;" OR,
MANLY CHRISTIANITY.*

"Till we an come in the knowledge of the Son of God unto& perfect man
unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ."— Eph. iv. 13.

Tom Brown is dead. A week ago he crossed the
tropics. Had I said Judge Hughes of Chester you
might not have understood, but everybody knows
Tom Brown of Rugby and Oxford. His age was
above three score and ten, but he kept his boyhood
to the end. The width of the Atlantic was between
us. yet he was dear to all Americans ; for during our
Civil War he stood beside John Bright in his defense
of freedom and the Union. Was his life a success?
Not as a lawyer ; for he dwelt a briefless barrister at
Lincoln's Inn. Not as a business man ; he was the
founder of Rugby Colony in Tennessee in 1880 ;
made up of young Englishmen familiar with lawn
tennis and fox-hunting, it soon dwindled out. Not
as a statesman ; for, though he was a member of Par-
liament in his time, he was rarely heard of. But he
did one thing well ; he painted the portrait of a manly
youth. He did it in such a manner as to captivate

*This discourse was preached on the Sabbath following the
death of Thomas Hughes, the author ot " Tom Brown's School-
days," '' The Manliness of Christ," and other wcyrks.

(244)

" TOM BROWN OF RUGBY' 245

and stimulate the nobler impulses of youth through-
out the world. And throughout his life he sought to
exemplify this : a frank, kindlyj broad-hearted, gener-
ous, earnest Christian man.

He had his faults ; that goes without saying. But
he stood for manliness in Christian living ; and for
this the world will always revere him. The children
of the market-place may not judge wisely as to Chris-
tianity, and often they do not; but the world knows
a thorough Christian when it sees him. It has no
patience with sentimentalism on the one hand or with
worldly Christianity on the other. It detests the holy
whine, the melancholy accent, and the mere outward
garb. It equally detests that profession of Christian-
ity which is ever compromising with the world's
fashion. " Ye are the salt of the earth : but if the
salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted?
it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out,
and to be trodden under the foot of men. Ye are the
light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot
be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it
under a bushel, but on a candlestick ; and it giveth
light unto all that are in the house. Let your light
so shine before men, that they may see your good
works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

In thinking over the life of Thomas Hughes I have
constantly associated him with the familiar phrase,
Sana mens In sano corpore : " A sound mind in a healthy
body."

I. The healthy body to begin with. Tom Brown was
the champion of college athletics. The boat-race
between Oxford and Cambridge took place yesterday
on the Isis. Had he been living, he would in all
probability have been there and " running with the

246 - " TOM BROWN OF RUGBY."

crews." Our American colleges are indebted to him
for the introduction of the Rugby game of foot-ball.

I confess to a sincere sympathy with the college
athletics of our time. In the entire calendar there is
no better exhibition of the manliness of American
student-life than in the annual Yale-Princeton foot-
ball game. No doubt there are many excesses and
extravagances. Nevertheless, the present order of
things is much better than that of former days. You
may take your choice ; a slender youth, narrow-
chested, stoop-shouldered, with watery eyes, a hack-
ing cough and a profoundly laborious devotion to his
books, on the one hand ; on the other, the stroke oar,
the first base, or the quarter-back — broad-chested,
robust, brown as an Indian, and with no reason in the
world why he should not be equally devoted to his
books. As a rule, the modern system of athletics is
conducive to health. We have sixty thousand physi-
cians in America, all good men ; but God is better
than all, and the air and the sunlight are his Materia
Medica.

And athletics practiced within the bounds of rea-
son are also conducive to moral health. There is a
sense in which the proverb, " Boys will be boys,"
holds true; and that other proverb also, "You can-
not put an old head on young shoulders." There
must be some vent for the exuberant spirits of youth.
A great change has come over college life since the
days of the "Thanksgiving powwows "and the "Fresh-
man rush," hazing, society dinners and carousing
of various sorts. It is far better that a boy should
break a finger or lame himself than spend his days
and nights sowing wild oats. Better water on the
knee than water on the brain.

247

II, But the Sana mens is of high impoj'tance. A
healthy body is of little use unless it be occupied by
a healthy mind. The word sana here is suggestive.
The beginning of true manhood is in coming to one's
self. "The mind" in this connection must be taken
as a comprehensive term, meaning the whole spiritual
nature. A sane mind is simply a soul at complete
peace with itself and God.

I am like one awaking from a bewildered dream
and finding myself in a prison cell. I cannot remem-
ber how I came here ; but I want to escape. I be-
gin to investigate ; I climb up to the windows, they
are securely barred ; I inspect the lock, it is fast ; I
examine the floor to see if the slabs can be lifted ; I
cry aloud in my despair, and my cry echoes back to
mock me. I hear the grating of the hinges and turn
to see ; the door is open and one stands there with
hands outstretched, pierced hand?, saying, " Come
with me and I will liberate you." To answer that
call is faith ; to follow him is to come forth into the
glorious liberty of the children of God. So I find my
manhood. So I come to myself again. Henceforth
my mind is a right mind ; a sane mind reconciled to
itself and God.

And this was the sum and substance of the teach-
ing of Thomas Hughes ; a Christian resolution domi-
nating the whole habit of life. It was natural that
in pursuance of this thought, he should make much
of the three manly graces ; Courage, Courtesy, and
Cheerfulness.

I. Courage. If you have formed a conviction as to
truth and duty, be ready on occasion to stand for it.
Let no man take thy crown ; let no man despise
thee.

248 *' TOM BROWN OF RUGBY."

There is one episode in Tom Brown's school-days
at Rugby which is calculated to stimulate all that is
noble in a youthful heart. The new boy Arthur from
Devonshire had just entered school ; a pale lad,
with a delicate hand, large blue eyes and fair hair.
He had a rough reception from the boys and was
almost scared out of his wits. On the first night, at
the retiring hour, he was shown to " Number Four "
where there were twelve beds. The other boys were
laughing and chatting, but poor Arthur was over-
whelmed with the strangeness of it. How could he
ever sleep in a room with twelve other boys ? At
length, however, he summ.oned resolution and man-
aged to get into his night-gown. Then came the tug
of war ! He had promised his mother to kneel down
and say his prayer. {Now, boy, to thine own self be
true !) Some of the lads were already in bed with
their chins on their knees. It was a trying moment
for lonely Arthur. But he dropped on his knees by
his bedside just as he had done ever since he could
remember. There was a momentary lull in conver-
sation ; then somebody laughed, and the fun began.
Tom Brown was sitting on the foot of his bed un-
lacing his boots and failed to see what was going on.
A brute of a fellow, standing in the middle of the
room, picked up a slipper and shied it at the kneeling
boy. Tom turned and saw ; and the next moment
the boot he had pulled off flew straight at the bully's
head.

''Confound you. Brown," he roared. "What's
that for?"

"Never mind," said Tom. "If any fellow wants
the other boot he knows how to get it."

That ended the matter just then; butTom couldn't

'* TOM BROWN OF RUGBY." 249

sleep; his head throbbed, his conscience troubled him.
He too had promised his mother years ago. When he
awoke, his trouble was still with him. At length he
determined to quit himself like a man. He leaped from
his bed and knelt down, but he could not pray ; the
bell as it rang seemed to mock him ; he listened to
every whisper in the room. What were they thinking
of him ? He was ashamed to remain upon his knees
and ashamed to rise. He could only repeat to him-
self over and over, " God be merciful to me a sinner."
But the battle had been fought and won. Rise up,
Tom Brown, Knight of the Cross of Jesus Christ !
He arose to face his schoolmates ; two of them had
followed his example and were kneeling beside their
beds.

2. Courtesy. Tom Brown was as gentle as he was
brave. So it always is ; "the bravest are the tender-
est, the loving are the daring." A gentleman is
simply a gentle man.

It is a difficult thing for a man of noble birth and
breeding, or of wealth or education, to be courteous.
A plain man on a humbler level finds it easy ; but for
those of higher station the temptation to be arrogant
or else patronizing in their manner is almost irresis-
tible.

Oh it is excellent

To have a giant's strength ; but is tyrannous

To use it like a giant.

A lady hurrying along the street in London turned
a corner and ran against a grimy newsboy. With the
instinct of a lady she said, "I beg your pardon, my
boy. Did I hurt you ?" He looked at her in a dazed
sort of way and then whipped off his cap like a gentle-
man of the old school, and said, *' You have my pard-

250 " TOM BROWN OF RUGBY."

ing, Miss, and welcome ; and the next time you run
ag'in me, you kin knock me clean off my feet and I'll
never say a word." He followed her out of sight
and turning to a fellow Arab, said, "I say, Jim, its
the first time I ever had anybody ax my parding, and
it knocked me all in a heap." There is an incalcula-
ble power in such courtesy as that ; kings and poten-
tates, as well as beggar boys, have been conquered
by it.

We speak of chivalry ; it is not necessary to go to
courts or tilting grounds to find it; an opportunity
awaits you in a Broadway car. This young man is
so industriously engaged in reading his newspaper
that he does not heed the old lady who, with hei
arms full of bundles, is holding to a strap near by.
A woman opposite, whose neighbor has just vaca-
ted a seat, thinks nothing of the weary waiters, but
shakes out her skirts and occupies twice her former
space. A youth rises to offer his seat to a pretty girl,
not realizing that the colored maid or seamstress
yonder, being much more weary, has a tenfold claim
upon it. And she who draws her dainty skirts aside,
because a laboring man with soiled and callous hands,
has taken his place beside her, no doubt thinks her-
self a gentlewoman. There is much of this sort of
behavior, and much of the other also. True relig-
ion projects itself into the smallest things of life.
You may show yourself a Christian in a cable car.

3, Cheerfulness. Why not ? This is a good world
and there is a gracious God above it.

There are some people who are always gruff and
in a captious mood. Nothing agrees with them ;
nothing suits them. , The weather is never right.
The country is going to the dogs. And, except

" TOM BROWN OF RUGBY."

■51

themselves, the people generally are no better than
they ought to be. Then there are others like Mark
Tapley, cheerful under all circumstances ; or like
Sidney Smith, who said, " I have gout, asthma, and
seven other maladies, but otherwise, thank the Lord,
I am very well."

It is cheerfulness that makes the wheels of this
old world go merrily round. A few years ago a fire
occurred in Minneapolis which destroyed one of the
large business houses and wiped out its owner's
wealth. He was in the far west at the time, and
when the disaster was telegraphed to him fell into a
deep melancholy from which nothing could arouse
him. He took the train for home. At Omaha he re-
ceived a bundle of letters which he listlessly read
one by one. At length the passengers saw him open
a letter which made him smile and presently he
laughed audibly. The tide was turned, and this was
what did it : " My dear Papa, I went down to see
your store that was burned and you can't think how
pretty it looked all covered with ice. Love and
kisses from your little Lilian." He saw the vision
which his little daughter had conjured up ; icicles
hanging in crystal beauty over the ruin of his for-
tunes. There was something to live for yet. God
be praised for the bright sunny people who make the
best of life for themselves and for others around
them !

But after all in this matter of right Christian
living, all depends upon the way we begin. What is
our purpose ? Have we '' grasped the handle of our
being " ? Do we propose to spend and be spent in
our own interest alone ? Or, do we mean to live for
others and the glory of God ? The aim is everything.

252 '* TOM BROWN OF RUGBY.

And the true inspiration of life is caught only by-
fixing our eyes upon the Ideal Man.

The Ideal Man was never seen on earth but once.
Thomas Hughes saw him in Christ, and his thought
of Christian manliness was borrowed directly from
him. All youth are familiar with "Tom Brown at
Rugby " and " Tom Brown at Oxford ; " but Thomas
Hughes wrote one thing which is more universally
known and read than these, a pamphlet on "The
Manliness of Christ." In his early life he saw Christ,
loved and revered him, and resolved to be like him.

The Man of Nazareth was a man of the people :
brave, gentle, generous, true to his convictions, faith-
ful unto death. In his carpenter-shop he did honest
work, and vindicated the dignity of labor for all time.
In his ministry he " went about doing good." His
ear was open to every cry of distress ; his hand was
ever stretched forth to help. How brave he was in
denouncing all shams and hypocrisies : *' Woe unto
you, Scribes and Pharisees ! How shall ye escape the
damnation of hell ? " How gentle he was to the weak
and erring and penitent: "Go and sin no more."
How eager to relieve pain and weariness: "Come
unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I
will give you rest." And how gladsome withal. The
sun shone through his eyes. He scrupled not to at-
tend the marriage in Cana and make himself at
home among the guests. And his life was crowned
with one deed of self sacrifice the like of which the
world had never seen and never will see again, by which
our human nature is exalted and glorified forever.
He died for sinners. They had wronged him and had
no claim upon him. They scourged him, mocked
him, nailed him to the accursed tree. And while he

TOM BROWN OF RUGBY."

253

hung there in mortal anguish, and those for whom he
had died passed by wagging their heads at him, he
prayed, "Father, forgive them ; they know not what
they do ! " Never a Coeur de Leon or Sir Philip Sidney
wrought like that. We stand under the cross in the
presence of such magnanimity and say as Thomas
Hughes was fond of saying of him,

*' The best of men that e'er wore earth about him
Was a sufferer, a calm, meek, patient, loving spirit.
The first true Gentleman that ever lived."

This then at the outset ; to come into the fellow-
ship of Christ. How ? By a frank acceptance of the
proffer of his grace. The manliest deed that earth
ever saw was Christ's bearing of his cross ; the man-
liest deed possible to our human nature is the ac-
ceptance of it, '' If any man will come after me, let
him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me."
So by the imitation of Christ ; that is, in the knowledge
of the Son of God, shall we come at length to a per-
fect man, to the measure of the stature of the fulness
of Christ.

THE PROPHECY OF PALM-SUNDAY.

'•AH this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet,
saying, , . . " — Matt. xxi. 4.

There is nothing more remarkable in the minis-
try of Jesus than the reticence which he frequently
observed and enjoined on his disciples with respect
to his own character and redemptive work. He
opened the eyes of a blind man and forthwith said to
him, "See thou tell it not." He wiped away the
leper's spots and commanded him, "Tell no man
concerning this matter." On the Mount of Transfig-
uration he appeared to the chosen three in garments
white and glistening, revealing to them a momentary
glimpse of his heavenly glory ; but, as they were
coming down from the mountain, he enjoined them to
tell no man what they had seen until after he had
risen from the dead. At the very close of his minis-
try, when at his own solicitation and to his own great
satisfaction Peter had witnessed the good confession,
"Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God"!
he still insisted that no man should be told of it.
The purpose of this injunction was no doubt to pre-
vent the precipitation of the last sad, yet glorious,
chapter of his life. But now the hour has come ! He
is on his way to Jerusalem, his face set steadfastly
toward the cross. This thing must not be done in a

(254)

THE PROPHECY OF PALM-SUNDAY. 255

corner ; he must be lifted up before the eyes of all
the people, so that the ends of the earth may look
unto him and be saved. With this intent he allows
himself to be escorted to Jerusalem by a multitude
of Passover pilgrims. It is, however, a strange pub-
licity. Never was such a triumphal advent as this.
There are no heralds going on before him to trumpet
his coming ; no retinue of slaves following after, or
captives at his chariot wheels. He would enter the
city as a man of the people; a wayfaring man with
the dust of travel on his homespun garb. Men on
their way to worship, and women and little children,
shall be his attendants. Why so ? All this was done
that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the
prophet. And here we come upon our first helpful
truth, to-wit :

I. The unity of Scripture. The Bible is called
Ta Biblia; it is however one Book ; it is not a mere
aggregation of truths and moral precepts like the
Analects of Confucius, but rather a living movement
of truths advancing to a final consummation in the
restitution of all things.

In the margin of our narrative we are referred to
Zech. ix, 9. Let us accordingly go back five hundred
years and we shall find ourselves in Jerusalem during
the rebuilding of the Temple. A caravan made up
of five thousand of the flower of Israel had been per-
mitted to return from Babylon. At once they set to
work, animated by the most patriotic and religious
motives, to rebuild the Temple. They had received
contributions of about half a million of dollars in
free-will offerings for this purpose. In Ziph, the
blossom month, the work began in earnest ; and it was
continued for a period of some years despite many dis-

256 THE PROPHECY OF PALM-SUNDAY.

couragements and the opposition of the surrounding
tribes. Then their enthusiasm ceased ; the fires upon
the altar died out; the workmen longed to return to
agricultural pursuits ; the fields lay fallow in their
sight ; one by one they laid by the hammer and
trowel and went forth to attend to their own affairs.
The sanctuary was deserted; its bare walls were open
to the skies ; the winds from the heights of Moab
swept through its unlinteled doors; owls made their
nests in its nooks and crannies ; foxes from the
ravine of Hinnom crept in and out its Holy Place ;
the outer precincts were filled with heaps of uncut
stone and lumber. This was the condition of affairs
when Zechariah came. He exhorted the men of
Israel to return to their sacred task ; he sought to
rekindle their ardor by reciting a series of glowing
visions through which walked in divine majesty their
Messianic King. The climax of his exhortation was
reached in this prophecy ; " Rejoice greatly, O daugh-
ter of Zion ; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem ; behold,
thy king cometh unto thee ; he is just and having
salvation ; lowly, and riding upon an ass ; and his
dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the river
to the ends of the earth."

Now link that event with this triumphal entry
which occurred A. D. 30. It is the darkest hour in
the history of Israel. The religion of the chosen
people is much like the unfinished Temple, and their
government is trodden down by alien feet. The Man
of Nazareth is on his way to Jerusalem. He has
passed the night in Bethany, and at daybreak resumes
his journey, staff in hand. His disciples are with
him, and a company of pilgrims to the great annual
feast. Not far from Bethphage he rests for a season.

THE PROPHECY OF PALM-SUNDAY.

257

and sends two of his disciples for the beast of burden
which is to carry him into the city. In the meantime
it is known in Jerusalem that Jesus of Nazareth is
drawing near. The story of his preaching and mira-
cles is on every lip. The people, encamped in leafy
booths on the hill sides, see the caravan approaching
on the heights overlooking the Kedron. They hear
the shouting and commotion ; they know what it
means. They stream up the road, tearing off branches
of the palm-trees ; so the two companies meet ;
those going before joining with those that follow
after in the cry, *' Hosanna ! Hosanna to the Son of
David " ! They wave the palm branchef>) they cast
their garments in the road before him, and so escort
him over the ford of the Kedron and on through the
city gates. The people on the roofs and in their
doorways see the procession passing by ; traders and
camel-drivers, and rabbis in robes embroidered with
gold, all gaze with interest. Who is this ? It is the
carpenter of Nazareth, who claims to be the Messiah
of God. On toward the Temple moves the strange
procession, crying, " Hosanna ! Hosanna ! Blessed
is he that cometh in the name of the Lord " !

Now link that event with still another which is as
j'-et behind the veil. It was seen by John the Evan-
gelist before the Book was sealed ; for the triumphal
advent was itself a mere prophecy of John's vision.
In his vision the moon was covered with a bloody
veil ; the stars fell as when a fig-tree is shaken of its
untimely figs ; the heavens were rolled up like a
scroll ; the earth was on fire ; the hour struck ; the
spirits of the dead came forth ; angels and archangels
crowded the expanse above. Armies ! Armies !
Armies ! Palms in their hands and shouts of victory !

258 THE PROPHECY OF PALM-SUNDAY.

Far as the eye can reach, angels and archangels and
saints triumphant. Now the trumpet blast! The heav-
ens are opened and the Son of Man appears, robed in
light and glory, and crowned with a diadem of stars ;
he lifts his hands in benediction, intercessory hands,
marked with the scars of his mediatorial anguish,
" Hosanna ! Hosanna ! to the Son of David ! Worthy
art thou to receive honor and glory and dominion
and power for ever and ever " ! The end has come ;
the tabernacle of God is among men. The prophe-
cies are ended. Close the book and seal it. Jesus of
Nazareth is universal king ; his dominion is from sea
to sea and from the river unto the ends of the earth.

II. Here is also a suggestion as to the philosophy of
histofj J for history is not a mere record of events and
happenings thrown together and tied up by old
Father Time like a bundle of fagots, but rather a
living tree ; one event growing out of another, as
boughs from the trunk and twigs from the bough and
blossoms from the twig and fruit from the blossom ;
its roots deep down in the divine purpose and its life
borrowed from the very throbbing of the heart of God.

There is no chance; there are no accidents. We
cannot say it happened that Zechariah had a vision,
or that it happened that Jesus came riding into the
holy city, or that it will happen some day that he will
come through the open heavens to rule on earth in
the Golden Age. Nothing happens. It is said that
William the Conqueror slipped and fell as he landed
from his little boat. There was a loud cry from his
followers, who knew that this was the worst of evil
omens. He recovered himself cleverly, however, and
said, "See, my lords, by the grace of heaven I have
taken possessio'n of England with both hands," as if

THE PROPHECY OF PALM-SUNDAY. 259

he had intended it. But God indeed intends all
things. The vision of Zechariah, though it wait five
hundred years, will find its sequel ; and the triumphal
advent of Jesus, which has already waited nigh two
thousand years, will find its complement yet.

And there is no confusion. The builders on the
unfinished Temple said, "Cyrus is dead and his son
Cambyses, and Darius knoweth us not ; Tyre and
Sidon are breathing out slaughter against us, and the
Philistines are rattling their chariots down yonder in
the maritime plain." But God said to Zechariah,
"Speak unto the children of Israel. The king's heart is
in my hand as the rivers of water. As for Tyre and
Sidon, behold their villages are all aflame. Syria
shall be made a gazingstock. The bleeding carcass
shall be torn from Philistia and the cup of trembling
placed to her lips. For behold, the king cometh."
And indeed there is never a moment in history when
there is aught but confusion to human eyes ; wars
and rumors of wars, entanglements among the nations
and distresses among the children of men. But if
we could take our position beside the throne of
heaven and look down, we should see the procession
of the King marching through all events toward the
throne. God's ways are not as our ways, nor his
thoughts as our thoughts. We shall go out with joy
and be led forth with peace, for the mouth of the
Lord hath spoken it ; the mountains and the hills
shall break forth before us into singing and all the
trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of
the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of
the briar shall come up the myrtle-tree ; and it shall
be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign
that shall not be cut off.

26o THE PROPHECY OF PALM-SUNDAY.

And in all this vast proceeding of history there is
no haste. The life-time of God is from everlasting
to everlasting, and with him a thousand years are as
one day. Haste is the infirmity of finite beings, of
business men whose obligations fall due to-morrow,
of lawyers whose briefs must be ready for the assem-
bling of court, of preachers who must be in their pul-
pits at the ringing of the bell. But God never hurries
to meet his appointments. The world is under con-
demnation ; men are dying; saints cry, " How long,
O Lord, how long?" and still he awaits the fulness
of time. Time is not a reaper with sickle in hand ;
but a weaver sitting at the loom, throwing his shuttle
to and fro, weaving in the bright with the sombre —
each cast of his shuttle, a year, a generation, an aeon
— but when he cuts the thread, the pattern is perfect,
the fabric is complete and the King shall array himself
in it. So let us rest in the old truth :

•' Right forever on the scafifold,

Wrong forever on the throne ;
Yet that scaffold sways the future,

And behind the dim unknown
Standeth God, within the shadow.

Keeping watch above His own."

HI. Still another truth suggested here is the con-
tinuity of life. No man liveth unto himself. History
is genealogy ; dynasties are generations only ; fate
is heredity. If eighty men of three-score years and
ten, succeeding one another, were to be placed in line
they would cover all history back to Adam.

But each must stand in his allotted place ; in right
relation to those going before and coming after. I
am a part of God's definite plan, so are you, and so
is every other. A man in Bethphage tethered his

THE PROPHECY OF PALM-SUNDAY. 26 1

ass in the early morning before his home ; two men
came and led it away ; a fourth man held it while
Jesus mounted; a man cried *'Hosanna"! another
and another and another joined in. All these are
nameless, but each had his part in the proceeding.
The whole world knows how Sir Walter Raleigh
threw down his cloak at the crossing fur Queen Eliza-
beth to tread on ; but no one knows aught of those
men who cast their garments in the way before the
Man of Nazareth. However, God remembers ; some
of those names are doubtless written on the palms of
his hands.

It is for us to stand in our places and do the work
divinely appointed for us. One day last summer a
rivet in the engine of the steamship St. Paul said, "If
I were a walking-beam or a piston-rod, I should be
of some importance ; but I am only a rivet and of no
use." And it shook itself loose and fell into a crevice
of the cylinder. There it stopped the rod and arrested
one of the propellers, so that the ship came like a poor
cripple hobbling across the sea. My place is planned;
if I refuse to fill it, I may hinder the progress of the
King. God waits for all his people to do their part.
The work will doubtless go on without us, but we
shall lose our opportunity and fall short of the possi-
bilities of life. And every act, every word, every
thought tells. A child throws a pebble into the sea
and creates a ripple that, however infinitesimal, goes
to and fro forever. It was Anna Boleyn's charming
smile that sundered the Church of Rome and changed
the current of subsequent history. She did not know
and did not intend such a change.

So comes responsibility. We must answer not
only for the things done, but for the things undone.

262 THE PROPHECY OF PALM-SUNDAY.

Sin is by default as well as by transgression. They
erred who refused to cry, '' Hosanna " ! as well as
those who subsequently shouted " Crucify him " !
The words of the verdict are, "Inasmuch as ye did it
not." Let us address ourselves, therefore, to all
duties, however humble, which the spirit is ever sug-
gesting to us. For all things are written down in a
Book of Remembrance. God knows; we forget, but
he, never. And the glory of our life is in being
laborers together with God.

It is recorded that Christ, as he approached Jeru-
salem, paused on the slopes of Olivet and wept over
the city ; " O Jerusalem," he said, " if thou hadst
known in this thy day — but now thy house is left
desolate." *' If thou hadst known " ! Oh the sorrow
of lost opportunity ! The procession passes by ; let
us have eyes to see and ears to hear and hands to
wave the palm branches. Hearken to the sound of
tramping feet ; now is our salvation nearer than we
thought ; " Hosanna ! Hosanna to the Son of David !
The kingdom of heaven is at hand ! Blessed is he
that Cometh in the name of the Lord ! "

To-day is Palm-Sunday the w^orld over. In St.
Peter's at Rome the Supreme Pontiff, golden cruci-
fix in hand, followed by his cardinals and priests, ap-
proaches a chamber which is closed throughout the en-
tire year ; he knocks on the closed door thrice with the
crucifix in the name of the Father and the Son and
the Holy Ghost ; and the door swings open and the
company enter, singing, " Hosanna to the Son of
David"! It is an apologue of the work of the uni-
versal church. We march toward the open heavens
with the uplifted cross before us. The cross is the
key of the apocalypse. When we shall stand and

THE PROPHECY OF PALM-SUNDAY. 263

knock with sufficient earnestness, and unitedly cry,
with all our hearts, " Open, open unto us " ! the clouds
will roll back like mighty gates and the King of
Glory will appear. Then the cry, " Maranatha " ! the
Lord Cometh. The Scripture will have met its fulfill-
ment ; all history will reach its consummation ; and
the long procession of life will enter into the enjoy-
ments of a Palm-Sunday whose sun shall never set —
the ultimate and endless triumph of the King ; the
eternal rest which is prepared for the people of God.

HOW TO READ HISTORY.

"And Jesus said, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from Heaven."— Luke x. i8.

Jesus had been a wanderer for eighteen months,
an exile, to all intents from the Holy City.
" He came unto his own, and his own received
him not." On being driven out of Jerusalem, he
had gone to his own townsmen at Nazareth, and they
refused to entertain him. He had gone out for
a while, and tarried at Capernaum, and there wrought
many wonderful works, and preached the unsearch-
able riches of the Gospel to people with hard hearts
and dull ears. At last he was moved to cry, " O Ca-
pernaum, thou hast been exalted unto heaven ; thou
shalt be cast down unto hell." He had gone out
among the villages of Galilee, and they had refused,
also, to receive him, insomuch that his apostles would
for their ingratitude have called down fire from
heaven upon them. Now the end of his ministry
was drawing near, and Christ was on his last journey
to the Holy City. As he went, he appointed seventy to
go to and fro as evangelists among the villages, and
to preach the gospel of repentance to them. The func-
tion of the seventy was not that of the twelve apostles;
the twelve corresponded to the heads of the twelve
tribes of Israel, but the seventy corresponded to the

(264)

HOW TO READ HISTORY. 265

seventy elders of Israel, and they were to serve
as lay workers. But in sending them out the
Lord endowed them with great spiritual gifts —
charismata; the power not only to speak the truth
with flaming lips, but also to work miracles of healing
and blessing. As he journeyed on, the seventy
came in from time to time, until they were all
back again. Then they made their report. Their
hearts were beating fast with the enthusiasm of a
magnificent triumph. They had expected great
things, but had accomplished a thousand-fold more
than they had ever dared to hope. One of them said,
" I saw the lame man leap as an hart when I touched
him." Another, " I saw the blind man open his
eyes and go seeing when I touched them." Another,
" I saw the white spots of leprosy fall from the
leper when I touched him." Another, " I saw a
raving maniac who was possessed of demons, sit,
clothed in his right mind, tractable and docile as a
little child, when I spoke to him." So they all re-
ported marvellous success. Jesus stood by; and at
length, with a far-away look in his eyes, he said, " I
beheld Satan fall as lightning out of Heaven" — as
a meteor; light for a moment, and then vanishing in
the night; as a meteor, illuminating the skies from
horizon to horizon, and then gone out forever !

It may be that Jesus alluded to the traditional
mutiny which had occurred away back in the
remote ages of which Jude tells in his word
touching the angels that lost their first estate, and
fell, and are reserved in chains unto the last day.
The Apostle Peter also speaks of it ; Milton sings
of that great defection in Heaven; and Shakespeare
says: "Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away am-

266 HOW TO READ HISTORY.

bition; by that sin fell the angels." But I believe
that the immediate reference of Jesus was not
to any event whatsoever. He stood there in the
midst of all history, and in this glowing account of
the triumph of his disciples he perceived the splendid
consummation of all. The events of all the centuries
passed before him in an instantaneous panorama.
His own life-time was central to all human history.
Past and future were alike to him. From everlast-
ing to everlasting he was God. With those glowing
eyes of his he saw all in a moment. They had ob-
served a merciful miracle here and there. He saw
everything in an instant of time. And thus he spoke
of the great ultimate victory: "I beheld Satan fall
as lightning out of Heaven."

The Lord here teaches us how to read history.
O for those illuminated eyes of Jesus! O for that
far-seeing vision of Jesus! O for that world-con-
sciousness of Christ, that was able to open the pages
of earthly chronicles, and see what he saw that
day !

He teaches us here, to begin with, that history is
an argument. It is not a mere bundle of assorted
facts, but it is an argument by the process known as
progressive approach to an ultimate conclusion. We
speak of the logic of events. He knew the meaning
of that significant phrase, the logic of events.

Here is his first premise, — God. He always began
with God. Kant says that there is no need of God in
philosophy, and La Place said the same thing — "I
have no need of God in my system of philosophy."
But there is no philosophy of history without God,
who is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end
of all. We borrow all our confidence from the fact

HOW TO READ HISTORY. 267

that God is in the midst of histor^^ and that he
reigns among the children of men. The mother of
Sisera looked out of her window, and cried, " Why do
the wheels of his chariot tarry so long?" We also
mourn because of the long delay of the coming of
Jesus Christ to reign from the river unto the ends of
the earth. The mother of Sisera did not know that
her son was lying in the tent with a nail through his
temple, and that the bodies of the men of Harosheth
were being swept down the river Kishon to the sea.
But our God is a living God, who manifests his love
and power continually among us.

And his second prem.ise is Redemption. The word
has in it an immense power. Redemption — the buy-
ing back. Of what? Of this old, sin-stricken world
of ours, that was sold and forfeited under sin, and
passed under the reign of Satan, who thenceforth
called himself " The Prince of this World." Redemp-
tion is the buying back. At what cost ? On the cross
is the ransom price: the Lamb; the Lamb of God,
slain! Slain when? We date historical events from
the building of Rome or from the birth of Christ
at Bethlehem. But redemption, to those clear eyes of
Jesus, was an event that stretched from the very
beginning to the end of the ages. The Lamb was
"slain from the foundation of the world"; from the
beginning of sin to the bowing of the knee of the last
stubborn sinner who will confess that Jesus is the
Christ of God.

The conclusion of the argument from those two
premises is the triiunph of Christ. We stand here
under the cross, where he was standing, and where
the seventy also were standing, though they knew it
not, and under that shadow we may see for ourselves.

268 HOW TO READ HISTORY.

I see the stars of Heaven, and hear God promising
to the Messiah, "So shall thy seed be." I see the
ocean stretching afar, and I hear God saying that
his glory and kingdom shall cover the earth as those
waters cover the deep. I see the forest, and I hear
God say, " The trees of the field shall clap their hands
before him." I see the first budding of the vegetation
of spring by the brookside, and I hear God saying to
him, in a universal promise, that his followers shall
" spring up like willows by the water courses." I hear
the sound of the rustling of wings, as doves that fly to
their windows; the sound of the footfall of a caravan
of camels coming this way, the dromedaries of
Midian, the rams of Nabaioth; the patter cf raindrops,
the murmur of brooks down the mountain side, the
roll of rivers on toward the sea. What is this ? The
coming of souls to Jesus Christ; the flowing of the
Gentiles, the nations, as a mighty torrent to the
feet of this Only Begotten Son of God. This is
the argument of history as Jesus shows it : God,
Redemption, and the ultimate and eternal Triumph
of goodness and truth.

As we stand here with Jesus, while his bright eyes
are cast over all the ages and generations marching
before him, we may learn to read history not only
as an argument, but as a problem also — a problem full
of confusion to us, unless we can approach it in the
power of a clear- seeing faith.

I remember well that there was one place in
arithmetic that I never could get over. It was
Partial Payments. And to this day, if I were to
take up arithmetic again, I should be puzzled with
Partial Payments. It was all confusion. So is

HOW TO READ HISTORY. 269

history to a man who looks at it with the stolid eyes
of mere fleshly sight.

There are some things that cannot be solved by
the lower mathematics, that will not yield to the
Rule of Three. It is a hundred years since the
beginning of the missionary epoch of the church. A
glorious century! But how long will it be, at this
rate, before Jesus Christ comes to reign ? We have
had a hundred years since William Carey sat at his
lapstone studying the map of India there on the wall
before him, and to-day the doors of the whole world,
and of all nations, except Thibet alone, are open to
the messengers of the Cross. To-day there are two
hundred missionary societies organized for the evan-
gelization of the nations that lie in darkness and the
shadow of death. To-day, after the lapse of this
single missionary century, the Bible is printed in
three hundred tongues and dialects of the earth. To-
day there are thirty thousand laborers at work in the
foreign field, their feet beautiful upon the moun-
tains as they carry the glad tidings of salvation ;
climbing the Andes; climbing the Himalayas; climb-
ing the mountains of Africa ; their feet beautiful
upon the mountains because they say, "Thy God
reigneth." To-day there are a million and a half of
converts to show for this century of work among
the benighted nations of the pagan world. Since we
gathered here on the last Sabbath, two thousand
souls, at the lowest estimate, have been brought from
darkness into light, and that among the pagan na-
tions only. Oh, if they could file before us here!
Two thousand men and women with dusky faces,
born out of darkness, out of ignorance, out of super-
stition! If they could come filing in here before us

fJQ HOW TO READ HISTORY.

to-day, how it would thrill our hearts! Born into the
Kingdom since a week ago ! And at an outlay of
fifteen dollars for every soul ! I blush for the mere
mention of it, because, I say again, there are some
great moral facts to which the rules of arithmetic
cannot be made to apply.

There is an energy at work in the missionary
Church to-day which will not yield to any mathe-
matical rule. What is the power of a tear? Ask
^a scientist, and he will tell you exactly how many
pounds it will lift, if it be transformed into steam.
But who can estimate the love, the sympathy, the
mother's prayer, the heart-break, that is in that
tear? The night before he set out from Atlanta
on his famous march to the sea, Sherman sat
down and made an estimate. " We shall need certain
things. We must needs have certain power to
work with. How many miles is it from Atlanta
to the sea ? How much ammunition must we have ?
How many mules and wagons ? How many troops ? "
There was his mathematical problem. But if that
had been all, would he ever have reached the sea?
There was one thing that he could not put down
on paper: the blood that was throbbing fast and
hot with patriotic fervor in the hearts of his brave
men ; the fire that flashed for the Republic from
the eyes of the soldiers who were going to march
with him.

We cannot estimate the progress of the Church
in figures such as I have given here to-day. It is
folly to undertake it. Can a man measure ' the
stature of God Almighty with a yard-stick ? Can a
man measure the progress of God Almighty with a
surveyor's chain ? Or can you test the stability of

HOW TO READ HISTORY. 27 1

His throne by shaking it? We must come up
into higher mathematics ; up out of arithmetic into
ilgebra ; up where we shall find an unknown
quantity, and make allowance for it ; and when we
find X, we must bring faith to bear upon it. Here
?s the unknown quantity — God walking in the
.nidst of the Church; dwelling in the hearts of his
people; going with their feet; working with their
hands; seeing with their eyes; loving with their
hearts; the King, hand in hand with his bride, who
fooketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear
as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners.

The disciples on the, Day of Pentecost, made
^.heir prayer, and Peter rose and preached his sermon.
Off yonder in the corner of the open court two rabbis
were standing, and one of them said: "This is the
new movement. How long at this rate will it take
these followers of the Nazarene to organize their
Church ? See them standing here, and hear yon fisher-
men muttering theirprayersandpreachingabout Jesus.
How long will it take to bring a thousand men into
the following of the Nazarene Prophet at this rate"?
And while they looked and pointed their fingers, the
strange thing transpired — the X in the problem, the
unknown and constantly working factor that men
never, never can estimate: the wind began to blow, and
the fire came down, and the disciples stood upon their
feet; and those that were round about began to cry out
under a power that was invisible, imponderable, and
undebatable, "Men and brethren, what shall we do"?
and about three thousand were brought into the
Church that day.

You cannot calculate by the lower mathematics
the power that is working in the Church of Jesus

272 HOW TO READ HISTORY.

Go forth in obedience to our Lord's great injunction
and when we have done our part, and reached the
end of the problem, it will all be as clear as any
solved problem in algebra ever was ; for God will
come.

And then, if we go and stand again beside Jesus,
as he looks with those clear eyes, we shall read
history as he reads it now, as a volume of Christiju
economics. For here is a field to which all the followers
of Jesus Christ are called. Lift up your eyes and see.
This is husbandry. Lift up your eyes and see. *' Say
not. It is yet four months, and then cometh the har-
vest; behold the fields that they are already white
unto the harvest."

Where is thy sickle? Go, thrust in thy sickle and
reap. That is thy glorious privilege. Blessed be
God for that word privilege which applies to all
Christian service. Privilege is privus lex — a private
law. That is to say, a law which has a peculiar ap-
plication to some particular individual or class ; as
the king's privilege, the privilege of the hierarchy.
There were laws for the people, but there was a spe-
cial law, a private law, a privilegium^ for kings, for
nobles, for hierarchy. There is a special law for me.
My privilege is to stand, sickle in hand, touching hands
with the Only Begotten Son of God, in the great har-
vest field of the kingdom. To that I am called, and
all my glory in Christian living is in these two words
—"Go" and ''Give."

Go ! The Church believed during the first two
centuries that Jesus meant it, and to this belief her
tremendous success in the apostolic era was due.
Then came fifteen centuries when the Church cared
nothing about missions. Those were fifteen hundred

HOW TO READ HISTORY.

273

years of lost time in history. If I see a boy without
any spirit, a languid lad, whose arms hang down, whose
eyes lack lustre, and who moves with a slow step, I say,
" The boy has no *go' in him." That was precisely the
trouble with the Church for fifteen centuries. It went
nowhere, but worked with centripetal force until the
beginning of this last era, the hundred years of the
miracles of missions ; of Carey and Hans Egede, and
David Livingstone, and all the glorious ambassadors
of the cross who have gone out to preach, to suffer,
to die, and to live forever in the progress of the ages.
Go ye ! The Master meant you when he said it.
In our Civil War the loyal people were all at the
front. The boys in blue marched through our
streets, and we gave them Godspeed as they kept
step to the battle hymn, and passed out of sight.
But we lads sent out our hearts after them. Good
women went by proxy, sending their husbands and
their sweethearts, the very light of their life, out
into the high places of the field. And poor cripples,
who could not march in the rank and file, went when
they staid by the stuff. And the grandmother in
the chimney-corner went with the soldiers for the
defense of the Republic when she did nothing but
knit stockings, while they won fights. Go ye ! If
not by following the fight, go ye in prayer, in sym-
pathy. Never, never murmur against the Master's
plan of the propaganda. And if you have ever said
never say it again — that you do not believe in the
evangelization of the heathen nations of the earth.

Go, and give ! The secret of all giving is in giving
your own self, first of all. So Paul wrote to the
Churches of Macedonia, He said that out of their
extreme poverty they had abounded in their liberality.

274 HOW TO READ HISTORY.

first of all in this : that they gave their own selves
unto the Lord. Body, soul, spirit, heart, conscience,
hands, feet, substance, all we have, let us give. ** Ye
are not your own ; ye are bought with a price — not
silver and gold — but the precious blood of Jesus, as
of a Lamb without blemish, and without spot." If a
man has once given himself, the giving of all that he
has will be as nothing to him. The old Kaiser
Wilhelm, grandfather of the present war-lord of Ger-
many, was driven out to war with an empty treasury.
He made an affectionate appeal to his people to sus-
tain him. The one stimulus to their generosity was
the iron cross, which is the proudest decoration of the
German people to-day. They brought in that ex-
igency their jewels of gold, their rings, their bracelets^
and gave them up ; and to every donor was given an
iron cross, upon which was this legend : " I gave gold
for iron." One of these days, when we are in the
Kingdom of Heaven, we who 'calculated upon our
gifts, and gave so little in consequence, will be glad
that we gave at all ; and our proudest boast yonder
will be that we gave iron for gold, and in our giving
made ourselves forever rich unto God.

In the Reformed Church of America we are talking
of retrenchment, — of closing the doors of some scores
of high caste Hindoo schools. We have been twenty
years opening those doors, and preparing the way for
the mostexcellent missionary record amongthedenom-
inations of Christians to-day ; and we are talking of
retrenchment now ! O, God forbid that one of the
shaggy locks of this Sampson of ours should ever be
shorn !

I know it is hard times, but what of that ? Do you
remember Lord Nelson in the battle of Copenhagen :

HOW TO rp:ad history.

275

It was a stern fight. The Admiral, Nelson s ranking
officer, an old man whose heart misgave him, put
up at the masthead of the flagship signal 39 — to
retreat. Nelson, pacing the deck of his ship, looked
askance and saw it, but fought on. His lieutenant
said to him, "My Lord Admiral, see the signal 39
yonder on the flagship " ? Nelson raised his glass to
his one blind eye and said, '' No, I see it not. Nail to
our mast signal 27 — for close quarters." Nelson won
the day. That is the sort of courage, that is needed in
the universal Church of Christ in these hard times.
Wehavenot strained amuscleora sinew yet. Wehave
not put one drop of our Christian blood to its last
crucial test. O for the clear eyes of Jesus Christ !
O for the brave heart of Jesus Christ ! O for the
strong faith of our Master ! that we may stand where
he stands now, and see what he sees, — all the domin-
ions of this world, sin, shame, the strongholds of in-
iquity cast down ; Satan fallen like a meteor out of
the sky ; the great triumph assured, and the throne
of Messiah set up ! O that we might hear his
word that was uttered on Ascension Mount, "All
authority is given unto me, in heaven and on earth.
Go ye, therefore, into all the world, and preach the
gospel unto every creature." There is the commis-
sion of the Church to the end of the ages. " Lo, I am
with you." There is the promise. Let your heart
never tremble. Let your faith never fail. "Lo, I am
with you alway, even unto the end of the world."

THE BOUNDLESS PRAYER OF FAITH.

" If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and
it shall be done unto you " — John xv. 7.

At one of our military posts on the frontier, an old
Indian was often found, hungry and in rags and tat-
ters, begging of the soldiers a little to keep soul
and body together. And they were used to his ap-
proaches, for he had come year after year in that
misery. At length one felt moved to inquire what it
was that hung from an old ribbon about the In-
dian's neck. A locket was suspended there ; and
when he opened the locket, there fell out a bit of
parchment ; that parchment was a Revolutionary
pension bearing the signature of George Washington,
the Commander-in-chief of the American Army, which
entitled him to a comfortable competence during all
the remainder of his days. And he had not known it !

Here is a promise for Christian people to-day: if
ye abide in him, and his words abide in you, ye shall
ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. It
is a draft on the Bank of the Kingdom, signed by
the King himself, with the amount left in blank for us
to fill out, and absolutely no limitations or conditions
affixed to it. And we never have begun to use it !
If we had, we should not be going about mourning,
'^Oh, my leanness! my leanness"! God intends

(•^76)

THE BOUNDLESS PRAYER OF FAITH. 277

US to be Strong and enriched by his grace, with
enough of everything that is needful in order to
the satisfaction of our souls to the very uttermost.
"Ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto
you."

But, mark you, that promise was given only to
such as believed in Christ. It was addressed to
them in that marvellous discourse in the upper room.
Not that an unbeliever cannot pray. He cannot say,
"My Father," for " He that hath not the Son hath
not the Father" ; he cannot say, " For Jesus' sake,"
for he has never accepted him of whom it is written,
" He ever liveth to make intercession for us." But
there is one prayer that every man may make — and
for his life let him make it ! — the prayer of the publi-
can, who beat upon his breast as he stood afar off, with
fallen eyes, crying, *' O God, be merciful unto me, the
sinner" ; and God, out of his infinite grace, will hear
him.

This promise was uttered in connection with the
Parable of the Vine and the Branches; "If a man abide
in me, and I in him, he shall bring forth much fruit :
for without me ye can do nothing"; and, "If ye
abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask
what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." " If ye
abide in me" — that is the inner lite ; " If my words
abide in you " — that is the outer life. The world can-
not see whether Christ is abiding in you or not, but
the world can see by your walk and conversation
whether or no his words are abiding in you. Under
this twofold condition, " ye may ask what ye will, and
it shall be done unto you," — all thinp;s, anything,
everything ! Whatsoever ! That is the term of the
promise. Ask, and it shall be given unto you. There

27S THE BOUNDLLSS PRAVER OF FAITH.

is no such thing as a Divine failure to answer. All
prayer is answered ; all prayer, mind you, offered in
the filial spirit — for nothing else is prayer. The only
true prayer is that which goes up from the heart of
God's child to the throne of the Heavenly Grace ;
which begins with " Our Father," and ends with " For
Jesus' sake." And that gets hold upon the strength
of God, and nothing is impossible to it. So our pro-
position is, the boundless prayer cf faith ; absolutely,
literally, the boundless prayer of faith. It rests upon
three boundless facts. Here they are :

The first is the boundless power of God. He has in-
finite resources at his command. Why should not he
give us whatsoever we ask ? Do you feel the
hand of death gripping at your heart-strings ? Has
some mortal malady taken hold upon you ? And has
the physician said, '' Nothing can be done " ? I be-
lieve in the faith cure : not in the professional char-
latanry using that phrase ; but in the power of the
prayer of faith to do precisely what it did when Jesus
went along the highways in the Holy Land. " If I
may but touch the hem of his garment, I shall be
made whole." It was the touch of absolute faith that
got hold of the hem of his garment, when virtue went
out of him.

Are you in distress respecting your temporal
estate ? Oh, the cattle on a thousand hills are his,
and all the gold and silver that lie buried in the deep
bosom of the everlasting mountains, — they are all his.
What a little matter it is for God to relieve you !

Do you want to grow in grace toward the full
stature of the manhood of Christ ? He loves that de-
sire, and is ready at the first impulse of your heart to
grant it unto you.

THE BOUNDLESS PRAYER OF FAITH. 279

Are you praying for a friend ? Pray on. God
loves an unselfish prayer. God can reach out any-
where to save a soul. How easy it is for him !
If one of my dear ones was over yonder strug-
gling in the water for life, and you were nearby, and
could reach out a hand, and I should call to you, " Oh,
save him ! " would you hesitate ? Why shall God
hesitate when I plead for the deliverance of my be-
loved from spiritual and eternal death ?

Do you say, " True, but his laws stand in the way " ?
Can a watchmaker adjust the machinery of a chro-
nometer and turn the hands backward, if he will ? And
shall God not be able to manage the machinery of the
universe as he will ? The laws of the universe are
God's laws. The universe is his chronometer. "Sun,
stand thou still upon Gibeon ! and thou, Moon, in
the valley of Ajalon " ! There was a man named
Joshua praying down yonder, and God moved the laws
of the universe, and answered him.

Let us believeinhis inexhaustible resources. Noth-
ing is too hard for him. When Scipio was over in
Egypt, he said to the inhabitants, desiring to conciliate
them after their subjugation, *' Now, draw upon me, as
you do upon your generous Nile, and see how magnani-
mous I can be." It was a splendid hyperbole. He
could not do it, even if he had the heart for it. But
if you and I were to sit upon the banks of the Nile
until the almond-tree of old age blossomed and
watch its current rolling along to refresh the earth,
and satisfy the thirst of successive generations,
and if that current were all of molten gold, flowing
out of the Divine exchequer, yet would it not
diminish God's treasury so much as one drop of water

28o THE KOUNDLESS PRAYER OF FAITH.

exhaling from the boundless deep exhausts the im-
measurable supply of it.

And then, this boundless prayer of faith rests on
a second fact : the boundless goodness of God. He is
able ; is he willing ? His name is Love. Oh, the
length, and the breadth, and the depth, and the
height of it !

" There's a wideness in God's mercy
Like the wideness of the sea."

YWs promise, also, is given to us. *'Ask and it shall
be given you ; seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and it
shall be opened to you." There is not an " if" there;
not a '' perhaps " ; nor " it may be so " : '' it shall be
opened unto you." And as if he thought some of us
might question his sincerity in making so vast a prom-
ise, he immediately repeats it in this wise: "For
every one that asketh, receiveth ; and every otie that
seeketh, findeth ; and to evety one that knocketh, it
shall be opened."

Besides, we have an argtcment back of that promise
— a great argument, a fortiori, from the less to the
greater — so that we may not misunderstand or ques-
tion it. " For which of you, if his son shall ask bread,
will he give him a stone ? or if he ask a fish, will he
give him a serpent ? or if he ask an ^^'g, will he offer
him a scorpion ? If ye then, being evil, know how to
give good things to your children, how much more
shall your Father which is in Heaven give good things
to them that ask him."

And then, in addition to all that, his name, his
promise, his argument, he adds the tremendous ^f^r^z^j-/
which we have in Jesus Christ, when he says, " He
that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for

THE BOUNDLESS PRAYER OF FAITH. 281

US all, how shall he not with him also freely give us
all things?" He bared his heart, took the very heart
of his love out of his bosom, and cast it down upon
this guilty world to save it. Now, " shall he not with
him also freely give us all things " ?

It is nothing for him to give. He delights to give.
It is the joy of the Divine life to be giving all the
time. The most delightsome day in the life of the
Empress Josephine, she said in one of her letters, was
when coming through the walks with her husband, she
was left for a little while to rest in a humble cottage.
She saw that the eyes of the lone woman there
were stained with tears, and she asked her trouble.
The woman said it was poverty. " How much," said
Josephine, "would relieve it?" "Oh," she said,
"there is no relieving it ; it would require four hun-
dred francs to help us out, to save our little vineyard
and our goats." Josephine counted out of her purse
the four hundred francs into the woman's lap, and
she gathered them together, and fell down before her,
and kissed her feet. And that was the happiest day
in that poor Empress's life. But all God's life is
filled with days like that. His name is Love. He
delights to hear our prayer, to answer it, to relieve
and to enrich us.

This boundless prayer of faith rests upon yet a
third fact, to-wit : God's boundless wisdom. He knows
precisely what I need, and for that reason I am em-
boldened to ask. I would not dare to ask if God
were no wiser than myself. I would not dare to kneel
down and ask him for a temporal gift that might be
to my moral and eternal ruin, for all I know. I can-
not see beyond my finger tips, but I can trust him.
My Father knows ; knows what is best for me. " But

282 THE BOUNDLESS PRAYER OF FAITH.

if he knows before the asking what I need, why should
I make a prayer at all " ? That is the word of an ob-
jector who never knew God's love in Jesus Christ. It
is enough for you that he bids you keep up the con-
stant current of communication between your heart
and him. "Ask, and it shall be given you."

Ask largely. The prayer of faith knows no limit.
Be not afraid. Your large request honors every at-
tribute of God. In one of the Psalms it is written
"Open thy mouth v/ide and I will fill it." I wonder
if the figure came from David's life among the hills,
where, watching from yonder cliff, he saw the fledg-
lings in the eagle's nest, saw them as the mother bird
came back with with some rich morsel, open their
bills and wait ? I wonder if that suggested to him
our helplessness, and God's desire to honor our re-
quests ? Open your mouth wide and he will fill it.

Ask confidently. Be assured that he will answer
you. You are a child of God. The filial spirit is the
only condition that is presupposed as to prayer. It
is the only prerequisite, and includes all other condi-
tions that affect our approach to the mercy seat.
Pray as a son or daughter of the loving God,
that is, being mindful of his superior wisdom. You
may ask a stone ; he will not give it, but he
will give you bread ; and will you say, " He did
not answer me"? You may, out of the shortness
of your wisdom, ask a scorpion ; He will not give
you that, but he will honor your prayer, and give you
a fish ; and will you say, *' He did not answer me"?
The Lord Jesus once, in the weakest hour of all his
earthly life, when all his flesh was crying out against
the approaching anguish of a bitter death, made the
prayer of a real man. (And God wants us to pour out

THE BOUNDLESS PRAYER OF FAlTH. 283

our whole soul before him. Better make a wrong
prayer than no prayer at all.) In that awful hour in
Gethsemane, the Lord implored, "My Father, if it be
possible, let this cup pass from me." But, after all,
as the light of the great redemption work dawned
upon his soul, he went on to say, " Oh, my Father,
Thy will be done" ; and so his prayer was answered
that day.

The widow of a minister, long, long ago, came to
the prophet's house, and wept out her sorrow, saying
"My creditors have come, and they require my
two sons as a pledge, and they are all that I
have. The good man is dead. You knew him —
how he worked for God ; and I am left alone with
my two lads." And the prophet said, "Go back to
thy home. What hast thou ? " "Nothing." "Noth-
ing?" "No; only a pot of oil; that is all that is
left." " Go back to thy house, and take thy two lads,
and make ready the pot of oil ; then go borrow ves-
sels. Borrow of all thy neighbors round about.
Now, borrow vessels not a few, remember ; and then
enter into a room with thy lads, and the pot of oil,
and the vessels, and shut to the door, and pour out."
And she did so, and she filled the first vessel with oil,
and the supply was not gone. " Bring me another
vessel," said she to the lads ; and they brought her
another, and she filled it ; and the oil was not stayed,
yet. Another, and another, vessels not a few ; all the
vessels that were there. "Bring me yet another."
And one of the lads said, " Mother, there is not another
vessel here " ; and the oil stayed.

There is supply under God's bounty forever, if we
will. What limits the supply? Faith. God's re-
sources are infinite. The oil flows on forever, but the

284 I'HE BOUNDLESS PRAYER OE FAITH.

vessels give out. O for faith ! O for a larger faith !
— a faith that shall approach the infinite love of the
infinite God ! — a faith that shall rest absolutely on
his unbounded power, his unbounded goodness, his
unbounded wisdom, and shall believe his Word : "If
ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall
ask what ye wiil, and it shall be done unto you " I

THE EPWORTH SINGER.

" And his songs were a thousand and five."— I. Kings iv. 32.

We hear a great deal from our elders about the
good old times. If you question your grandfather,
he will tell you that we have fallen on evil days ;
that the world is not what it used to be when he was
young ; that the Church is not what it once was,
and that politics is not what it used to be. "We
had Clay and Webster in those days"! If you
question your grandmother, she will tell you that the
prints are not what they were when she was young
and that the carpets will not turn any more, and that
the workingmen these days do not put their
consciences into their work as they did in the good
old days.

" Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind ?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days of auld lang syne " ?

But then, we know we are living in vastly better
times. There is a living God, and every time the
world rolls around His face shines a little more
brightly upon it. There never was a century like
the one we are passing through just now. All things
are better than they used to be. God is " the same,

(»35)

2S6 THE EPWORTH SINGER.

yesterday, to-day, forever"; but everything else in
the universe is better than of old. The Church
is better, politics is better, and light is better ; we
have better food than they used to have, and better
sanitary arrangements ; and the fashions are better
than they used to be. It is a better world to live in.
Praise God for it !

We are going back to-night into the seventeenth
century and the early half of the eighteenth. That
was a period of great spiritual declension. The
Church had just got through fighting for the Refor-
mation, and was resting for a while. It was a
time of great spiritual weakness. The ministers
of those days gave themselves over to the finest
points of casuistry; they discussed sublapsarianism
and supralapsarianism, and they were extremely
scrupulous about nice distinctions in doctrine. But
there was a deplorable condition of immorality among
them ; gambling was very common, profanity not
infrequent. Clerical dishonesty — the dishonesty of
the pulpit — was not at all unusual ; and it was con-
doned, as, blessed be God ! it is not condoned in
these days. The Archbishop of London gave such
balls and festivities in Lambeth Palace that the
king had to interfere, as he said it was a scandal to
his reign.

But the people ? Were they better than the min-
istry ? Do not flatter yourselves — " like priests,
like people," always. The Bible was a closed book.
The mind of the people dwelt upon outward circum-
stance, and rite, and ceremony. And they were spir-
itually ignorant. It is a matter of historic fact that
a man in one of the London churches brought his
minister to task, and had him before one of the eccle-

THE EPWORTH SINGER. 287

siastical courts for profanity, because he said in one
of his sermons, " He that believeth not shall be
damned." It was a time of great moral declension,
and God must interpose somehow.

In 1708 there was born in Epworth parsonage, a
mud cottage with a thatched roof, a child who was
destmed to have a great influence upon his time, —
a weak little one, the son of a minister of the Church
of England who was content on fifty pounds a year.
This was the tenth child of the household. For sev-
eral weeks the infant did not open its eyes, and had
scarcely a perceptible pulse; but the fond mother
held him in her arms, and at last was gratified to see
him look up into her face with a glance of such
gentleness and appeal that she at once opened
her great heart and took him in. A wonderful
woman was this mother of the Wesleys, who said
"O God, I shall be forever happy if with my ten
children I can come up to heaven's gate at last, and
say, ' Here am I, and the children whom thou hast
given me.' "

The boy Charles grew up a long-limbed, awkward,
homely lad, and went trudging afoot to Oxford.
As yet he had made no profession of faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. His brother John was concerned
for him, and often importuned him ; and Charles
would say, " I have no feeling about it, and you
surely wouM not have me be a Christian all at once."
But while he was in the University, he went up
to London and visited for a time in the family of a
Mrs. Turner. Her name is seldom spoken, and what
I am about to relate is all that is known* about
her ; but the dear face of Mrs. Turner shines all
through the inspired hymns of Charles Wesley as we

288 THE EPWORTH SINGER.

sing them to-day; for that night as he slept in her
upper room she heard him groaning under conviction
of sin. The sword of the spirit was dividing asunder
the very joints and marrow of the man, and he cried
out in his anguish, " God be merciful to me, a sinner."
Mrs. Turner at last plucked up courage, went up
the stairs, and spoke to him from outside the door:
" In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up, and
thou shalt be whole." It was a word in due season, and
has been bearing fruit ever since; for the next morn-
ing he arose with the light of God's countenance
shining in his heart. And he sat down then, before
he brake his fast, and wrote :

"Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing
My dear Redeemer's praise;
The glories of my God and King,
The triumphs of His grace.

" He breaks the power of reigning sin,
He sets the prisoners free;
His blood can make the foulest clean,
His blood availed for me."

So he went back to the University. He called
in his brother John, and another of the Oxford
boys, whose name passed into the history of England,
and of our American nation as well — George
Whitefield — and seven others ; and they formed
themselves into a Christian fraternity. It was a time
when the finger of derision was pointed at an earnest
Christian man. That little coterie in Oxford was
dubbed '' The Holy Club," and its members were
called "Bible Moths," bigots, fanatics, and all
that. But thev had the courage of their convic-
tions; and those ten Oxford students, standing up
before the pointed finger and the laughter of their

THE EPWORTH SINGER. 289

fellows, went out to shake that irreligious century
with extraordinary power.

When his University course was over, Charles, who
had made up his mind to enter upon the service of the
Gospel, found himself settled in a colliery town. Hi?
heart went out to the sorrows of those who were in
darkness and the shadow of death. Just as he en-
tered upon his first settlement, he went up to
London to be married. Here is the record as he left
it: " It was a cloudless day. I rose at five in the
morning, and spent three hours in prayer and singing
praises to God. At nine o'clock I led my Sallie to
church, and my bi other John there put our hands to-
gether, and prayed God to come as he came to the
marriage supper at Cana, when he turned the water
into wine. And then we went to our temporary home,
and knelt down together, and gave ourselves anew to
the service of Christ. We spent the day cheerful
without mirth, and serious with sadness."

And then away to their country parsonage. Under
that doorway there passed many a time the shadow
of sorrow and of death, but never was there an hour
when the singer of Epworth could not praise God,
making melody in his heart.

He was out preaching among the colliers once, and
because he declared the whole counsel of God, they
received his sermon with an ill grace. After a
while they gathered up stones and drove him away,
and followed him up, until, poor man ! he found
shelter in a cottage by the roadside. There, with
the blood streaming from his wounds, he wrote :

'* Worship and thanks and blessing
And strength be unto Jesus;
For He alone defends His own,
When earth and hell oppress us.

290 THE EPWORTH SINGER.

Accepting our deliverance,

We triumph in His favor;
And for His love, which here we prove,

We give Him thanks forever."

On another occasion he was preaching to a great
multitude of the common people out in the open
fields, as his custom was, when the earth began to
tremble and shake. It was the Lisbon earthquake;
but these humble, ignorant and superstitious people
supposed it was the end of the world. Wesley at
once changed his theme, and preached on this text :
''God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in
trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the
earth be removed, and though the mountains be
carried into the midst of the sea." It was down on the
seashore; the hills w^ere vibrating all around him, and
out yonder a tidal wave was coming in, rolling and
tossing its masses of foam. In the midst of his
sermon he exclaimed :

" Earth unhinged, as from her basis,

Ov/ns her Great Restorer nigh.
Plunged in complicate distresses,

Poor distracted sinners lie.
Men, their instant doom deploring.

Faint beneath their fearful load.
Ocean working, rising, roaring,

Claps his hands to meet his God!"

That is the way Charles Wesley was accustomed
to break out into sacred song. He was preaching in
a stone quarry, and all around him the men were
using their hammers upon the cliff. Now and then
ihey paused and looked over to him. O, if they would
only listen to him as he spoke to them about our

THE EPWORTH SINGER. 29T

Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ ! But he met no re-
sponse, and at last cried out :

" Come, O Thou all victoriobs Lord,
Thy power to us make known:
Strike with the hammer of Thy Word,
And break these hearts of stone!"

Once he was at Land's End, away out at the
further edge of the British Island, with Bristol Chan-
nel on one hand, and the Atlantic Ocean stretching
before him. He seemed to be standing between two
eternities, and there, all alone, he sang to himself:

" Lo, on a narrow neck of land,
'Twixt two unbounded seas I stand,

Yet how insensible !
A point of time — a moment's space —
Removes me to yon heavenly place,
Or shuts me up in hell !

*' O God, my inmost soul convert;
And deeply on my thoughtless heart

Eternal truth impress.
Teach me to know its awful weight,
And feel its import ere too late;

Wake me to righteousness."

I suppose the romance of his life attaches more to
the hymn known as "Wrestling Jacob " than to any
other. He was at Kingswood when he wrote it. All
night he had wrestled alone in prayer, for he knew
what it is to be trusting and importunate both.
Then he wrote that strange hymn:

" Come, O Thou Traveller unknown,
Whom still I hold, but cannot see;
My company before is gone,

And I am left aloi:e with Thee;
With Thee all night I mean to stay,
And wrestle till the break of day."

292 THE EPWORTH SINGER.

But, after all, the hymn that has come to the very
center of the Christian heart of the world is one
that he wrote when a bird came fluttering into his
window one day, pursued by a hawk :

" Jesus, lover of my soul,

Let me to Thy bosom fly,
While the nearer waters roll,

While the tempest still is high:
Hide me, O my Saviour, hide,

Till the storm of life be past;
Safe into the haven guide;

O receive my soul at last."

Henry Ward Beecher said, " I would rather have
written that hymn than to have all the crowns of all
the sovereigns that have reigned upon the earth, and
all the wealth of all the millionaires that ever were
rich among us."

Thus he lived, preaching among the humble
people and writing his hymns, till he was burdened
with his years — for his life-time covered almost a
century — and in 1788 he lay down to die. But even
in death, the ruling passion still strong, he murmured
at the last :

*' O, could I catch one smile from Thee,
And sink into eternity."

That is the way he died. They held the service in
the village church, and John Wesley, his elder brother
who was now very decrepit with age, came to take
part in the funeral service. The Scripture was read
the funeral discourse was preached, and John rose to
give out "Wrestling Jacob." All went well until he
came to the place where it is written.

THE EPWORTH SINGER. 293

" My company before is gone,
And I am left alone with Thee " ;

and thereat he fell to sobbing, and sat down, and all
the congregation was given to tears and silence.
After a while they arose, and began to sing, and the
chronicler says he never heard such singing as he
heard that day :

*' I know Thee, Saviour, who Thou art —

Jesus, the sinner's only friend ;
Nor wilt Thou with the night depart,

But stay and help me to the end.
Thy mercies never shall remove ;

Thy nature and Thv name is Love."

They laid him away in old Marylebone churchyard,
and there you may see his gravestone now, and read
upon it the epitaph which he himself wrote :

" A sinner saved, by grace forgiven,

Redeemed on earth, to reign in heaven."

Is it not worth while to spend a little season on a
Sabbath evening in thinking upon the work of a sweet
singer like Charles Wesley ? Is there anything for us
to take away with us ? Yes, the lesson of the one
talent. He could not preach like John Wesley. It
was his older brother who laid the foundations of the
great Methodist Church, God bless it ! And Charles
was never such a preacher as he ; but O, he could
sing !

*' Take my voice and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee."

There is some one here who has only one talent ;
who can preach, who can sing. It maybe some dear
old father or mother in Israel whom age has almost

294 THE EPWORTH SINGER.

blinded ; you may be shut in from the world, and
seemingly laid aside from usefulness ; but there is
one talent left to be used for God. O, do not wrap
it in a napkin, and bury it in the earth ! Use it !
Sing for God ! Pray for God ! Toil for God !
*' What hast thou in thy hand, Shamgar " ? " An ox-
goad." " Go, scourge the Canaanites with it " !
"What hast thou in thy hand, David " ? "A harp."
" Go, sing and play upon it to the glory of God " !
" What hast thou in thy hand " ? A needle ? A
broom ?

*' Who sweeps a room as to God's laws,
Makes that and th' action fine."

Anything else for us ? Yes, a lesson in enthusiasm,
that is the secret of the magnificent success which
has attended the hundred year history of the Methodist
Church. That is the secret of the power of the Sal-
vation Army. And God grant that it may be the
secret of the future power of the Volunteers ! Blood
and fire ! The blood of Jesus Christ ! The fire of
the Holy Ghost ! The blood bathing the heart, and
the fire quickening and energizing it ! We can be
enthusiastic for anything else but our religion. O
that there were more Holy Clubs in our colleges ! O
that there were more of us ministers who dared, like
Charles Wesley and his brother John, to stand up
and declare the whole counsel of God ! O for more
of holy enthusiasm to set our lives on fire for the
glory of God !

A#ything else for us ? Yes, a lesson on the power
of sacred song. Let us sing and make melody in our
hearts, in these sweet hymns that Wesley and the
other singers have left us. Ours is the religion of

THE EPWORTH SINGER. 295

song. There is no place on earth for a melancholy
Christian. I know your sorrow. I know there is dis-
appointment in your heart. But then, "all things
work together for good to them that love God." You
are redeemed. "There is no condemnation to them
that are in Christ Jesus." You have the privilege of
service. Can you not go singing with your sickle in
hand ? All heaven is opened before you, and the an-
gels are singing there, and you are presently to join
them. Is there a man here, is there a woman here,
who does not know what the gladness of Christian
living is ? Come and fall in with us as we go singing
on our journey towards h^^aven's gate. "He giveth
songs in the night"; songs in the night of sorrow, of
pain, of ignorance, and of forgiven sin. "He giveth
songs in the night," like those with which Paul and
Silas shook the arches of the Philipp.ian prison, when,
it is said, the prisoners heard them. Blessed be God
for a religion of song! Come with us! Believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ! Take at his hands the
glory of redemption! Receive at his hands the com-
mission for service! Take from his lips the hope
of the everlasting life! And go on singing with us
toward heaven's gate. All these dark days will pres-
ently be over: the days of pain, of sorrow, of weeping,
for "he shall wipe away the tears from off all faces ";
the days of faith, for faith shall be lost in sight, and
hope in fruition; the days of prayer, for in him we
shall be filled there. But, as has been written,

" Our days of praise shall ne'er he past,
While life, or thought, or being last,
Or immortality endures."

Come, with us, as we journey singing with the

296 THE EPWORTH SINGER.

multitude of the redeemed, who shall, after a while,
**come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon
their heads "; to fall in with that other multitude,
who are singing now:

"Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive
honor, and glory, and power, and dominion, forever
and ever, Amen."

THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER.

" Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines." — Song of Solomon
ii. I.

The prevalent, growing, ominous sin of our time
is Sabbath desecration. As a rule, Christian people
mean to do right in this matter as in other things,
but, for want of reflection, they oftentimes lend their
influence the wrong way.

The head and front of the offending, is the Sun-
day newspaper. It is said that when burglars go
prowling about at night they take with them a clever
boy to climb over the transoms and open the door.
The Sunday newspaper is the tuppenny door-opener
for the larger forms of Sabbath desecration. Be-
cause I thus believe, I have seven or eight things
to say about it.

I. The Sunday newspaper is unnecessary ; and, if
unnecessary, it ought not to be. It originated in the
time of our civil war. Previously there were only
two papers in the world that printed Sunday editions,
the New York Herald and the Alta Callforfiia. It
was not strange that when our fathers and brothers
were at the front and battles were being fought, we
crowded about the telegraph offices and eagerly
scanned the bulletins.

Then when " extras " were issued on the Sabbath,
(297)

2yS THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER.

as on other days, giving the heart-breaking lists of
dead and wounded, we felt justified in getting them.
Thus the wedge was entered by considerations of both
mercy and necessity. But not by the wildest stretch
of the imagination can the Sunday newspaper be
regarded as a work of either necessity or mercy in
these piping times of peace.

2. \t IS unlawful. In many of our commonwealths
it is under a legal ban. In New York, however, the
laws have been so adjusted as to allow it. But, inas-
much as the Supreme Court has repeatedly decided
that the moral law is an organic part of our national
Constitution, it may be affirmed without hesitation
that this, as well as other forms of Sabbath desecra-
tion, is a distinct violation of the fundamental prin-
ciples of the republic. The ''sign" of God's cov-
enant with Israel was the Sabbath. As a Christian
nation we also are in covenant with God and cannot
with impunity disregard his law.

3. The Sunday newspaper is disreputable. It is
wont to present its own claims as " a great educator."
This is amusing. If the claim were true it would
still not excuse the offense. Our public schools
are generally thought to be educational ; but that
does not constitute an argument for opening them on
Sunday. These newspapers, however, are not an
educating influence. Let me read a tabulated state-
ment of the contents of a recent Sunday issue of sev-
eral leading newspapers — the New York Tribune,
Times^ Herald, Sun, Press^ World, Journal and News :

Murders and Assaults 12 columns.

Adulteries 7 "

Thefts, etc 24 "

Total of crime 43 '*

THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER. 299

Sporting 81 columns.

Theatrical 44 "

Gossip and Fashion 77 "

Sensational 42 "

Fiction 99 "

Unclean Personals 8 "

Total of gossip (mostly disreputable). 351 "

Foreign News 47 "

Political News 113 '•

Other Miscellaneous News 92 '*

Editorial 39 "

Specials 199 "

Art and Literature 24 *'

Religious 3|^ '*

Total (chiefly) news and politics. 5174 "

Grand total 911^ "

The amount of religion in a Sunday newspaper is
like Gratiano's " Two grains of w^heat hid' in two
bushels of chaff ; you shall seek all day ere you find
them, and when you have them they are not worth
the search."

But to be more specific, here is a brief summary of
the headlines in one of these Sunday papers :

Gossip of Court. — An Alleged Dramatic Shark. —
Embezzlement. — A Sudden Death. — The Buzzard
Gang. — A Tennessee Man in the Toils. — A Woman
Burned to Death. — Vagrants. — Smuggled Goods. —
A Bogus Divorce Suit. — An Eloping Husband. — A
Mock Marriage Scandal. — A Chained and Beaten
Wife. — Bride Arrested. — Defalcation. — Forgery. — A
Stockholder Disappears. — Small-pox in Brooklyn. —
Convicted of Assaulting Miss Emerson. — Mine Ex-
plosion. — Murder. — Cattle Plague. — Strangled His
Wife.— Shot His Brother.— Robbed.— Killed.— Cuban

300 THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER.

Bandits. — Deadly, Canned Fruit. — Trapeze Perform-
er's Fall. — Abhorrent Scenes in a Tropical Cemetery. —
Failures. — Deadly Oleomargarine. — Gone Down at
Sea. — Pacific Express Robbery. — Three Wives Living.
— Suicide. — Violently Insane. — Murder Trial. — Dyna-
miters. — Rowdies. — He Pulled a Revolver and Threat-
ened to Shoot Her If She Did Not Marry Him.—
Desperate Murderer Arrested. — Witness Saw Clara
and Traphagen in a Compromising Position. — Gossip
for Ladies at the Sunday Breakfast Table. — Snubbed.
— Disgrace. — An Illegitimate Child. — A Glove Fight.
— Elegant Baltimore Girl for a Mistress. — Defaulting
Teller. — Good Gracious ! — Too Thin ! — Blew Out His
Brains With a Pistol. — The Waistless Dress. — The
Bite of an Epileptic. — Brooklyn Tax Dodgers.

I say, therefore, the Sunday paper is disreputable.
I have been told by a leading editor that it is the
custom to set apart during the week all the salacious
items for enlargement in the Sunday edition. It is
the common sewer of all our social life, the cesspool
of all shames and scandals and unmentionable things.

4. It robs an army of employes of their needed
rest. It is estimated that since the introduction of
the Sunday newspaper not less than 150,000 composi-
tors and pressmen and others are kept at work seven
days in the week, 365 days in the year. A reporter
was asked, not long since, " Do you have one-seventh
of your time for rest ? " " No," said he, " nor one-
seventy-seventh. We have no time, regularly given,
that we can call our own."

It is sometimes said that it is the Monday paper
that makes the Sunday work. That is a miserable
evasion. If there were no Sunday issue, the prepara-
tion of the Monday number, excepting the telegraphic

THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER. 30I

items, would fall on Saturday, and its publication on
Monday morning.

Nor must it be overlooked that hundreds and
thousands of newsboys are calling their wares on
Sunday in our streets. That is their business now:
and they are getting their business education for the
future. To whistle up a boy and buy a newspaper
for a nickel seems a matter of slight consequence.
But follow it out. A Christian man in the real estate
business would not think for a moment of selling a
corner lot on the Lord's day. But to the newsboy the
sale of his paper is relatively a matter of equal con-
sequence ; and as co-partners in the transaction, we
are doing our part to train him for larger methods of
Sabbath breaking in after life.

5. It invades the Sabbath rest of a great multitude
of business men. As a people we are desperately
absorbed in money-getting. Our national malady is
" nervous debility." Our vital forces are under con-
stant strain. A man with his brain in a whirl, his
nerves twitching, his temper in a fever, his sleep dis-
turbed, goes to a physician for relief. A sea voyage
is prescribed. Why ? Not because of any remedial
virtue in sea air; but, once on the ocean, the world is
shut out. The buzz of the stock ticker is unheard.
Wars and revolutions may occur, but they are nothing
to him. The " news " no longer frets him. If he
could know what was going on in the busy world he
would be as eager and perturbed as ever ; but out
yonder, with the infinite skies above and the bound-
less deep below, he has nothing to do but rest.
That is precisely what God meant the Sabbath to be,
an ocean voyage for the soul, a season of rest be-
tween two continents of secular toil and pleasure.

302 THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER.

We have, therefore, no right to drag the world into
our lives, as we do by means of the newspaper, on this
divine day.

6. It breaks up the home life. Time was when in
Christian families the members gathered at the
family altar to worship ; and after that came the
reading of good books and the religious press. There
was room in those days for missionary magazines ;
children found time to read their Sunday-school
books. But how is it now ? The head of the family
reads his Sunday paper, and the boys and girls are
waiting covetously for him to get through with it.
God and heaven are crowded out. The fable of the
Arab has come true. The thrusting in of the camel's
nose has been followed by the thrusting out of the
owner from the tent. The Sunday newspaper is re-
sponsible for the downfall of many a family altar and
the breaking up of the sanctity of many a Christian
home.

7. It unfits for the sanctuary. It is difficult to see
how a man can come from the perusal of the Sunday
newspaper to sing, without hypocrisy —

This is the day the Lord hath made,

He calls the hours His own ;
Let heaven rejoice, let earth be glad,

And praise surround the throne.

Or how he can repeat the Lord's prayer : " Thy
kingdom come ; thy will be done on earth as it is in
heaven ; lead us not into temptation, but deliver us
from evil," while his mind is full of the abominations
of his *' blanket sheet ? "

One day in seven is not too much for an immortal
man to set apart for sacred rest and meditation. If

THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER. 303

there is a God who hates sin ; if there is a hereafter,
and this life is preparatory for it, we need that por-
tion of time for setting ourselves right with Heaven.
If the adversary is ever tugging at our souls and
craftily scheming to trip us up, then I submit it was
a gracious act of God to set apart one day in seven,
wherein we might climb to the mountain-top and
think about eternal truths, breathe the pure air and
be alone a little while with him. But if a man has
no Sabbaths, if he allows the world to confiscate them,
he must expect his spiritual nature to be dwarfed and
shrivelled. His soul in its prison will cry in vain,
like Sterne's starling, " I can't get out ! I can't get
out!"

8. It ejifeebles the conscience. This is not a little
sin, for it leads on to endless issues. Time was
when a man closed his shop on Saturday night,
stopped his business and went home. How is it now
after twenty-five years of the Sunday newspaper?
He closes his shop on Saturday night and puts an
advertisement in the Sunday newspaper. He flatters
himself that he is resting from toil. O no ! He is
doing a booming business all through the holy day.
Half a million heralds are going up and down the
streets, telling in flaming headlines what bargains
he has to offer on the morrow. His business goes
right on.

The conscience of Christian people generally has
been enfeebled and debauched in this way. I can re-
mciiiber when there was entire unanimity among
Christians as to Sabbath desecration of every sort ;
but we have grown accustomed to it.

" Vice is a monster of so frightful mien
As to be hated needs but to be seen."

304 THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER.

That was the way we looked at it twenty five years
ago.

" Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace."

That is the condition of things to-day. We think
we are growing liberal. We are simply getting loose.
We are afraid of being called precisions and Puritans.
But better be precisions than Parisians in this matter;
far better be Puritans than profligates.

They tell us the Sunday newspaper has come to
stay. Suppose it has. That is no reason why it
should stay in our homes or in our hands. Sin has
come to stay ; so have yellow fever and cholera ; but
that is no reason why you should contract or foster
them. In God's good time he will wipe them all out
of existence as a maid shakes a napkin or wipes a
platter clean. Meanwhile it is for us to be true to
our consciences.

I have tried to reason with you as thoughtful
men ; I have tried to show the evil and why you
should put it from you. Of one thing be assured, we
cannot live without Sabbath rest. The promise of
Isaiah is as true to-day as when it was first spoken :
(Is. Iviii. 13) "If thou turn away thy foot from the
Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day ;
and call the Sabbath a delight, holy of the Lord,
honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own
ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking
thine own words : then shalt thou delight thyself in
the Lord ; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high
places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of
Jacob thy father ; for the mouth of the Lord hath
spoken it."

"THE FIRST AND GREAT COMMAND-
MENT."

"And Jesus said unto him, Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and
great commandment.^'— Matt. xxii. 37, 38.

It was Tuesday of Passion Week, " The Day of
Temptations." The enemies of Jesus had compassed
him about in a strenuous effort to ensnare him. The
Pharisees first approached him with the question as
to the payment of the capitation tax. " Is it lawful
to pay tribute to Caesar or not ? " Here was a dilemma;
to answer " Yes " would be to alienate his own coun-
trymen ; to answer " No " would be to antagonize the
Herodians or Romanizing party. " Show me a penny,"
said he. On one side were the haughty features of
Tiberius, on the other the inscription^ Fontif ex Maxi-
mus. How it galled them ! " Whose image and
superscription is this ? " " Caesar's." " Render unto
Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the
things that are God's." And they went their way.
Then came the Sadducees with an old, stale bit of
casuistry. They were great quibblers. There was
no room in their philosophy for the supernatural or
the future life. This Jesus believed in the resurrec-
tion ; they would make a reductio ad absurduin of his
doctrine. So they propose the question of the "seven-

(305)

3o6 "the first and great COxMMANDMENT."

fold widow ; " to-wit, A woman, according to the
Levitical law, had seven brothers as husbands, one
after the other, and successively they died ; then she
died also ; "Good Rabbi, in the resurrection whose
wife shall she be ? " It was a clever question, but he
was equal to it. " Ye do err, not knowing the Scrip-
tures or the power of God." What ? This to the
Sadducees ? Not know the Scriptures ? Not know
the power of God ? Nay, further still, they were not
acquainted with the simplest of the great verities that
underlie the spiritual life ; that is, flesh and blood
cannot inherit the kingdom. Everyone to his proper
conditions. " In heaven they neither marry nor are
given in marriage (in the low, base sense in which the
Sadducees understood it), but are as the angels of
God." And they went their way.

A scribe next approached him, a professor of
Biblical theology. The school to which he belonged
was devoted to the analysis and exposition of the
Mosaic Law. They counted and weighed its precepts,
and carefully estimated their relative value. They
said there were two hundred and forty-eight affirma-
tive precepts, corresponding to the members of the
body ; three hundred and sixty-five negative precepts,
corresponding to the veins and arteries ; making a
total of six hundred and thirteen, just the number of
Hebrew letters in the Decalogue. Some of these
were called Kol^ or light ; and others Kobeb^ or heavy.
The least of the commandments, by common consent,
was that which had reference to the robbing of a
bird's nest. But the important question was. Which
is the greatest ? Was it the injunction with respect
to the breadth of fringes or phylacteries, or the pre
script as to oblations or sacrifices? No point in

"the first and great commandment." 307

Rabbinical controversy was regarded as more mo-
mentous than this. It was a catch question. "Good
Rabbi, which is the greatest commandment?" And
Jesus pointed to the Tephillijn^ the frontlet between
his eyes, on which was written, " Hear, O Israel, the
Lord our God is one Lord," and asked, " What readest
thou ? ' Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind
and with all thy strength.' This is the first and great
commandment. And," he continued, " the second
is like unto it, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy-
self.'"

The Law was inscribed in two tables. The first
has reference to our relations with God, and the
second to our relations with our fellow-men. We
have to do now with our Lord's compendium of the
first table of the Law. The second can wait.

The beginning of religion is love to God. Here
is a moralist who says, " I keep the Law. Thou
shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not
commit adultery, thou shalt not lie. What more
can God ask of me ? " Here is a ceremonialist who says,
"I worship in the beauty of holiness. I pay tithes,
swing the censer and make my stated prayers. What
more can be required of me?" Here is a humani-
tarian who says, " I try to deal kindly with all. My
saint is Abu Ben Adhem. I do good as I have op-
portunity unto all men. Will the Lord deal hardly
with one who lives in that way ? "

The fact is, however, that these outward displays
of goodness are the mere empty shell of religion, no
more in themselves than sounding brass or a tinkling
cymbal. They bear the same relation to manifesta-
tions of true piety that the flowers on a bonnet do to

3o8 "the I'lKsr and great commandment."

the sweet peas and morning glories in a cottage garden
with the early dew glistening upon them. Lite, life
is what they lack. The buds, blossoms and fruit will
take care of themselves if our religion has a living
root ; and the root of religion is love to God.

I. But why should we love God? Because he is essen-
tially worthy of our love, the One altogether lovely:
and because he is the source and centre and ultima-
tum of our life ; our chief end being to glorify him.
It is proof of our depravity that the question should
arise, *' Why should I love God ? " The withholding
of our hearts from him who created and sustained us
is the very essence of sin. " Hear, O heavens, and
give ear O earth ; for the Lord hath spoken : ' I
have nourished and brought up children, and they
have rebelled against me : the ox knoweth his owner,
and the ass his master's crib : but Israel doth not
know, my people doth not consider. Ah, sinful
nation, a people laden with iniquity ; they have for-
saken me ! ' "

*' Ah ! mi>ie iniquity
Crimson hath been.
Infinite \ Infinite !

Sin upon sin,
Sin of not knowing Him,
Sin of not loving Him,
Infinite sin ! "

II. But how can we love God? " Our affections are
not under our control." Yes, but they are. The
reason why we do not love God is because we are not
acquainted with him , and we are not acquainted
with him because we choose not to commune with
him. We think of him as an ethereal being with
whom we have little or naught to do. He is law,

"the first and great COiMMANDMENT. 309

force, energy ; a something not ourselves that work-
eth for righteousness ; anything but a living, per-
sonal God. It is not possible under such conditions
to be warmly or devotedly attached to him. The
skipper of the Mary Jane will tell you that he loves
his sloop ; every spar and rope, every curve and
angle, from keel to top-mast. But there is another
Mary Jane down Cape Cod way whom he loves in-
finitely better and in a very different way — a tidy
little woman with a babe in her arms, standing in the
doorway looking out over the sea and thinking of
her good man. We may admire an inanimate thing
of beauty, but our affection goes out toward kindling
eyes and throbbing heart and kindly hand. " As the
hart panteth after the waterbrooks so panteth my
soul after thee, O God. When shall I come and ap-
pear before the living God ! "

If you would become acquainted with him, enter
into the closet and shut to the door. **The world is
too much with us." We have no time to confront the
sublime truths of eternal life. We have little dis-
position to be alone with God. Love is like the
edelweiss, which does not grow in a cottage, but on
the inaccessible cliffs. Lay down your alpenstock,
O weary traveller, and rest awhile ; here at your
feet is the fairest flower that blooms. Alas for us, if
we neglect the trysting-place !

Go to the Oracles also if you would find him.
Thank God for the Bible. What is it but a love-letter
sent out by the King after his wandering ones ? Here
is a setting of his character in all its glorious at-
tributes. Here are songs and precepts and prophe-
cies and chronicles ; but all of them centre in the
glorious truth, God is love. The face of the kind

3IO "the first and great commandment.'

Father looks out from all its pages. Here are ex-
ceeding great and precious promises. Here are words
of wooing and persuasion. The youth who went
across the mountains into the far country and wasted
his substance in riotous living, may perhaps have
kept in a fold of his tattered cloak a letter from his
father ; but little heart had he to read it. But when
he sat alone in the swine-field, he opened the worn
parchment and read ; every line seemed vibrant with
love. What could he say, but — " I will arise and go '7

But if you would know God in the very fulness of
his love, you must find him at Calvary. I come there
a seeking sinner in the dark night ; peace gone,
hope abandoned, bewildered, lost, lying prone upon
the verge of a bottomless abyss. I hear the sound of
a breaking heart, and, looking up, see yonder the in-
carnation of God's love against the midnight sky — a
seeking God. He has come out upon the dark moun-
tains after me. The night has gathered about him.
All the thunders of death and judgment are roaring
and bellowing ; all the lightnings of hell are flashing
luridly over him. I reach up my trembling, helpless
hand ; a pierced hand is reached down, and the two
are clasped. This is the gracious at-one-ment. The
seeking sinner finds the seeking God ! Then the open
heavens, the day-break, light and glory forever; " Son,
thy sins be forgiven thee."

The secret of love toward God is in apprehending

his love toward us. We love him because he first

loved us. The secret is revealed beneath the cross.

God so loved the world — God so loved me.

" Shall I not love thee, Father mine?
Shall I not love thee well?
Not with the hope of winning heaven,
Nor of escaping hell,

"the first and great commandment." 311

Not for the sake of gaining aught,

Or earning a reward ;
But freely, fully as thyself

Hast loved me, O Lord."

III. What then ? The beginning of love is in the ac-
ceptance of God as he has manifested himself in Christ.
As it is written, " He that hath not the Son, hath not
the Father." It is preposterous to claim loyalty to
the King while rejecting his overtures through his
well-beloved Son who is heir apparent to the throne.
But having accepted him, what then? What is
the sequel of love ? Confession to begin with. It
is a true saying, "They do not love who do not show
their love." The Scripture speaketh on this wise :
'* Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven
to bring Christ down? Or, Who shall descend into
the deep to bring him up again from the dead ? But
what saith it ? The word is nigh thee, even in thy
mouth and heart ; that is, the word of faith — to-wit :
* If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised
him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.' For with
the heart man believeth unto righteousness ; and
with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

Then obedience, obedience, implicit, unmurmur-
ing and exact. " Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it."
The obedience of love is not like that of servility.
When Humboldt was botanizing in Central America
he found it impossible to persuade his men to work
as they were entering the jungle ; they groaned under
the burden of a basket of moss. But on their return,
when their faces were set homeward, they would
carry their canoes without a murmur all day long,
singing by the way. Oh, how light is the labor of

312 *' THE FIRST AND GREAT COMMANDMENT.

love! "And hereby we know that we know him, if
we keep his commandments." "Ye are my friends if
ye do whatsoever I command you."

Then holiness, or godliness ; that is, God-likeness ;
the building up of character in the imitation of Christ.
Be ye holy; "coy and tender to offend." In our
moments of affectionate transport, we envy the priv-
ilege of Mary who poured the spikenard on the
Master's feet. But to live a pure and holy life, to
exemplify the Christian graces in our walk and con-
versation is better than spikenard, better than the fat
of fed beasts, better than any offering that a soul can
lay before the feet of God.

Finally, How shall we discover whether or no we love
God?

" 'Tis a point I long to know,

Oft it causes anxious thought:
Do I love my Lord or no ?
Am I his, or am I not?"

But why shall we sit moping and mourning? and
why shall we question about it ? Let us find out.
Let us seek God face to face and set things right.
Let us take the steps prerequisite to knowing and
loving him. It is safe to say that none of us loves as
much as he ought to ; but the desire, the aspiration,
is a sure token that our hearts are inclining toward
him. So far so good. Let us live up to the slight
measure of our love and move on. He is not an ex-
acting God. He remembers that we are dust. He
knows the trials and allurements that surround us.

I came upon the legend of an Arab, who, perish-
ing in the desert, found a spring gushing from the
sand. He drank and praised God. " There never
was such water," he cried. " I will fill my leathern

" T^E FIRST AND GREAT COMMANDMENT. * S^2

bottle and carry it to the king." He came at length,
dusty and weary, to the royal city, presented himself
in the audience room, rose from his knees and held
out the water bottle. The king drank and thanked
him in most gracious terms. The courtiers crowded
about and begged for a draught, but in vain. When
the Arab was gone, the king said, " The water was
warm and insipid ; but I knew the love in the travel-
ler's heart and I saw the affectionate glow in his eyes
and was grateful for it." So, good friends, there is
nothing in the universe so grateful to our Father as
the tribute of our poor love. Kings may lay their
crowns before him, angels surround him with their
anthems ; but there is nothing more pleasing to him
than the libations of our hearts. Love is the sub-
limest thing on earth, the divinest thing in heaven.
Love is the highest attainment of human nature, the
nearest approach to divinity ; for God himself is love,
and love is the fulfilling of the law.

"AND THE SECOND IS LIKE UNTO IT."

"And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."—
Matt. xxii. 39.

The lawyer in this case got more than he bar-
gained for. His purpose was to trip Jesus with the
catch question, " Which is the great commandment ?"
The answer came without a moment's hesitation and
with an emphasis and solemnity that must have made
a profound impression, '* Thou shalt love the Lord
thy God with all thy heart and soul and mind, this is
the first and great commandment." But then the
Lord proceeded, "And the second is like unto it,
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." The lawyer
should have been familiar with the former ; for was
it not written in the law, " Hear, O Israel, the Lord
thy God is one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord
thy God with all thy heart and soul and mind?"
But this other, in the form in which it was given, was
distinctly a new commandment. It was elsewhere so
characterized, as when Jesus said " A new command-
ment give I unto you, that ye love one another."
And also, " Ye have heard that it hath been said,
Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy.
But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them
that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and
pray for them which despitefully use you and perse-
cute you."

(3t4)

''AND THE SECOND IS LIKE UNTO IT." 315

This was putting the law upon a new basis. The
Ten Commandments had been regarded as ten lofty-
peaks of justice, marked, like Sinai itself, by stupen-
dous tokens of the divine Majesty ; the lowering
clouds, blackness, darkness, tempest, fateful light-
nings with which the mountain seemed on fire, and the
voice of the trumpet waxing louder and louder. But
they are here given to understand that these moun-
tains were cast up by the central fires of love. Law
and love are made identical. Law proceeds from
love, accomplishes its purposes and terminates in it.
The sum and substance of the first table is love
toward God ; of the second table, love toward men.

The purpose of law is to prepare the way for the
reign of love ; and ultimately law will resolve itself
into love and love into law. The sole remnant of the
magnificence of a mediaeval abbey is in granite walls
and oaken beams. There were silken tapestries,
once, and beautiful frescoes, and vessels of gold and
silver ; but only the granite and oak have resisted
"the tooth of time and rasure of oblivion." Thus
with the passing of the present order all will crumble
save Law and Love. One is granite, the other oak ;
and both are destined to abide forever.

There are difficulties attending a clear under-
standing of this commandment, "Thou shalt love
thy neighbor as thyself." They will all be made to
disappear, however, by a right use of the three key-
words, "Like," "As," and "Neighbor."

L Like; "The second is like unto it." Wherein
can this commandment be said to be like that, "Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God ? "

First — In that it proceeds from it. There is no
true philanthropy which does not find its fountain in

3l6 •* AND THE SECOND IS LIRE UNTO IT."

piety. There is indeed a tenderness of heart in less
or greater measure among all men, but it is an open
question how much of moral worth there is in a mere
natural affection. Sir Walter Scott was so tender-
hearted that, having broken a dog's leg by an inad-
vertent blow, he never ceased to feel remorse for it.
Some persons can look dry-eyed on scenes of suffer-
ing that move others to ready tears. True humanity,
however, is founded not upon mere sentiment, but
upon principle. It proceeds from a recognition of
the divine nature in every man and of the divine love
toward all. A child stood at the window of a baker's
shop, looking in with hungry eyes. A lady passing
by took compassion on her. The little one received
the purchased dainties without a word, until at part-
ing she quaintly and pathetically said, '' Be you God's
wife?" There was profound philosophy at the bot-
tom of that. All true kindness proceeds from the best
and noblest — yes, from God within us.

And second — Because a true manifestation of
philanthropy is the proof of love toward God. So it
is written, "If a man say, I love God, and hate his
neighbor, the truth is not in him." This was why
Jesus denounced the Pharisees. They professed a
deep piety, which they attested by tithes and frequent
fasts, long prayers and broad phylacteries. " God is
our Father," they said ; but the Lord's reply was,
" Nay ; yonder is a widow whom ye have dispos-
sessed ; yonder is a man impoverished by your usury ;
your hands are red with blood ! " He who wilfully
and deliberately wrongs his neighbor can by no means
be regarded as a friend of God.

II. As; "Thou shalt love thy neighbor ^.y thyself."
By this he intended to say, not that the mete or

"and the second is like unto it." 3'7

standard of love to one's neighbor is the selfishness
which prevails among many, but the true self-love
which should rule among all.

There is a self-love or egotism which is self-ruinous
and destructive. It is said of Narcissus that, as he
beheld himself in the fountain, he was so overcome by
his own beauty that he died in a rapture of self-ad-
miration. This is indeed the commonest form of
suicide. Men devote themselves to wealth, pleasure
and honor for the mere getting and keeping and
using on self ; this is misef-love, gourmand-love,
Napoleonic self-love. '' Let no man think of himself
more highly than he ought to think." Let no man
live as if he were the only soul worthy of considera-
tion. A man living in this manner could by no pos-
sibility love his neighbor as he loves himself.

But there is another form of self-love which is
right and dutiful ; a true egotism which puts a right
estimate on the importance of self. An old weaver
in England used to make this prayer each morning,
" Lord, teach me to respect myself." This was a
right prayer. I am a man made in God's likeness
and after his image ; it is my duty to make the most
of myself, not for self's sake alone, but for the sake
of others and the glory of God. It is my duty to
realize the vast possibilities of my life and the destiny
which is divinely intended for me.

An oriental legend tells of a man who had stored
away a vast quantity of wheat in expectation of famine.
In the time of necessity the people besought him in
vain ; he would reserve his store for a higher price.
Multitudes died in the streets and scill his granaries
were locked. At length the exigency was so great that
the people were ready to pay whatever he might ask.

3i8

AND THE SECOND IS LIKE UNTO IT.

He opened his granaries and went in; there was
nothing there but dust and crawling worms. He had
overreached himself. This is the way of the selfish
world. It is indeed the duty of every man to increase
his stores, to fill his granaries, but only that he may
disburse his wealth and distribute his possessions to
the needy children of men.

HI. Neighbor. Nach bauer; that is, near-dweller.
This word, however, does not properly characterize
the thought in the Saviour's mind. The neighbor to
whom he referred was distinctly not the near-dweller.
For indeed vicinage has little or nothing to do with
the real claims of humanity. This is a pagan concep-
tion. In the philosophy of Hierocles the relative
claims of others upon a man's regard were indicated
in concentric circles. The nearest circle enclosed the
man himself, the next his household, the next his
townsmen, the next his fellow-citizens, and the great
multitude lay wholly without these circumscriptions
of love. The Romans had only one word, hostis^ by
which to characterize a stranger and an enemy. To
the Greeks, all but themselves were barbarians. A
shipwrecked sailor on the coast of Britain was doomed
without ceremony to the altar. Thus to the non-
Christian thought of the world, the only neighbor was
the near-dweller: the man who lived next door. There
are persons in Christian communities who cherish the
same idea, but it is distinctly at odds with the Chris-
tian view.

We are left in no uncertainty as to Christ's opinion
at this point. A lawyer came to him on a certain
occasion, asking, "Master, what shall I do to inherit
eternal life?" He answered, "Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart and soul and mind

"and the second is like unto it 319

and strength, and thy neighbor as thyself.' There-
upon the lawyer, feeling some qualms of conscience
and desiring to justify himself, asked, "But who is
my neighbor?" And Jesus said. ^^ A certain 7fiamaent
doivn from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves^
who stripped him of his raiment^ and wounded him^ and
departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there
came down a certain priest that way, and when he saw him
he passed by on the other side; and likewise a Levite came
and looked on him and passed by on the other side. But a
certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was;
and when he saw him he had compassion on him, and he
boufid up his wounds., and took care of him. Which now
of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbor to him that
fell among the thieves ? " Observe, he does not directly
answer the lawyer's question, "Who is my neighbor?"
but tells him rather how he should be neighbor to
every man: for when the lawyer answered, "He
that showed mercy on him," Jesus said unto him,
"Go, and do thou likewise."

" Thy neighbor? 'Tis that wearied man
Whose years are at their brim,
Bent low with sickness, cares and pain :
Go thou and comfort him.

" Thy neighbor? Yonder toiling slave,
Fetter'd in thought and limb.
Whose hopes are all beyond the grave!
Go thou and ransom him.*

The true Christian is a cosmopolite. He believes
in the fatherhood of God, and consequently in the
brotherhood of man. In pursuance of this conviction
he sends out his sympathy and helpfulness not only
to his kinsmen or his countrymen, but to all men

320 " AND THE SECOND IS LIKE UNTO IT."

everywhere, who have need of him. As it is written,
"One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and
Father of all."

The rabbis say, that once upon a time there were
two affectionate brothers who tilled the same farm.
Oa a certain night, after the gathering of the harvest,
one of them said to his wife, " My brother is a lonely
man, who has neither wife nor children ; I will go
out and carry some of my sheaves into his field." It
happened that, on the same night, the other said,
"My brother has wife and children, and needs the
harvest more than I ; I will carry some of my
sheaves into his field." So the next morning their
respective heaps were unchanged, and thus it hap-
pened night after night, until at length, one moonlight
night, the brothers with their arms full of sheaves
met midway face to face. On that spot the Temple
was built, because it was esteemed to be the place
where earth was nearest heaven. This is indeed the
noblest attitude of man. And what a world ours
would be if all men, realizing that they are children
of the same God and therefore brethren of the same
household, were to treat each other in this way.

And the Lord said, "On these two commandments
hang all the Law and the Prophets." Love is the
sum and substance of law. Love God supremely and
love thy neighbor as thyself. He that doeth this law
shall live by it.

If we would learn the true philosophy of the law
and catch the true spirit of obedience, we must visit
the cross. It is here that we discover how God loved
us. "He commendeth his love toward us in that,
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." If
once we apprehend the length, breadth, depth and

"and the second is like unto it. 321

height of the love manifested in this supreme self-
sacrifice in our behalf, we shall never need to say to
ourselves again, *' Thou shalt love the Lord thy God."
And if once we shall perceive that Jesus here tasted
death for every man — for the drunkard that reels
along our streets, for the poor fetish worshipper in
the far-away jungles of Africa — we shall need no
more to say to ourselves, " Love thy neighbor as thy-
self." The God who gave Christ is the Father of all.
The Christ who suffered and died is the Brother of
all. To love as the Father and Son have loved is the
consummation of duty. Love is the fulfilling of the
Law.

ESTHER IN SHUSHAN.

" I will go in unto the king.''— Esther iv. i6.

A group of notable dignitaries passes before us in
the glamour of the far-away past.

Here is Ahasuerus, king of Persia, familiar to us
as Xerxes the Great. It was he who lashed the sea
because it would not obey him. He called himself
the '' King of kings and Lord of lords." He was
cruel, capricious, magnificent ; his word was irre-
versible law.

Here is Esther, his beautiful queen. She was a
Jewess, brought up under the protection of her kins-
man, Mordecai. Her exaltation to the throne was by
a strange providence. She had concealed her lineage
thus far, as it would appear, to avoid the finger of
scorn ; for the Jews were hated then as now. But,
standing up among the daughters of Persia, she
shone pre-eminent in beauty. Radiant as the star
that sparkled in her name, she was chosen from
among all.

And here is Haman, the son of Hammedatha,
court favorite, villain of the piay. Puffed up with a
little brief authority, he will have all the people doff
their bonnets as he goes by. One only refuses, the

(322)

ESTHER IN SHUSHAN. 323

aged Mordecai. He will not '* bend the pregnant
hinges of the knee that thrift may follow fawning."
The proud heart of Haman is filled with wrath. He
puts his spies upon the old man's track. " What dost
thou say? A Jew ? Then we shall make a splendid
reprisal." It is not enough that Mordecai shall suf-
fer. The king is persuaded to pronounce the decree
of death upon all the children of Israel within the
Persian realm.

The Jewish homes of Shushan are filled with lam-
entation. The mourners on the housetops kneel with
uplifted eyes and hands pressed together. They have
learned their doom, and are praying and listening.
The blast of a trumpet ! The clang of horses' hoofs !
A troop of heralds riding forth with parchment
scrolls ! They are the messengers of doom. By the
Assyrian mountains, by the southern plain, by the
Parthian Sea, all Israel must die.

In the open square beneath the queen's window,
an old man leans on his ivory staff, uttering a low,
wailing cry. At length he succeeds in attracting the
queen's attention. She appears at her lattice. He
tells the sorrowful story of which she in her retire-
ment has been kept in ignorance ; he entreats her to
go in unto the king in behalf of her people. Useless
are her protestations : "The king is at his revels; to
approach him uninvited now, is death under the Per-
sian law." — '' No matter; the fate of all Israel depends
upon it ; and who knoweth but thou art come unto
the kingdom for such a time as this?" — She pleads,
resists, and yields. "I will go in unto the king;
and if I perish, I perish."

The hour is come. For many days the king and
his courtiers have been feasting in Shushan. The

324 ESTHER IN SHUSHAN.

halls are filled with incense and music ; the doors are
defended by stolid Nubian guards. Who comes
yonder along the marble walk ? They start in amaze-
ment and whisper to one another. It is the queen !
For a woman to intrude upon the king*s revels at such
a time is to incur a double certainty of death. She
draws near, arrayed in her royal apparel — a vision of
beauty. They stand aside, overawed, to let her pass.
At the threshold of Shushan she pauses ; her lips
move silently in prayer ; she enters and stands in the
banquet hall. Yonder is the king with his favorites
about him ; pale, but resolute, she faces him. The
destiny of her kinspeople is in the balance. Her
beauty, her calm demeanor, her magnificent courage,
have vanquished him. ''What wilt thou. Queen
Esther? It shall be done unto thee, even unto the
half of my kingdom." The sceptre is stretched out ;
the crisis is past ; Israel is saved !

And what does this signify to us ? The glory of
intercession. We are living in a world of perishing
souls, who, " forever hastening to the grave, stoop
downward as they run." Death has passed upon all
for that all have sinned. The law has gone forth,
"The soul that sinneth it shall die." Our friends,
neighbors, kinsfolk, are among them, and the responsi-
bility of their deliverance rests largely upon us.

" I stood at the open casement
And looked upon the night,
And saw the westward-going stars
Pass slowly out of sight.

" Slowly the bright procession

Went down the gleaming arch,
And my soul discerned the music

Of the long triumphal march ; s

ESTHER IN SHUSHAN. 325

" Till the great celestial army,

Stretching far beyond the poles,
Became the eternal symbol
Of the mighty march of souls.

" Onward, forever onward.

Red Mars led down his clan ;
And the moon, like a veiled maiden,
Was riding in the van.

*' And some were bright in beauty,
And some were faint and small ;
But these might be, in their great heights.
The noblest of them all.

" Downward, forever downward,
Behind earth's dusky shore.
They passed into the unknown night,
They passed — and were no more."

I. Observe the bended form of this suppliant queen.
Here is the noblest attitude of human nature ; to
bow before the throne of the heavenly grace in behalf
of others.

To make one's calling and election sure is chrono-
logically first and most important of all. No man
can look after the spiritual welfare of others until he
has attended to his personal salvation. Do the first
things first. Come like the publican, beating upon
your breast, and crying, " God be merciful to me a
sinner." Come to the cross and the fountain filled
with blood; and, by the truth of a hundred great and
precious promises, he will stretch his scarred hands
and say, " Thy sins be forgiven thee."

But if this were all, religion would be indeed a selfish
thing. The captain of the "Algona," discharged from
service, is hiding himself shamefaced somewhere.
His ship went down and forty-eight of his crew and

^26 ESTHER IN SHUSHAN.

passengers went down with it ; but he swam ashore !
A man may come to heaven in that way, saved so as
by fire. But, alas ! it would seem almost better to go
with the outcasts. No sheaf from the harvest ; no
star in one's crown. No, no ; this is not to fulfill the
high vocation of a Christian life.

We have power to convert. A stupendous thought !
'' He that converteth a sinner from the error of his
ways shall save a soul from death and hide a multitude
of sins." But how ? By seasonable words which are
like apples of gold in silver baskets ; by the example
of an upright walk and conversation ; and by inter-
cessory prayer. Here is where a man finds himself at
his noblest and best ; on his knees interceding for
men. Moses was never so great as when, after the
sin of the golden calf, he threw himself upon his face
on the mountain and cried, " O, this people have
sinned a great sin; if thou wilt, forgive them — and if
not, blot me out of thy book !" Hezekiah was never so
great as when, with the tents of Sennacherib all around
his city, he knelt, spread out the scornful letter of
Rabshakeh and begged for their deliverance at the
hands of God. Paul, the ''ugly little Jew," seems of
gigantic stature when he exclaims, " I could wish that
myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren,
my kinsmen according to the flesh." We stand rever-
ently at the door of John Knox's closet while he pleads,
" O God, give me Scotland or I die ! " Here is our
coigne of vantage in the Christian life. We can con-
vert ! Wives can save their husbands^ parents can
save their children, young men can save their com-
rades, masters can save their servants, by the power
of prayer.

ESTHER IN SHUSHAN. 327

* There is an eye that never sleeps

Beneath the wing of night ;
There is an ear that never shuts,
When sink the beams of light.

•* There is an arm that never tires,
When human strength gives way ;
There is a love that never fails,
When earthly loves decay.

" That eye is fixed on seraph throngs ;

That arm upholds the sky ;
That ear is filled with angels' songs ;

That love is throned on high.

" But there's a power which man can wield

When mortal aid is vain,
That eye, that arm, that love to reach,

That listening ear to gain.

" That power is prayer, which soars on high,
Through Jesus to the throne ;

And moves the hand which moves the world,
I'o bring salvation down.'*

II. Observe the outstretched sceptre of the King It
speaks of God's willingness to hear and answer us.
We pray for ourselves with faith ; we pray for our
friends with misgiving. Let us rather add faith to
faith when we plead for others ; for certainly the
good God is pleased to hear an unselfish supplication.
Did not the heart of Ahasuerus respond to the peti-
tion of his beautiful queen in behalf of her people,
more readily and joyously than if she had asked for
the half of his kingdom or any other personal favor ?

We are encouraged by great promises. Interces-
sory prayer falls within the circumscription of all
God's assurances. No limitations are put upon it.
No conditions are affixed to it. Ask, ask, and it shall be

328 ESTHER IN SHUSHAN.

given to you ; for every one that asketh, receiveth.
Oh, if the multitude of half-hearted supplicants, who
are pleading for their beloved, could only believe in
God's willingness to hear. How many mothers
there are like Rizpah who went out in the time
of the barley harvest, spread sackcloth upon the
barren rock, and watched beside her seven sons hang-
ing on the gibbet ; fire in heart and bludgeon in
hand, keeping away the beasts of the field and the
fowls of the air. But why need the wayward die ?
Why need the prodigal perish in his sins, when
parents have power to save ? God's covenant is sure ;
his promises are "yea" and "amen."

We are led to believe in Christ's willingness to
hear intercessory prayer from the analogy of his
earthly life. Did he refuse the request of Jairus who
besought him for his daughter near to death ? Nay ;
he left the feast where he was being entertained and
went to the sorrowing father's house, passed through
the hired mourners that were beating on their breasts,
took the little, cold hand in his, saying, Talitha^ cumi;
and the child arose. Did he refuse the prayer of the
Syrophcenician woman who cried, " My daughter is
grievously vexed with a demon ? " His disciples en-
treated, " Send her away, she troubleth us." But he
said, " Be it unto thee even as thou wilt." Did he
disregard the solicitous kindness of the four friends
who carried the paralytic up the outer stairway and
let him down through the roof into the midst ? Nay ;
it is written that " when he saw their faith " he healed
his infirmity and forgave his sin. At the gateway of
Nain he had compassion on the widow who was fol-
lowing her son to the grave; her tears were her prayer,
and he answered it. Wherever he went, the sick were

ESTHER IN SHUSHAN.

329

brought on couches by their friends and laid along
the way, and he "healed them every one." And this
Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, to-day and for-
ever.

We are led furthermore to believe in his willing-
ness to hear, by the fact of his own intercession. His
whole life indeed was intercessory. The stretching
out of his hands upon the cross was an intercessory
prayer for the children of men. And in heaven he
ever liveth to make intercession for us. A legend
says that the angel Sandalphon waits at the outer
most gates of heaven, with his feet on a ladder of
light, listening. The songs of the great multitude of
angels and redeemed come from above, but he heeds
them not. The songs and laughter of earthly homes
are all about him, but he heeds them not. He heark
ens for the mother's cry in behalf of her wayward
son, for the sob of a burdened heart bleeding for
the lost and wandering ; he bears these supplica-
tions aloft, lays them before the throne, and they
turn to garlands at the feet of God.

III. Observe the sequel. Haman the Magnificent
swings from the gallows tree ; the homes of the
Israelites are filled with music and laughter.

Joy is ever the sequel of unselfish toil and praA'^er.
The delight of the Christian life is in doing for
others. There is no pleasure like '* the generous
pleasure of kindly deeds." The Lord, at Sychar, was
an hungered and his disciples went away for food.
He spoke to the woman of Samaria, of the living
water, and to the people of the town also who came
about him. On the return of the disciples he said,
*' I have meat to eat that ye know not of." The cry
of the body for nourishment had been hushed by his

330 £StHER IN SHUSHAN.

eagerness to help ; the nobler passion had gotten the
upper hand of it. This is the joy of the Lord, and it
makes a heaven on earth.

And this is the joy of heaven too. At the close of
our Civil War when Lincoln visited Richmond the
slaves loosed the horses from his carriage and drew
it through the streets, crying, *' God bless Massa Lin-
coln " ! There were men among them whose backs
were scarred in a life-time of bondage; and he was
their deliverer. Oh, there is many a Caesarian triumph
awaiting the faithful up yonder! Make to yourselves
friends, that they may receive you into those everlast-
ing habitations.

I stand by heaven's gate and see a man coming in
alone. Saved; but with no souls for his hire. Saved;
but with no trophies for benevolent faithfulness. O
lonely, lonely man ! I see another coming who
has rejoiced to spend and be spent for others, and
what a welcome he receives ! What greeting and
hand-clasping ! Here are many who have come be-
fore him, saved by his faithful toil and intercession,
who delight to receive him into the joy of the Lord.

Come, friends, let us cease our selfish striving for
mere personal advantage, spiritual or otherwise^ and
busy ourselves in doing good. Let us journey by the
king's highway, taking prisoners of hope with us.
It was intended that every Christian should be a
priest unto God. And this is a true saying, "They
that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the fir-
mament, and they that turn many to righteousness as
the stars forever and ever."

ORTHODOXY.

" But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine." — Titus ii : i.

To begin with, orthodoxy is not "my doxy" as
the common parlance puts it. If there ever was a
time when a minister could say, " I am Sir Oracle, and
when I ope my lips let no dog bark," that time has
gone by. No man living has the right to force a
formulary of belief upon another, nor has any living
man the right to receive his creed at second hand. It
is the business of each to make the best possible ap-
plication of heart, reason, and conscience, to every
proposition of faith, as each for himself must answer
for his own convictions at the judgment bar of God.
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Do
your own thinking. Hear what other thinkers have
to say, lend a respectful attention to the Church and
council, and then determine for yourself what you
will believe respecting the great problems of the end-
less life. Let no man take thy crown !

Still further, orthodoxy is not slavish subscription
to the deliverances of the past. Of course " tradition "
counts. A man would be a fool not to allow that the
researches and controversies of these hundreds of
years should have their proper weight. What would
be thought of a farmer who, throwing aside all labor-

(331)

zz^

ORTHODOXY.

saving inventions, should insist on ploughing with a
crooked stick, threshing his grain with a flail, and
grinding it with mortar and pestle ? He would be
independent indeed, but not bright. The creeds and
deliverances of the past are labor-saving conveniences
for thoughtful men. It is a true saying that a dwarf
can see farther than a giant, if he stands on the
giant's shoulders. No one can afford to refuse the ad-
vantage of this view-point. Climb up, friend; climb
on the shoulders of the past; but when you are there,
use not the giant's eyes but your own. Let creeds
and catechisms and formularies be but steps upward
by which you reach a magnificent coigne of vantage
in your earnest quest for truth.

And further still, orthodoxy must not be regarded
as the mark of a Boeotian credulity. There is a dis-
position on the part of some callow folk in these days
to assume that all the clever people are heretics, and
that loyalty to established truth is the mark of a
torpid intellect. The impression is given that heresy
is somehow necessary to progress — as if a locomotive
could not go except on down grade with open brakes.
The fact is, however, that the really progressive
thinkers, who increase the world's treasure of faith,
are those who give all proper deference to established
facts and all due regard to the limitations of thought.
It is not the wild rovers of the sea who find El Dora-
does, but such as sail by chart and compass.

Orthodoxy is an honorable word. It is associated
with the noblest episodes in history. It savors of the
times when men loved truth better than life. It was
for his loyalty to conviction that Abel was slain beside
the altar. It was for his devotion to right that Abram
left his country and his father's house and went

ORTHODOXY. 333

forth, not knowing whither he went. It was for their
orthodoxy that the three Babylonish youth were cast
into the furnace of fire. The time would fail me to
tell of those who in this cause had trial of cruel mock-
ings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and im-
prisonment ; were stoned, were sawn asunder, were
slain with the sword ; of whom the world was not
worthy. Nay, it was for his devotion to "sound doc-
trine" that Jesus himself set his face steadfastly
towards the cross. It is an easy matter in these pip-
ing times of peace to point the finger at the word
Orthodoxy and make sport of it. But there is no
grander word in our vocabulary. It has been stained
with blood and scarified with fire. Its joints have
been drawn asunder and its flesh pulled with pinc-
ers. It is covered with honorable scars. Long life
to it!

But we want a definition. What is Orthodoxy? A
case came before the circuit court of Baltimore some
time ago which awakened no little interest in ecclesi-
astical circles. A gentleman had left the bulk of his
estate for the erection of an edifice for " the worship
of Jesus Christ according to the Orthodox Baptist
faith." The construction of the will hinged upon the
meaning of the word " Orthodox." It was held by
the presiding judge that, in the absence of a stale
church, it was not competent for the court to deter-
mine what is Orthodox and what not. In other
words, that Orthodoxy is a word without a definition.
It is not for us to criticise that opinion in its legal
aspects, but we may venture to dissent in so far as it
suggests that the word is without a very distinct sig-
nificance.

It is true that the word Orthodoxy does not

334

ORTHODOXY.

occur in Scripture ; but for that matter neither
does creed or incarnation; but the fact is distinctly
there. ''The time will come," writes Paul to Tim-
othy, "when they will not endure sound doctrine."
And again in his Epistle to Titus, " Speak thou the
things which become sound doctrine." Etymologi-
cally it is precisely that, orthe doxa, "sound doctrine."

Historically, it means loyalty to the formularies
of any particular bodies. In this sense all depends
upon the environment. An orthodox Mohammedan
is one who believes that there is only one God
and Mohammed is his prophet. An orthodox Unit-
arian is one who believes that Jesus of Nazareth is
not the divine Son of God. An orthodox Episco-
palian is one who believes in the Thircy-nine Articles.
An orthodox Reformed or Presbyterian is one who
believes in the system of doctrine contained in the
Calvinistic symbols, such as the Canons of Dort
and the Westminster Confession of Faith.

But there is a larger sense in which the word is
applied to the universal fellowship of believers in
Christ. A?i Orthodox Christian is one who believes in
the truths which are held in common by the universal
Church of Christ. We say, "I believe in the Holy
Catholic Church ; " that is, the Church made up of all
denominations which receive the fundamentals of the
gospel of Christ. There is no difficulty in understand-
ing what this sort of Orthodoxy means, unless,
indeed, there is a desire to misunderstand it.

I. The life of Christian Orthodoxy is Christ. He is
its Alpha and Omega. He ij first, last, midst and
all in all. It does not follow, however, that a man is
orthodox because he says he believes in Christ. This
declaration may be the subterfuge of those who are

ORTHODOXY. 335

constantly recreant to the fundamental truths which
centre in him, or of those who repose only a partial
faith in him. There are many in our time who use the
name of Jesus as the specious term of an exclusively
humanitarian religion. They paint his character in
glowing colors, saying, " Behold him as he goes
about doing good; opening blind eyes, healing the
sick, comforting the sorrowing and making life
sweeter and purer. What is better than to live like
this? Creeds are nothing, dogma is nothing, the
Scriptures are a matter of little moment. Why dis-
cuss these minor points ? Let Christ be all and in
all."

It is a pity to say aught against this form of belief
and manner of life. Nevertheless it should be un-
derstood that Christ must not be dismembered. If
we receive him at all, we must receive him every way.
He offers himself not only as our Exemplar in ben-
evolence, but as our Prophet, Priest and King. To
reject his demands at any point is practically to
reject him in to to.

(i.) He offers himself as our Priest. He stands on
Calvary as our substitute to make expiation for our
sin. He takes the heart out of his own bosom and
lays it throbbing on the altar there. He is wounded
for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities,
that by his stripes we may be healed. To deny that
is to make him a deceiver. If we believe in Christ,
we must believe in the atoning power of the blood
that he shed for us.

(2.) He is our Prophet; that is, our Teacher in
spiritual things. His Word is our court of last ap-
peal. He has something to say as to God; as to the
heinousness of sin; as to the spiritual death which fol-

336 ORTHODOXY.

lows — the worm that dieth not, the fire that is not
quenched; as to life and immortality, — the resurrec-
tion body and the final judgment. If we receive
Christ in sincerity, we must accept his word as a final
statement of truth.

(3.) He is our King. " Ye call me Master and Lord,
and ye say well, for so I am." He has much to say as
to the manner of our daily life. He utters a distinct
injunction as to the sacramental table: " Take, eat;
do this in remembrance of me " He lays upon us a
command as to the great propaganda: "Go ye, into
all the world and evangelize." If we accept Christ,
we should recognize his authority and should not
hesitate to obey him. "Ye are my disciples if ye do
whatsoever I command you." "Whatsoever he saith
unto you, do it."

II. The symbol of Christian Orthodoxy is the Bible.
The symbols of denominational Orthodoxy are the
standards of the various bodies of believers in Christ.
There is, however, a larger fellowship of v/hich we
say, " I believe in the Holy Catholic Church." The
symbol of this larger fellowship is the Bible and the
Bible only.

(i.) If it be said that Christ is enough, we answer,
The Scriptures are the only authoritative source of
information respecting Christ. Christ without the
Scriptures is a mere name and quite meaningless except
for sentimental uses. You believe in Christ? What
Christ ? The Christ of history. Then there is a
history of Christ? Yes; the Bible. Do you mean the
New Testament ? No ; Old Testament and New Tes-
tament. The Scriptures are Christological from be-
ginning to end. As it takes two hemispheres to make
a world, so it requires the two Testaments to make

ORTHODOXY. 337

one complete record of Christ. But why must
I believe in the Scriptures? Is it not enough that
Christ should be everything to me ? No ; Christ
as the incarnate Word, and the Scriptures as the
written Word, make together a complete revelation —
the binomial Word of God. So then, your religion
is the religion of a book? Yes; the religion of the only
begotten Son of God as he is reliably described in a
divine book.

It is like this : You go to the Water Com-
missioner and say, "I want water in my house
immediately; we must have it or die." "Well,
don't worry," he answers. " It is an easy matter to
get water there. We'll have the pipes put in right
away." ''Pipes? Who said anything about pipes?
It's water we want." "But, my friend, you've got
to get the water through the pipes. It's pipes or
no water." And you submit to it. So it is the Bible
or no Christ, because the Bible is the medium through
which he is revealed or conveyed to us.

(2.) Let it be observed that Christ himself accepted
the Scriptures as accurately revealing himself and the
plan of salvation which centres in hirn. He was
thoroughly familiar with it. He quoted from Genesis,
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Samuel,
Kings, Chronicles, Psalms, Proverbs, Songs of Sol-
omon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel and most of
the Minor Prophets. He made corroborative refer-
ence to the stories of Adam and Eve, Abel, Noah, the
Flood, Abraham, the Destruction of Sodom, Lot's
wife, Jacob's ladder, the Burning Bush, the Manna,
the Brazen Serpent, the Queen of Sheba, Jonah in the
whale's belly and other portions of the truth which
have been called in question during these last days.

338 ORTHODOXY.

It is a matter of grave significance, furthermore,
that Jesus himself never said a word nor gave an
intimation of any sort whatever, that any portion
of the Scriptures was other than absolutely trust-
worthy. Either he did not know as much as some
of our modern destructive critics with respect to
the Bible, or else he intended to convey a wrong
impression, or else he believed the Scriptufes to
be inerrant. The conclusion is irresistible. If we
accept Christ we must also accept his view of the
Scriptures as the Word of God.

(3.) He commended the Scriptures to us in terms
which should be decisive! ''Search the Scriptures, for
in them ye think ye have eternal life and these are they
which testify of me." Search for yourselves with
liberty of personal interpretation. Search them with
the help of all the attainable lights of sound scholar-
ship. Search them as honest men.

III. The administrator of Christian Orthodoxy is the
Holy Ghost. Let us be thankful that we are living
in a time when the Holy Ghost is more honored than
formerly as the Paraclete, or constant Helper in
spiritual things.

(i.) He reveals the truth of the Scriptures. Spiritual
things are spiritually discerned. I stand in the wheel-
house of an ocean steamer looking in a bewildered
way on the Marine Reports which are written in
cipher and hieroglyphics ; but presently the captain,
standing by and seeing my bewilderment, makes all
plain. He holds the key. So in my unaided wisdom
I look upon the Scriptures and they are as if written
in an unknown tongue. If I will, however, the Holy
Ghost anoints my eyes and throws a light upon the

ORTHODOXY. 339

pages of Scriptures, so that I see in them the treasures
of truth; lo, they are full of the knowledge of God.

(2.) He takes of the things of Jesus and shows them
unto us. Here I stand beside the manger, crying,
"Great is the mystery of Godliness, God manifest in
the flesh." He makes the incarnation clear to me.
When I stand at Calvary, philosophizing as many
excellent men have done with reference to the
atonement, he makes it as simple as is a mother' s love
to the infant on her breast, saying simply, "God so
loved the world." When I stand at the open grave
in Joseph's garden querying, "Does death end all?"
he points away to the open heavens — the living
Christ and the Father's house with many mansions.

(3.) He leads us into all truth. "It is expedient
that I go away," said Jesus, " for if I go not away the
Paraclete will not come ; and when he is come he will
lead you into all truth." If we have fallen into heresy
of any sort whatever, it is simply and solely because
we have not been willing that the Holy Ghost should
guide us. There is a desperate and intolerable pride
of human wisdom which is defiantly opposed to the
work of the Holy Ghost. The promise is, "If any of
you lack wisdom, let him ask of God who giveth to all
men liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be
given him."

It is my hope that as the result of this meditation,
we shall think a little more kindly of Orthodoxy, Of
late it has been the fashion to deride it. The new
school of thinkers have smeared its face with phospho-
rus, crowned it with cap and bells, and put it in the
stocks to be gazed at. But, moved by the love of
truth, devotion to principle, and fealty to God, let us
uncover and do obeisance as we pass by.

340 ORTHODOXY.

We are grieved just now for the sorrows of the
Armenians. Their homes have been burned, their
villages destroyed, their liberties taken away, iheir
wives and daughters dishonored, and a hundred
thousand oT them have been butchered in cold blood.
And why? Is it not all unnecessary ? Did not the
Sultan long ago make them a most reasonable propo-
sition? "You shall be treated with all due consider-
ation, if only you will utter the formula, 'God is God
and Mohammed is his Prophet.' Nay, if you will
only lift your finger in token of assent to it." But,
blessed be God, they would not ! There is a spirit in
man. They would not accept life on such contempti-
ble terms. They preferred to die rather than sur-
render their convictions of truth. That is Orthodoxy.
And in the long run, when right and expediency shall
have ended their strife and the light of eternity shall
shine upon nations and individual lives, it will be
found that Orthodoxy w^as worth dying for. Sto pro
veritate. Have your convictions. Is there a sense of
duty and assurance of truth deep at the centre of
your soul ? Then by your hope of eternal blessedness
stand for it!

"HE IS APPREHENDED IN THE
GARDEN."

Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests
and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons."
— Jno. xviii, 3.

On a moonlight night in a garden just outside the
walls of Jerusalem was gathered the most historic
group that ever came together on earth. If the Czar
of Russia, Queen Victoria, the Mikado, the Emperor
of China, the War Lord of Germany and the Presi-
dent of the United States were all to meet in confer-
ence they would not form such an historic assemblage
as this. The central figure in this group is Jesus of
Nazareth, claiming to be Emmanuel, — that is, God
with us. He bears no outward mark to distinguish
him from other men, and yet all the great problems
of subsequent centuries were destined to revolve about
him. He has just come from a stupendous struggle
under the shadow of the olive trees, where the purple
cup of death was pressed to his lips ; the marks of
that conflict are still upon him. Near by are John
and James, the Sons of Thunder ; Peter, the Man of
Rock; and the other disciples, with a single exception.
One is missing ; where is he ?

On the same memorable night the door of the high
priest's palace in Jerusalem was flung open and a

(341)

342 ''he is apprehended in the garden.

strange company issued from it. In front was Judas,
the missing one of the twelve ; then came scribes,
members of the Sanhedrin, soldiers and others.
They were armed with swords and staves and carried
lanterns ; for, though it was the time of the paschal
moon, they were going to the heights beyond the
Kedron to search for a malefactor, and there were
many lurking places there. As this company passed
along the streets, they were joined by many of the
people ; they passed out at the north gate, down into
the dark valley of the Kedron, up the slope of Olivet,
with the moon shining on their faces, until they
reached the garden. Here let us pause and observe
them ; for they constitute a typical company of the
enemies of Christ. We have their counterpart in
these days.

I. Judas, the man of Kerioth. He has no friends.
There are indeed those who would mitigate his guilt
by representing that he simply wished, in the betrayal
of Christ, to precipitate the setting up of his earthly
throne ; but there is nothing in this. He was a wil-
ful, deliberate betrayer of his Lord ; a rebel against
the truth and righteousness of the kingdom of God.
In brief, he was a hypocrite. The word means,
" under a mask." A hypocrite is not one who unwit-
tingly deceives himself and others, but one who, like
Judas, steals the livery of heaven to serve the devil in.
The punishment is measured by the guilt. Dante
leads us down through his series of hells until he
comes to the deepest, darkest place of torture, the sea
of ice, where he shows us Judas transfixed in
unimaginable pain. We may not penetrate the mys-
teries of the unseen world as boldly as the poet does;
but we recall the significant words of Jesus, " It were

343

better for that man had he never been born." For
the better understanding of that word, let us see
Judas in the hall Gazith bargaining, under the malig-
nant inspiration of envy and covetousness, to deliver
his Lord for thirty pieces of silver. Let us see him a
little later when his treason had been consummated,
returning to the temple, his face distorted with a
tragic remorse, flinging down at the feet of the
rabbis those blood-stained pieces of silver, with
the cry, " I have betrayed innocent blood ! " Let
us then go out to the cliff above the Valley of
Hinnom and see his body swinging from 3^onder tree
in the night wind. So shall we, perhaps, gain a
measurable apprehension of the significance of that
sentence, ''It were better for him had he never been
born."

And the lesson is sincerity. Let us be true to our
convictions. "To counterfeit is death." Let us be
what we seem to be. Lord Bacon says, "An ill man
is always ill, but he is worst who pretends to be a
saint." The original meaning of the word sincere is
said to be, "tried by the sun." Honesty is transpar-
ency. Let us see that all our graces are translucent,
inasmuch as presently we must stand in our true
characters in the light of the countenance of God.

n. Close after Judas follow the Rabbis. And
what an opportunity was theirs ! They were the re^
ligious teachers who, having special charge of the
oracles, should have been familiar with messianic
prophecy. They were the leaders of the people, the
makers of public sentiment. At this juncture it would
appear, had they been so disposed, they might have
swung all Jewry into line with the redemptive pur-
poses of God. But, alas ! two things were in the way:

344

(i) Pride; the pride of intellect. They had made
such acquisitions in rabbinical lore that they were
unwilling to be taught by any man, and least of all
by this Nazarene carpenter ! They saw him standing
in Solomon's Porch with the people gathered about
him, touching with an unparalleled boldness the great
spiritual problems which had defied all the wisdom of
the schools. "Is not this the son of Joseph ?" they
asked. "And whence hath this man letters .''" " Shall
he torch us ? "

" A little learning is a dangerous thing ;
Drink deep or taste not the Pierian spring."

But, unfortunately for us, we cannot drink deep; we
can only at the best wet our lips at the Pierian springs.
Pride ill becomes the wisest among us. "He who
knows his own ignorance," said Socrates, " is on the
way to knowing more." And when we stop to re-
flect, how preposterous is our assumption of wisdom
in the presence of the omniscient One. The light of
our intellect is as the infinitesimal spark in the eye of a
snail to the glory of the noonday sun that shrivels it.
(2) Prejudice. They had their own opinions of
Messiah. He must come wearing a crown, and show
himself, by outward pomp and circumstance, worthy
to restore the glory to Israel. A thoughtful reference
to their oracles would have corrected this misconcep-
tion, but unfortunately "a man convinced against his
v/ill is of the same opinion still." Prejudice is like a
jaundiced eye; all things look yellow to it; the sea,
the verdant fields, the overarching sky, all yeilow, be-
cause the eye itself is so. God save us from pride
and prejudice. If we would make a voyage, we must
begin by hoisting the anchor. If we would attain to

^'HE IS APPREHENDED IN THE GARDEN." 345

truth, we must cut loose from all ill-formed prejudg-
ments, hold ourselves open to convictions, and be
willing to see. The same Jesus who taught in Solo-
mon's Porch is still teaching among us. He who
rightly apprehends the value of wisdom and sincerely
desires to acquire it, will lend a listening ear despite
the confusing clamor from within and without, saying,
" If this be truth, I will receive it."

III. Then the Soldiers. There is something to be
said for them; for they were under orders and accus-
tomed to obey. Had any of them desired to befriend
Christ, he would have found circumstances greatly
against him. But what of that? Are not circum-
stances against us all ?

(i) Are we not all under the constraint of heredity?
The blood of long generations of sinners is in our
veins; but this furnishes no excuse for ill-doing.
Nero was the son of a father who drove over a beg-
gar in Appia Via, struck out a soldier's eye in a
quarrel in the forum, and killed a freedman for fail-
ing to drink enough to please him. Thus the heir-ap-
parent to the Roman throne inherited the disposition
of a tiger; was he then to blame for it ? Aye; greatly
to blame for giving way to it. We are all alike
under the curse of such inheritance. One man has
intemperance running hot in his blood, another licen-
tiousness, another avarice; and others still inherit
the less conspicuous, but not less heinous, vices. A
large part of the serious business of our life is to fight
against our ancestors. The man who excuses him-
self for giving way to an evil disposition on the
ground of heredity is a coward. It was bad enough
for Adam to throw the blame of his transgression on
iiis wife; it is incomparably v/orse and meaner for one

346 "he is apprehended in the garden."

to blame his forbears. The thing to do is to make a
brave struggle and triumph over an evil heredity.
And, blessed be God, this is possible, has been proven
to be possible ten thousand times ten thousand times.
Here is the key to Samson's riddle: " Out of the eater
is come forth meat, and out of the strong is come
forth sweetness."

(2) Environment. No man finds it easy to live a
righteous life or build up a noble character. There
are difficulties all about him and obstacles ever in the
way. But the mark of true greatness is to overcome
them and rise above them. One of the best men I
have ever known, was born in the slums of New York
of parents who were no better than they ought to be.
His home was next door to a distillery; and he has
told me that when he was a lad of eight years, it was
no uncommon thing for him to lie down under the
mash tubs where he could catch the intoxicating drip-
pings, and be carried home by his mother at evening
sodden with drink. But there came a time in his
early manhood when he determined that neither he-
redity nor environment should get the better of him;
but that, by the grace of God, he would prove him-
self a man. To-day he is one of the most successful
ministers of Christ.

(3) Habit. As if it were not enough that our an-
cestors and companions should be against us, we
bind ourselves with fetters and manacles; and true
manliness becomes more and more difficult as the
years pass on. But the comforting thought is that
God stands ready with his sovereign and omnipotent
relief, and there is no living man who cannot, thus
reinforced, break these bands of habit as Samson
broke the green withes wherewith they bound him.

" HE IS APPREHENDED IN THE GARDEN." 347

No man can excuse himself for sin, by saying, " I
cannot help it." By God's grace he can help it.

" Toil on;

In hope o'ercome the steeps God set for thee,

For past the Alpine summits of great toil lieth thine Italy."

No doubt the soldiers who went out against Jesus
on that memorable night would have found it difficult
to resist the current of opposition to Christ; but that
it was not impossible is proven by the fact that one,
who was probably one of their number — the centurion
to whom was assigned the task of superintending the
crucifixion of Jesus — was himself convicted and con-
vinced and moved to say, '* Verily, this was the Son
of God."

IV. Then came the People ; a rabble made up
from the multitude who are gathered from all direc-
tions to attend the feast. There were traders, shep-
herds, vine dressers, camel-drivers, artisans, all sorts
and conditions of men. They correspond to the
lapsed masses of our time — the unchurched multi-
tudes, who fall in impulsively with every popular
movement, except that which impels toward accept-
ance of divine grace in the gospel of Christ. Where
is the trouble ?

(1) They do not think. They do not stop to con-
sider seriously the great problems and the verities
which center in Christ. The common sin of every
age is heedlessness. " For want of a nail, the shoe
was lost ; for want of a shoe, the horse was lost ; for
want of a horse, the rider was lost ; for want of a
rider, the kingdom was lost. ' The average man is so
busy with the common cares of life — the bread-and-
butter work, the gaining of a livelihood, the winning

34^ "he is apprehended in the garden."

of a competence — that the greater matters of truth
and righteousness are little or nothing to him.

(2) They run with the multitude, doing as others
do. When Napoleon returned from his Austrian cam-
paign, he was received with bonfires and huzzas. One
of his marshals remarking upon the devotion of the
people to his cause, he replied " Yes ; but they would
follow me just as eagerly to prison and the guillo-
tine." And the sequel proved it. So is it ever.
Those who to-day receive the Christ at the city gates
with shouts of " Hosanna ! Hosanna to the Son of
JiJavid ! " will to-morrow tall in with the rabble who
cry, *' Crucify him ! crucify him ! "

Let us have the courage, good friends, to stand by
ourselves while the multitude surges by. Let us do
our own thinking. Let us read our Bibles for our-
selves with the light which the Holy Spirit gives us.
Let us gaze with our own eyes at the cross, until the
eye affecteth the heart and we believe in him. It is
written that when Jesus was dying on the cross, " The
people stood beholding." The coldness of that word
makes us shiver. They stood beholding with dull
eyes, while the heart of the Saviour yonder on the
cross was breaking under the burden of their sins.
O, if they had known ! And they would have known,
had they stopped to reflect, had they been willing to
reason for themselves. Yet, our condemnation under
like conditions is greater than theirs. " O 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? "

But while we have been taking counsel together,
the band has entered the garden. They are peering,
lantern in hand, here and there into the dense shadows.

"he is apprehended in the garden." 349

Lo, yonder he stands; pale, worn, with a forecast of
the last agony upon him. The torchlight falls weirdly
on his face. " Whom seek ye ? " " Jesus of Nazareth "
"I am he." They lead him away to judgment and
thence to the cross.

The three hours of vicarious pain are over; the
Galilean is dead !

Time passes ; and by the banks of the Tigris,
worsted in a vain struggle against the increasing
power of the gospel and wounded unto death, Julian
the Apostate clutches the earth and cries, "Galilean,
thou hast conquered ! "

Time passes ; and Constantine marching back
from Saxa-Rubra, where he won his famous victory
against the old herdsman emperor, plants the red
cross banner of Jesus in the Forum at Rome.

Time passes; and under the oaks of Britain, be-
side the cromlechs, the missionary Augustine preaches
the gospel to the Druid worshippers.

Time passes; and Columbus plants the red cross
banner on the shores of the new world, christening it
San Salvador^ " Land of the vSaviour."

Time passes ; and missionaries are going every-
where, their feet beautiful upon the mountains, to
carry into the regions of darkness and the habitations
of death the unsearchable riches of the gospel of
Christ.

Time passes ; and the world grows brighter and
brighter, and the day approaches when the clouds
above shall part asunder, and he whose right it is to
reign, shall come to be king over all and blessed for-
ever. In that day his faithful friends shall rejoice at
his appearing, and they that pierced him shall behold

350 HE IS APPREHENDED IN THE GARDEN."

him. Let us be getting ready, friends, for the coro-
nation.

" All hail the power of Jesus' name !
Let angels prostrate fall ;
Bring forth the royal diadem,
And crown Him Lord of all.

Sinners, whose love can ne'er forget

The wormwood and the gall,
Go, spread your trophies at His feet,

And crown Him Lord of all.

O that with yonder sacred throng,

We at His feet may fall;
We'll join the everlasting song.

And crown Him Lord of all."

HOW DAVID THOUGHT OF THE
FORGIVENESS OF SIN.

" Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered."— Ps.
xxxii. I. "Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man
unto whom God imputeth righteousness without worlis, saying, Blessed
are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered."—
Romans iv. 6, 7.

We have a peculiar expression here, known as the
** plural of emphasis." In like manner when the He-
brews wished to name the greatest of monsters they
said, Behemoth^ a plural word meaning " beasts." So
the words of the Psalmist would be more accurately
rendered, "O the blessednesses of the man whose trans-
gression is forgiven." The singular number would
not express it. Joy upon joy ! Numberless pleasures!
O the felicities of the pardoned soul !

The Apostle Paul attributes this saying to
David. Some of the higher critics insist that David
had nothing to do with it. But we old-fashioned folk
must be permitted to believe that Paul was probably
as familiar with correct Biblical exegesis as those who
take issue with him. And particularly since the
higher critics have nothing to proceed upon except
what they call "internal evidence" — that is, David
could not have written this Psalm because it does not
sound like him. Aye, but it does. The internal
evidence is what convinces us of the Davidic author-

(351)

352 THE FORGIVENESS OF SIN.

ship of this saying. The ring of David's voice is in
it ; the twang of David's harp-string is in it. He
knew sin and he knew the burden of sin. It may be
that when he wrote this rhapsody he had in mind the
matter of Uriah and Bathsheba. It rested as an in-
tolerable burden on his soul ; it stained his hands
blood red ; it ploughed furrows of remorse across his
brow. He could not sleep ; the furies sat about him
in the watches of the night, pointing their fingers and
whispering, "Uriah!" "Bathsheba!" What should
he do ? What could he do but cry unto the Lord in
his trouble, " Have mercy upon me according to thy
loving kindness, and according unto the multitude of
thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions ; for
against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this
evil in thy sight?" Did God hear ? God always hears.
There is nothing in the universe so sweet to him as
the cry of a returning prodigal. So David sings,
" This poor man cried, and the Lord heard and saved
him out of all his trouble. O that men would praise
the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works
to the children of men."

And it was meet and proper that Paul should echo
this ; for his was a similar experience. His sin
was ever before him. He could not forget how he
had held the garments of those who stoned
Stephen ; — that upturned, pleading face, that last
prayer, " Lay not this sin to their charge." He could
not forget the deeds of blood committed, when,
as a zealot of the Sanhedrin, he went hither and yon
breathing out slaughter against God's little ones ;
when in pursuit of his inquisition he rode down the
Damascus highway and saw in a sudden flash of light
the face so marred, yet divinely beautiful, and heard

THE FORGIVENESS OF SIN. 353

the voice, " I am Jesus whom thou persecutest." It is
anguish to remember this, and anguish to know that
the " motions of sin" are still in his members. "O
wretched man," he cries, " who shall deliver me from
the body of this death?" And then he continues,
"Thanks be to God through our Lord Jesus Christ !"
His regret for the past is swallowed up in his blissful
experience of God's pardoning grace: "Who shall
separate me from the love of Christ ? I am persuaded
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principal-
ities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to
come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature
shall be able to separate me from the love of God
which is in Christ Jesus my Lord."

"I believe in the forgiveness of sins;" so the
Church professes in her historic creed. So sing the
innumerable multitude of the redeemed in heaven, " I
believe in the forgiveness of sins."

*' O ! may the sweet, the blissful theme
Fill every heart and tongue,
Till strangers love Thy charming name,
And join the sacred song ! "

It is a vast subject ; too great for a single discourse.
It will answer our purpose merely to inquire what
David thought about it. He uses four significant ex-
pressions for the forgiveness of sin.

I. He speaks of it as "r^;'z^^r/«^." "Blessed is the
man whose sin is covered." This expression is the
equivalent of erased or blotted out. So Peter said to
the multitude in Solomon's Porch, " Repent and be
converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when
the times of refreshing shall come from the presence
of the Lord."

354 THE FORGIVENESS OF SIN.

In those days the writing was frequently done on
wax tablets ; it was an easy matter, therefore, to erase
it. The accounts were kept in that way. If a man
came in to square his account, the stylus was simply
drawn over the tablet and the score vanished ; it was
covered, and thus erased or blotted out.

In the interest of justice a strict account is kept of
every man. We read of a memorial book in which
our sins are all written down. We may forget them ;
indeed we do forget them nearly all. But the ledger
will be opened on the judgment day ; sins innumer-
able that had passed from remembrance will be ex-
posed to view; destiny will be determined by that
record. If no payment has been made in our behalf,
then the uttermost farthing will be required of us.
If we are forgiven, it will be only because our indebt-
edness has been paid by our Lord Jesus Christ. He
holds the stylus in his pierced hand, awaiting our word
of prayer that he may erase it. If faith speaks the
word, lo, it is done !

" Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe."

II. David also speaks of the forgiveness of sin as
a cleatising. " Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be
clean ; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."
The response to this prayer is in the assurance of the
gospel : " The blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
cleanseth us from all sin."

The finer instincts of our nature grasp the fact that
sin is uncleanness. One of the Greek philosophers
expressed the wish that, in the interest of sincerity, a
window might be placed in the breast of every man.
But there are few, if any, of us who would be willing

THE FORGIVENESS OF SIN. 355

to have it so. One of the best of modern Christians
has said, '' If the secret imaginations of my heart were
known, I should be ashamed to pass along the street,
lest the children should make sport of me and the
very dogs bark at me." At times this repugnant
aspect of sin forces itself upon us ; but we are loath
to dwell upon it.

One of the significant types of sin is leprosy, not
because of the incurableness of that malady, but rather
of its uncleanness. There are other mortal diseases,
but there is none that so utterly excludes the patient
from all fellowship of men. Let a leper be found in
the Chinese quarter of New York City to-day, and he
is hurried away to a lone island in the harbor, to dwell
there in a secluded hut where none shall approach
him. It is written of Naaman the Syrian, " He was a
great man with his master, and honorable ; he was
also a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper."
What mattered it if his was the arrow that smote
through thejointsofAhab's armor, orthathe had often-
times distinguished himself on the high places of the
field ? He would fain have traded places with the
meanest of the cringing slaves in his kitchen, if only
those white spots might be taken from him. The
Jew who was infected with this disease must needs
go apart from his fellows, and stand afar off, with his
finger upon his lips, crying, " Unclean ! unclean ! "
This is the significant type by which the inspired
writers are wont to characterize the repulsiveness of
sin. But a fountain has been opened for uncleanness,
in the blood of Jesus Christ : '' Come now, saith the
Lord, and let us reason together ; though your sins be
as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow : though
they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."

356 THE FORGIVENESS OF SIN.

III. Again the Psalmist speaks of forgiveness as a
removing. '' He hath not dealt with us after our sins,
nor rewarded us according to our iniquities ; for as
the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his
mercy toward them that fear him ; as far as the east
is from the west, so far hath he removed our trans-
gressions from us." In like manner Hosea says, '' O
Israel, return unto the Lord your God, and say, Take
away our iniquity and receive us graciously ; so will
we render the calves of our lips."

Sin is here conceived of as a burden. So Cain^
fleeing from his brother's blood, cried out, " My pun-
ishment is greater than I can bear." But God in the
gospel of Christ has made known his willingness to
lift the burden and carry it away. The Christian
in the " Pilgrim's Progress " went through great
difficulty " because of the load upon his back,"
until he came to the cross ; and at the foot of the
cross was the sepulchre; and when he came there, his
burden was loosed from off his shoulder and ''began
to tumble and so continued to do until it came to the
mouth of the sepulchre, where it fell in and he saw it
no more. Then was he glad and blithesome, and said
with a merry heart, ' He hath given me rest by his
sorrow and life by his death.' "

On Yom Kippur, the great Day of Atonement, the
scapegoat was brought to the door of the tabernacle
and the high priest laid his hands upon its head, so
signifying that the sins of the people were laid there;
then the scapegoat was led by the hand of a fit man
out into the land of Azazel. The people stood, shad-
ing their eyes, and saw the fit man lead the goat over
the hills and far away. It was gone, and their sins
were gone with it ! So is the sinner's burden laid

THE FORGIVENESS OF SIN.

357

upon the heart of Christ at Calvary, and Christ's heart
breaks under it.

" My faith would lay her hand
On that dear head of Thine,
While like a penitent I stand
And there confess my sin."

How far is our sin removed by this loving kind-
ness of our Lord ? Mark the great distance : " As far
as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed
our transgressions from us." We may measure the
distance from north to south, but not from east to west.
The sailor who sets out with his prow pointed west-
ward may sail on and on and round and round for-
ever. So our sins are removed infinitely from us.

IV. But the most significant figure which David
uses to designate the forgiveness of sin is '''forget-
ting.'" His prayer is, " O Lord, remember not the sins
of my youth ; " and again, " O Lord, remember not
against us our former iniquities ; let thy tender mer-
cies prevent us." And God's answer is in these
words, " I will be merciful unto thee, and thine in-
iquities will I remember no more against thee." An
" Act of Oblivion " is passed upon our sins. They
shall never more be recalled or cast up against us.

In Hebrew and Arabic " to forget " is expressed
by the phrase "to cast behind one's back." Thus if
an oriental ruler desires to rid himself of his Prime
Minister, he ''casts him behind his back ;" that is,
out of his sight. He thinks no more of him. This
is precisely what God, in his infinite mercy, does with
our sins. Up to the moment of forgiveness they are
before his face, as it is written : " He hath set our
secret sins in the light of his countenance " — the light

358 THE FORGIVENESS OF SIN.

beyond the brightest glory of the sun. But when he
forgives, he puts our iniquities behind his back and so
stands between us and them forever.

We find an expression of like emphasis in the
words of Micah, " Thou wilt turn again and have
compassion ; thou wilt cast the sins of the people
into the depths of the sea." Was the prophet think-
ing of a stone that goes down, down into the depths
forever? Or shall we find the similitude in a burial
at sea, where the shotted, shrouded burden slips from
the plank and with a momentary splash disappears
from view? Nay, not so ; for there shall be a resur-
rection, the sea shall give up its dead ; but the sin
that is forgiven shall be seen no more forever.

In 1862 the British ship Enrica was fitted out as a
Confederate cruiser, to be commanded by Captain
Raphael Semmes. Her crew and armament were
British ; and she carried a British flag to use when
occasion required it. In the course of the next two
years she destroyed sixty-six American vessels and
millions upon millions of property. The "Alabama
Claims " have been settled in just arbitration ; but
the merchant marine of America has never recovered
from the blow. The Alabama never entered a south-
ern port, but cruised to and fro, capturing and burn-
ing everywhere. At length, early in the summer of
1864, she put into the harbor of Cherbourg, France,
for repairs. The Kearsarge, commanded by Captain
Winslow, which had long been pursuing her, anchored
at the entrance of the harbor. A meeting was inevi-
table. On the 19th day of June they joined battle
seven miles out. They were at close quarters for an
hour, firing shot and shell into each other ; then the
Alabama began to settle ; she quivered like a living

THE FORGIVENESS OF SIN. 359

thing and went down, down, fathoms down, among
the coral and sea-weed and slimy crawling things on
the bottom of the sea. There she has lain ever since ;
there she will lie until the end of time ; her iron rust-
ing, her timbers rotting, the fishes swimming through
her port holes. There is no resurrection for her. So
God sends our sins down, down, to the bottom of the
sea, never to be seen again, never to be heard of,
never to be remembered.

The ancients speak of a river called Lethe, flowing
through hell. The dead drank of it and forgot the
past. It is not we, however, who drink of Lethe. We
shall remember our sins, but only to praise the God
who has forgiven them. We shall look upon the pit
out of which we are delivered, and call upon our souls
and all that is within us to bless his holy name. Nay,
it is God who drinks of Lethe ; he forgets, he remem-
bers our sins no more against us.

Let it be observed that the forgiveness here vouch'
safed to us is only for Jesus' sake. There is no word
in Scripture to encourage hope otherwise. "There is
none other name under heaven given among men
whereby we must be saved." The atonement of the
cross furnishes the only theory of pardon which ever
has been suggested. The false religions are utterly de-
void of any hint of the forgiveness of sin. This is the
glory of our religion. The world believes in Karma,
the doctrine of retribution. "Whatsoever a man
soweth, that shall he also reap." It makes one shiver
to think of this philosophy of irrevocable death. It
was fifty years ago, or thereabouts, when Professor
Webster, of Harvard University, was tried for murder.
The man who sat in judgment on that occasion was
Chief Justice Shaw, who had been the college friend

360 THE FORGIVENESS OF SIN.

of the prisoner at the bar. When the jury returned
with its verdict of " Guilty," the judge was so over-
come that tears poured over his cheeks and he could
not speak. At length he arose to pronounce the
death sentence, saying, "The law must have its
course." Thanks be to God, the law need not have
its course at the Great Assize, '* for w^hat the lav/
could not do in that it was weak through the flesh"
— our sinful flesh — " God, sending his own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh, hath done for us." We believe
that through Jesus Christ there is forgiveness with
God.

But only through faith in him. Faith is the hand
stretched out to appropriate the unspeakable gift.
We shall probably agree that the strangling swimmer
who deliberately refuses to grasp the rope thrown to
him deserves to drown ; that the Jew who would not
eat of the manna that lay around his feet, plenteous
and white as hoar frost, deserved to starve ; that the
man who will not dip up the water of the fountain
and drink, deserves to perish of thirst. The great sal-
vation is offered to us on the sole condition of faith ;
"He that believeth on the Lord Jesus Christ shall be
saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned;"
that is, he who takes Christ to be the propitiation of
his "' ' shall live through him, but he who prefers to
^ ix.s own sins forever shall have his way. Who
Liien, shall complain ? And how shall we escape if we
neglect so great salvation ? Let us accept Christ,
therefore, and be grateful. Only believe ! Only be-
lieve ! And let our lives show that we believe in
Christ, and that in him we have received the forgive-
ness of sin.

THE GOLDEN WEDGE.

"Therefore, the children of Israel could not stand, but turned their backs be>
fore their enemies."— Josh. vii. 12.

The siege of Jericho was a singular performance.
In all the history of military tactics there was nothing
like it. It was never known that a city should be re-
duced by the simple tramp, tramping of a multitude,
in profound silence, and then a final blast of rams'
horns. It was manifestly the Lord's doing, and mar-
vellous in all the people's eyes. And, inasmuch as
God had planned the siege, and reduced the city with-
out any man's aid, it was obviously his right to affix
any conditions whatsoever to the triumph that might
please him. He said, accordingly, *' There must be no
looting, no plunder now." He was not going to have
the army of Israel develop into a mere mob of ma-
rauders. That would do for pagan nations, but not
for the people of God. He said that the city itself
should be devoted to destruction; it must be utterly
burned up, and the gold and the silver must be con-
secrated to the house of God; but there should be no
plunder. And so they went into Jericho.

Out in his tent on the hillside that night, in full
sight of the smoke that still rose from the burning
city, was a soldier who had in his possession a Baby-
lonish garment, a purse that contained two hun-

(361)

362 THE GOLDEN WEDGE.

dred shekels of silver, and a golden wedge. He was
all alone ; and he digged a hole in the ground, and
kneeled down and, folding up that precious Babylon-
ish garment, and looking around him to see if any-
one was watching him, he put it there. And he
opened the purse, and counted out the two hundred
shekels of silver, and replaced them, and placed it
also there. And the wedge of gold — how his eyes
sparkled as he laid it with the silver, and buried it !
And he looked about him, and said, " None seeth me."
But the eyes that ''run to and fro through all the
earth, beholding the evil and the good," were all the
w^hile looking down upon him.

The next morning it was proposed to take yonder
fortress that lay three thousand feet higher up the
mountain road that led into the Holy Land. A squad
of soldiers was sent up to reconnoitre, and they came
back and said, " We need not send the army up there;
it will be enough to send two or three regiments. It
is only a small garrison; we can easily overcome it."
So in the camp they watched the men going up, and
heard in the distance the sound of conflict; but soon
they saw their warriors come flying down like a flock
of sheep, for their hearts had melted like water within
them. Joshua, the man of battle, stood by, wondering;
he called the roll, and asked, ''Were ye overcome?
Did some great disaster fall upon you?" But they
were all there except thirty-six. They had not been
overwhelmed by numbers, or by superior strength.
What was it, then, that struck them with that sudden
panic, and sent them fleeing down the hillside?
Joshua, overwhelmed with shame, fell down upon
his face, and cried out, " Alas, that Israel should
have done this ! That an army of Israel should ever

THE GOLDEN WEDGE. 363

have failed to take the little fortress of Ai ! What
will the Canaanites say of it ? And what shall be said
for the name of the Lord, our God ? " Then a voice
said to him, "Rise up i Stand upon thy feet ! Why
liest thou here, mourning and lamenting ? There is
a golden wedge in the camp. One of thy soldiers
hath taken of the devoted, the unclean thing. Find
it; punish him; for, therefore, Israel hath not been
able to stand before the enemy, but hath turned his
back upon him." And it was proclaimed throughout
the camp that there was a malefactor who had taken
plunder, and that he was to be found out.

That was a terrible night for Achan. He lay in
his tent, with the Babylonish garment, and the
golden wedge, and the purse of shekels buried be-
neath him, and tossed, sleepless, like guilty Macbeth.
O, if he would only arise now, and get down upon
his knees, and make a clean breast of the whole mat-
ter before God ! O, if he would only leave his tent,
and fall before Joshua, and confess all ! "But," he
said to himself, " may be these are unfounded
qualms of mind. I shall never be found out."

The next morning the lot was taken, and the black
stone fell to the tribe of Judah ; and the rabbis say
that every man in Judah then drew his sword, and
vowed that the malefactor should die. The ballot was
cast again, and the black stone fell to the clan of the
Zerahites; again, and the black stone fell to the family
of Zabdi ; again, and Achan trembled to the centre
of his heart — for the black stone was in his hand!
What shall be done to the man who by his sin has
endangered all Israel, and put God's people to an
open shame ? It was at the very beginning of the
theocracy, and an exemplary punishment must be in-

364 THE GOLDEN WEDGE.

flicted upon him. He was taken out and stoned to
death, and his tent was burned. Then went the
army of Israel forward, and Ai fell, and the people
went in to possess the land.

I preached here a little while ago on the secret of
success. But success is a very extraordinary thing.
I doubt if there is a man or woman here who feels
that he or she has achieved it. I want to say some-
thing to you now about the secret of failure; and that
will touch every one of us.

As to the Church, I know how gloriously the bles-
sing of Heaven has rested upon the Church all along
the ages. The eleven men that came down the outer
stairway from that upper room have come to be four
hundred millions of people, scattered all over the
world, in more or less close connection with the
Church of God. It is a wonderful history — the
history of the universal Church of Christ. It is a
wonderful success — when we look at it from this
standpoint of our lower life. But O ! it is the colos-
sal failure of all the history of the universe, when we
look at it from the standpoint of the ideal, and the
possible, and the divinely-intended. "Go ye," said
the Master, to the people who were assembled upon
the Mount of Ascension, — " Go ye into all the world,
and preach the Gospel to every creature ; and, lo !
I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."
If they had only heeded ! There was a command —
" Go ye ! " There was a promise — " Lo ! I am with
you." Omniscience marked out the campaign.
Omnipotence was pledged to the ultimate triumph.
Yet here we are, after the lapse of eighteen weary
centuries, still watching the heavens, and wondering

THE GOLDEN WEDGE. 365

when the Lord will come. " O Lord, how long? how
long ? "

What is the trouble? Sin in the camp. The
Church of God is not what it ought to be. But for
the sin of the Church, the conquest of the world
would have been accomplished long centuries ago.
If you want to transmit an electric current and pro-
duce a tremendous power by it, you must be very
careful that the wires along which the power passes
shall be thoroughly insulated. There must be no loss of
power by contact with foreign things. I can place you
on an insulated stool, and turn a current of electricity
upon you; and if you will not touch anything, but hold
yourself aloof from everything that could possibly
conduct the power away from you, I will fill you so
full of electricity that it will go sparkling in electric
flashes from your finger tips. There will be con-
vulsions of power and earthquakes of energy within
you. O! if the Church had only stood there — ''Come
out from the world, and be ye separate, saith the
Lord: for I have chosen you to be an holy priesthood,
a peculiar people. Put away the unclean thing from
among you." That is the injunction which God is ever
addressing to his militant Church. If you want to
reduce Buddhism ; if you want to conquer Islam ; if
you want to destroy Confucianism ; if you want to
save the nations who are worshipping Fetish idols in
the darkness of death, put away the unclean thing
from you. "Loose thyself from thy bands; shake
thyself from the dust, O captive daughter of Jerusa-
lem." Let God energize thee. Then shalt thou be
God's people, and God himself shall be thy God.

But now as to the individual Christian — for it is
not a matter of great consequence to speak of the

^66 THE GOLDEN WEDGE.

Church in the abstract, or en masse. The Church is
what we individual Christians make it. From one
standpoint, it is a wonder that you are as good a
Christian man as you are. That is to be said to your
credit. " For we wrestle not against flesh and blood,
but against principalities and powers, against spiritual
wickedness in high places." We are constantly
opposed by the world, and the flesh, and the devil;
and it is a wonder to me that we Christian people
are half as good as we are reputed to be. What was
it that Baxter said? "I am not what I ought to
be ; I am not what I hope to be ; I am not what I
mean to be ; but by the grace of God I am what I
am!"

So you have made a success of it, if you look at
the Christian life from the lower levels ; but if you
occupy the standpoint of the ideal and the possible,
O, what a colossal failure you and I have made of it !
"Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on
a hill cannot be hid. Let your light so shine before
men that they may see your good works, and glorify
God." How is it that you have been thwarted in
your best resolutions ? How is it that you have risen
in the morning, and made your prayer of consecra-
tion, and gone out to meet the world, and come back
defeated, as the soldiers of Israel came back along
that mountain road from Ai ? And then you have
kneeled down to say, as David did — '* Have mercy
upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness, and
according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot
out my transgressions; for I have sinned." How is
it that when you have made your best resolutions you
have, after all, come to say with Paul : "I find a law
in my members, so that the good that 1 would, I

THE GOLDEN WEDGE. 367

do not ; and the evil that I would not, that I do ; who
shall deliver me from the body of this death?"
There it is — the corpse tied to the swimmer's neck, and
he strangling and struggling for his life. But who
shall deliver me from this sin, this very body of death ?

That is the trouble with us — the old, the darling
sin, the long-cherished habit, that is continually get-
ting the better of us. It seems a little matter. In,
one of the fairy tales that we used to read when we
were children, there was a princess immured in a dun-
geon, who after a while found a secret passage, and
crept along in the dark until she came within sight
of an open door, and made her way toward it. But
here was a spider's thread. She paused, and drew
it aside, and there was another ; and she paused, and
drew that aside, and there was another ; and presently
she was in the meshes of a million spiders' threads.
And she sat down and wept, and gave up the struggle.
That is the story of many a Christian life. The little
sin, year after year, loved and cherished — the darling
sin — enmeshes and destroys us.

But here is a word also for those who never have
professed to be the followers of Christ. I give the
average man who does not love the Lord Jesus Christ
credit for many excellent hopes and purposes and
earnest resolutions. We cannot get rid of the fact
that we were made in the likeness of God. You
may not have prayed this morning. It is probable
that there is a man in this congregation who did not
have the grace, after sleeping in God's arms all night,
and being cared for by his providence, to get down
before him this morning and say, " I thank you." But
no matter how far you have wandered from God, you
know that you were born of God ; you feel stirring^

368 THE GOLDEN WEDGE.

within you the impulses of your better nature. I
believe in total depravity, but not in any such sense as
that the man who is depraved has nothing that is natu-
rally good in him. You may be a kind husband, an
intelligent father, a good neighbor, and a loyal
citizen ; you may be a good man, as men go, and
looked at from the earthly standpoint; but if you look
at yourself from the standpoint of the ideal and the
possible, your life has been a lamentable failure, and
you have met with a stupendous defeat. You are
not what you ought to be.

A man came to me recently, and said, " I am in a
little trouble, and I want to talk with you. Now,
don't tell me to repent, and think I come to you as a
sinner, because I am not a sinner ; " and I opened my
eyes, for that is a very extraordinary thing — "I am
not a sinner, and I don't need to repent ; but I am
just dead weary of a life of mere self-gratification.
I have got enough of this world's goods ; I have a
surplus of energy, and I am doing nothing for any-
body, and I am just weary of living this way." De-
feated, thwarted, tired out ! Why is it ? What is
the matter ? Sin ! Sin ! Paralyzing, debilitating, un-
nerving, unmanning sin ! If you don't get rid of it,
my brother, it will be the death of you. Sin kills. It
ruins us while we are going on toward eternity. It
meets us at every step. It lays upon our hearts a
burden beyond what we are able to bear, and ulti-
mately consigns us to spiritual and eternal death —
or else there is not a word of truth in that old-
fashioned Book of ours.

You may have seen the instrument of torture in
the castle of Nuremberg, that is called "The Virgin."
Her arms were open, and the victim of the Inquisi-

THE GOLDEN WEDGE. 369

tion was commanded to embrace her. As he obeyed,
a knife pierced his eye, a knife pierced his temple, a
knife pierced his breast, knives pierced him every-
where. That was quick death. It is not always so
sudden, but sin is sure death.

What is needed ? Up ! Consecrate yourselves !
Get rid of sin, as you love life ! Get rid of the old
sin that has been accumulating upon you in the mis-
lived past ! How will you get rid of it ? You can-
not wash your hands, like Pilate, in a basin of water
and get rid of it. The laver stood before the altar.
The cross of Jesus Christ is both laver and altar. A
fountain gushes out from the rock beneath the cross
— "a fountain opened for all uncleanness." Come,
my friend; you have failed everywhere else. You
know your infirmity. You know you will be thwarted
and defeated if you keep on this way. Come, and
kneel down here at Calvary. " Come, now, saith the
Lord; let us reason together. Though your sins are
as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they
be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." "The
blood of Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God,
cleanseth usfrom all sin." It is the old message; but,
my brother, it is the message of life to you.

And having done that, what then ? Christians all,
now, let us see to it that we cherish no sin henceforth
and forever ; that we bury no golden wedges in our
tent. When Madagascar became a Christian island,
and the Hovas surrendered to Christ, the Queen was
baptized, and there was a solemn day of consecration,
in which the great image was brought from the temple,
and the smaller idols were brought from the Hovas'
homes, a great bonfire was made, and the idolatry of
the island was burned up. But there was something

3/0 'IHE GOLDEN WEDGE.

wrong. The Queen herself, long afterwards, came to
the missionaries and took from her neck a little black
image, only three inches long, which she had still
cherished, and worn as an amulet there. The royal
idol ! The darling sin ! Not until that was surren-
dered, could she become a Christian Queen. Not
until the last idol w^as burned, was the Island of Mad-
agascar given to Christ. Let us surrender all. Let
us consecrate all. Let us not touch the unclean
thing. The secret of failure is devotion to any sin.
The secret of success is —

" Here, Lord, I give myself away,
'Tis all that I can do."

The secret of success is insulation from the world ;
consecration to truth, and goodness, to the love of
Jesus Christ, and the service of God.

A

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