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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/12529-0.txt b/12529-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9bf503b --- /dev/null +++ b/12529-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4509 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12529 *** + +QUIET TALKS ON SERVICE + +by + +S. D. GORDON + +Author of "Quiet Talks on Power" and "Quiet Talks on Prayer" + +1906 + + + + + + + +Contents + + + +Personal Contact with Jesus: The Beginning of Service +The Triple Life: The Perspective of Service +Yokefellows: The Rhythm of Service +A Passion for Winning Men: The Motive-power of Service +Deep-Sea Fishing: The Ambition of Service +Money: The Golden Channel of Service +Worry: A Hindrance to Service +Gideon's Band: Sifted for Service + + + + +Personal Contact With Jesus: The Beginning of Service. + + + + The Beginning of an Endless Friendship. + An Ideal Biography. + The Eyes of the Heart. + We are Changed. + The Outlook Changed. + Talking with Jesus. + Getting Somebody Else. + The True Source of Strong Service. + + + + +Personal Contact With Jesus: The Beginning of Service. + +(John i:35-51.) + + + +The Beginning of an Endless Friendship. + + +About a quarter of four one afternoon, three young men were standing +together on a road leading down to a swift-running river. It was an old +road, beaten down hard by thousands of feet through hundreds of years. It +led down to the river, and then along its bank through a village +scatteringly nestled by the fords of the river. The young men were +intently absorbed in conversation. + +One of them was a man to attract attention anywhere. He was clearly the +leader of the three. His clothing was very plain, even to severeness. His +face was spare, suggesting a diet as severely plain as his garments. The +abundance of dark hair on head and face brought out sharply the spare, +thoughtful, earnest look of his face. His eyes glowed like coals of living +fire beneath the thick, bushy eyebrows. He talked quietly but intensely. +There was a subdued vigor and force about his very person. + +One of the others was a very different type of man. He was intense too, +like the leader, but there was a fineness and a far-looking depth about +his eye such as suggests a gray eye rather than a black. His hair was +softer and finer, and his skin too. In him intensity seemed to blend with +a fine grain in his whole make-up. The third man was a quiet, +matter-of-fact looking fellow. He did not talk much, except to ask an +occasional question. The three men were engaged in earnest conversation, +when a fourth man, a stranger, came down the road and, passing the three +by, went on ahead. + +The leader of the three called the attention of his companions to the +stranger. At once they leave his side and go after the stranger. As they +nearly catch up to him, he unexpectedly turns and in a kindly voice asks, +"Whom are you looking for?" Taken aback by the unexpected question, they +do not answer, but ask where he is going. Quickly noticing the point of +their question, he cordially says, "Come over and take tea with me." + +They gladly accepted the invitation, and spent the evening with him. And +the friendship begun that day continued to the end of their lives. Both +became his dear friends. And one, the fine-grained, intense man, became +his closest bosom friend. He never forgot that day. When he came years +after to write about his hospitable friend, found that afternoon, he could +remember every particular of their first meeting. We must always be +grateful to John for his simple, full account of his first meeting with +Jesus. + + + +An Ideal Biography. + + +His simple story of that afternoon contains in it the three steps that +begin all service. They looked at Jesus; they talked with Jesus; forever +to the end of their lives they talked about Him. Here are the two personal +contacts that underlie all service, that lead into all service. The close +personal contact with Jesus begun and continued. And then personal contact +with other men ever after. The first always leads to the second. The power +and helpfulness of the second grow out of the first. + +There is a little line in the story that may serve as a graphic biography +of John the Herald. There could be no finer biography of anybody of whom +it could be truly written. It is this: "Looking upon Jesus as He walked, +he said look." He himself was absorbed in looking. Jesus caught him from +the first. He was ever looking. And he asked others to look. His whole +ministry was summed up in pointing Jesus out to others. + +He was ever insisting that men look at Jesus. Looking, he said "look." +His lips said it, and life said it. John's presence was always spelling +out that word "look," with his whole life an index finger pointing to +Jesus. If we might be like that. Every man of us may be in his life, in +the great unconscious influence of his presence, a clearly lettered +signpost pointing men to the Master. All true service begins in personal +contact with Jesus. One cannot know Him personally without catching the +warm contagion of His spirit for others. And there is a fine fragrance, a +gentle, soft warmth, about the service that grows out of being with Him. + +The beginning of John's contact with Jesus that day, and Andrew's, was in +looking. Their friend the herald bid them look. They found him looking. +They did as he was doing. Following the line of his eyes, and of his +teaching too, and of his life, they looked at Jesus. And as they looked +the sight of their eyes began to control them. They left John and +quickened their pace to get nearer to this Man at whom they were looking. +There never was a finer tribute to a man's faithfulness to his Master than +is found in these men leaving John. They could not help going. They had +been led by John into the circle of Jesus' attractive power. And at once +they are irresistibly drawn toward its center. + +The basis of the truest devotion and deepest loyalty to Jesus is not in a +creed but in Himself. There must be creeds. Whatever a man believes is of +course his creed. Though as quickly as he puts it into words he narrows +it. Truth is always more than any statement of it. Faith is always greater +than our words about it. We do not see Jesus with our outer eyes as did +these men in the Gospel narrative. We cannot put out our hands in any such +way as Thomas did and know by the feel. We must listen first to somebody +telling about Him. + +We listen either with eyes on the Book, or ears open to some faithful +mutual friend of His and ours. What we hear either way is a creed, +somebody's belief about Jesus. So we come to Jesus first through a creed, +somebody's belief, somebody's telling: so we know there is a Jesus, and +are drawn to Himself. When we come to know Himself, always afterwards He +is more than anything anybody ever told us, and more than we can ever +tell. + + + +The Eyes of the Heart. + + +Looking at Jesus--what does it mean practically? It means hearing about +Him first, then actually appealing to Him, accepting His word as personal +to one's self, putting Him to the test in life, trusting His death to +square up one's sin score, trusting His power to clean the heart and +sweeten the spirit, and stiffen the will. It means holding the whole life +up to His ideals. Aye, it means more yet; something on His side, an +answering look from Him. There comes a consciousness within of His love +and winsomeness. That answering look of His holds us forever after His +willing slaves, love's slaves. Paul speaks of the eyes of the heart. It is +with these eyes we look at Him, and receive His answering look. + +There are different ways of looking at Jesus, degrees in looking. Our +experiences with Jesus affect the eyes of the heart. When this same John +as an old man was writing that first epistle, he seems to recall his +experience in looking that first day. He says "that which we have _seen_ +with our eyes, that which we _beheld_."[1] From seeing with the eyes he +had gone to earnest, thoughtful _gazing_, caught with the vision of what +he saw. That was John's own experience. It is everybody's experience that +gets a look at Jesus. When the first looking sees something that catches +fire within, then does the inner fire affect the eye and more is seen. + +You have been in a strange city walking down the street, looking with +interest at what is there. But all at once you are caught by a sign that +contains a familiar name, and at once a whole flood of memories is +awakened. + +The little Jericho Jew peering down from the low out-reaching sycamore +branch was full of curiosity to see the Man that had changed his old +friend Levi Matthew so strangely. But that curiosity quickly changes into +something far deeper and more tender as Jesus comes to abide in his own +home. + +That lonely-lifed, sore-hearted woman on the Nain road looked with +startled wonder out of those wet eyes of hers as Jesus begins talking to +her dead son. What love and faith must have been in her looking as Jesus +with fine touch brings her boy by the hand over to her warm embrace again! + + + +We are Changed. + + +Looking at Jesus _changes us._ Paul's famous bit in the second Corinthian +letter has a wondrous tingle of gladness in it. "We all with open face +beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are changed from glory to +glory."[2] The change comes through our looking. The changing power comes +in through the eyes. It is the glory of the Lord that is seen. The +glorious Jesus looking in through our looking eyes changes us. It is +gradual. It is ever more, and yet more, till by and by His own image comes +out fully in our faces. + +We become like those with whom we associate. A man's ideals mold him. +Living with Jesus makes us look like Himself. We are familiar with the +work that has been done in restoring old fine paintings. A painting by one +of the rare old master painters is found covered with the dust of decades. +Time has faded out much of the fine coloring and clearly marked outlines. +With great patience and skill it is worked over and over. And something of +the original beauty, coming to view again, fully repays the workman for +all his pains. + +The original image in which we were made has been badly obscured and faded +out. But if we give our great Master a chance He will restore it through +our eyes. It will take much patience and a skill nothing less than divine. +But the original will surely come out more and more till we shall again be +like the original, for we shall _see_ Him as He is. + +The old German artist Hoffmann is said to visit at intervals the royal +gallery in Dresden, where he lives, to touch up his paintings there. Even +so our Master, living in us, keeps touching us up that the full beauty of +His ideal may be brought out. + +How often a girl growing up into the fullness of her mature young +womanhood calls out the remark, "You are growing more and more like your +mother." And the similar remark is heard of a young man developing the +traits and features of his father. + +There is a law of unconscious assimilation. We become like those with whom +we go. Without being conscious of it we take on the characteristics of +those with whom we live. I remember one time my brother returned home for +a visit after a prolonged absence. As we were walking down the street +together he said to me, "You have been going with Denning a good deal"--a +mutual friend of ours. Surprised, I said, "How do you know I have?" He +said, "You walk just like him." What my brother had said was strictly +true, though he did not know it. Our friend had a very decided way of +walking. As a matter of fact, we had been walking home from the Young +Men's Christian Association three or four nights every week. And +unconsciously I had grown to imitate his way of walking. + +That sentence of Paul's has also this meaning, "We all with open face +_reflecting_ as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are changed." We stand +between Him and those who don't know Him. We are the mirror catching the +rays of His face and sending them down to those around. And not only do +those around see the light--His light--in us, but we are being changed all +the while. For others' sake as well as our own the mirror should be kept +clean, and well polished so the reflection will be distinct and true. + + + +The Outlook Changed. + + +Looking at Jesus _changes the world for us._ It is as though the light of +His eyes fills our eyes and we see things all around as He sees them. Have +you ever gone out, as a child, and looked intently at the sun, repressing +the flinching its strength caused and insisting on looking? You could do +it for a short time only. It made your eyes ache. But as you turned your +eyes away from its brilliance you found everything changed. You remember a +beautiful yellow glory-light was over everything, and every ugly jagged +thing was softened and beautified by that glow in your eyes. Looking at +the sun had changed the world for you for a little. + +It is something like that on this higher plane, in this finer sense. That +must have been something of Paul's thought in explaining the glory of +Jesus that he saw on the Damascus road. "When I could not see for the +glory of that light." The old ideals were blurred. The old ambitions faded +away. The jagged, sharp lines of sacrifice and suffering involved in his +new life were not clearly seen. A halo had come over them. + +I recall a bit of a poem I ran across in an old magazine somewhere. It was +one of those vagrant, orphan poems with fine family lineaments that find +their way unfathered into odd corners of papers. It told about a man +riding on horseback through a bit of timber land in one of the cotton +states of the South. + +It was a bright October day, and he was riding along enjoying the air and +view, when all at once he came across a bit of a clearing in the trees, +and in the clearing an old cabin almost fallen to pieces, and in the +doorway of the cabin an old negress standing. Her back was bent nearly +double with the years of hard work, her face dried up and deeply bitten +with wrinkles, and her hair white. But her eyes were as bright as two +stars out of the dark blue, it said. + +And the man called out cheerily, "Good-morning, auntie, living here all +alone?" And she looked up, with her eyes brighter yet with the thought in +her heart, and in a shrill keyed-up voice said, "Jes me 'n' Jesus, massa." +But he said a hush came over the whole place, there seemed a halo about +the old broken-down cabin, and he thought he could see Somebody standing +by her side looking over her shoulder at him, and His form was like that +of the Son of God. + +How poor and limited and mean her world looked to him as he rode up. But +how quickly everything changed as he saw it through her seeing of it. With +the keen insight into spirit things so often found in such simplicity +among her race, she had gotten the whole simple philosophy of life. Her +world was changed and beautiful in the loneliness of the woods by reason +of her Master's presence. + +This removes the commonplace at once clear out of one's life. There is no +drudgery nor humdrum nor hardship, because everything is for Jesus, and +seen through His eyes. Whatever comes in the pathway of his work is +gladdest joy, whether an obscure narrow round of home work or shop or +store, or leaving home for a strange land far across the sea with a +peculiarly uncongenial spirit atmosphere. Contact with Jesus, seeing Him, +changes all for us. + + + +Talking with Jesus. + + +These two men in the story went from their first looking into closer +contact. They looked at Jesus. Then they talked with Jesus. It was at His +own request. He wanted them. He wanted their friendship and their help. +Having started, it was easy for them to go. Having seen, they naturally +wanted more. At least two hours they talked, maybe longer. Judging by what +they did as soon as they got away, it was a most wonderful talk for them. + +This Jesus took them at once. His face, His presence, His talk, Himself +filled all their sky. Everything swung around into a new setting. He was +its center. All things began to adjust themselves for these men about +Jesus. He was irresistible to them. These two men went through some most +trying experiences as a result of the friendship formed that evening hour, +but these counted not in the scale with _Him_. They never got over the +talk with Him that twilight hour. + +That two hours' talk lengthened out into many another during the years +immediately after. They got into the habit of referring everything to Him, +and of judging everything by what He would think. It was so clear to the +end of their lives. For a little over three years did they keep Him by +their side actually, physically. But the habit of keeping Him there was +fixed for all the longer after years. The looking at Jesus and talking +with Jesus ever went side by side clear to the end of the years. + +It will be so. Getting a good look at this Master draws one off into the +quiet corner with the Book to listen and talk and learn more. And out of +this naturally grows (if one will give a little attention to good +gardening rules) the habit of talking with Him all the time. In the thick +of the crowd, in the solitude of one's duties, with hands full of work, +the heart talks with Him and listens, and sometimes the tongue talks out +too. Our common word for it is prayer. Prayer precedes true service, and +produces it, and sweetens it. Only the service that grows up naturally out +of this personal contact with Jesus counts and tells and weighs for the +most. + + + +Getting Somebody Else. + + +These two men went away from Jesus that evening only to come back with +some others. They went from talking with Him to talking with others for +Him. Their personal contact was the beginning of their service. This is +one of the famous personal work chapters. There are three "findeths" in +it. Andrew findeth his brother Peter. That was a great find. John in his +modesty doesn't speak of it, but in all likelihood he findeth James _his_ +brother. Jesus findeth Philip and Philip in turn findeth Nathaniel, the +guileless man. + +That word findeth is very suggestive, even to being picturesque. It tells +the absence of these other men. Their whereabouts might be guessed, but +were not known. There was in the searchers a purpose, and a warmth in the +heart under that purpose. As Andrew looked and listened he said to +himself, "Peter must hear this; Peter must see this Man." And perhaps he +asks to be excused and, reaching for his hat, hastens out to get his +brother and bring him back to the house. He wants more himself, but he'll +get it with Peter in too. And so it would be with John likely. + +Peter had to be searched for. Most men do. He was probably absorbed with +all his impulsive intensity in some matter on hand. May be Andrew had to +pull quite a bit to get him started. But he got him. Andrew was a good +sticker: hard to shake him off. His is a fine name for a brotherhood of +personal workers. And when Peter once got started he never quit going. He +stumbled some, but he got up, and got up only to go on. Most men need some +one to get them started. There's need of more starters, more of us +starting people moving Jesus' way. + +I think the memory of this evening's work with Peter must have come back +very vividly to Andrew one morning a few years afterwards. It's up on the +hills of Judea, in Jerusalem. There's a great crowd of people standing in +the streets, filling the space for a great distance. There are some +thousands of them. They are listening spellbound to a man talking. It is +Peter. And down there near by, maybe holding Peter's hat while he talks, +is Andrew. His eyes are glowing. And if you might listen to his heart +talking, I think you would hear it saying softly, "I'm so glad I brought +Peter that evening I met Jesus." Peter's talk that day swung three +thousand men and women over to Jesus. Somebody has said that if Peter were +their spiritual father, certainly Andrew was their spiritual grandfather. +And I think God reckons the thing that way, too. + +There is a great deal of good talk these days about regenerating society. +It used to be that men talked about "reaching the masses." Now the other +putting of it is commoner. It is helpful talk whichever way it is put. The +Gospel of Jesus is to affect all society. It _has_ affected all society, +and is to more and more. But the thing to mark keenly is this, the key to +the mass is the man. The way to regenerate society is to start on the +individual. + +The law of influence through personal contact is too tremendous to be +grasped. You influence one man and you have influenced a group of men, and +then a group around each man of the group, and so on endlessly. +Hand-picked fruit gets the first and best market. The keenest marksmen are +picked out for the sharpshooters' corps. + + + +The True Source of Strong Service. + + +One morning with a friend I walked out of the city of Geneva to where the +waters of the lake flow with swift rush into the Rhone. And we were both +greatly interested in the strange sight which has impressed so many +travellers. There are two rivers whose waters come together here, the +Rhone and the Arve, the Arve flowing into the Rhone. The waters of the +Rhone are beautifully clear and sparkling. The waters of the Arve come +through a clayey soil and are muddy, gray, and dull. And for a long +distance the two waters are wholly distinct. Two rivers of water are in +one river-bed, on one side the sparkling blue Rhone water, on the other +the dull gray Arve water, and the line between the two sharply defined. +And so it continues for a long distance. Then gradually they blend and the +gray begins to tinge all through the blue. + +I went to the guide-book and maps to find out something about this river +that kept on its way undefiled by its neighbor for so long. Its source is +in a glacier that is between ten thousand and eleven thousand feet high, +descending "from the gates of eternal night, at the foot of the pillar of +the sun." It is fed continually by the melting glacier which, in turn, is +being kept up by the snows and cold. Rising at this great height, ever +being renewed steadily by the glacier, it comes rushing down the swift +descent of the Swiss Alps through the lake of Geneva and on. There is the +secret of purity, side by side with its dirty neighbor. + +Our lives must have their source high up in the mountains of God, fed by a +ceaseless supply. Only so can there be the purity, and the momentum that +shall keep us pure, and keep us _moving_ down in contact with men of the +earth. And we must keep closer to the source than is the Rhone at Geneva, +else the streams flowing alongside will unduly influence us. Constant +personal contact with Jesus is the beginning ever new of service. + + + + +The Triple Life: The Perspective of Service. + + + + On An Errand for Jesus. + The Parting Message. + A Secret Life of Prayer. + An Open Life of Purity. + An Active Life of Service. + The Perspective of True Service. + A Long Time Coming. + + + + +The Triple Life: The Perspective of Service. + +(Luke ix:1-6; x:1-3, 17; John xx:19-23; Matthew xxviii:18-20.) + + + +On An Errand for Jesus. + + +You remember there were four times that Jesus picked out a group of men, +and sent them on a special errand. About the middle of the second year of +His public life, He chose out twelve men and commissioned them for a +special bit of work. Six months before the tragic end, He chose seventy +others and sent them out in twos into all the places He was planning to +visit Himself. It was a remarkable campaign for carrying the news which He +was preaching into all the villages of that whole country through which +His journey south lay. + +Then the evening of that never-to-be-forgotten resurrection day, under +wholly changed conditions, He again commissions ten men of that first +twelve. Things had radically changed with Jesus. And there had been a bad +break in the loyalty of these men. Two of their number are absent. Judas +has gone to his own place, and Thomas was not there that evening. His +absence cost him a week of doubting and mental distress. Ten of the old +inner circle are commissioned anew. And then do you remember the last time +they were together? It was about six weeks later, on the rounded top of +the old Olives Mount, the eleven men with the Master. Four times He +commissioned a group of men for some service He wanted done. + +There are two things in these four commissions that make them alike. The +same two things are in each. The first thing is this: they are bidden to +"go." That ringing word "go ye" is in, each time. "As the Father hath sent +Me even so send I you." It is a familiar word to every follower of Jesus +then, and now, and always. A true follower of His always is stirred by a +spirit of _"go."_ A going Christian is a growing Christian. A going church +has always been a growing church. Those ages when the church lost the +vision of her Master's face on Olives, and let other sounds crowd out of +her ears the sound of His voice, were stagnant ages. They are commonly +spoken of in history as the dark ages. "Go" is the ringing keynote of the +Christian life, whether in a man or in the church. + +The second thing found always in each of these commissions is this: they +were qualified, or empowered to go. Whom God calls He always qualifies. +Where His voice comes His Spirit breathes. If there has come to you some +bit of a call to service, to teach a class, or write a special letter, or +speak a word, or take up something needing to be done. And you hesitate. +You think that you cannot. You are not fit, you think, not qualified. The +thing to do is to do it. + +If the call is clear go ahead. Need is one of the strong calling voices of +God. It is always safe to respond. Put _out_ your foot in the answering +swing, even though you cannot see clearly the place to put it _down_. God +attends to that part. Power comes _as we go_. + + + +The Parting Message. + + +Just now I want to talk with you a bit about the last one of these +commissions, the Olivet commission. I do not know just what day it was +given or at what hour. But I have thought it was in the twilight of a +Sabbath evening. There's a yellow glow of light filling all the western +sky running along the broken line of those hills yonder, and through the +trees, and in upon this group of men standing. + +Here in full view lies little Bethany fragrant with memories of Jesus' +power. Over yonder, those tree tops down in a bit of valley with the +brook--that is _Gethsemane_. And farther over there is the fortress city +of _Jerusalem_. And just outside its wall is the bit of a knoll called +_Calvary_. Here under these trees every night that last week of the +tragedy Jesus had slept out in the open, with His seamless coat wrapped +about Him. This is the spot He chooses for the good-by word. It is full of +most precious, fragrant memories. + +Here is the man who has been Simon, but out of whom a new man was coming +these days, Peter, the man of rock. And here are John and James, sons of +fire and of thunder, sons of their mother. And there, little Scotch +Andrew. At least our Scotch friends seem to have adopted him as their very +own. And close by his side is his friend with the Greek name, Philip. And +here the man to whom Jesus paid the great tribute of naming him the +guileless man. + +And the others, not so well known to us, but very well known to Jesus, and +to be not a whit less faithful than their brothers these coming days. But +somehow as you look you are at once irresistibly drawn past these to +_Him_--the Man in the midst. The Man with the great face, torn with the +thorns, and cut with the thongs, but shining with a sweet, wondrous, +beauty light. + +It is the last time they are together. He is going away; coming back soon, +they understand. They do not know just how soon. But meanwhile in His +absence they are to be as He Himself would be if He remained among men. +They are to stand for Him. And so with eyes fixed on His face they look, +and listen, and wonder a bit, just what the last word will be. + +What would you expect it to be? It was the good-by word between men who +were lovers, dearest friends. The tenderest thing would be said and the +most important. The one going away would speak of that which lay closest +down in His own heart. And whatever He might say would sink deepest into +their hearts, and control their action in the after days. + +He had been talking to them very insistently, about an hour before, down +in the city, about _waiting there_ until the Holy Spirit came upon them. +And that word has fastened itself into their minds with newly sharpened +hooks of steel points. Now He talks about their being His witnesses, here +at home among their own folks, and out among their half-breed Samaritan +neighbors, whom they didn't like, and then--with eyes looking yearningly +out and finger pointing steadily out--to the farthest reach of the planet. +And now, as He is about to go, this is the word that comes from those +lips: + + "All power hath been given unto Me. + Therefore go ye, + And make disciples of all nations." + + + +A Secret Life of Prayer. + + +There are four things in that good-by word. Three are directly spoken, and +one is not spoken, but directly implied. First is this, your chief work is +to win men. That is directly said. The second is implied--it is the +toughest task you ever undertook. That is implied in this that it will +take more power than they have. A power that only He has. A supernatural +power. And we all know how true that is. Of all luggage man is the hardest +to move. He _won't_ move unless he _will_. Every man of us that has ever +tried to change somebody's else purpose knows how impossible it is unless +by the inward pull. You simply _cannot_ without the man's consent. The +third thing is this: I have all the power needed. The fourth this: _You_ +go. + +And the Master meant to tell them, and to tell us, this: that a man should +lead a triple life, three lives in one. We sometimes hear of a man leading +a double life in a bad sense. In a good sense, every one of us should be +living a triple life, three distinct lives in one. The first of these +three lives is this: _a secret life, lived with Jesus, hidden from the +eyes of men_. An inner life of closest contact with Him, that the outside +folks know nothing about. + +Notice again the four statements in that good-by word. Your chief concern +is to win men. It is the toughest task you ever undertook: it will take +supernatural power. I have all the power you need. Instinctively you feel +as though the fourth thing should be, "I will go." That would seem to be +the logical conclusion. "No," Jesus says, "_you go_." Plainly if we are to +do something taking supernatural power, and we haven't any such power of +ourselves, there must be the closest kind of contact with the source of +power. The man who is to go must be in the most intimate contact with the +Man who has the powers needed in the going. + +And this is simply a law of all life, given to us here by life's greatest +Philosopher. The seen depends upon the secret always. The outer keys upon +the inner. The life that men see depends wholly upon the life that only +the Master sees. David had power to slay the lion and bear in secret, away +from the gaze of men, before he had power to slay the giant before the +wondering eyes of two nations. The closet becomes the swivel of the +street. + +In crossing the ocean there are two great dangers to be dreaded and +guarded against, aside from the storms that may arise. The greater of +these is an abandoned ship. One that through some stress of storm has been +left by the sailors in the attempt to save their lives. It is most +dangerous because it sends no warning ahead of its presence. In crossing +the Atlantic by the more northern routes the other danger is from the +icebergs that may be met in the steamer's path. If a fog obscure the +lookout the boat is slowed down, and a man kept busy with line and +thermometer taking the temperature of the water. The iceberg is kindlier +than the derelict, in the chill it sends out. The presence of the danger +can so be detected, and measures taken to avoid it. + +But the great danger here is not simply in the huge mountain of ice that +you see looming up against the sky, great as that is. It is in the unseen +ice. Hidden away below is a mountain of ice twice as large and heavy as +that seen above the water's surface. The danger lies in the terrific force +of a blow from this hidden pile that would crush the strongest steel +steamer, as I might crush an egg-shell in my fingers. + +We all admire the beauty of the trees that rear their heads, and send out +their branches, and make the world so beautiful with their soft green +foliage. But have you thought of the twin tree, the unseen tree that +belongs to these we see? For every tree that grows up and out with its +beauty and fruit there is another. The twin tree goes down and out. + +Sometimes, as far as this we see goes _up_, the other goes _down_; as far +as the branches go out so far do the underneath branches go out, +sometimes farther. This unseen tree is ever busy drawing moisture, and +food from the soil and sending it, ceaselessly sending it, up to the upper +tree. The beauty and fruitfulness above are because of this secret life of +the tree. + +I remember as a boy going to the bathroom in our home one day to draw some +water. But none came. There were a few drops, and some sputtering--there's +very apt to be sputtering when there is nothing else--but no flow of +water. And I wondered why. Soon I found that the main pipe in the street +was being fixed, and the water had been cut off at the curb. There was +water in the pipe clear from the curbstone up to the spigot, but I could +not get it because the reservoir connection under the ground had been +turned off. + +I have met some people since then that made me think of that. There is a +reservoir of water, clear and sweet, with which they have had connection, +and are supposed still to have. But when some thirsty body comes up for a +bit of refreshment, there's some sputtering, some noise, may be a few +stray drops--but no more. And folks seem thirstier because they were +expecting a cool, satisfying drink that never came. + +I think I know why it is so. The secret connection with the reservoir has +been tampered with. There _must_ be the secret contact with Jesus +cultivated habitually if there is to be a sweet, strong outer life. And +not cultivated by hothouse methods. Such plants won't stand the chilly air +outside the glass-house. Cultivated by natural, simple contact with Jesus, +over His Word, habitually, until everything comes under the influence of +that secret life. + +One day a man was standing on a busy downtown thoroughfare in Cleveland +waiting for a car. There was a thick, dirty wire hanging down from the +cross arm high up of the wire pole. He happened to stop there. And +absorbed in thought, he mechanically put out his hand and took hold of the +wire. Instantly a look of intense agony came into his face. His arm, and +whole body began twisting and writhing. Then he fell to the ground +lifeless. The dirty-looking wire had direct connections with the +power-house. It was throbbing with a strong current. It was a "live" wire. + +Some men who have seemed quite unattractive in the light of some modern +standards have been found on touch to be charged with a life current of +tremendous power. And some others, outwardly more attractive, have been +found to be as powerless as a dead wire. And some there have been, and +are, very winsome and attractive in themselves, and charged with the life +current too. The great thing is the secret connections carefully +maintained with the source of power. + +There must be the closest kind of touch with God if His plan through us +for a planet is to carry out. We do not run on the storage battery plan, +but on the trolley plan, or the third rail. There must be constant full +touch with the feed wire or rail. And that "must" should be spelled in +capitals, and printed in red, and triply underscored. + +A man _must_ plan for the bit of quiet time daily, preferably in the early +morning, alone with Jesus; with the door shut, the Book open, the spirit +quiet, the mind alert, the knee bent, the will bent too. If it be +resolutely _planned_ for it can be gotten in every life. If not planned +for with a bit of red iron in the will, it will surely slip out. And the +man will surely slip down. + +Here is found the spirit in which a man may live all the day long, +wherever his feet may tread, in the fierce competition of trade, or in the +deadly enervation of some society circles. Out of such a man shall +breathe, all unconsciously to himself, an atmosphere fragrant as a +mountain breeze over a field of wild roses. This is the first life Jesus +bids us live. + + + +An Open Life of Purity. + + +The second life we are to live is the exact reverse of this. It is indeed +the outer side of this: _an open life of purity lived among men for +Jesus_. Note again the logic of that good-by word. Your chief business is +to be down there in the thick of the crowd, winning men out of the dust +and dirt up into a new life of purity. It is the hardest job any man ever +undertook. It is practically impossible unless you have a power quite more +than human. Jesus quietly says, "I have the power that will do it." + +Again you feel that He must say next, "_I_ will go." The thing must be +done. It is the one thing worth while. It will require a power we haven't. +_He_ has it. You feel as though _He_ must do the going. "No," He says, +with great emphasis. "_You_ go. You be I; you live my life over again, +down there among men." The "Ye" and "Me" in that sentence are meant to be +interchangeable words. + +He is asking us to live His life over again among men. No, it is more than +that. He is asking us to let Him live His life over again in each of us. +The Man with the power that men can't resist would reach out to them +_through us._ He would be touching them in us. Jesus said, "As the Father +hath sent Me, even so send I you." He said again, "He that hath seen Me +hath seen the Father." Jesus embodied the Father to men. He asks us to +take His place and embody Himself to men. + +Paul understood this thoroughly. In writing to the friends throughout +Galatia, whom he had won up to Jesus, he says, "I have been crucified +with Christ." There is an old dead "I." "Nevertheless I live." There is a +new living "I." "Yet not I--the old I--but Christ liveth in me." _He_ was +the new I. There was a new personality within Paul. I never weary of +recalling what Martin Luther said about that verse in the comment he made +on Galatians. You remember he said, "If somebody should knock at my +heart's door, and ask who lives here, I must not say 'Martin Luther lives +here.' I would say 'Martin Luther--is--dead--Jesus--Christ--lives--here.'" + +I wonder if any of us has ever been taken for Jesus. I wonder if anybody +has ever _mistaken_ any of us for Him. You remember, He used to move among +men after the resurrection, and while they would feel the gentle +winsomeness of His presence and talk, they did not recognize Him. Has +somebody run across you or me sometime, and been with us a little while, +and then gone away saying to himself, "I wonder if that was Jesus back +again in disguise. He seemed so much like what I think Jesus must have +been--I wonder." + +Well, if it were so, of course we would not be conscious of it. A +Jesus-man is never absorbed in thinking about himself. He is taken up with +Jesus, and with folks. A man is always least conscious of the power of his +own presence and life. Everybody else knows more about it than he does. +Plainly this is the Master's plan for each of us. And more, it is the +result when He is allowed free sway. + +The controlling principle of His life was to please His Father. The +pervading purpose and passion was to win men out and up. The +characteristics of His life were purity, unselfishness, sympathy, and +simplicity. We are to be as He. He was the Father to all the race of men. +Each of us is to be Jesus to his circle. + +Please notice I'm not talking about lips just now but about lives. The +life is the indorsement of the lips. It makes the words of the lips more +than they sound or seem. Or, it makes them less, sometimes pitiably less, +little more than a discount clerk ever busily at work. The words ever go +to the level of the life, up or down. Water seeks its level persistently. +So do one's words, and they find it more quickly than the water, for they +go _through_ all obstructions. And the life is the leveler of the words, +up or down. + +So far as this second life is concerned a man's lips might be sealed, and +his tongue dumb, but his life in its purity and simplicity, its +unselfishness and sympathetic warmness will ever be spelling out Jesus. +And He will be spelled out so big and plain that the man hurriedly +running, or lazily creeping, or half blind in a cloud of dust, will be +stopping and reading. If there were but more re-incarnations of Jesus how +folks would be coming a-running to Him. + +Do you remember that prayer in blank verse of the old Scottish preacher +and poet and saint, Horatius Bonar? He said: + + "Oh, turn me, mould me, mellow me for use. + Pervade my being with Thy vital force, + That this else inexpressive life of mine + May become eloquent and full of power, + Impregnated with life and strength divine. + Put the bright torch of heaven into my hand, + That I may carry it aloft + And win the eye of weary wanderers here below + To guide their feet into the paths of peace. + I cannot raise the dead, + Nor from this soil pluck precious dust, + Nor bid the sleeper wake, + Nor still the storm, nor bend the lightning back, + Nor muffle up the thunder, + Nor bid the chains fall from off creation's long enfettered limbs. + _But_ I can live a life that tells on other lives, + And makes this world less full of anguish and of pain; + A life that like the pebble dropped upon the sea + Sends its wide circles to a hundred shores. + May such a life be mine. + Creator of true life, Thyself the life Thou givest, + Give Thyself, that Thou mayst dwell in me, and I + in Thee." + + + +An Active Life of Service. + + +The third life is _a life of active service, of aggressive earnestness in +winning men._ I say aggressive. That word does not mean noise and dust, +shuffling of feet, and bustling confusion. It means rather the steady, +steady movement of the sun which noiselessly, dustlessly, moves onward, +hour after hour, day in and day out, regardless of any storms, or +disturbances. It means the quiet, peaceful, but resistless uninterrupted +movement of the moon rising night after night, and going through its +circle of action. Earnestness means the burning of the inner spirit. Its +fires dim not, for they are fed continually from secret sources. + +This third life is spoken of directly: "Go ye and make disciples." The +going is to be continued until folks farthest away have heard. Some people +are bounded by the horizon of the town where they live, some by the +particular church to which they belong, some the denomination, some the +state, or even the nation. Jesus fixes the horizon of His follower as that +of the world. Jesus was visionary. He talked about all nations, a race, a +world. + +All are to go. They are to go to all. Some may be made wholly free, by +arrangement with their fellow-followers, to give their full strength and +time to the direct going and telling. These are highly favored in +privilege. Some of these may go to deserted darkened places in the home +land. Some may go to the city slum, which in its dire need is of close kin +to the foreign-mission land. These are yet more highly favored in +privilege. + +Some may go to those far distant lands where Jesus is not known, where the +need of Him is so pathetically great. These are the most highly favored in +the privilege of service accorded them. Many others have been left free of +the necessity of earning bread and home and clothing and so have a rare +opportunity of devoting themselves to the going, as the Spirit of Jesus +guides. Many are given the talent to earn easily, and so, if they will, +may give much strength to service. + +The great majority everywhere and always are absorbed for most of the +waking hours of the day in earning something to eat, and something to +wear, and somewhere to sleep. Yet where there is the warm touch with Jesus +there will come the yearning for purity, and the life of service. With +these as with all there may be the service, strong and sweetly fragrant. +There is always some bit of spare time, with planning, that can be used in +direct service in church, or school, or mission. And the secret life of +prayer will give a steadiness that will guard against the over-use of +one's strength. + +There can be a personal going to some in words tactfully spoken. There is +the life of sweet purity and gentle patience always so winsome, that +speaks all the time in musical tones to one's circle. There is an +enormous, unconscious aggressiveness about such a life. Then there can be +the going through gold. And the entire planet can be brought under one's +thumb of influence through the strangely simple power of prayer. + +I have been running across some new versions of this last word of Jesus. A +sort of re-revisions they are. I have not found them in the common print, +but printed in lives, the lives of men. The print is large, chiefly +capitals, easily read. These lives are so noisy as to quite shut out what +the lips may be saying. There are variations in these translations. + +Sometime the message is made to read like this: "All power hath been given +unto Me, therefore go ye, and make--coins of gold--oh, belong to church of +course--that is proper and has many advantages--and give too. There are +advantages about that--give freely, or make it seem freely--give to +missions at home and abroad. That is regarded as a sure sign of a liberal +spirit. But be careful about the _proportion_ of your giving. For the real +thing that counts at the year's end is how much you have added to the +stock of dollars in your grasp. These other things are good, but--merely +incidental. This thing of getting gold is the main drive." + +Please understand me, I never heard any of these folks talk in this blunt +way with their _tongues_. So far as I can hear, they are saying something +quite different. But what their tongues are saying is made indistinct and +blurred by some noise near by. + +Other translations I have run across have this variation: "Make a place +for yourself, in your profession, in society. Make a comfortable +living;--with a wide margin of meaning to that word 'comfortable'--belong +to the church, become a pillar, or at least move in the pillar's circle, +give of course, even freely in appearance, but remember these are the dust +in the scale, the other is the thing that weighs. All of one's energies +must be centered on the main thing." + +May I ask you to listen very quietly, while I repeat the Master's own +words over very softly and clearly, so that they may get into the inner +cockles of our hearts anew? "All power hath been given unto Me; therefore +go ye, and _make disciples of all nations_." These other translations are +wrong. They are misleading. _The one main thing is influencing men for +Jesus_. + + + +The Perspective of True Service. + + +It is not the only thing by any means. There is a multitude of things +perfectly proper and that must be done and well done. But through all +their doing is to run this one strong purpose. These other things are +details, important details, indispensably important, yet details. The +other is the one main thing toward which the doing of all the others is to +bend and blend. + +Please mark keenly that there are three lives here; three in one. The +secret life of prayer, the open life of purity, the active life of service +Not one, nor the other, not any two, but all three, this is the true +ideal. This is the true rounded life. And note sharply that this gives the +true perspective of service. The service life grows up out of the other +two. Its roots lie down in prayer and purity. This explains why so much +service is fruitless. It isn't rooted. There is no rich subsoil. + +It seems to be a part of the hurt of sin that men do not keep the +proportion of things balanced, and never have. In former days men shut +themselves up behind great walls that they might be pleasing to God. They +shut out the noise that they might have quiet to pray. They thought to +shut out the sin that they might be pure, forgetting that they carried it +in with them. + +In our day things have swung clean over to the other extreme. Now all is +activity. The emphasis of the time is upon doing. There is a lot of +running around, and rushing around. There is a great deal of activity that +seems inseparable from dust. The wheels make such a lot of noise as they +go around. _Doing_ that does not root down in the secret touch with +Jesus, may be quite vigorous for a time, but soon leaves behind as its +only memory withered up branches. This is a _practical_ age, we are +constantly told. Things must be judged by the standard of usefulness. That +is surely true, and good, but there is very serious danger that the true +perspective of service be lost in the dust that is being raised. + +The imprint of this disproportion or lack of proportion can even be found +in the theological teaching of long ago and now. At one time religion was +defined as having to do with a man's relation to God. That was emphasized +to the utter hiding away of all else. In our own day the swing is clear +over to the other side. Definitions of religion that make everything of +helping one's brother and fellow, are the popular thing. There seems to be +a sort of astigmatism that keeps us from seeing things straight. Though +always there have been those that saw straight and lived truly. + +Mark keenly that true touch with God always brings the longing to be pure, +and the loving of one's fellow. The nearer one gets to God the nearer will +he find himself getting to men. Often we find ourselves getting new +wonderful glimpses of God as we are eagerly helping somebody. Up seems to +include out, as though the line that drew us up to God led through men. +Yet with that always goes the other fact that touch with God makes one +long to be alone with Him. + +There are always the three turnings of a true life, upward, inward, +outward. Upward to God, inward to self, outward to the world. The more one +knows God the keener is the longing to get off with Himself alone, the +deeper is the yearning to be pure, and the stronger is the passion to help +others regardless of any sacrifice involved. + + + +A Long Time Coming. + + +There is an old story that caught fire in my heart the first time it came +to me, and burns anew at each memory of it. It told of a time in the +southern part of our country when the sanitary regulations were not so +good as of late. A city was being scourged by a disease that seemed quite +beyond control. The city's carts were ever rolling over the cobble-stones, +helping carry away those whom the plague had slain. + +Into one very poor home, a laboring man's home, the plague had come. And +the father and children had been carried out until on the day of this +story there remained but two, the mother and her baby boy of perhaps five +years. The boy crept up into his mother's lap, put his arms about her +neck, and with his baby eyes so close, said, "Mother, father's dead, and +brothers and sister are dead;--if _you_ die, what'll I do?" + + +The poor mother had thought of it, of course, What could she say? Quieting +her voice as much as possible, she said, "If I die, Jesus will come for +you." That was quite satisfactory to the boy. He had been taught about +Jesus, and felt quite safe with Him, and so went about his play on the +floor. And the boy's question proved only too prophetic. And quick work +was done by the dread disease. And soon she was being laid away by strange +hands. + +It is not difficult to understand that in the sore distress of the time +the boy was forgotten. When night came, he crept into bed, but could not +sleep. Late in the night he got up, found his way out along the street, +down the road, in to where he had seen the men put her. And throwing +himself down on the freshly shoveled earth, sobbed and sobbed until nature +kindly stole consciousness away for a time. + +Very early the next morning a gentleman coming down the road from some +errand of mercy, looked over the fence, and saw the little fellow lying +there. Quickly suspecting some sad story, he called him, "My boy, what are +you doing there?--My boy, wake up, what are you doing there all alone?" +The boy waked up, rubbed his baby eyes, and said, "Father's dead, and +brothers and sister's dead, and now--_mother's_--dead--too. And she said, +if she did die, Jesus would come for me. And He hasn't come. And I'm so +tired waiting." And the man swallowed something in his throat, and in a +voice not very clear, said, "Well, my boy, I've come for you." And the +little fellow waking up, with his baby eyes so big, said "I think you've +been a long time coming." + +Whenever I read these last words of Jesus or think of them, there comes up +a vision that floods out every other thing. It is of Jesus Himself +standing on that hilltop. His face is all scarred and marred, thorn-torn +and thong-cut. But it is beautiful, passing all beauty of earth, with its +wondrous beauty light. Those great eyes are looking out so yearningly, +_out_ as though they were seeing men, the ones nearest and those farthest. +His arm is outstretched with the hand pointing out. And you cannot miss +the rough jagged hole in the palm. And He is saying, _"Go ye."_ The +attitude, the scars, the eyes looking, the hand pointing, the voice +speaking, all are saying so intently, _"Go ye."_ + +And as I follow the line of those eyes, and the hand, there comes up an +answering vision. A great sea of faces that no man ever yet has numbered, +with answering eyes and outstretching hands. From hoary old China, from +our blood-brothers in India, from Africa where sin's tar stick seems to +have blackened blackest, from Romanized South America, and the islands, +aye from the slums, and frontiers, and mountains in the homeland, and from +those near by, from over the alley next to your house maybe, they seem to +come. And they are rubbing their eyes, and speaking. With lives so +pitifully barren, with lips mutely eloquent, with the soreness of their +hunger, they are saying, "You're a long time coming." + +Shall we go? Shall we _not_ go? But how shall we best go? By keeping in +such close touch with Jesus that the warm throbbing of His heart is ever +against our own. Then will come a new purity into our lives as we go out +irresistibly attracted by the attraction of Jesus toward our fellows. And +then too shall go out of ourselves and out of our lives and service, a new +supernatural power touching men. It is Jesus within reaching men through +us. + + + + +Yokefellows: The Rhythm of Service. + + + + The Master's Invitation. + Surrender a Law of Life, + Free Surrender. + "Him." + Yoked Service. + In Step With Jesus. + The Scar-marks of Surrender. + Full Power Through Rhythm. + He Is Our Peace. + The Master's Touch. + + + + +Yokefellows: The Rhythm of Service. + +(Matthew xi. 25-30; Luke x:1, 17, 21-24.) + + + +The Master's Invitation. + + +It was about six months before the tragic end that Jesus sent out +thirty-five deputations of two each. He was beginning that slow memorable +journey south that ended finally at the cross. These men are sent ahead to +prepare the way. By and by they return and make a glad exultant report of +the good results attending their work. Even the demons had acknowledged +the power of Jesus' name on their lips. + +As He was listening Jesus looked up, and said, "Father, I thank Thee." And +then, as though He could see those great crowds to whom they had been +ministering in His name, He said, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are +heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of +Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your +souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." + +There are two invitations here, "come" and "take." There are two sorts of +people. Those who are tugging and straining at work, and carrying heavy +burdens, and then those who have received rest, and are now asked to go a +step farther. There are two kinds of rest, a given rest, and a found rest. +The given rest cannot be found. It comes as a sheer out gift, from Jesus' +own hand. The found rest cannot be given, may I say? It comes stealing its +gentle way in as one fits into Jesus' plan for his life. + +Many folks have accepted the first of these invitations. They have "come" +to Jesus, and received sweet rest from His hand. But they have gone no +farther. At the close of that first invitation there is a punctuation +period, a full stop. Some of the old schoolbooks used to say that one +should stop at a period and count four. Well, a great many people have +followed that old rule here, and more than followed. They have stopped at +that period, and never gotten past it. I want just now to ask you to come +with me as we talk together a bit about this second invitation, "Take My +yoke." + +Jesus used several different words in tying people up to Himself. There is +a growth in them, as He draws us nearer and nearer. First always is the +invitation "Come unto Me." That means salvation, life. Then He says, +"Follow Me," "Come after Me." That means discipleship. "Learn of Me" +means training in discipleship. "Yoke up with Me" means closest +fellowship. "Abide in Me" leads one out into abundant life. "As the Father +hath sent Me, even so send I you," means living Jesus' life over again. +And then the last "Go ye" is the outer reach of all, service for a world. + + + +Surrender a Law of Life. + + +Just now we want to talk together over this little three-worded sentence +from Jesus' lips, "Take My yoke." What does it mean? Well, that word yoke +is used in all literature outside of this book, as well as here, to mean +this: surrender by one and mastery by another one. Where two nations have +fought and the weaker has been forced to yield, it is quite commonly +spoken of as wearing the yoke of the stronger nation. The Romans required +their prisoners of war to pass under a yoke, sometimes a common cattle +yoke, sometimes an improvised yoke, to indicate their utter subjugation. +These Hebrews to whom Jesus is speaking are writhing with sore shoulders +under the galling yoke of the Romans. One can imagine an emphasis placed +on the "My." As though Jesus would say, "You have one yoke now; change +yokes. Take _My_ yoke." + +There is too a higher, finer meaning to this surrender when by mutual +arrangement and free consent there is a yielding of one to another for a +purpose. And so what Jesus means here is simply this--_surrender_. Bend +your head down, bend down your neck, even though it's a bit stiff going +your own way, and fit it into this yoke of mine. Surrender to Me as your +Master. + +And somebody says, "I don't like that. 'Surrender!' that sounds like +force. I thought salvation was _free_." Will you please remember that the +principle of surrender is a law of all life. It is the law of military +life, inside the army. Every man there has surrendered to the officers +above him. In some armies that surrender has amounted to absolute control +of a man's person and property by the head of the army. It is the law of +naval service. The moment a man steps on board a man-of-war to serve he +surrenders the control of his life and movements absolutely to the officer +in command. + +It is the law in public, political life. A man entering the President's +cabinet, as a secretary of some department, surrenders any divergent views +he may have to those of his chief. With the largest freedom of thought +that must always be where there are strong men, yet there must of +necessity be the one dominant will if the administration is to be a +powerful one. It is the law of commercial life. The man entering the +employ of a bank, a manufacturing concern, a corporation of any sort, in +whatever capacity, enters to do the will of somebody else. Always there +must be the one dominant will if there is to be power and success. + +And then may I hush my voice and speak of the more sacred things very +softly and remind you of this. Surrender is the law of the highest form of +life known to us men. I mean wedded life. Where the surrender is not by +one to the other, but by each to the other. Two wills, always two wills +where there is strong life, yet in effect but one. Two persons but only +one purpose. + +And so you see, Jesus, the Master, the greatest of earth's teachers and +philosophers, is striking the keynote of life when here He asks us to +surrender freely and wholly to Himself as the autocrat of our lives. He +asks us to bend our strong wills to His, to yield our lives, our plans, +our ambitions, our friendships, our gold, absolutely to His control. + + + +Free Surrender. + + +And if you still do not like the sound of that word surrender. It has a +harsh sound that grates upon your nerves. Will you please notice the first +word of that little sentence--"Take." Jesus does not say in sharp, hard +tones, "Come here; bend down; I'll _put_ this yoke on you." Never that. If +you will, of your own glad accord, freely, winsomely _take_ the yoke upon +you--that is what He asks. In military usage surrender is _forced_. Here +it must be _free_. Nothing else would be acceptable to Jesus. + +When our commissioners went a few years ago to Paris to treat with the +Spaniards, the latter are said to have desired certain changes in the +language of the protocol. With the polished suavity for which they are +noted the Spaniards urged that there be made slight changes in the +_words_: no real change in the meaning, they said, simply in the verbiage. +And our Judge Day at the head of the American Commissioners, listened +politely and patiently until the plea was presented. And then he quietly +said, "The article will be signed _as it reads_." And the Spaniards +protested, with much courtesy. The change asked for was trivial, merely in +the language, not in the force of the words. And our men listened +patiently and courteously. Then Mr. Day is said to have locked his little +square jaw and replied very quietly, "The article will be signed as it +reads." And the article was so signed. That is military usage. The +surrender was forced. The strength of the American fleets, the prestige of +great victory were back of the quiet man's demand. + +But that is not the law here. Jesus asks for only what we give freely and +spontaneously. He does not want anything except what is given with a +free, glad heart. This is to be a _voluntary_ surrender. Jesus is a +voluntary Saviour. He wants only voluntary followers. He would have us be +as Himself. The oneness of spirit leads the way into the intimacy of +closest friendship. And that is His thought for us. + +Do you remember those fine lines, "The quality of mercy is not +_strained_"--if the thing be forced through a strainer, there is no mercy +there--"it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place +beneath." Only what the warm current of His love draws out does Jesus +desire from us. It is to be a _free_ surrender. + + + +"Him." + + +And if you still knit your mental brows, and shrug your shoulder. The +thing hasn't yet shaken off the harshness you have been clothing it with. +Please notice the second word of that sentence--"My." "Take _My_ Yoke." +May I say gently but frankly that I would not surrender the control of my +life to any of you who are listening so kindly. And I surely would not ask +that I should be the autocrat of any of your lives. But--when--_Jesus_ +comes along. The Man with the marvelous face all torn and scarred, but +with that great, soft, shining light. I do not know just how all of you +feel. I can guess how some of you feel. But I know one man who cannot +respond too quickly and eagerly. The only thing to do is to make the will +as strong as it can be made, and then to use all of its strength in +surrendering eagerly to this matchless Man Jesus. Doubtless many of you +know fully that same eagerness, and maybe more. + +I remember a simple story that twined its clinging tendril lingers about +my heart. It was of a woman whose long years had ripened her hair, and +sapped her strength. She was a true saint in her long life of devotion to +God. She knew the Bible by heart, and would repeat long passages from +memory. But as the years came the strength went, and with it the memory +gradually went too, to her grief. She seemed to have lost almost wholly +the power to recall at will what had been stored away. + +But one precious bit still stayed. She would sit by the big sunny window +of the sitting room in her home, repeating over that one bit, as though +chewing a delicious titbit, "I know whom I have believed and am persuaded +that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that +day." By and by part of that seemed to slip its hold, and she would +quietly be repeating, "that which I have committed to Him." + +The last few weeks as the ripened old saint hovered about the border land +between this and the spirit world her feebleness increased. Her loved +ones would notice her lips moving. And thinking she might be needing some +creature comfort they would go over and bend down to listen for her +request. And time and again they found the old saint repeating over to +herself one word, over and over again, the same one word, +"Him--_Him_--Him." She had list the whole Bible but one word. But she had +the whole Bible in that one word. Did she not? This is a surrender to +_Him_, the Man of the Book. The Man of all life. + + + +Yoked Service. + + +They tell me that on a farm the yoke means service. Cattle are yoked to +serve, and to serve better, and to serve more easily. This is a surrender +for service, not for idleness. In military usage surrender often means +being kept in enforced idleness and under close guard. But this is not +like that. It is all up on a much higher plane. Jesus has every man's +life planned. It always awes me to recall that simple tremendous fact. +With loving strong thoughtfulness He has thought into each of our lives, +and planned it out, in whole, and in detail. He comes to a man and +says, "_I know_ you. I have been _thinking_ about you." Then very +softly--"I--_love_--you. I _need_ you, for a plan of Mine. _Please_ let +Me have the control of your life and all your power, for My plan." It is a +surrender for service. + +It is _yoked_ service. There are two bows or loops to a yoke. A yoke in +action has both sides occupied, and as surely as I bow down My head and +slip it into the bow on one side--I know there is _Somebody else_ on the +other side. It is yoked living now, yoked fellowship, yoked service. It is +not working _for_ God now. It is working _with_ Him. Jesus never sends +anybody ahead alone. He treads down the pathway through every thicket, +pushes aside the thorn-bushes, and clears the way, and then says with that +taking way of His, "Come along with Me. Let's go together, you and I." + +A man got up in a meeting to speak. It was down in Rhode Island, out a bit +from Providence. He was a farmer, an old man. He had become a Christian +late in life, and this evening was telling about his start. He had been a +rough, bad man. He said that when he became a Christian even the cat knew +that some change had taken place. That caught my ear. It had a genuine +ring. It seemed prophetic of the better day coming for all the lower +animal creation. So I listened. + +He said that the next morning after the change of purpose he was going +down to the village a little distance from his farm. He swung along the +road, happy in heart, singing softly to himself, and thinking about the +Saviour. All at once he could feel the fumes coming out of a saloon ahead. +He couldn't see the place yet, but his keen trained nose felt it. The +odors came out strong, and gripped him. + +He said he was frightened, and wondered how he would get by. He had never +gone by before, he said; always gone in; but he couldn't go in now. But +what to do, that was the rub. Then he smiled, and said, "I remembered, and +I said, 'Jesus, you'll have to come along and help me get by, I never can +by myself.'" And then in his simple, illiterate way he said, "_and He +come_--and _we_ went by, and we've been going by ever since." + +Ah, the old Rhode Island farmer had found the whole simple philosophy of +the true life. Our Yokefellow is always there alongside. Every temptation +that comes to us He has felt the sharp edge of, and can overcome. Every +problem, every difficulty, every opportunity He knows, and is right there, +swinging in rhythmic step alongside. It's yoked living and yoked service. + + + +In Step with Jesus. + + +Then please mark keenly that this surrender is for _surrendered_ service. +No free-lancing here. No guerrilla warfare, no bushwhacking. There seems +to be quite a lot of that, in this army. Some earnest folks are very busy +"helping God out," regardless of the general movement of the whole army. +And a great help they are too--they _think_. It would be difficult to see +how God would ever get along without them--they _seem_ to think. Poor +folks, they have gotten so covered with the dust made by their own feet +that they've completely lost track of things. There is a Lord to this +harvest. There is a great Commander-in-chief to this campaign. He has the +whole campaign for a _world_ carefully planned out. And each man's part in +it is planned too. He knows best what needs to be done. He sees keenly the +strategic points, and the emergencies. If only He could but depend on our +ears being trained to know His voice, and our wills trained to simple, +full obedience, how much difference it would make to Him. Simple, full +strong obedience seems to take the keenest intelligence, the strongest +will, and the most thorough discipline. + + "Just to ask Him what to do, + All the day. + And to make you quick and true + To obey."[3] + +This surrender is for glad, obedient surrendered service. + +And note too that it is for _training_ in service. They tell me that +where cattle are yoked for work it is usual to put a young restive beast +with an old, steady-going animal. The old worker sets the pace, and pulls +evenly, steadily ahead, and by and by the young undisciplined beast +gradually comes to learn the pace. That seems to fit in here with graphic +realness. So many of us seem to be full of an undisciplined unseasoned +strength. There are apt to be some hard drives ahead, and then pulling +back with a sudden jerk, and side lunges this way and that. There is +splendid strength, and eager willingness, but not much is accomplished for +lack of the steady, steady going regardless of rocks or ruts. + +Jesus says, "Yoke up with Me. Let's pull together, you and I." And if we +will pull steadily along, content to be by His side, and to be hearing His +quiet voice, and _always to keep His pace_, step by step with Him, without +regard to seeing results, all will be well, and by and by the best results +and the largest will be found to have come. And remember that as on the +farm, so here, the yoke is always carefully adjusted so that the young +learner may have the easier pulling. + +But it is well to put in this bit of a caution. If a man put his head into +the yoke, and then _pull back_--well, there'll be a man with a badly +chafed, sore neck in that neighborhood, and oil will be in demand. The +one safe rule is swinging straight ahead, steady, steady, without even +stopping to decide if the plow has cut properly, or if it is worth while. + + + +The Scar-marks of Surrender. + + +Then Jesus adds this: "Learn of Me." I used to wonder just what that +means. But I think I know a part of its meaning now. You remember the +Hebrews had a scheme of qualified slavery.[4] A man might sell his service +for six years but at the end of that time he was scot-free. On the New +Year's morning of the seventh year he was given his full liberty, and +given some grain and oil to begin life with anew. + +But if on that morning he found himself reluctant to leave, all his ties +binding him to his master's home, this was the custom among them. He would +say to his master, "I don't want to leave you. This is home to me. I love +you and the mistress. I love the place. All my ties and affections are +here. I want to stay with you always." His master would say, "Do you mean +this?" "Yes," the man would reply, "I want to belong to you forever." + +Then his master would call in the leading men of the village or +neighborhood to witness the occurrence. And he would take his servant out +to the door of the home, and standing him up against the door-jamb would +pierce the lobe of his ear through with an awl. I suppose like a +shoemaker's awl. Then the man became not his slave, but his bond-slave, +forever. It was a personal surrender of himself to his master; it was +voluntary; it was for love's sake; it was for service; it was after a +trial; it was for life. + +Now that was what Jesus did. If you will turn to that Fortieth Psalm,[5] +from which we read, you will find words that are plainly prophetic of +Jesus, and afterwards quoted as referring to Him. "Mine ears hast Thou +opened, or digged or pierced for me." And in the fiftieth chapter of +Isaiah,[6] revised version, are these words likewise prophetic of Jesus. +"The Lord God hath _opened_ mine ear, and _I was not rebellious, neither +turned away backward._ I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to +them that plucked off the hair; I hid not my face from shame and +spitting." + +And the truth is this. May the Spirit of God burn it deep into our hearts. +_Jesus was a surrendered Man._ Stop a bit and think into what that means. +Jesus is the giant Man of the human race, thought of just now as a man, +though He was so much more, too. In His wisdom as a teacher, His calm +poised judgment, the purity of His life, the tremendous power of His +personality in swaying man, He clear overtops the whole race of men. Now +that Master Man, that giant of the race, was a surrendered Man. For +instance run through John's Gospel, and pick out the negatives on His +lips, the "nots." Not His own will, nor His own words, nor His own +teaching, nor His own works.[7] Jesus came to earth to do Somebody's else +will. With all His giant powers He was utterly absorbed in doing what some +One else wished done. And now this giant Man, this surrendered Man, says, +"You do as I have done. Learn of Me: I am wholly given up to doing My +Father's will. You be wholly surrendered to Me, and so together we will +carry out the Father's will." + +Some one of a practical turn says, "That sounds very nice, but is it not a +bit fanciful? The lobe of Jesus' ear was not pierced through, was it?" No. +You are right. The scar-mark of Jesus' surrender was not in His ear, as +with the old Hebrew slave. You are quite right. It was in His cheek, and +brow, on His back, in His side and hands and feet. The scar-marks of His +surrender were--are--all over His face and form. Everybody who surrenders +bears some scar of it because of sin, his own or somebody's else. +Referring to the suffering endured in service Paul tenderly reckons it as +a mark of Jesus' ownership--"I bear the scars, the _stigmata_, of the Lord +Jesus." Even of the Master Himself is this so. + +And that scarred Jesus whose body told and tells of His surrender to His +Father comes to us. And with those hands eagerly outstretched, and eyes +beaming with the earnestness of His great passion for men, He says, "Yoke +up with Me, please. Let Me have the control of all your splendid powers, +in carrying out our Father's will for a world." + + + +Full Power through Rhythm. + + +Then Jesus, with a sweep, gathers up all the results in a single sentence, +"Ye shall find rest unto your souls." Some one may be thinking, "I do not +feel the need of rest or peace so much. I am hungry for power." Will you +please notice that Jesus is going to the very root of the thing here. +There must be peace before there can be power. _You_ shall find peace. +_Others_ shall find power. You will be conscious of the sweet sense of +peace within. Others will be conscious of the fragrant power breathing out +of your life, and service, and your very person. + +These things, peace and power, are the same. They are different movements +of the same river of God. The presence of God in fine harmony with you, +that it is that brings the sweet peace. And that too it is that brings the +gracious power into the life. The inward flow of the river is peace. The +outward flow of the same stream is power. There cannot be power save as +there is peace. There is nothing that hinders and holds back power as does +friction. That is true in mechanics: a bit of friction grit between the +wheels will check the full working of the machinery. A small nut fallen +down out of place will completely stop the machine and bring all of its +power to a standstill. + +This is _heart_ rest. The heart is the center, the citadel of the life. +When the heart rests all is at rest. If the citadel can be captured the +outworks are included. It is a _found_ rest. It comes quietly stealing its +soft way in as you go about your regular round of life. Just where you +are, in the thick of the old circumstances and conditions, there comes +breathing gently into your very being the great fragrant peace of God. You +find it coming in. There is all the zest of finding. + +It is rest _in service_. To many folks those two words "yoke" and "rest" +have seemed to jar, as though they did not get along well together. But +they do. The jarring is not in them but in our misunderstanding of them. A +yoke, we have thought, means work. Rest means quitting work; no more need +of work. But that is a bit of the hurt of sin that gets so many things +wrong end to. + + "Rest is not quitting + The busy career; + Rest is the fitting + Of self to its sphere."[8] + +True rest is in the unhurried rhythm of action. Have you thought of when +your heart rests? It does not stop, of course, while life lasts. But it +rests. It rests between beats. A beat and a rest. A throb of power and a +moment of perfect rest. A mighty motion that sends the warm red life +through all the intricate machinery of the body; then quiet composed rest. +The secret of the immeasurable power of this organ we call the heart lies +just here. There is enough power in a normal human heart to batter down +Bunker Hill Monument if it could be centered upon it. The secret of that +power is in the rhythm of action that combines motion with rest. We call +rhythm of color, beauty. Rhythm of sound is music. Rhythm of action is +power. + +I have often stood as a boy on the streets of old Philadelphia, and +watched a gang of foreign laborers at work. As a rule they could speak +only the language of their own fatherland. There would be a gang-boss to +direct their movements. Perhaps it was a huge stone to be moved, or a +piece of structural iron, or a heavy rail to be torn up. The ends of their +crowbars were fitted under the thing to be moved. Then they waited a +moment for the gang-boss to give the word. He would say, "heave ho!" + +Then all together they would sing "heave ho," and push. And a "heave ho," +and push; a "heave ho," and a push. They made perfect music. There was +always a small crowd gathered, watching and enjoying the simple music. +Their work was easier because done rhythmically. This, of course, is the +simple philosophy that provides music for soldiers on march. The men can +walk much longer, and farther, with less fatigue if they go to the sound +of music. + +The story is told of the contracts for some bridge-building in the Soudan +being carried off by American bidders. Their competitors in the bidding +specified a year's time or so, for the work. The Americans agreed to do it +in three months. They were awarded the contract, and to the others' +surprise had the work completed within the specified time. + +One of the contractors who had bid for the job on the basis of a year's +time said afterwards to the successful contractor, "I wish, if you +wouldn't mind doing so, you would tell me how you ever got that work done +in so short a time with those undisciplined Soudanese natives for +workmen. I have had them on other contracts and I know I couldn't have +done it. How did you ever do it?" + +And the American, whose blood was British a generation or two back, and +farther back yet Teutonic, smiled as he quietly said, "We had a band of +native musicians playing the liveliest music they knew within earshot of +every gang of laborers, while our gang-bosses kept them steadily at work." + +Rhythm is the secret of power. Full rhythm is possible only where there is +full obedience to nature. The man in full sweet harmony with God in all of +his life knows the stilling ecstasy of peace, and the marvelous outgoings +of real power. You shall find within your heart the great stilling calm of +God, as steadying as the rock of ages, as exhilarating as the subtle +fragrance of flowers, and as restful as a mother's bosom to her babe. + + + +He is Our Peace. + + +But there is something here finer yet by far than this. Everything God +provides for us is personal. There is always the personal touch and +presence. Do you remember that during the earlier days of the recent war +with Spain this occurrence frequently took place? In the Caribbean waters +a Spanish merchantman would be overtaken by an American warship. A few +shots were sent over the bows of the merchantman with a demand for +surrender. And then the Spanish flag was seen to drop from the +merchantman's masthead in token of surrender. + +Then this was the method of procedure. A prize crew, consisting of an +officer with a few ensigns, was lowered from the American boat, pulled +across, and taken aboard the captured boat. The moment the prize crew +stepped aboard they were masters of the boat in their government's name. +Their presence signified the surrender of the foreigner, and the forced +peace now between the two boats. + +On a much higher plane this is what takes place with us. There has been +flying at my masthead a flag with a big I upon it. As quickly as I drop it +in token of my surrender to Somebody else, a prize crew is sent aboard to +take possession, and assume control. Who is the prize crew? The Holy +Spirit, whom Jesus the Master sends to represent Himself. He steps aboard +at once. + +He paces the deck as the ship's Master. His presence is peace. "He is our +peace." "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, _peace_." And while He +occupies the captain's quarters, with full cheery obedience on board, +there is ever the fine aroma of peace everywhere, and the fullness of +power. + + + +The Master's Touch. + + +One morning a number of years ago in London a group of people had gathered +in a small auction shop for an advertised sale of fine old antiques and +curios. The auctioneer brought out an old blackened, dirty-looking violin. +He said, "Ladies and gentlemen, here is a remarkable old instrument I have +the great privilege of offering to you. It is a genuine Cremona, made by +the famous Antonius Stradivarius himself. It is very rare, and worth its +weight in gold. What am I bid?" The people present looked at it +critically. And some doubted the accuracy of the auctioneer's statements. +They saw that it did not have the Stradivarius name cut in. And he +explained that some of the earliest ones made did not have the name. And +that some that had the name cut in were not genuine. But he could assure +them that this was genuine. Still the buyers doubted and criticised, as +buyers have always done. Five guineas in gold were bid, but no more. The +auctioneer perspired and pleaded. "It was ridiculous to think of selling +such a rare violin for such a small sum," he said. But the bidding seemed +hopelessly stuck there. + +Meanwhile a man had entered the shop from the street. He was very tall and +very slender, with very black hair, middle-aged, wearing a velvet coat. He +walked up to the counter with a peculiar side-wise step, and without +noticing anybody in the shop picked up the violin, and was at once +absorbed in it. He dusted it tenderly with his handkerchief, changed the +tension of the strings, and held it up to his ear lingeringly as though +hearing something. Then putting the end of it up in position he reached +for the bow, while the murmur ran through the little audience, "Paganini." + +The bow seemed hardly to have touched the strings when such a soft +exquisite note came out filling the shop, and holding the people +spellbound. And as he played the listeners laughed for very delight, and +then wept for the fullness of their emotion. The men's hats were off, and +they all stood in rapt reverence, as though in a place of worship. He +played upon their emotions as he played upon the old soil-begrimed violin. + +By and by he stopped. And as they were released from the spell of the +music the people began clamoring for the violin. "Fifty guineas," "sixty," +"seventy," "eighty," they bid in hot haste. And at last it was knocked +down to the famous player himself for one hundred guineas in gold, and +that evening he held a vast audience of thousands breathless under the +spell of the music he drew from the old, dirty, blackened, despised +violin. + +It was despised till the master-player took possession. Its worth was not +known. The master's touch revealed the rare value, and brought out the +hidden harmonies. He gave the doubted little instrument its true place of +high honor before the multitude. May I say softly, some of us have been +despising the worth of the man within. We have been bidding five guineas +when the real value is immeasurably above that _because of the Maker_. Do +not let us be underbidding God's workmanship. + +The violin needed dusting, and readjustment of its strings before the +music came. Shall we not each of us yield this rarest instrument, his own +personality, to the Master's hand? There will be some changes needed, no +doubt, as the Master-player takes hold. And then will go singing out of +our persons and our lives, the rarest music of God, that shall enthrall +and bring all within earshot to the Master-musician. + + + + +A Passion for Winning Men: The Motive-power of Service. + + + + A Day off. + Moved with Compassion. + Counting on Us. + The Secret of Winsomeness. + "As the Stars." + The Finest Wisdom. + Three Essentials. + A Blessed Library Corner. + "Two Missing"--"Go Ye." + + + + +A Passion for Winning Men: The Motive-power of Service. + +(Mark vi:30-34.) + + + +A Day off. + + +One morning toward the end, in the midst of His busiest campaigning, Jesus +was very tired. It is one of the touches of His humanness. So He said to +His disciples, "Let us take a day _off_." And they could see the sense of +it. They were tired too. So they got a boat, and boarded her, and set +sail, and headed out across the lake. And meanwhile a crowd of people had +come down to the beach to be talked to, and healed, and helped in various +ways. + +And you can just see the look of disappointment in their faces as they +say, "Why, He's going away." And for a few moments they stand there +utterly dejected. Then somebody--for a long while I have thought it was a +woman--somebody with eyes keenly watching the direction of the boat, said, +"I believe He's going so and so"--naming a place across the lake--"let's +run around the head of the lake, and meet Him when He gets out." + +And the crowd was taken with that. And they ran--literally _ran_--around +the head of the lake. And as they went they spread the word, "The Master's +going so and so. Come along with us." And the people came eagerly out of +the villages and cross-roads. And the crowd thickened and the longer way +around in distance proved the shorter way there in time. For by and by +when Peter ran the nose of the boat into the sand on the other side, and +the Master got out for _a day off_, there were five thousand men, maybe +ten thousand people waiting to receive Him. + +Do you think that Peter scrooged down his eyebrows, and in a jerky voice +said, "They might have given Him _one_ day to Himself. Can't they see He's +tired?" Do you think that likely John chimed in, with that fire in his +voice which the after years mellowed and sweetened but never lost,--"Yes, +how inconsiderate a crowd is!" _Do_ you think so? _I_ do. Because they +were so much like us. But _He_--the most tired of them all--"_was moved +with compassion_," and spent the whole day in teaching, and talking +personally, and healing. And then when they had gone He went off to the +mountain for the quiet time at night He could not get in the daytime. + + + +Moved with Compassion. + + +There is a great word used of Jesus, and by Him, nine times[9] in these +brief records, the word _compassion_. The sight of a leprous man, or of a +demon-distressed man, _moved_ Him. The great multitudes huddling together +after Him, so pathetically, like leaderless sheep, eager, hungry, tired, +always stirred Him to the depths. The lone woman, bleeding her heart out +through her eyes, as she followed the body of her boy out--He couldn't +stand that at all. + +And when He was so moved, He always did something. He clean forgot His own +bodily needs so absorbed did He become in the folks around Him. The +healing touch was quickly given, the demonized man released from his sore +bonds, the disciples organized for a wider movement to help, the bread +multiplied so the crowds could find something comforting between their +hunger-cleaned teeth. + +The sight of suffering always stirred Him. The presence of a crowd seemed +always to touch and arouse Him peculiarly. He never learned that sort of +city culture that can look unmoved upon suffering or upon a leaderless, +helpless crowd. That word compassion, used of Him, is both deep and +tender in its meaning. The word, actually used under our English means to +have the bowels or heart, the seat of emotion, greatly stirred. + +The kindred word, sympathy, means to have the heart yearning, literally to +be suffering the same distress, to be so moved by somebody's pain or +suffering that you are suffering within yourself the same pain too. Our +plain English word, fellow-feeling, is the same in its force. Seeing the +suffering of some one else so moves you that the same suffering is going +on inside you as you see in them. This is the great word used so often of +Jesus, and by Him. + +There never lived a man who had such a passion for men as Jesus. He lived +to win them out of their distressed, sinful, needy lives up to a new +level. He _died_ to win them. His last act was dying to win men. His last +word was, "Go ye and win men." And His first act when He got back home, +all scarred and marred by His contact with earth, was to send down the +same Spirit as swayed Him those human years to live in us that we might +have the same passion for winning men as He. Aye, and the same exquisite +tact in doing it as He had. + +I said the last act was dying to win men. And you remember that even in +the act of dying, He forgot the keen pain of body, and the far keener pain +of spirit, to turn His head as far as He could turn it, and speak the +word to the fellow by His side that meant the difference of _a world_ to +him. Surely it was the ruling passion with Him to win men, strong in +death, aye, strongest in death, and finding its strongest expression in +His death. + + + +Counting on Us. + + +Somebody has supposed the scene that he thinks may have taken place after +Jesus went back. The last the earth sees of Him is the cloud--not a rain +cloud, a _glory_ cloud--that sweeps down and conceals Him from view. And +the earth has not seen Him since. Though the old Book does say that some +day He's coming back in just the same way as He went away, and some of us +are strongly inclined to think it will be as the Book says in that regard. + +But--have you ever tried to think of what took place on the other side of +that cloud? He has been gone down there on the earth thirty-odd years. +It's a long time. And they're fairly hungry in their eyes for a look again +at that blessed old face. And I have imagined them crowding down to where +they may get the first glimpse of His face again. And, do you know, lately +I have been wondering, with the softening of awe creeping into the +thought, whether--the Father--did not come the very first of them all +and--touch His lips up to where--the _scars_ were in Jesus' brow and +cheeks--yes, His hands--and His feet, too. Tell me, you fathers here +listening, would you not have done something like that with _your_ boy, +under such circumstances? + +You mothers, wouldn't you have been doing something like that with your +boy? And all the fatherhood of earth is named after the fatherhood of +heaven, we're told. And with God fatherhood means motherhood too, you +know. I do not _know_ if it were so. But I think it's likely. It would be +just like God. + +But this friend I speak of has supposed that, after the first flush of +feeling has spent itself--the way _we_ speak of such things done here, the +Master is walking down the golden street one day, arm in arm with Gabriel, +talking intently, earnestly. Gabriel is saying, + +"Master, you died for the whole world down there, did you not?" + +"Yes." + +"You must have suffered much," with an earnest look into that great face +with its unremovable marks. + +"Yes," again comes the answer in a wondrous voice, very quiet, but +strangely full of deepest feeling. + +"And do they all know about it?" + +"Oh, no! Only a few in Palestine know about it so far." + +"Well, Master, what's your plan? What have you done about telling the +world that you died for, that you _have_ died for them? What's your plan?" + +"Well," the Master is supposed to answer, "I asked Peter, and James and +John, and little Scotch Andrew, and some more of them down there just to +make it the business of their lives to tell others, and the others are to +tell others, and the others others, and yet others, and still others, +until the last man in the farthest circle has heard the story and has felt +the thrilling and the thralling power of it." + +And Gabriel knows us folk down here pretty well. He has had more than one +contact with the earth. He knows the kind of stuff in us. And he is +supposed to answer, with a sort of hesitating reluctance, as though he +could see difficulties in the working of the plan, "Yes--but--suppose +Peter fails. Suppose after a while John simply _does not_ tell others. +Suppose their descendants, their successors away off in the first edge of +the twentieth century, get _so busy about things_--some of them proper +enough, some may be not quite so proper--that _they do not_ tell +others--_what then?_" + +And his eyes are big with the intenseness of his thought, for he is +thinking of--the _suffering,_ and he is thinking too of the difference to +the man who hasn't been told--"what then?" + +And back comes that quiet wondrous voice of Jesus, "Gabriel, _I haven't +made any other plans--I'm counting on them_." + + + +The Secret of Winsomeness. + + +That's a bit of this friend's imagination, it's true. But--it's the whole +Gospel story, through and through. Jesus has made that plan. He has not +made any other plan. He's counting on us, each of us, each in his own +circle, in his own way, as comes best, most natural to him tactfully, +quietly, earnestly--simply that, but all of that. And--if--we +fail--Him--let me be saying it very softly so the seriousness of it may +get into the inner cockles of our hearts--if we _fail Him_, just that far +we make _Jesus' dying a failure_ so far as concerns those whom we touch. + +Yes, I know that sounds very serious. I'd rather not be saying it. I'm +_sure_, by the Book, it is so. And so, do you see the genius--may I use +that word very reverently of Him who was a man and far more than man--the +genius of His plan? He sent down the same Spirit that swayed Him those +human years to live in us, and control us, that we might have the same +fine passion for men as He, and the same exquisite tact in winning them as +He had. + +It must be a _passion_; a fire burning with the steady flame of anthracite +fed by a constant stream of oil. If it be less we will be swept off our +feet by the tides all around, or sucked under by their swift current. And +many a splendid man to-day is being swept off his feet and sucked under by +the tides and currents of life because no such passion as this is mooring +and steadying and driving his whole life. + +It must be a passion for _winning_ men; not driving nor dragging, +_drawing_. Not argument nor coercion but warm, winsome wooing. Today the +sun up yonder is drawing up toward itself thousands of tons' weight of +water. Nobody sees it going, except perhaps in very small part. There's no +noise or dust. But the water rises up irresistibly toward the sun because +of the winning power in the sun for the water. It must be something like +that in this higher sphere. A winsomeness in us that will win men to us +and through us to the Master. + +"Oh! well," some one says, "if you put the thing that way you'll have to +count me out. I'm not winsome that way." Well, maybe you need not have +bothered to say it. We could easily know that without your saying it. We +are not winsome this way, any of us, of ourselves. But when we allow this +Jesus Spirit to take possession of us He imparts His winsomeness. For the +real secret of a transfigured life is a _transmitted_ life. Somebody else +living in us, with a capital S for that Somebody, looking out of our +eyes, giving His beauty to our faces, and His winningness to our +personality. + + + +"As the Stars." + + +The language used in the Scriptures for this sort of thing is full of +intense interest. Some time ago I was reading in the old prophecy of +Daniel. I was not thinking of this matter of winning men but simply trying +to get a fresh grasp of that wonderfully fascinating old bit of prophecy. +And all at once I came across that gem in the last chapter. I knew it was +there. You know it is there. Yet it came to me with all the freshness of a +new delightful surprise. "They that are wise shall shine with the +brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as +the stars forever and ever."[10] + +Four times in those last two chapters of Daniel it refers to those that +are "wise"; literally, those that are _teachers_. Those who have +themselves learned the truth and are patiently, faithfully, winsomely +telling and teaching others. The word used for influencing the others is +full of practical picturesque meaning. "They that _turn_ many." As if a +man were going the wrong way on a dangerous road. And _I know_ it's the +wrong way. There's a sharp precipice ahead. But he is going steadily on, +head down, all absorbed, not noticing where the road leads. + +I might go up to him, and strike him sharply on the shoulder to get his +attention, and say, "See here, you're going the wrong way; can't you see +the danger ahead there? Come this way," with a vigorous pull. I have +sometimes seen that done, in just that way. And if the man is an American, +or an Englishman, or a German,--we're all very much alike,--he will say +coldly, "Excuse me. I think I can take care of myself. Thank you. I'll +look out for this individual." + +Or, I might slip gently up to the man, and get my arm in his, and begin to +turn, very gently at first, and turn, and turn, and then turn some more, +and then farther around still, and walk him off the other way. You will +have to get _close_ to a man to do that. Some folks never do. And you'll +have to be at least half-way decent in your life to get close. Some folks +never can. And you will need to be warm enough all the time inside, to +melt through the icy cloak of indifference beneath which his heart may be +wrapped up. But I can tell you this: the old world where you and I live is +fairly hungry at its heart, with an eating hunger for turners of that +sort. + +And the promise of that old prophetic bit is this: "They shall _shine_." +You know everybody wants to shine. It is right to be ambitious, with a +right ambition. But if any of you are ambitious to shine in some other sky +than this, in your profession, in social life or in some firmament lower +than this, may I gently make this suggestion to you? Do your best shining +_now_. Get on the brightest shining surface possible now. For this is your +shining time. This is the sky-time for that sort of thing. It won't last +long, I must tell you frankly. And at the end a bitter biting at your +heart. + +I am fond of watching a display of fireworks on a Fourth of July night. +Perhaps the night is clear, the sky full of stars, bright and sparkling. A +sky rocket is sent off. It goes up with a rush and a noise. There is a +dash of many colored beautiful fire-stars. And a murmur of admiration from +the crowd. For a few moments you can see nothing as you look up but this +handful of fire-stars. The clear quiet stars beyond are eclipsed for a +narrow circle of space, and for a few moments of time. + +It doesn't last long. A small fraction of a minute at the most. Then it's +all over. And all that is left is a charred stick that sticks in the mud, +nobody knows where, nor cares. But look up yonder, the stars you could not +see a moment ago for these momentary ones are shining more brightly than +ever by contrast, + + "... And singing as they shine. + The hand that made us is divine." + +You shine in the lower skies if you will. And of course you will if you +will. You will do as you will to do. But, at the end--a charred stick, a +bad taste in your mouth, a sharp tugging at your heart. And the story's +told. The last chapter's ended. The book is shut. But they whose one +absorbing ambition it is to turn others to righteousness may not shine +much here in earth's skies. And they may a bit, and it recks precious +little either way. But they _shall_ shine as the stars, as bright and as +long. + +It does not mean Atlantic coast stars. It means desert stars, Babylonian +stars, where one can see so many more than here. They shake their wondrous +fire-light down into your face, and fairly dazzle your eyes. You "shall +shine as the stars," as bright and as long. + + + +The Finest Wisdom. + + +James, the head of the Jerusalem Church, closes up his letter to the +dispersed Jews with this same word as Daniel uses. He would have all to +whom he is writing understand that he that _turns_ another from the wrong +way will save a soul from death and hide away out of sight and reach a +mass of sin.[11] The old world needs more saving societies and saving +individuals of this sort. + +We have gotten great skill in saving dollars. Men give their whole +strength and time to that. There is something much higher, infinitely +higher, saving souls, rescuing lives, treasuring up precious men and +women. These people, James says, are famous for their use of the fine +cloak of charity. They make the best use of it in hiding away beyond any +chance of being found a great mass of ugly, crooked, poisonous sins. + +The man with the reputation of being the wisest man gives a special +definition of wisdom. The old version runs, "he that winneth souls is +wise."[12] This is a great statement from Solomon's pen. He had searched +into all the avenues of men's pursuits. He was a great experimenter. +Everything was put to a personal test. He amassed wealth beyond all +others. He delved into the fascinations of intellectual delights, of deep +intricate philosophies and problems. + +He knew the subtle appeal to strong men that there is in deftly handling +and controlling men, personally and in large numbers. He had tasted the +rich wines of pleasure as had few. This is his conclusion: the wise man is +he that gives his strength with all of its fine-grained cunning to wooing +men back, through the old Eden gate, up to the tree of life. + +This is the finest fruitage any life can yield. This will be to the bearer +of it a tree of life giving twelve crops of fruits, a crop of every month, +a perennial, alike in heat and frost, in storm and drought, and with a +peculiar healing quality in its green leaves for all men. + +The revised version gives a fine turn to this old bit, exactly reversing +the first statement. "He that is wise winneth souls." The old philosopher +says that here is the real test of wisdom. He that is a wise man gives the +cream of his thought and wisdom to personal influence with men. He thinks +the thing best worth while is drawing a man through the inner reach upon +his thinking and affections and will away from the impure and ignoble and +deceptive up into touch with his first Friend. + +And he finds too that nothing he has ever undertaken calls for a finer +play of all his powers at their best. All the diplomacy and fineness and +tact and keen management at his command will be called upon. He must be a +wise man to do such work. It is no fool's errand this. It demands the best +in the best. + +There is no body of men more keen or skilled in the handling and +influencing of men, than the politicians. And I use the word in its fine +meaning, as well as in its cheaper meanings. As democracy has won its way +increasingly among the governments of earth these politicians have +increased in number and in influence. Great measures of government have +depended on their skill in manipulating men. Rarest subtlety and +adroitness and rugged honesty have blended in the strongest of these +leaders. + +The fishing simile so commonly used in the winning of men over to one's +side is a peculiarly attractive, a matchless simile. And all of this +handling of men has often been for personal ends, often for wholly selfish +ends, often for strong national ends. Almost never has it been for the +benefit of the man being won, save at times very remotely. + +But Jesus would have us become skilled diplomats in winning men for their +own sakes. Getting them to climb the hills for the sake of the air and +view they will get, and enjoy. We are to win strong men full of life and +vigor and manly force up into touch with their Friend, Himself. + +There is too a most attractive winsome phrase on the Master's lips at the +close of that fishing story in Luke's fifth chapter,[13] "From henceforth +thou shall _catch_ men" is the reading. But the revised margin gives this +added bit of color: "Thou shalt take men alive." They should get, not dead +fish, but living men. Men full of vigor and life--thou shalt have power +to sway these and induce them up to the highlands of a new life. + + + +Three Essentials. + + +There are three simple essentials here for the man who would be following +his Master fully. The first is that a man shall surrender himself wholly +to Jesus as a Master. That so Jesus may have the full control of all. +Maybe some one thinks, "There is that strong word surrender again. Cannot +I help a man be better without going so far as that word seems to imply?" + +Will you kindly notice that the Spirit of Jesus _fills_ the surrendered +man? And it is only as that Spirit does fill and sway that there can be +any such passion for men as Jesus had, and, too, the fine tact that He +always used. This is the first simple indispensable essential. + +The second is this: a bit of quiet time alone with Jesus daily over His +Word. The door should be shut. Outside things shut outside. And one's self +shut in alone with the Master. This is not a good thing--merely. I am not +recommending it to you. I am saying very much more. It is an _essential_ +thing with every one who would follow the Master simply and fully. It is +time spent in coaling up, taking out the dead ashes, and readjusting the +drafts, so the fires will be kept burning steadily and clearly. This is +the second great essential. + +The third essential is this: a purpose, deep-seated, rock-rooted, +underlying every other purpose, taking precedence of every other, of +trying to win others, one by one, bit by bit, over to knowing Jesus +personally. I say "trying." I like that word. There may be some blunders, +some bad steps, some untactful work. But these will not turn one aside +from this purpose but simply make him more determined to become skilled in +this finest art. + +I mean something like this. Here is a young woman moving in a social +circle, just as bright and winsome as God meant every young woman to be. +And as she moves about, she is thinking--no, it is thinking itself out, +underneath in her subtle sub-consciousness,--"How can I drop the word +here, and touch there, and leave the light impress here, that shall count +with these lives for my Master?" + +Here is a man transacting business with another. And even while he is +dealing with figures, and contract terms, he is thinking,--no, again,--it +is so deeply rooted in that the thought, like the fine trendils of a +plant, is ever weaving itself intangibly but surely into the web of his +passing mental operations, "How can I tactfully leave the impress here, +perhaps speak the direct word, that shall be a doorway for Jesus into +this life?" + + + +A Blessed Library Corner. + + +I think I might tell you best just what I mean by a bit from a real life. +The bit that has been such a real inspiration to myself. It is about a +friend of mine, a business man, with large responsible interests, keen and +shrewd in his business dealings, a very earnest Christian man, with a +delightful, winning personality, and I am grateful to say who was a warm +friend of mine. He is in the presence of his Master now. He was a man much +my senior in years, who helped me very greatly. Whenever we chanced to +meet in our travels I would drop my affairs as far as I could to spend all +the time possible with him, both for the delight of his presence, and for +the practical help he always was. The last time we were ever together was +in Columbus, Ohio. We met there to attend an anniversary meeting of the +Young Men's Christian Association, in Dr. Gladden's Church, on the Capitol +Square. And Monday morning before taking our trains away in different +directions we went for a drive, to get the air, and talk a bit. I made the +suggestion of driving, for I knew I would get something from him. And I +was right. I did get something that I never forgot, and never shall. + +As we were driving, and talking, by and by, in a little lull of the talk, +he said very quietly, "Gordon, do you know what I have been doing lately?" +And I said, "No." "Well," he said, "it's been the delight of my life," and +I could see the gleam of light in his eyes. And I said, "Tell me what it +is that has been such a pleasure to you." And he said, "Well, I will." +Then he went on in a very taking way he had to tell this simple story. And +he was speaking as to a friend, for he was very modest, and would not have +spoken of the thing; except to _help_; that would always bring anything he +had. + +He said when he was at home--he travelled much--he would think about the +young men whom he knew who were not Christians. Splendid men, some of +them; full of power; clubmen, some of them. But who did not know Jesus +personally. And he would think, "Now there's such a man. I wonder what's +his easy side of approach." And he would think about him, and pray some +about him. And then make an opportunity to ask him up to his home for +dinner some evening. His position in the city would make any young man +feel honored with such an invitation. + +He said to me, "We have a pleasant time at the dinner table with the +family, and afterwards, a bit of music and so on. Then," with a quiet +smile he said, "I ask him into my library corner, my little study den, +and by and by we come to close quarters. I tell him what I'm thinking +about. I tell him what a Friend Jesus is. And how it helps to have Him in +all of one's life as a Friend and Master. Then I ask him softly if he +won't let Jesus be his Friend." + +He said, "I try to be as tactful as though I were selling a contract of +cars. Though there's a fine reverence here that never gets into business +talk. And then if it seems good, without causing him any embarrassment, we +have a bit of prayer together. Not always, but often." And he said to me, +with a tender eagerness in his voice, "Gordon, it's been the _delight_ of +my life to have man after man accept Jesus in my library corner." + +And I looked at him. We were driving along the busiest block of the +busiest street in Columbus. The Capitol building on this side. And the old +Neil Hotel on this. And all around us were the electrics, and wagons and +carriages; so much noise and dust. And there that man sat by my side so +quiet, with his eyes dancing as they looked off at something I could not +see. And if ever Moses' face shined or Stephen's, his did that morning. + +I was caught as I looked. That was the _delight_ of his life. Not his +money, nor his business, nor his social relations, though he took keen +interest in all of these, but this. And the sound of his voice, and the +sight of his face that morning, seemed to kindle the fires in my heart +that I might, in my own way, as came best to me, be doing something of +that same sort. That is what I mean by a deep-seated purpose, under every +other, to try to win men. + +I was telling this story one night to some people in his state, not +thinking that I was within maybe two hundred miles of his home. And as the +audience was dismissed I saw a man coming up the aisle toward the pulpit, +apparently to meet me. So I went down his way. He looked like a business +fellow, with a clean-cut way about him, and a strong manly face. Before we +met I noticed something glistening in his eye, and yet a smile across his +lips. + +And he _gripped_ my hand. I can feel that grip now. And he half-blurted +out, "_I'm_ one of those fellows! And there are a lot of us that are +thanking God with full hearts for that man's library room." And the grip +of that hand seemed to make the fires within burn just a bit stiffer. + +In an after conversation this friend told me how he had wanted to be a +Christian, but didn't seem to know just how. And nobody had ever spoken to +him about it, he said, though so often he had wished somebody would. There +are a great many just like him in that. + + + +"Two Missing"--"Go Ye." + + +Same years ago I was a guest at a small wedding dinner party in New York +City. A Scotch-Irish gentleman, well known in that city, an old friend, +spoke across the table to me. He said he had heard recently a story of the +Scottish hills that he wanted to tell. And we all listened as he told this +simple tale. I have heard it since from other lips, variously told. But +good gold shines better by the friction of use. And I want to tell it to +you as my old friend from the Scotch end of Ireland told it that evening. + +It was of a shepherd in the Scottish hills who had brought his sheep back +to the fold for the night, and as he was arranging matters for the night +he was surprised to find that two of the sheep were missing. He looked +again. Yes, two were missing. And he knew which two. These shepherds are +keen to know their sheep. He was much surprised, and went to the out-house +of his dwelling to call his collie. + +There she lay after the day's work suckling her own little ones. He called +her. She looked up at him. He said, "Two are missing"--holding up two +fingers--"Away by, Collie, and get them." Without moving she looked up +into his face, as though she would say, "You wouldn't send me out again +to-night?--it's been a long day--I'm so tired--not again to-night." So her +eyes seemed to say. And again as many a time doubtless, "Away by, and get +the sheep," he said. And out she went. + +About midnight a scratching at the door aroused him. He found one of the +sheep back. He cared for it. A bit of warm food, and the like. Then out +again to the out-house. There the dog lay with her little ones. Again +he called her. She looked up. "Get the other sheep," he said. I do not +know if you men listening are as fond of a good collie as I am. Their +eyes seem human to me, almost, sometimes. And hers seemed so as she +looked up and seemed to be saying out of their great depths--"Not +_again_--to-night?--haven't I been faithful?--I'm so tired--not again!" + +And again as I suppose many a time before, "Away by, and get the sheep." +And out she went. About two or three, again the scratching. And he found +the last sheep back; badly torn; been down some ravine or gully. And the +dog was plainly played. And yet she seemed to give a bit of a wag to her +tired tail as though she would say, "There it is--I've done as you bade +me--it's back." + +And he cared for its needs, and then before lying down again to his own +rest, thought he would go and praise the dog for her faithful work. You +know how sensitive collies are to praise or criticism. He went out and +stooped over with a pat and a kindly word, and was startled to find that +the life-tether had slipped its hold. She lay there lifeless, with her +little ones tugging at her body. + +That was only a dog. We are men. Shall I apologize for using a _dog_ for +an illustration? No. I will not. One of God's creatures, having a part in +His redemption. That was to save sheep. You and I are sent, not to save +sheep, but to save _men_. And how much then is a _man_ better than a +sheep, or anything else! + +And our Master stands here to-day. Would that you and I might see His face +with the thorn marks of His trip to this earth. He points out with His +hand. And you can't miss a peculiar hole in its palm. He says, "There are +_two missing_--aye, more than two--that you know--that you touch--that you +can touch--that I died for--go _ye_." + +Shall we go? For Jesus' sake? Yes, for men's sake; splendid men, befooled +about Jesus, who can get Him only through us in touch with Him--for men's +sake, in Jesus' great Name. + + + + +Deep-Sea Fishing: The Ambition of Service. + + + + A Water Haul. + Living up in the Spirit Realm. + Saved to Serve. + Ambition in Service. + Use What You Have. + Expectancy in Service. + Jesus Went into the Deeps. + + + + +Deep-Sea Fishing: The Ambition of Service. + +(Luke v:1-11.) + + + +A Water Haul. + + +Jesus was very fond of the outdoors. The Gospels have a woodsy smell. He +taught in the synagogues, but He seemed to prefer the open air. He would +go out on a country road, or down by the beach of the Galilean lake, and +the people would eagerly gather around Him, and He would talk to them. One +morning He had gone down to the lake shore. The people crowded in about +Him and He commenced as usual to talk to them. + +But so eager were they not to miss a word that they pressed in about Him +very close. He was standing with His back to the water likely, and the +people seemed likely to crowd Him over into the water. So He looked around +for something to do. He was ever practical to the point of being +matter-of-fact. A practical idealist was Jesus, _the_ practical Idealist. +Peter was down there, just a short distance off, with his partners and +crew in their fishing boats, cleaning up after the night's haul. Lifting +His voice a little, Jesus called out, "Peter, will you pull around here, +please." + +And Peter did. And Jesus, stepping into the boat, sat down, and went on +talking to the people. Interruptions never seemed to disturb Him. He +seemed to regard them in the light of possible index fingers pointing out +the next thing to be done. Every missionary, foreign and home, has to get +practised in just that, while holding steady to his underlying purpose. + +When He had finished talking, He turned to Peter and said quietly, "Launch +out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught." And Peter smiled +at the very idea, as he said, "Master, we've been out the whole night, and +haven't caught a thing, nothing but a water haul, but"--with a thoughtful +earnestness taking the place of the critical smile--"if you say so, of +course we will." And the Master said so. And now they can't handle the +haul. + +I want to bring to you anew this old word of command from Jesus' lips: +"Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught." These +men in the story had failed. They had gone out the evening before +intending and expecting to bring home a fine haul of fish for the +Capernaum or the Bethsaida market. They came back with nothing for the +night's work but tired muscles and torn nets. This message is for men who +have failed, or who have seemed to fail. There is no failure to an earnest +man. A man cannot fail without his own consent. Every seeming failure is +the seed of a coming success to earnest men. + +If any of us have seemed to fail, our boots have lead in them, and our +hearts are heavy too, for lack of success--this message is for us, "Launch +out, and let down." Failure is very apt to breed discouragement. Your +clothing seems damp and heavy with the dew of a fruitless night. +Oftentimes the best thing for that is action. Mix yourself with the action +of boats and nets and men. That's the Master's word here. + + + +Living up in the Spirit Realm. + + +There are three facts that group about the message of Jesus in this story. +And those same three facts need to group themselves in bold outline about +our using of it, too. The first is this: there was _contact with Jesus as +a Master_. That must come in, and come in strong, before there can be any +right using of this word of command. + +There needs to be the first contact when a man turns over the control of +his life to Jesus as Master. There needs to be close contact that the +Master's plan of service may be clearly seen and faithfully started upon. +There must be continual contact that so His mastery may control and guide +at every step. + +The second fact is this: obedience to the Master's word. Obedience, mind +you, whether the thing you are told to do seems a likely thing to do or +not. Here with the fishermen there were some things that pulled the other +way. They had been out all night and failed. The very sense of failure +strong within them was against obedience. Discouraged men seldom succeed +at anything. And there was a very unlikely chance ahead. The time for +fishing with them was in the night. Failure behind, and a poor chance +ahead! Yet they obeyed. + +If Peter had acted the way some modern folks do he would have said +something like this: "You'll excuse me, Master, for saying it; but--this +is no time to fish in these waters. Pardon me, sir, I have no doubt you +know about carpentering. But _I'm a fisherman_. When it comes to yokes and +plows I'll gladly yield to you. But fishing--you see, I've been fishing +ever since I was a boy. Maybe up around Nazareth, in the brooks and ponds +up there, you can catch something in daylight, but not down here." + +I have heard many people talking that way. But Peter didn't. Aren't you +glad he didn't? He stumbled often. He talked foolishly to Jesus more than +once, but not this time. He obeyed. It was against his habit, against his +ideas of what was best, but the message was clear and he obeyed it. Happy +is the man who listens to the inner Voice, learns keenly how to hear +distinctly and accurately, and obeys. Faith is never contrary to reason, +but it is frequently _higher up_. The spirit realm is the highest. + +A man should reach up _through_ his bodily life, _through_ a keen, strong +intellectual perception and grasp, up into the spirit realm and abide +there. Many a man of splendid ability and earnestness never shakes off his +intellectual scaffolding in the upward building. It remains to hamper and +mar. Through a mastered body, and a disciplined mind, up to the spirit +level is the full swing. Obedience to the clearly discerned voice of +command from the Master is the one pathway of full power. + +The third fact was sure to follow these two. It came last. There were +unexpectedly large results. There always will be where the first two facts +are faithfully gotten in. + + + +Saved to Serve. + + +There is a growth in this message of Jesus. There are four steps up and +out. First comes the plain call to _service: "Launch out_." This is the +ringing service call. It is a familiar word to a follower of Jesus. He was +always saying, "Go ye." To every man He said first of all, "Come." Then, +as quickly as a man came, the word was changed to "go." + +I like greatly the motto of the Salvation Army. It must have been born for +those workers in the warm heart of the mother of the Army, Catharine +Booth. That mother explains much of the marvelous power of that +organization. Their motto is, "_Saved to Serve_." Some seem to put the +period in after the first word. That's bad punctuation and worse +Christianity. We are saved to be savers. There is needed the divine Savior +and the human saver. Only he who has been saved can help save somebody +else. The tingle of experience in the blood attracts men. + +The Master says, "Launch out." Get down into the thick of the fight. One +should not unwisely wear out his strength. But on the other hand, it's +better to wear out than to rust out. You'll last longer, and any loss of +strength is to be preferred to the loss through yellow, eating rust. A +minister noted for his striking way of putting truth was preaching upon +the words that were spoken of Paul and his companions: "These that have +turned the world upside down are come hither also."[14] He said there were +three points to his sermon: first, the world was wrong side up; second, it +had to be gotten right side up; third, _we're the fellows to do it_. That +is the first note of this message, _we_ are the fellows to do it. + + + +Ambition in Service. + + +The second step in this ringing call to service is this: _ambition_ in +service. "Launch out _into the deep_." The shore waters are largely +over-fished. Out in the deeps are fish that have never had smell or sight +of bait or net. Here, near shore, the lines get badly tangled sometimes, +and committees have to be appointed to try to untangle the lines and +sweeten up the fishermen. + +And the fish get very particular about the sort and shape of the bait. +Some men have taken to fishing wholly with pickles, but with very +unsatisfactory results. The fish nibble, but are seldom landed apparently. +And just a little bit out are fish that never have gotten a suggestion of +a good bite. + +There are deeps all around. One might fairly give an inward personal turn +to the word. There are _personal deeps_ that have not yet been sounded. +There are untouched deeps in prayer, in Bible study, and in the winning of +others. There are deeps in acquaintance with Jesus, in purity of life, in +sacrifice and in giving whose bottom no greasy lead has yet touched. "Out +into the deep," comes that quiet intense inner voice of Jesus spoken into +one's innermost heart. + +There are the great _deeps in service_ waiting our coming. Roundabout +every church is a fringe of deep, sometimes a deep fringe and broad, of +those practically untouched by the warm message of Jesus; and around every +Christian Association of men and of women. In the heart and on the edges +of every village and town and city unfathomed deeps lie; deeps in a man's +own state, deeps in our land, great untouched deeps in the world. + +Wherever there is a man who has not felt the warm side of the story of +Jesus' dying there is a deep. Wherever a group of such can be found is a +deep increased in depth by the number in the group. Wherever the great +crowds are gathered together to whom no word at all has come, neither by +personal touch nor printed page nor any other wise, there is the deepest +deep. With a deep glow in His eyes as He speaks the word, and the +tenderness and softness of deep emotion, and the earnestness of one who +has Himself been in the deep Jesus says anew to us to-day, "out into the +_deep_." + +We are to be ambitious in service. Jesus was ambitious. He reached out for +all, those nearest, those farthest. He talked of all nations, of a world. +His follower must have a long reach to keep up. That word ambition has +been much abused. It has been used much in connection with selfish +self-seeking, until that meaning has become almost its whole meaning in +the thinking of many people. But with the purpose dominant in Jesus we can +properly use it in its old literal meaning. Originally it simply meant +going around, being used in the sense of going out among people soliciting +their favor or their votes. + +It has the fine vitality of that word "go" in it. That for which a man is +ambitious decides the quality of the word. A pure, holy purpose makes the +intense reaching for it pure and holy too. An intense reaching out to the +farthest reach of the Master's word, that finds expression in the dominant +spirit of the life, in the service, in the giving, the sacrificing, the +praying--this is the true ambition. + +Paul uses three times a word that has the force of our word ambition.[15] +The American Revision uses ambition in the margin for it. In advising the +group of followers in Thessalonica he says, "_Study_ to be quiet." The +practical force of the phrase there is this: be ambitious to be +unambitious in the world's abused meaning of ambitious. In writing the +second time to the friends at Corinth where his motives had been much +criticised he said, "I make it my aim (or ambition) to be well-pleasing +unto Him." + +And later, in writing to the Christians at Rome, whom he had never seen, +he said that he had made it his aim or had been ambitious to preach the +Gospel where nobody had yet gone. The literal meaning of the word he uses +is something like this, striving from a love of honor. And we may find a +fine meaning in that which was doubtless used otherwise. + +It was a matter of honor with Paul to do as he was doing. And he would +have the honor of having fully carried out his Master's wish. He coveted +earnestly the honor of being always pleasing to his Master both in life +and in the sort and reach of his service. Here are Paul's three ambitions: +to be wholly free of the fires of worldly ambitions; to be well-pleasing +to Jesus, his Lord; to reach out beyond, where nobody had yet gone with +the story of Jesus' dying and living again. + +Paul was obeying Jesus. Jesus said to those fishermen on Galilee's waters, +"Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught." Paul +said, "I have steadily made it the one thing I drove hard at in service, +to get out beyond all other lines and nets to where nobody has yet gone." + + + +Use What You Have. + + +The third step in this service-call is this: _practicality in service_: +"Let down your nets." I can imagine Peter saying, "Master, if we had known +your plans for this morning, I would have sent up to Tyre for the newest +patented nets, or down to Cairo. These nets of ours have been patched and +patched. They are so old." The Master says, "Let down _your_ nets." + +There is a very common delusion that holds us back from doing something +because we are not skilled in doing it. "Let the pastor speak to that +young man; I can't do it very well." "I can't teach very well; let some +one else take that class." The Master says, "Use what you have." Do your +best. Your best may not be _the_ best, but if it be your best, it will be +God-blest, and always bring a harvest. + +Use what you have. Do not despise the stuff God put into you. Train and +discipline it the best you can, and use it. And in using it you will be +training it. The best training is in _use_. Brains and pains and prayer +are an irresistible trinity. When the gray matter and the finger tips and +the knees get into a combination great results always come. + +The old Hebrew farmer Shamgar had only a long ox-goad with which to prod +his beasts in the field. The traditional enemy, the Philistine, comes up +over the hill. Shamgar's neighbors have taken to their heels. But Shamgar +is made of different stuff. He asks a man hurrying by, "How many do you +think there are?" And the man calls out, "About six hundred, I should +say." + +Shamgar sets his jaws together hard, gets a fresh grip on his ox-goad, +digs his heels into the ground for a good hold, and mutters to himself, "I +guess they are about four hundred short." And he smites, left and right, +up and down, hip and thigh, with his strange weapon. And a great victory +comes to the nation under its new leader. + +David had only a leather sling, home-made likely, and a few smooth stones +out of the running brook. He had skill in slinging stones, a keen trained +eye, a steady nerve, a practiced arm, and well-knit muscles. But what were +these against a giant almost twice his height and years, and armed to the +teeth? Yet the ruddy-faced stripling had something better yet along with +his sling and stones and skill. He had a simple trust in God. He had a hot +protest in his heart against the slandering of God's people by this +heathen giant. He _combined_ all he had, sling, stones, skill, and faith, +and the laughing, sneering giant is soon under his feet, and feeling the +edge of his own sword. "Let down your nets." Use what you have. + +There was a woman living down by the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea a +good while ago. Her heart had been touched by God, and ever after beat +warm for others. But what could _she_ do? She couldn't make speeches, nor +write papers for the missionary society, nor preside over its meetings. +She seemed to have one special gift. She could sew. She could do plain +sewing and overcast, cross-stitch and hem-stitch. I suppose she knew the +herring-bone-stitch and feather-stitch, and other sorts too. + +And so she just busied herself finding out poor folks who needed clothing, +some women too hard-worked to care for their children's clothing. And she +sewed for them. She was a seamstress for Jesus' sake to all the needy +folks she could find. I expect she stuck pretty closely to the plain +stitching, though likely as not she would put in some of the fancy too to +please the people she was winning to her Master. + +And she sewed the story of Jesus, and the heart of Jesus, into coats and +skirts and such. All through Joppa her message went into homes not +otherwise open perhaps. And the women read the story of her heart in the +stitches and they found Jesus through her needle. She used what she had. +And the women of the church have rightly honored her name in their +societies. + +But mark keenly this: while using to the full, and faithfully, just what +you have, there must needs be utter dependence upon God. Not what you +have, nor what you can do, but Somebody _in_ what you have, and _through_ +what you do. Notice, "Their nets were _breaking_." They were to use their +nets, but the power was somewhere else. As we are made up, there +frequently needs to be a breaking before the glory of God is revealed. It +need not be so, necessarily. + +Yet as a matter of fact most people have to stub their toes and then go +stumbling down with a clash, measuring their length on the earth, and +getting some scars that stay before they can be mightily used. So many +strong wills are strong enough to be stubborn, but not strong enough to +yield. Gideon's pitchers had to be broken before the lights flashed out +and brought panic to the enemy. + +It was when the alabaster box was broken that its fine fragrance filled +the house, and spread out into all the world. Somebody prayed, "O Lord, +take me, and break me, and make me." That is the usual order as a matter +of fact. Yet if the strength of stubbornness that must be broken down to +change its direction, were but swung God's way at once--But most folks +that have been greatly used have some of this sort of scars. Utter +dependence upon God's strength in doing God's service is the lesson of the +breaking nets. + + + +Expectancy in Service. + + +The climax of this message of Jesus is in its end: "Let down your nets +_for a draught_." There is to be _expectancy in service_. Ideas of +draughts changed that day. "Peter, what would you call a good draught?" +"Well," the old fisherman says, as he sits stitching up the holes in his +nets, "after last night I think if we got a boat half full it wouldn't be +a bad haul." "Andrew, what's a draught?" And Andrew says, "I think after +this water haul we've had, a haul of holes, Peter hits it pretty close." + +"Master, how much is _a draught_?" And His answer comes back over the +water, "Twice as much as you are able to take care of, and then more." +They filled that boat, sent for another, filled that, and then didn't land +all they had caught. + +How much do you reckon a draught in your life, in your church, in your +mission, your field, _how much_ are you _saying_?--"Master, what is your +reckoning of a draught here in this man's life, out here in this field of +service?" And from this Galilean story there comes back anew to our hearts +the Master's reply, "Twice as much as you have planned for, and then +more." + +Expectancy is the eye of faith. Faith always has a watch-tower. When +Elijah went to the tiptop of Carmel to pray, he was careful to send his +servant to watch the sea. Prayer is faith looking up. Expectancy is faith +looking out. + + + +Jesus Went into the Deeps. + + +And so to every one of us to-day comes afresh that ringing command, +"Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draught." + + "'Launch out into the deep;' + The awful depth of a world's despair; + Hearts that are breaking and eyes that weep; + Sorrow and ruin and death are there. + And the sea is wide; + And its pitiless tide + Bears on its bosom away. + Beauty and youth, + In relentless ruth, + To its dark abyss for aye. + But the Master's voice comes over the sea, + 'Let down your nets for a draught for Me.' + And He stands in our midst, + On our wreck-strewn strand. + And sweet and loving is His command. + His loving word is to each, to all. + And wherever that loving word is heard, + There hang the nets of the royal Word. + Trust to the nets, and not to your skill; + Trust to the royal Master's will. + Let down the nets this day, this hour; + For the word of a king is a word of power, + And the King's own word comes over the sea, + Let down your nets for a draught for Me.'" + +There is a last word that comes up insisting to be said. It is this: Jesus +went down into the deeps for us. Deeper deeps than we know or ever shall +He sounded with the line of His own life on our behalf. He got badly +scarred that night of darkness. It is this scarred Jesus who earnestly +asks us to come along after Him so far as we can. His voice with a +tenderness of love wrought into it on the cross says to us, "Launch out +into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught." + + + + +Money: The Golden Channel of Service. + + + + Touching a Limitless Circle. + Peculiar Effects of Money. + Jesus' Law for the Use of Money. + Foreign Exchange. + Gold-Exchanged Lives. + Spirit Alchemy. + The Fragrance of the Life in the Gift. + Sacrifice Hallows and Increases the Gift. + A Living Sacrifice. + + + + +Money: The Golden Channel of Service.[16] + +(Luke xvi:1-18.) + + + +Touching a Limitless Circle. + + +There is an inky shadow over the home of God. There is a sharp pain +tugging at the heart of God. It's a family matter; a family disgrace. One +of God's family has gone off from the home circle and made a bad mess of +things. Such an affair is always a source of great grief, especially where +the family is an old one, with fine blood. And here the family is of the +oldest, and the blood the best. The Father feels the sharp edge of the +knife of disgrace very keenly. The hearth fire of God is lonely for the +one gone away. + +All of that Father's great love and rare wisdom have centered and blended +on a plan for winning the estranged member of His family back home, of his +own free glad accord. The other members of His family have gazed with +awe-touched faces upon the marvels of that plan. Its tenderness, its +depth, its wondrous love-wisdom have excited their deepest admiration +while they watch breathlessly to see the outcome. + +That prodigal is our own splendid planet. Some of us down here have gladly +welcomed the Father's plan and the Father's Son. His Son is His plan. But +most of us don't seem to understand the Father. And that is hard on Him. +And the greater number of us, by far the greater number, haven't even +heard of the Father's plan or of His Son, and have lost the memory of His +loving voice calling. He is always calling. And everyone hears that +calling voice. But very many do not recognize it as the Father's. + +In great tenderness the Father's plan for winning all includes the help of +those already won. Through His Son first, and then through His sons, +newborn, reborn, He is reaching out His warm, eager hand to all. He +breathed His own Spirit upon His Son. He breathes that same Spirit upon +each of us who will, that so we may, each of us, touch all the others with +the touch of God. + +Five great touches of God there are, each charged with a mighty current of +power. The fragrant life-touch, the musical voice-touch, the warm +service-touch, the potent golden-touch, the secret, subtle prayer-touch. +The first three of these are limited to a narrow circle, the circle of the +immediate personality. The last two are limitless. They are like our own +spirits. They reach directly, resistlessly, clear out through the personal +circle as far as the spirit reaches, even around the whole circle of the +planet. + +Just now for a little while we want to talk together about one of these, +the potent yellow golden-touch. The word service has been thought of quite +commonly as referring to certain restricted things that one may do for +another. It has a broader meaning too. Whatever we do to help another is +service. Not merely the direct activities, but praying and giving are +service of most potent influence. Money supplies a channel through which +one may reach most intimately to others, near by and around the world. It +is the golden channel of service. + + + +Peculiar Effects of Money. + + +Money is queer stuff. The opposites meet in it so strikingly. It may be +the most cruel, exacting tyrant. It may be the most faithful, intelligent +servant. If it come into a man's life unaccompanied by a high, controlling +motive power, it has most peculiar effects upon him. It often wrinkles up +his face, and ties hard knots in the wrinkled lines. It can dwarf a warm +hand into a cold, hard, muscle-bound fist. It drains the warm blood from +the heart, and dries all the sweet, fragrant dew out of the spirit. The +hand suffers much. It is often stricken with a sort of palsy while in the +pocket, and cannot be withdrawn. Sometimes there is a violent cramp, or a +sort of pen paralysis that prevents the signing of the name--to certain +sorts of checks. + +But if, on the other hand, it come into a man's possession accompanied by +a pure unselfish motive that _controls_, it comes the nearest to +omnipotence of anything we handle. Gold of itself seems to have the +puckering quality of a green persimmon. The green fruit will contract the +mouth to its smallest proportions. And unmellowed gold acts in the same +way upon the mouth of the pocket. + +This is true of all gold and of all pockets. There are no exceptions. The +only possible way of effecting a change is to let a stronger power come in +and counteract the contracting power. Gold has the greatest contracting +power of any earthly substance. Its only sufficient counteractant is God. +God has the greatest expanding power known to angels or men. Gold +contracts. God expands. If God be the dominating motive power in a man's +life, then does gold come the nearest to omnipotence of any tangible +thing. It takes on the quality of Him who breathes upon it. + + + +Jesus' Law for the Use of Money. + + +Jesus gives us the simple law for the right use of money. It is in that +sixteenth chapter of Luke. He is talking about the dishonest overseer of a +wealthy man's estate. His dishonest practices have been discovered, and he +is required to make a final settlement preliminary to his being +discharged. He has evidently been living extravagantly, for the loss of +position threatens him with beggary. Distressed to know what to do he hits +upon a farther extension of his dishonest practices, and uses the position +he is about to lose to buy up friends for his coming days of want. + +As he tells the story Jesus adds this comment: "for the sons of this world +are for their own generation wiser than the sons of light." Practically +they go on the supposition that the present generation is the only one. +For the short space of years making up their own generation they are wiser +than the sons of light. But for the long space of all coming generations +they are the rankest fools. That is included by contrast in Jesus' words. +The man who in his use of money thinks only or chiefly of the years making +up his own present life is--a fool. The man who takes into his reckoning +not only the present generation, but all coming generations, in disposing +of his money is the shrewd financier. + +Then occurs the sentence[17] that contains a wonderfully simple statement +for the keen, wise use of gold. The old version runs like this: "Make to +yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness that when ye fail they +may receive you into everlasting habitations." The revised version, both +English and American, reads this way: "Make to yourselves friends by means +of the mammon of unrighteousness that when _it_ shall fail they may +receive you into the eternal tabernacles." + +I have ventured to make a rather free translation that I feel sure is true +to the words here in their connection and that gives in simple English +just what Jesus means. "Make to yourselves friends by means of money, +which the unrighteous world reckons riches, that when it fails they may +receive you," and so on. Money is not riches. The world commonly has been +befooled into thinking that it is. Perhaps we have not all quite escaped +that delusion. And money is not unrighteous. It is neither righteous, nor +unrighteous. It gets its moral quality from the man owning it for the time +being. It is as he is. It takes on the color of its ownership. + +Make to yourselves friends by means of the money that comes into your +control that when it fails they may receive you. That is to say, exchange +your money into the kind of coin that is current in the kingdom of God. +Exchange your gold into _lives_. That is the sort of coin current in the +homeland. This yellow stuff we call riches they use for paving stones up +in the homeland. Would that we might get it under our feet down here, +instead of being ruled by it. + +The current coin of heaven is lives of men. And that too will be reckoned +the precious metal when the Kingdom of God comes to the earth. Exchange +your money into _men_; purified, uplifted, redeemed men. Buy letters of +credit that will be good in the homeland, and in the coming Kingdom days +on the earth, if you would be wealthy. + +"That when it fails," Jesus says with fine discernment. Money will fail. +There is an end to the power of gold in itself. Money will be bankrupt +some day. It has enormous buying power now. Some day its buying power will +be all gone. Then it will take the place of cobble-stones. Yet it would +seem to be a failure there unless some new hardening process had been +found for it. Better use it while it has power of purchase. Better not be +caught with much of the yellow stuff sticking to you when the true values +are being settled. It'll all be dead loss then; dead stock, not worth the +space it occupies. + +You remember the very old story of the wealthy man who died. And in a +group of people talking together somebody asked the usual question, "How +much did he _leave_?" And a wise man in the company replied tersely, +"Every cent; didn't take a copper along." That story is apt to provoke a +smile. But, do you know, it is sadder than it is witty. The man had gained +great wealth. He must have been endowed with some force and talent to do +that. His whole life and strength and talent had been devoted to making +money and hoarding it. That money was the whole output of the man's life. +Then he died and the whole output of his life was left behind. He passed +out of this life stripped to the skin. Into the other world, where wealth +is reckoned otherwise than in gold, he entered a sheer pauper. The +purchasing power of his wealth stopped at the line of departure out of +this world. _It failed_. + + + +Foreign Exchange. + + +Exchange your gold into men. Buy up some of the kind of coin they use in +the homeland, so that you may have some wealth when you get there. Suppose +you should be over on the continent of Europe, shopping in Berlin. You buy +some goods in a store and lay down upon the counter a twenty-dollar gold +piece in payment. The salesman would say, "What sort of money is this?" +and you would likely say, "That is good American gold, sir." And he would +probably reply, "I have no doubt that is true, and that it is good money. +But it is not the sort we receive here. You will have to go to the bankers +and get it changed into German marks and then I'll be pleased to complete +this sale." And so you would be obliged to do if you had not thought to +provide yourself with German money. + +There are some people that will have an experience like that after a +while, I'm thinking. Some one thinks that that is not a very likely +illustration. A man going to Europe would provide himself with proper +money to use. Maybe it is not a very good illustration for _Europe_. But +how about some other strange lands to which folks go? There seem to be +several people who expect to go to a strange country, and yet do not +provide any of its recognized coinage before going. + +Here is a man who gets through his life down on the earth, and goes out +into the other life. Judging by the whole tenor of his life he will +attempt to take some of his belongings with him. Indeed so much are these +belongings a part of his very life that they seem inseparable from him. +Here he comes up to the gateway of the upper world. He is lugging along a +farm or two, some town lots, and houses, and a lot of beautifully engraved +paper, bank stock and railroad bonds and other bonds. They are absorbing +him completely as he puffs slowly along. + +And as he gets up to the gateway, the gateman will say, "What's all that +stuff?" "_Stuff!_" he will say, astonished; "this is the most precious +wealth of earth, sir. I have spent my whole life, the cream of my strength +in accumulating this." "Oh, well," the reply will be, "I have no doubt +that is so. I am not disputing your word at all. But that sort of thing +does not pass current up in this land. That has to be exchanged at the +bankers' offices for the sort of coinage we use here." + +The man looks a little relieved at this last remark. The other talk has +sounded strange, and given him a queer misgiving in his heart, as he +listened. But "banker" and "exchange"--that sounds familiar. The ground +feels a bit steadier. He picks up new spirit. "Where are the bankers' +offices, please?" he asks eagerly. "They are all down on the earth," comes +the quiet answer. "You must do your exchanging before you get as far up as +this. That stuff is all dead loss now. You can't take it back to the +bankers' now, and it is of no value here. Just leave it over on that dump +heap there outside the gate, and come in yourself." And the man comes in +with a strangely stripped and bare feeling. + +What we get and keep for the sake of having, we lose, for we leave it +behind. What we give away freely for _Jesus'_ sake, for men's sake, we +will find by and by we have kept, for we have sent it ahead in a changed +form. + +There will be a strange readjustment of values on the other side. Some +men of splendid strength have spent it in accumulating earth's wealth. +They give, even freely it seems to be, in very large amounts. Yet be it +keenly marked the sum given by these men always bears a small proportion +to what is kept. + +Others there are of equally splendid strength, and fine powers, who have +been spending that strength in influencing men. Their passion seems to +have been for _men_, for men's _selves_, for men's _lives_. The great bulk +of their strength and time has been deliberately given to this. And some +that have not understood have thought such conduct strange, a sort of fad +with these men. But when values are readjusted by the standards of the +final clearing house, some who have been very wealthy down here will be +reckoned among the very poor. And some who have been reckoned poor will be +found to be the shrewdest of investors. They will be the millionaires of +the Kingdom time and in the homeland. I do not mean _dollar_-millionaires, +but _life-millionaires._ The standard of wealth in the homeland is +_lives_, not dollars. + +And some too there will be, and not few in numbers, who have given of +their strength in business pursuits to the making of money, as the Spirit +has guided them, or to whom it has been left in trust by others, and who +have been steadily investing the wealth that has come in the _lives of +men_. Some folks ought to be getting better acquainted at the foreign +exchange desk in the banks where this sort of business is done. + +There are a good many banks that make a specialty of this sort of foreign +exchange. The great Church Boards, the International Committee of the +Young Men's Christian Associations, the American Committee of the Young +Women's Christian Associations, the individual churches and associations, +and the Bible Societies are a few of the better known of the banks having +a large exchange business of this sort. + +Their methods of business have been very thoroughly systematized for the +convenience of investors. In almost every pew of a church may be found +little deposit envelopes, mediums of exchange. There are weekly +opportunities for making deposits. And the handling of the money has been +so thoroughly systematized, too, that, as a rule, a very small proportion +is taken up in keeping the banks running, the great bulk passing directly +out to the designated place of use. + + + +Gold-Exchanged Lives. + + +Jesus says that our money in its new form will be waiting our arrival on +the other side. The men and women into whose lives we have been +exchanging it will be eagerly looking for us as the ship pulls into port. +When you get through with your life down here--it will be a long life, I +hope--you will go up and into the homeland. And--I suppose--at the first +you will have eyes and heart for nobody but _Jesus_. My mother used to say +to me, "I have thought that I would like to have a talk with Moses, and +with Elijah, and with John and Paul, but"--with the quick tears of deepest +emotion filling her dark eyes--"I have never been able in my thinking of +it, _to get past Jesus yet_." Even so it will be, no doubt, with all of +us. + +But this word of Jesus' own suggests that as you go in you will find some +one coming eagerly up with outstretched hands and such a glad face to meet +you. And he will say, "Oh! I have been looking forward so eagerly to +meeting you; welcome." And you will say, "Well, this is very kind of you. +But, pardon me, I can't just recall your face. Where was it I knew you? in +New York?" + +And he will say, with a flush of earnest feeling, "Oh, no! I never saw New +York. And I never saw you before. My home was over in the heart of China. +Our lives were very miserable there. There was a great tugging at my heart +that nothing seemed ever to ease. But one day a stranger came into our +village, with some little books, and as we gathered about him he talked +to us about _Jesus_, and you can never know how that story of Jesus came +to me, and how much it meant. My whole life was changed, and my home and +our village were changed. And since coming up here I have learned that it +was _through you_ that that man came, and I want to thank you. Next to +Jesus I think you're the best friend I have." + +And you will be thinking, "I'm so glad I gave that money. I had to pinch +quite a bit, but that's nothing compared to the joy of this." And as that +is flashing swiftly through your thought, here is somebody else eagerly +pressing up, with the same word of welcome, and a face with such a glad +light the sight of which is alone quite enough to even up any sacrifice. +And you will say maybe, "And where did I meet you? are you from China, +too?" + +No, this one is from a western frontier settlement where the home +missionary had gone, and now this one elbowing by her with the same +lightened face is from the mountain section of the South. And so they come +eagerly up from many places where you have never been in person but where +you have gone potentially through your money. That is what Jesus means. +Make to yourselves friends by means of money which the unrighteous world +reckons riches, that when it fails they may welcome you eagerly into the +homeland. Exchange your gold into lives. + + + +Spirit Alchemy. + + +There is a divine alchemy whereby money may be transmuted into redeemed, +purified, uplifted lives. There is another alchemy whereby men, made of +finest gold in the image of God, may be transmuted into the basest metals. +When Moses coming down from the presence of God saw the shocking sight of +the people worshiping a calf made of gold, he reproached Aaron for +permitting it. Do you remember Aaron's answer? He had the gift of speech, +you remember, an easy, smooth way of explaining things. Yet in the light +of the recited facts the answer seems rather lame. It needs a crutch to +steady it up. He said, that he had put in the gold and--"_there came out +this calf_." + +A great many men might fairly make use of Aaron's explanation. They have +put into the crucible of life their gold, themselves, God's finest gold +intrusted to their hands. And under their manipulation what has come out +is as a vealy, callow calf, a bull calf at that too, scrub stock, fit only +for the ax. + +There is the other, the divine alchemy whereby a man may put in the gold +intrusted to his handling and there shall come out _lives_, sweet, strong, +fragrant lives, made anew in the image of their Maker. + + + +The Fragrance of the Life in the Gift. + + +It is a part of the peculiar potent value of money that there can be a +practical transfer of personality through its use. For instance I have a +friend whose heart burned to go to a foreign mission field for service +there. But the physician said it would not be wise for her to go. Yielding +to his expert judgment, she still yearned to be of service there. In the +providence of God she became intrusted with large wealth. And so she +arranged to have a man go in her stead to China, she caring for all the +expense involved, while he was so left wholly free for the service. + +Tell me, was that not a practical transfer of her personality to the point +of service where he is engaged? Then she arranged for another, and +another, and yet others. It is not only a transfer of personality in +practical results, but a duplication of personality, and a triplication, +and more. For she is busy in her home circle, while her representatives +are busy elsewhere through the influence of her action. + +A young woman, graduate of a western college, developed much talent in +speaking to other young women of the Christian life. Her public service +was much blessed in the lives of large numbers of women. She had no +wealth, but was dependent upon her efforts for a livelihood. Another young +woman, in the East, came under the warm spell of her personality and +speech. And her life was blessedly revolutionized by that spell. Her own +heart burned to be doing something of the sort for her sisters out over +the land. + +But she seemed not to have gifts of that kind. Yet she had been intrusted +with large means. And so she said to her new friend whom God had so +graciously blessed to her own life, "Let us be partners together. I will +so gladly give what I have, that you may be wholly free to give to others +what you have brought to me." And so it was arranged. And the one woman +gives of the gold of her inheritance while the other gives her life and +her special gift. The one in her home pays and prays. The other goes +constantly here and there, and lives are ever transformed through the +Spirit of God resting upon her. + +Is not that a practical transfer of personality? and duplication of +personality, too? Is not this young woman whose own actual personality +remains, in the gracious providence of God, in her home, is she not going +potentially about from place to place winning her sisters up to the +highlands of the best living? It surely is so. + +And these two are but illustrations of the many who have come to +understand Jesus' law for the right use of money. And there are to be many +more as the days go by, doing just that sort of thing. And let those of us +who have not been intrusted either with the large amount of money, or +with the large power to earn, remember that the _amount_ involved does not +affect the law of results. All who have felt the blessed contagion of the +Master's example will give freely of what is in store, whether much or +little. + +Those whose giving is in smaller amounts by our bulky way of reckoning +values, may still be making that same blessed transfer and doubling their +own capacity for service through the agency of their gold. For the gold +given represents the life that gives. And the gift takes on the quality +and power and fragrance of the life that gives it. I have sometimes +thought that there seems to be a peculiar potency in the smaller gifts, +that represent as they so often do the greatest, most devoted sacrifice. +Could we trace the intricate crossings of the lines of influence in the +web of life, we would be awed many times at the potency of the giving that +is small in amount but tinted red with the life-blood of sacrifice. + +It should be remembered that through this strange stuff called money there +is a double transfer of personality going on all the time. Men are +constantly transferring themselves into gold, in a perfectly proper way. A +man gives his labor, and at the end of a specified period he gets a +certain amount of money. That money represents himself. It is himself for +that length of time. That is the first transfer of manhood in money. It is +going on all the time. It is necessarily so, for so we get our food, and +clothing, and home. + +Then there is the re-transfer of this money into some other form. As we +choose to use this money, so we are re-transferring ourselves into what +forms we will. The money is the transition state of ourselves. We pass +through it out into the exchange of life. We reveal ourselves in the way +we pass it out. In no way does a man reveal the true inner self more. And +if perchance we let it, or some of it, lie and gather rust, there we are, +some part of us being covered with rust. + + + +Sacrifice Hallows and Increases the Gift. + + +But there is more yet to be said here. The great blending of the spirit +forces with gold comes out wondrously in this: that _sacrifice hallows +what it touches_. And under its hallowing touch values increase by long +leaps and big bounds. Here is a fine opportunity for those who would +increase the value of gifts that seem small in amount. Without stopping +now for the philosophy of it, this is the tremendous fact. + +Perhaps the annual foreign missionary offering is being taken up in your +church. The pastor has preached a special sermon, and it has caught fire +within you. You find yourself thinking as he preaches, and during the +prayer following, "I believe I can easily make it fifty dollars this year. +I gave thirty-five last time." You want to be careful _not_ to make it +fifty dollars, because you can do that _easily_. If you are shrewd to have +your money count the most, you will pinch a bit somewhere and make it +sixty-two fifty. For the extra amount that you pinch to give will hallow +the original sum and increase its practical value enormously. Sacrifice +hallows what it touches, and the hallowing touch acts in geometrical +proportion upon the value of the gift. + +Better turn your gown, and readjust your hat, for the sacrifice involved +will give a new beauty to the spirit looking out through your face. And +real folks will not be able to get past the beauty of face to the +incidentals of your apparel. Wear your derby another season, and get your +shoes half-soled, and some deft mending done. Let that extra horse go to +other buyers, and the automobile be picked up by somebody who has not yet +mined any of the fine gold of sacrifice. The coming rainy day will never +be able to use up all that some folks are salting down for it. + +And yet some folks, many folks, should be spending more on their bodies +and giving less. The giving should never intrench upon the strength of +one's personality. That is a treasure to be sacredly guarded. All the +power of one's life, in serving, in giving, in praying, in speaking, and +in personal contact, the power of all roots down in the personality. The +safe rule, and the only safe rule, is to decide such questions with the +knee-joint bent, and the door shut, and the spirit willing. A strong will +played upon by the Holy Spirit, mellowed by emotions that have been moved +by the need, and held steady by a disciplined judgment must attend to +loosening the purse-strings. + +But the one fact being emphasized here just now is that the element of +sacrifice must be in the giving if it is to be effective. Sacrifice was +the dominant factor in _God's_ giving of His Son, real sacrifice. It was +dominant in _Jesus'_ giving of His own self and His life, keen cutting +sacrifice. Who will follow in _their_ train? Whoever will, will be getting +a post-graduate course in financiering and in multiplying of values. He +will be astonished at the results working out, and most astonished at the +final disclosures. + +Keeping out of circulation more than one's wants, properly adjusted, call +for is poor financiering. For that which is held back is not earning +anything. All beyond one's needs should be out in circulation for the +Master in His campaign for a world. Yet nowhere is there finer chance or +greater need for the play of keen judgment than in deciding that question +of need. Mistakes are made on both sides. It looks very much as though the +most serious mistakes are being made on the side of too little sacrifice +or none. Yet clearly some serious mistakes are made on the other side +too. But no one may criticise another. Each must decide for himself. In +the judgment of charity we are to presume that each is doing what he +thinks right and best. We are, none of us, the keeper of our brother's +purse. + + + +A Living Sacrifice. + + +There is a simple story told that contains its truth in its very +naturalness and simplicity. It reveals a bit of the real life ever going +on all around us unnoticed. A minister in a certain small town in an +eastern state received from the home mission board of his church a letter +asking for a special offering for a needy field in the West. With the +letter was literature setting forth the need. The call appealed to him and +with good heart he prepared a special sermon, calling the attention of his +people to the great need. + +Sabbath morning came and he preached the sermon. But somehow it did not +just seem to hook in. That banker down there on the left looked listless, +and yawned a couple of times behind his hand. And the merchant over on the +right, who could give freely, examined his watch secretly more than once. +And so it was with a little tinge of discouragement insistently creeping +into his spirit that he finished, and sat down. And he remained with head +bowed in prayer that the results might prove better than seemed likely, +while the church officers passed down the aisles with the collection +plates. + +Meanwhile something unseen by human eye was going on in the very last pew. +Back there, sitting alone, was a little girl of a poor family. She had met +with a misfortune which left her crippled. And her whole life seemed so +dark and hopeless. But some kind friends in the church, pitying her +condition, had made up a small fund and bought her a pair of crutches. And +these had seemed to transform her completely. She went about her rounds +always as cheery and bright as a bit of sunshine. + +She had listened to the sermon, and her heart had been strangely warmed by +the preacher's story of need. And as he was finishing she was thinking, +"How I wish I might give something. But I haven't anything to give, not +even a copper left." And a very soft voice within seemed to say very +softly, but very distinctly, "There are your crutches." "Oh," she gasped +to herself as though it took away her very breath, "my crutches? I +couldn't give my _crutches_; they're my _life_." And that strangely clear +voice went on, so quietly, "Yes--you _could_--and then some one would know +of Jesus--if you did--and that would mean so much to them--He's meant so +much to you--give your crutches." And her breath seemed to fail her at the +thought. And so the little woman had her fight all unseen and unknown by +those in the church. And by and by the victory came. And she sat with a +beautiful light in her tearful eyes, and a smile coming to her lips, +waiting for the plate to get to her pew. + +And the man with the plate came down the aisle to the end. It seemed +hardly worth while reaching it into the last pew. Just little Maggie +sitting there alone, with her one foot dangling above the floor. But with +fine courtesy he stopped and passed the plate in. And Maggie in her +childlike simplicity lifted her crutches, and tried rather awkwardly to +put them on the collection plate. Quick as a flash the man caught her +thought, and with a queer lump in his throat reached out and steadied her +strange gift on the plate. + +And then he turned back and walked slowly up the aisle toward the pulpit, +carrying the plate in one hand and steadying the crutches on it with the +other. And people commenced to look. And eyes quickly dimmed. Everybody +knew the crutches. _Maggie_--giving her _crutches_! And the banker over +here blew his nose suddenly and reached for his pencil, and the merchant +reached out to stop the man returning up his aisle. + +As the pastor stood with his eyesight not very clear to receive the +morning's offering, he said, "Surely our little crippled friend is giving +us a wonderful example." Then the plates were called back toward the +pews. And somebody paid fifty dollars for the crutches, and sent them back +to that end pew. When the offering was counted up it contained several +hundred dollars. And the little girl, crippled in body but not in any +other way, hobbled out of church the happiest little woman in the world. + +She had recognized and obeyed the inner voice. That was the simple +explanation of her giving. And her gift, small in itself, _touched with +sacrifice_, became worth several hundred dollars in its earning power. And +the original investment was returned for its usual service. And her gift +has been increasing in its earning power as its recital has reached other +hearts, and the end is not yet. I do not know just where Maggie is now. +But I do know that she will be a greatly surprised woman some day when she +finds out what God has done with her sacrifice-hallowed gift. She +recognized and obeyed the inner Voice. That is the one law of giving, as +of all living. + + + + +Worry: A Hindrance to Service. + + + + Fear Not. + A Fence of Trust. + A Lord of the Harvest. + Do Your Best--Leave the Rest. + Anxious for Nothing. + Thankful for Anything. + Prayerful about Everything. + A Steamer Chair for His Friend. + He Has You on His Heart. + Paul's Prison Psalm. + He Touched Her Hand. + + + + +Worry: A Hindrance to Service. + +(Psalm xxxvii:1-11; Matthew vi:19-34, Philippians iv:6-7. American +Revision.) + + + +Fear Not. + + +There is nothing commoner than worry. Everybody seems to worry. Men worry. +Women worry. It is commonly supposed that women worry more than men. I +doubt it. After watching both pretty closely under all sorts of +circumstances I doubt it. Yet if it be true that woman does worry the +more, I think it is because, being more sensitively organized, she is more +keenly alive to the issues involved and to the responsibilities of life. +Poor people worry. Those with enough money to be easy worry. And those +with the largest wealth seem to worry too. Busy folks worry. And so do the +idle. The cultured and scholarly touch elbows with the ignorant here. + +Americans are supposed to be specialists in worrying. The name +Americanitis has been given to a certain run-down condition of the nerves. +Well, we may possibly have set the pace, and may be making new records. +But certainly there are plenty of pushing followers. Our Canadian +neighbors seem not to be wholly strangers to worry. Nor our British and +Dutch forbears. The European continentals, and those of the East nearer +and farther off seem to be good or bad at worrying. It is a characteristic +of the race everywhere, the difference being merely in the degree. It +seems inbred in man. + +There are two "don't-worry" chapters in this old Bible, one in the Old +Testament and one in the New. In the Old Testament is the Thirty-seventh +Psalm with its oft-repeated "fret not." The word under that English phrase +"fret not" is significant. It is so blunt as to sound almost like a bit of +American slang. Literally it means "don't get hot." The New Testament has +the sixth chapter of Matthew with Jesus' own words. One should be careful +here to note the better reading of the revision. The old version says +"take no thought," and that has been misunderstood by many who have not +thought about its meaning. The newer translations are truer to the meaning +on Jesus' lips. Do not take _anxious_ thought, "be not anxious." But apart +from these two chapters there is a phrase running through these pages +clear through the whole Book, a phrase shot through, piercing everywhere, +even as the glorious sunlight pierces through the thick cloud and fog. I +mean the phrase "fear not." All worry roots down its tenacious tendrils +in fear. + + + +A Fence of Trust. + + +It will help to understand just what worry is. It is always an advantage +to get an enemy clearly defined and keep it so, so you can hit it harder, +and make every blow tell on a vital part of its anatomy. + +Worry is not concern, but distress of mind. Some one said to me at the +close of a talk on worry, "some folks ought to worry more." Of course he +meant that some people should bear their share of the responsibilities of +life, instead of selfishly and lazily shirking them. There is a proper +concern about matters for which we are responsible. A man never makes a +good speech unless there is a feeling of concern, of apprehension lest +there be failure in that for which he is pleading. A strong sensitive +spirit feels the responsibility and does the best to meet it. Worry is +mental distress. It is sinking under the sense of responsibility. It is +_yielding_ to the fear that there may be failure, instead of gripping the +lines and whip and determining to ride down the chance of its coming. + +Sometimes worry is carrying to-morrow's load with to-day's strength; +carrying two days in one. It is moving into to-morrow ahead of time. +There is just one day in the calendar of action; that's to-day. Planning +should include a wide swing of days; wise planning must. But action +belongs to one day only, to-day. + + "Build a little fence of trust + Around to-day; + Fill the space with living work + And therein stay; + Look not through the sheltering bars + Upon to-morrow; + God will help thee bear what comes + Of joy or sorrow." + + "Live for to-day, to-morrow's sun + To-morrow's cares will bring to light, + Go like the infant to thy sleep + And heaven thy morn shall bless." + + + +A Lord of the Harvest. + + +Sometimes worry is carrying a load that one should not carry at all. I +think it was Lyman Beecher who said that he got along very comfortably +after he gave up running the universe. Some good earnest people are +greatly concerned about the way things in the world are going, I'm obliged +to confess to some pretty serious blunders there. It seemed to me that +there was so much to be done, so many people needing help, so much of +wrong and sin to fight that I must be ever pushing and never sleeping. I +had to sleep of course; but all my burden, which meant the burden of the +world's need as I saw it, was lugged faithfully to bed every night. There +was a lot of pillow-planning. But I found that the wrinkles grew thick, +and the physical strength gave out, and yet at the end of vigorous +campaigning there _seemed_ about as much left to do as ever. + +Then one day my tired eyes lit upon that wondrous phrase, "the lord of the +harvest." It caught fire in my heart at once. "Oh! there is a _Lord_ of +the harvest," I said to myself. I had been forgetting that. He is a Lord, +a masterful one. He has the whole campaign mapped out, and each one's part +in helping mapped out too. And I let the responsibility of the campaign +lie over where it belonged. When night time came I went to bed to sleep. +My pillow was this, "There is a _Lord_ of the harvest." + +My keynote came to be _obedience_ to Him. That meant keen ears to hear, +keen judgment to understand, keeping quiet so the sound of His voice would +always be distinctly heard. It meant trusting Him when things didn't seem +to go with a swing. It meant sweet sleep at night, and new strength at the +day's beginning. It did not mean any less work. It did seem to mean less +friction, less dust. Aye, it meant better work, for there was a swing to +it, and a joyous abandon in it, and a rhythm of music with it. And the +undercurrent of thought came to be like this: There is a _Lord_ to the +harvest. He is taking care of things. My part is full, faithful, +intelligent obedience to Him. He is a Master, a masterful One. He is +organizing victory. And the fine tingle of victory was ever in the air. + + + +Do Your Best--Leave the Rest. + + +I knew a mother one of whose sons was not a Christian man, and not of good +habits. She was a devoted true Christian woman, bearing her part in life's +service with fine faith and a keen sweet spirit. The children were all +Christians but this one, her first-born, the beginning of her strength. +The thought of him troubled her much. She prayed fervently, and used her +best endeavor, and the years grew on without change. And her face showed +the burden upon her fine spirit. We would talk together about her son, and +pray together, but her brow remained clouded. + +Then I marked a change. The lines of tension in her face relaxed. A new +quiet light came into her eye. There seemed a gentle intangible, but very +sure, peace breathing about her. And I knew there was no change in him. So +one day in conversation I ventured to ask about the change. And I shall +always remember the gentle voice and the quiet strength with which she +said, "I have given him over to my Father. And I know He will not fail +me. I am still praying, of course, as ever, and I am _trusting_ for him." +She had been carrying a load that she should not have been carrying. And +now while the mother-heart was still concerned as much as ever, the sense +of assured victory brought the change in her spirit. + +Sometimes worry is fretting over past mistakes; it is chafing about what +we do not understand, or about plans of _ours_ that have failed. A good +deal of worry comes from pride and over-sensitiveness. The roots here, it +will be noticed, of all alike are down in our own failures, our own +selves. And there would be cause for more worry if we had only ourselves. +But we have _a Father_. + +A very great deal of worry is wholly due to physical causes. Overworked +nerves always see things distorted. Huge phantom shapes loom up before us. +Overwork always makes a sensitive spirit worry, and worry usually makes us +overwork until we drop from exhaustion. When the cause is here, there are +some simple _human_ helps. Some--a good bit--of _God's_ fresh air will +work wonders. Even good people seem unchangeably opposed to _God's_ air, +and insist on breathing old, worn-out, used-up second-hand air. God would +be greatly glorified if housekeepers and church sextons were given a +practical course in the use of fresh air, God's air. With that should be +simple food, and simple dress, and abundant sleep, and simple standards of +life. + +Worry is utterly _useless_. It never serves a good purpose. It brings no +good results. "Which of you can by being anxious add a single span to the +measure of his life?" Jesus asks in that sixth of Matthew. But much more +can be said. _It brings bad results_. The revision brings out the clear, +simple meaning of the Thirty-seventh Psalm, eighth verse. The old version +seems a bit puzzling, "Fret not thyself in anywise to do evil." The +revision reads, "Fret not thyself, it tendeth only to evil doing." The +results of worrying are always bad. The judgment is impaired. One cannot +think so clearly nor see so clearly. The temper is ruffled. The door is +quickly opened to worse things. + +It is _sinful_ to worry. For the Master repeatedly commands us, "Be _not_ +anxious." It helps to get a habit labeled correctly. Here to tack on +"sinful" in block letters, black ink, white paper, so as to get greatest +contrast is a decided help. And worrying is a reproach upon Jesus. Let the +Gentiles, the outsiders, the people who have not taken Jesus into their +lives, let them worry if they _will_. But _we_ must not. For we have +_Jesus_. Let these who leave Him out grow crow-toes, and deeply-bitten +wrinkles, and turkey-foot markings. Without Him how can they help +themselves? But we folk who have _Jesus_ should have smoothly rounded +faces, the lines all filled up and ironed out. It reproaches Jesus before +folks for us to be as they are in this regard. + +Out of the midst of a great pressure of work, with a body tired out, Dr. +Charles F. Deems, the busy pastor of The Church of The Strangers in New +York City, wrote these lines years ago: + + "The world is wide, + In time and tide, + And God is quick; + Then _do not hurry_. + + "That man is blest, + Who _does his best_, + And _leaves_ the rest; + Then _do not worry_." + +A man should do his _best_. There should be no _shirking_. Yet I need +hardly say that here, because shirking people, lazy people do not worry. +They haven't enough snap about them to worry. But it steadies one to put +the thing just as Dr. Deems put it. "_Do your best, and_, then _leave_ all +the rest to God." And when sleep time comes, sleep. + + + +Anxious for Nothing. + + +Likely as not some one will say, "We knew all that before. But how are we +going to quit worrying? That's what we need to be told." Well, I can tell +you. Sometimes a man speaks cautiously, but here one can speak with great +positiveness. There are three simple rules how not to worry. They are +infallible. I heard of a society whose purpose it was to cure worry. There +were _thirty-seven_ rules, I think. It would worry some of us a good bit +to memorize any such length of instruction as that. The remedy seems to be +on a high shelf. And in standing up on a chair and reaching there is some +danger that the chair may tip over and the last state not be an +improvement on the first. + +But here are three very simple rules, easy to follow, and they will never +fail. They are not my rules, that is, not of my making, or I might not be +speaking so positively. They are given by the blessed Holy Spirit, through +our dear old friend Paul. In Philippians, chapter four, verses six and +seven, are the words that contain the rules: "In nothing be anxious; but +in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your +requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all +understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus." + +The first rule is this, _anxious for nothing._ In other words, _don't_ +worry. Deliberately refuse to think about annoying things. Set yourself +against being disturbed by disturbing things. Say to yourself, it is +useless, it has bad results, it is sinful, it is reproaching my Master, I +_won't._ That is the first simple rule. + + + +Thankful for Anything. + + +The second helps to carry out the first. It is this, _thankful for +anything._ Thanksgiving and praise are always associated with singing. +When you feel the worry mood creeping on--it is a mood that attacks +you--when it comes sing something, especially something with Jesus' name +in it. These temptations to worry are from the Evil One. He can come in +only through an _open_ door. Remember that. Yet the open doors seem +plenty. Even when we trustingly and resolutely keep every door of evil +shut the circle in which we move will open doors upon us. Singing +something with Jesus' name in it sends him or any of his brood off +quickly. They hate that Name of their Conqueror. They get away from the +sound of it as fast as they can. + +A friend was calling upon another and began pouring out a stream of +personal woes. This had gone wrong, and this, and this other would go +wrong. Everything was wrong. And her friend, who knew her quite well, had +her get a pencil and paper and asked her if possibly there was _one_ thing +for which she could be thankful. Reluctantly from her lips came the +mention of some particular thing for which she felt indeed grateful. Then +a second was gradually recalled, and then more. And as the train of +thought grew on her she suddenly asked, "Why was I so despondent when I +came in? Everything seems so changed." + +It's a fine thing to go about one's work singing some hymn with praise in +it, and with Jesus' name in it. And if singing may not always be allowable +under all circumstances, you can _hum_ a tune. And that brings up to the +memory the words connected with it. I know of a woman who was much given +to worrying. She made it a rule to sing the long-meter doxology whenever +things seemed not right. Ofttimes she could hardly get her lips shaped up +to begin the first words. But she would persist. And by the time the +fourth line came it was ringing out and her atmosphere had changed without +and within. + +This was David's rule. He said: "Thy statutes have been my songs in the +house of my pilgrimage."[18] He is not speaking of the time when he was +acknowledged king over both Judah and all Israel, when the fortress of +Jerusalem was his own capital. No, he is talking of the earlier days of +his _pilgrimage_. When he was being hunted over the Judean fastnesses by +King Saul. When with his band of faithful men he was ever fleeing for his +life. He slept in caves and dens or out in the open, and always with one +eye open. There he used to sing God's praises. A messenger would come +breathlessly in some morning with the news that Saul was just over yonder +ravine with a thousand men. And as David planned what best to do, and +arranged his men, he would be singing. + +Maybe he would sing that Twenty-third Psalm: + + "For Thou art with me; and Thy rod + And staff me comfort still." + +Or, maybe sometimes, + + "To Thee I lift my soul; + O Lord, I trust in Thee: + My God, let me not be ashamed + Nor foes triumph o'er me." + +Or, likely, he often sang: + + "The Lord's my light and saving health; + Who shall make me dismayed? + My life's strength is the Lord; of whom + Then shall I be afraid?" + +Or if perhaps Ezra wrote this psalm it takes one back to his weary, +dangerous journey over from Babylon to Jerusalem and the very difficult +work he was undertaking in Jerusalem in reorganizing the life of the +people again. He used to sing on the way, and through all his +difficulties. + +It is a great rule. + + "When the day is gloomy + Sing some happy song; + Meet the world's repining + With a courage strong." + +Some one asked me if whistling would do. She was a busy housewife and said +that was her rule. I have gone to singing myself. But maybe whistling is +just as good. I'm inclined to favor giving it a place within the range of +this rule. + +There's a bit of deep, simple philosophy here. Music is divine. There is +no music in the headquarters of the enemy. He has used it a great deal on +the earth. That's a bit of his cunning. But he always has to steal it from +God's sphere, and work it over to suit his own crafty purposes. Music, +singing, is an open doorway for the Spirit of God to come in, and come in +anew and move freely. Its sweet harmonies found their birth in the +presence of God where sweetest harmonies reign. Lovers of music should be +lovers of God, for He is the one great Master-musician. + +When Elisha was asked to prophesy victory for Israel over the enemy at one +time, he refused. He was not in harmony with this king nor his associates. +His spirit refused to respond to their request. But at their urgent +request he yielded, and called for a musician. And as the strains of music +fell upon his ear and entered into his spirit he felt the divine presence +and influence anew. We should use the musician more in our days of +battle. And God has wonderfully provided every one of us with a music-box +of sweet melodies. If we would only open the lid, and let frequent use +wear off the rust, and sing His praise more. In music God speaks to us +anew with great power. This is the second rule, _thankful for anything_. + + + +Prayerful about Everything. + + +The third rule helps to make both first and second effective. These three +are closely interwoven. They always work together. Each suggests the other +two. They are an interwoven trinity. The third is this, _prayerful about +everything_. There are some unusually fine bits from the old Book to help +here. Referring to the discipline which God's love makes Him use, David +says: "For His anger is but for a moment: His _favor_ is for _a lifetime_. +Weeping _may_ come in to lodge at even, but joy cometh in the +morning."[19] There _may_ be weeping. There _shall_ be joy. Weeping won't +stay long. + +There's a morning coming, always a morning coming, with the sunshine and +the chorus of the birds. Love's discipling touch that seems at the moment +like anger is only for a moment. (The printer wanted to change that word +discipling to disciplining; but God's tenderness comes to us anew when we +realize that _disciplining_ with its sharp edge means the same as +_discipling_ with its softer warmer touch.) The loving favor is for +always, a lifetime of eternal life. + +Again David says, "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall _sustain_ +thee."[20] The margin explains that the thing that weighs as a burden is +something God has given us. He has sent it or allowed it to come. He has +strong purpose in all He does. Here the promise is not that the burden +will be removed, but that He will pick up both you and your burden into +His arms and carry both. Many a man has praised God for the burden that +made him know the tender touch of strong arms. + +The same thing is repeated in the Sixty-eighth Psalm[21] with tender +variations. "Blessed be the Lord who day by day beareth our burden." +Probably Peter knew a good bit about this subject. His temperament was of +the impulsive sort that knows quick squalls at sea. But he had learned how +to ride through them undisturbed to the calmer waters. He says, "Casting +all your anxiety upon Him because He careth for you."[22] The force of the +French version is said to be "_unloading_ your anxiety upon Him." Back the +cart up, tilt it over, let down the tail-board, let it all slip out over +upon Him. The literal reading of that last half is, "_He has you on His +heart_." + + "Is not this enough alone + For the gladness of the day?" + +But many of us have an inner feeling that some matters are too small, too +trivial to take to God. We will take the great things, the serious things +to Him and find the help needed. But it seems childish almost to be +bothering the great God about trifling details, we are apt to think. We +are even annoyed with ourselves to think that we have allowed such petty +things to make us lose our balance and control. We want to underscore and +italicize this fact: _if a thing is big enough to concern you, it is not +too small for Him "because He has you on His heart_." For _your_ sake He +is eager to help in anything, however small in itself it may seem. + +Indeed it is the little things that fret and tease and nag so. The big +things are more easily handled. But the little insectivorous details that +will not down! Have you ever had this experience? You have retired on a +hot summer night, tired and heavy with sleep. You are almost off when a +mosquito that in some inexplicable way has eluded all screens and nettings +comes singing its way about your face. It is just one. It seems so small. +If it were only big enough to hit, something worthy of one's strength. But +the mean little nagging specimen seems to elude every effort of yours. +Maybe you take calm, deliberate measures to end its existence, but +meanwhile you are thoroughly aroused and lose quite a bit of the sleep you +need. + +Just such a mosquito warfare do the little cares make upon one's strength, +frittering it away. It cannot be too insistently repeated that whatever is +big enough to cause me any thought is not too small for my God. He is +concerned because I am concerned. + + + +A Steamer Chair for His Friend. + + +It helps immensely here to recall the necessary qualities of a great +executive, one who is concerned about the conduct of large affairs. There +are two great qualities absolutely needful in any one occupying such a +position. There must be the ability to grasp the whole scheme involved, +and to keep one's finger upon every detail, as well. God is a great +executive, _the_ great executive of the universe. He planned the vast +scheme of worlds making up the universe, and every detail. The whole +universe in its immensity, and the intricacy of its movements, is kept in +motion by Him. And every detail down to the smallest, the falling of one +of the smallest birds, is ever under His thoughtful eye and touch. And He +is our God. He has each of us on His heart. + +We may learn of God by looking at man, made in His image. A story is told +of a merchant well known on both sides of the water, illustrating this. +His business interests are very extensive, with great stores in three of +the world's great cities. He has displayed great genius for controlling +the details of his vast enterprise. It is said that at one time when his +business was developing its greatness, this was his habit. He would come +to a clerk's desk unexpectedly and, sitting down quietly, note the +transactions that came along. Here was a sales slip; three yards of +calico, seven cents per yard, twenty-one cents; a bolt of tape, three +cents, total twenty-four cents; cash fifty cents, twenty-six cents change. +He would very quietly note the calculations, and call attention to any +inaccuracies. + +He might stay there a half-hour. Then he was away again. It was never +known when he might come, nor where. He was always marked for his genial +courtesy toward all his employees. That was his habit for years, I am +told. His talent for details amounts to positive genius. And with this +goes the ability to originate and build up and keep ever growing his vast +business operations. And this man is but one of a very large class in our +day of specialized organization. This faculty of controlling both the +whole, and each detail, is a bit of the image of God in these men. Only +man is ever less than God. The best organization slips sometimes, +somewhere. But God never fails. Each of us is personal to Him. He can +think of each as though there were no other needing His thought, and He +does. + +A little incident is told of George Müller of Bristol, England. He is the +man who taught the whole world anew how to trust God. Poor in his own +holdings, he expended millions of dollars in caring for orphans, +supporting missionaries, and distributing printed truth. He never asked +any man for money nor made any needs known. He trusted God for all and for +each. The two thousand and more orphans, and the cutting of his quill pen +were alike subjects of prayer with him. + +At one time, in the course of his missionary travels around the world, he +was embarking on an ocean voyage. He was an old man at the time, and +accompanied by a young man who attended to the details of travel. After +they had boarded the steamer his companion came up hurriedly to say that +the steamer chair for Mr. Müller's use was not on board and he could not +get any trace of it. It would of course be a very necessary convenience +for the steamer trip. Mr. Müller inquired if the proper notice had been +sent to have it on board. Yes, all had been done that should have been +done. And now the time was very short. + +Mr. Müller breathed a quiet prayer, and then said to his companion not to +be disturbed, that he felt sure it would be on hand in time. The attendant +went off again to see what could be done, came back evidently annoyed at +the possibility of his elder distinguished companion being inconvenienced. +But Mr. Müller quieted him with the assurance that the chair would come. +They stood at the side rail above, overlooking the dock. + +At the very last moment, just as the hawsers were about to be thrown off, +and the gang plank pulled away, a truck of luggage was hurriedly run on +board, and on top of the pile the friends watching above could plainly see +a steamer chair with G. M. marked on it. Mr. Müller, standing in his group +of friends, looked up past them and quietly said, "Father, I thank Thee." +Was God in that simple occurrence? He surely was. He was concerned that +His faithful friend should have the chair for his bodily comfort. Man's +arrangements seemed in danger of slipping. His overruling touch was put in +for His friend's sake. A chair wasn't too small for God because it was for +His friend, Mr. Müller. + + + +He Has You on His Heart. + + +I got a similar story from Dr. James H. Brookes of St. Louis, a number of +years ago while in his home over night. It was about J. Hudson Taylor, +founder of the China Inland Mission, who had learned through many years of +trusting how faithful God is. Mr. Taylor had been speaking in Dr. Brookes' +church, and was to go to a town in southern Illinois to speak at the +Sabbath services. Saturday morning they went down to the railroad station +to get the train, and stepped into the station just as the train was +pulling out at the other end. There was no possible chance of catching it. +It seemed all the more exasperating that they could see the train moving +away out of reach. + +Dr. Brookes of course felt much chagrined. Mr. Taylor being a stranger in +the country, and the guest of Dr. Brookes, had trusted his arrangements. +Inquiries were quickly made about other trains. But there would not be +another train out that way until night. And as they were questioning and +talking the station-master said, "There's that train over there; it runs +into Illinois and crosses another road down to where you want to go. They +are supposed to make connections, but they never do." Dr. Brookes said he +went off to make further inquiries, and coming back in a few moments was +surprised to find Mr. Taylor standing on the rear platform of the train +that never made the connection. + +He said, "Why, Mr. Taylor, that won't make the connection." And Mr. +Taylor smiled and in his very quiet way said, "Good-bye, Doctor, my Father +runneth the trains." That seemed to sound well for a sermon. But to Dr. +Brookes' misgivings there came again the quiet "Good-bye, Doctor, my +Father runneth the trains." After starting Mr. Taylor explained the +situation to the conductor, the importance of his engagement, and of +making the desired connection, hoping the trainman might be of some +service. The man hoped he would get the train, but said it was very +doubtful as they rarely did. Mr. Taylor thanked him, and sat quietly +praying. + +Was the connection made? As Mr. Taylor's train pulled in the other was +standing at the station. The conductor said, "Well, there it is, but I +didn't expect it." There was quite enough time to get across the platform +without hurrying and into the other train when it moved off. Was God in +that? I have no difficulty at all in understanding that He was. What +concerned His friend, in a strange land, on an errand for Himself surely +concerned Him. What concerns any trusting child of His concerns Him, for +He has us on His heart. + +I recall a personal experience in Boston one summer day. It was a very hot +day. I was to meet my mother and sister in the North Union station, where +we were to take a train out. I had their tickets. I reached the station +from my errands, hot and tired and with my head aching, ideal conditions +for worry. As I stepped into the station I realized at once that our +appointment to meet was not very definite. For the large station was +crowded. There was not much time before our train would go. And I +commenced to be agitated, which is a gentler way of saying worried. What +_would_ I do? It would be extremely inconvenient, especially for my +mother, to miss the train. And the time was short, and--and--. + +You see I was not a _graduate_ in this don't-worry school. I'm not yet; +still studying; expect to enter for post work when I do graduate. The +school is still open; open to all; instruction given _individually_ only; +the Teacher has had long _experience_ Himself on the earth, in the thick +of things. + +Well, I said as I stood a moment in the thick crowd, "Master, you know +where they are. Please take me to them. Maybe I should have been more +careful about the appointment, but I was tired at the start. Please--thank +you." And in less time than it takes to tell you I met them right in the +thick of the great crowd. And I felt sure that Peter got his putting of it +straight when he said of the Master, "_He has you on His heart_." + + + +Paul's Prison Psalm. + + +Did Paul follow his own rules? The best answer to that is this little +four-chaptered epistle where the rules are found. Philippians is a prison +psalm. The clanking of chains resounds throughout its brief pages. At one +end is Philippi; at the other Rome. Here is the Philippian end. In the +inner dungeon of a prison, dark, dirty, damp, is a man, Paul. His back is +bleeding and sore from the whipping-post. His feet are fast in the stocks. +His position is about as cramped and painful as it can be. It is midnight. +Paul would be asleep for weariness and exhaustion, but the position and +the pain hinder. + +Does no temptation come to him? He had been following a _vision_ in coming +over to Philippi. This is a great ending to the vision he's been having. +Did no such temptation come? Very likely it did. But Paul is an old +campaigner. He knows best what to do. He begins singing. His music is +pitched in the major too. Most likely he is singing one of the old Hebrew +psalms that he knew by heart. It was a psalm of praise. That is one end of +this epistle. + +At the other end Paul is a prisoner at Rome. As he sits dictating his +letter, if he gets tired and would swing one limb over the other for a +change, a heavy chain at his ankle reminds him of his bonds. As he reaches +for a quill to put a loving touch to the end of the parchment, again the +forged steel pulls at his wrist. That is the setting of Philippians, the +prison psalm. What is its key word? Is it patience? That would seem +appropriate. Is it long-suffering? More appropriate yet. Some of us know +about short-suffering, but we are apt to be a bit short on long-suffering. +The keyword is _joy_, with its variations of rejoice, and rejoicing. + +And notice what joy is. It is the cataract in the stream of life. Peace is +the gentle even flowing of the river. Joy is where the waters go bubbling, +leaping with ecstatic bound, and forever after, as they go on, making the +channel deeper for the quiet flow of peace. Paul had put his no-worry +rules through the crucible of experience. He follows the Master in that. +These three rules really mean living ever in that Master's presence. When +we realize that He is ever alongside then it will be easier to be + + Anxious for nothing, + Thankful for anything, + Prayerful about everything. + + + +He Touched Her Hand. + + +One morning on waking, a woman charged with the care of a home began +thinking of the day's simple duties. And as she thought they seemed to +magnify and pile up. There was her little daughter to get off to school +with her luncheon. Some of the church ladies were coming that morning for +a society meeting, and she had been planning a dainty luncheon for them. +The maid in the kitchen was not exactly ideal--yet. And as she thought +into the day her head began aching. + +After breakfast, as her husband was leaving for the day's business, he +took her hand and kissed her good-bye. "Why," he said, "my dear, your hand +is feverish. I'm afraid you've been doing too much. Better just take a day +off." And he was gone. And she said to herself, "A day off! The idea! Just +like a _man_ to think that I could take a day off." But she had been +making a habit of getting a little time for reading and prayer after +breakfast. Pity she had not put it in earlier, at the day's very start. +Yet maybe she could not. Sometimes it is not possible. Yet _most times_ it +is possible, by planning. + +Now she slipped to her room and, sitting down quietly, turned to the +chapter in her regular place of reading. It was the eighth of Matthew. As +she read she came to the words, "And _He touched her hand_, and the _fever +left her_; and she arose and ministered unto Him." And she knelt and +breathed out the soft prayer for a touch of the Master's hand upon her +own. And it came as she remained there a few moments. And then with much +quieter spirit she went on into the day. + +The luncheon for the church ladies was not quite so elaborate as she had +planned. There came to her an impulse to tell her morning's experience. +She shrank from doing it. It seemed a sacred thing. They might not +understand. But the impulse remained and she obeyed it, and quietly told +them. And as they listened there seemed to come a touch of the Spirit's +presence upon them all. And so the day was a blessed one. Its close found +her husband back again. And as he greeted her he said quietly, "My dear, +you did as I said, didn't you? The fever's gone." + + + + +Gideon's Band: Sifted for Service. + + + + God Wants the Best. + God's Use of Weak Things. + Call for Volunteers. + A Willing People. + Courageous Volunteers. + Irresistible Logic. + Hot Hearts. + God Still Sifting. + + + + +Gideon's Band: Sifted for Service. + +(1 Corinthians i:18-31; Judges vi and vii.) + + + +God Wants the Best. + + +Salvation is for all. Service is for those chosen for it. All _may_ serve. +That all do not is simply because service requires qualities which all do +not have. Yet, again, all may have them who will, for the required +qualities are _heart qualities_. And every one of us can cultivate the +heart qualities. There is special service, chiefly of leadership, +requiring brain qualities as well as heart. But the Master attends to the +choosing of men for such service. + +And where His spirit has touched human hearts there will be a glad doing +of just what service He appoints. It will be an honor to do just what He +asks because He asks. What it may happen to be will be a small matter in +itself. It is for Him, at His desire, and that is full enough to bring out +the best we have. + +Our old Tarsus and Antioch friend and leader has written a special word +about this matter of being chosen for service. It is in his first letter +to the recently organized church at Corinth. It is really his second +letter, for he seems to have written one before it that has not been +preserved.[23] There were some very serious matters in this new church +requiring strong treatment by its much-loved founder. Among them was one +about service. + +There were some who had gifts in service that seemed more attractive and +desirable than others had, it might be said more showy. And their +brethren, not free from the old worldly spirit, were envious and jealous. +And these who had such gifts were not free from a boasting spirit. +Factions or parties had arisen as a result. It was the bad world spirit of +competition and rivalry in among Christ's followers where it should never +come, yet where it still does come. In writing this letter Paul throughout +blends great plainness and common sense with great tenderness. + +In the beginning of his letter he calls attention to the fact that there +are not many among them of those who were reckoned by the world's +standards as wise or mighty or noble. On the contrary, in choosing His +leaders God had purposely chosen those reckoned by the world's standards +foolish that He might show plainly the shallowness of what they deem wise. +And so things reckoned weak had been chosen to give the conception of +what true strength is. And things even base, and despised, and not counted +at all had been used that so men might learn the God-standards of wisdom +and strength and honor and of what is worth while. The purpose being that +men should quit glorying in themselves and glorify Him from whom +everything had come, and was ever coming. + +The passage has oftentimes been quoted as though God prefers weakness; +never put so bluntly as that perhaps, but plainly meaning that. That of +course is not true. God wants the best we have. He needs the best. And for +leadership often His plans must wait till a man of the sort needed can be +gotten. And gotten frequently means broken, shattered, and then made over +wholly new, that the native strength may be used according to true +standards. + +Jacob was chosen rather than his elder brother Esau, not because of +Jacob's goodness but because of Esau's weakness. God was narrowed to these +two grandsons in carrying out the promise to Abraham. Jacob was +contemptible in his moral dealings, but he had qualities of leadership +wholly lacking in his brother. His moral character was a serious +hindrance. God had to handle him heroically before He could get the use of +his stronger mental equipment. Jacob had to get a bad throw-down before he +would be willing to let God have His way. His body must be weakened +before his mental power would yield. That was the weakness of his +stubbornness. Stubbornness is strength not strong enough to yield. + + + +God's Use of Weak Things. + + +It is true that over and over again God has used men utterly weak and +foolish and despised in the light of life's common standards. He wants men +of the best mental strength, of the finest mental training, and He uses +such when they are willing to be used, and governed by the true +God-standards of life. But talent seems specially beset with temptation. +The very power to do great things seems often to bewilder the man +possessing it. Wrong ambition gets the saddle and the reins and whip too, +and rides hard. + +Frequently some man who had not guessed he had talent, born in some lonely +walk of life, without the training of the schools, is used for special +leadership. It takes longer time always. Early mental training is an +enormous advantage. Carey the cobbler had mental talents to grace a +Cambridge chair. It took a little longer time to get him into shape for +the pioneer work he did in India. Duff's training gave him a great +advantage. + +But God is never in a hurry. He can wait. What He asks is that we shall +bring the best we have natively, with the best possible training, and let +Him use us absolutely as He may wish. And always remember that every +mental power is a gift from Him; that actual power in life must be through +Him only; and that mental gifts are not serviceable save as they are ever +inbreathed by His own Spirit. + +This word of Paul's finds most graphic illustration in the book of Judges. +Judges should be put alongside of the first chapter of First Corinthians. +It is a series of pictorial illustrations of what Paul is saying there. +These two books, Joshua and Judges, side by side in the Old Testament +stand in sharpest contrast. The keynote of Joshua is victory; of Judges +defeat. There's music in both, but contrasted music. Joshua rings with +songs in the major key, triumphant, militant, joyous, victorious. + +The music of Judges is in the minor, sad and weeping, with the harps +hanging on the willows. Joshua is upon the mountain top with sun shining +and air bracing and outlook inspiring. Judges is down in the valley +bottoms, dark and gloomy, and depressing. Yet Judges has bright spots, and +has spurts of good music interspersed. It is a study in lights and +shadows, bright lights, and dark shadowings, but with the blacker tints +intensifying and overcoming the others. + +There are here seven striking illustrations of God's use of strange +unusual means, such as are reckoned weak and trivial. A _left-handed_ man +uses that peculiarity to get a great victory and eighteen years of freedom +for the nation.[24] A farmer with as homely a weapon as an _ox-goad_ +delivers his people from oppression.[25] Men came to be so scarce, that is +men that were men enough to take their true place as leaders, that a +_woman_ had to step into the breach, and assume leadership. But the +student of history and of modern times is used to that. The result was +great victory, and a forty years' rest from the nation's enemies.[26] + +A _nail_ or _tent-pin_, only a wooden peg, in the hands of a woman with a +hammer helps to make the enemy's defeat more decisive.[27] _Three hundred_ +young men with _pitchers and trumpets_ completely rout the three armies of +three nations, and bring another deliverance.[28] Another time _a piece of +a millstone_ shoved over the wall by a woman turns the tide of battle +favorably.[29] And as contemptible a thing as the _jawbone of an ass_ in +the hands of one strong man is used to slay a thousand men.[30] + + + +Call for Volunteers. + + +It is of one of these, one of the most striking of these, that we are to +talk together awhile; the graphic story of Gideon and his band of three +hundred young fellows. Things were in bad shape in the nation; about as +bad in every way as they could be. This time it was the Midianites who +overran the land, and held the leaderless people in most abject slavery. +With them were joined two other nations, the Amalekites and the Children +of the East. When the crops were almost ready to harvest, these raiders +swooped in in great numbers and destroyed all the crops and drove away all +the stock. + +They harried the Israelites so that life was made very miserable for them. +They were forced to flee from their farms and take refuge in caves and +dens and the fastnesses among the hills. Then, as usual, when they got +into bad shape the people remembered God, and cried for help, and, as +usual with Him, He at once forgave them and planned another great +deliverance. + +First of all Gideon the leader is chosen out, and put through a bit of +schooling. That is a fascinating story of great helpfulness. Then this +trained young leader gathers his band of helpers. And we want to mark +keenly how these three hundred men were sifted out of the thousands for +service. They were sifted out. They sifted themselves out. In that army +of thousands were just three hundred who had the needed qualifications for +the bit of service God wanted done. + +Look over the gathered thousands: which are the chosen three hundred? No +man knew. They didn't know themselves until the tests came. They chose +themselves out by the way they stood the three tests applied. Even so is +God ever sifting out men for service. The more difficult the service, the +higher the grade of leadership needed, the severer the test. The testing +both reveals the qualities, and in part makes them. + +The first quality these men had was _willingness._ They were all +_volunteers_. When the call came they rallied to the leader's side. Gideon +sent runners, criers, out throughout that whole section. They went first +to his own family clan, then to his tribe, then to three neighboring +tribes. They said that God had called upon Gideon to lead a movement +against the Midianites and their allies and he wanted every man to come +and help. The messengers went swiftly through the whole territory of these +neighboring tribes, arousing the men to action and calling for volunteers. + +A good many did not respond to the summons. Some were simply indifferent. +They could not help hearing the call, but there was no response without or +within. No change of expression in the eye or face. They went right on in +their heavy, dull way as though they hadn't heard. They were utterly +indifferent to the call. Some were reluctant. They stopped and listened, +but with a heavy slant backwards to their bodies. Their heels bore most of +their weight. It was a good idea to get up such a movement, the enemy +ought to be driven back and out, but--but--and their eyes are half shut +already. + +Some criticised. Who was Gideon? A young upstart! trying to push himself +forward as a leader. He had no skill or experience. And the people had no +weapons. The enemy had stolen everything of the sort away. And they were +clear outnumbered. There wasn't a ghost of a show. It would only make bad +matters worse. This young upstart Gideon would soon be sorry enough when +he butted his head against the experienced Midianite leaders. +And--and--and--there they are talking, criticising, but not responding to +the call. Such critics seldom respond, and helpers criticise in a very +different way. It takes less brain to criticise unwisely, captiously, far +less than to help. Almost any hare-brain can tear a thing to pieces. And +nothing is commoner than just such criticism. + +Some ridiculed. "Ha! ha! ha! Gideon going to be national leader; ha! ha! +ha! And whip the enemy. Ridiculous! Absurd!" And some were outrightly +opposed. They objected. The people would be aroused, their hopes awakened +only to be dashed. The whole thing was wrong, for it was impossible. And +these men tried to keep others from going. + + + +A Willing People. + + +But many came. A crowd of volunteers came hurrying from farms and caves, +bringing such weapons probably as they had been able to keep in hiding. +They were willing to respond. It was a motley crowd, no doubt. There were +thirty-two thousand of them. These four tribes had once numbered as many +as one hundred and eighty-four thousand five hundred fighting men. And at +another, later, enumeration they had two hundred and twelve thousand men +of war age. Their numbers may be smaller now, though possibly not. It +looks as though only a small minority of all had responded, maybe one in +six or so. + +These men had the first great qualification for service, they were +willing. They were actively willing. They willed to come down to the front +and help fight the enemy, and deliver their nation. It is a great quality +this of being willing. That prophetic One Hundred and Tenth Psalm mentions +this as the great characteristic of those who shall rally about God's King +in a coming day of power. God reckons our service not by our ability but +by our willingness.[31] + +Whatever is given out of a warm, willing heart is eagerly accepted by +Him. The Hebrew tabernacle was constructed of free-will offerings. The +people came willingly with their offerings and left them for Moses' use. +Some brought gold and silver, some finely woven tapestries and silks. Here +was one poor woman who wanted to give but had very little. So she went out +to her little flock of goats whereby her living came to her, and cut off a +big bunch of goat's hair, and then with much pains dyed it red. + +And then one day she went up to where they were presenting their gifts and +timidly laid her bunch of goat's hair on the pile of offerings, and +quietly, quickly slipped away. It seemed very small on that pile of gold +and silver and richly-colored weavings. But it was the gift of her heart. +They had to have goat's hair as well as gold. And her offering was +acceptable because it came from a willing heart. Willingness is a heart +quality. It is the heart volunteering. + + "Our wills are ours to make them Thine." + +This was the first test. Thirty-two thousand out of four tribes stood this +test. Gideon's army had one great qualification at the start. + + + +Courageous Volunteers. + + +Now these men are put to a second test. The next morning God surprised +Gideon by telling him that he had too many men. If a victory was given +them with so many men they would feel that they had done the thing +themselves. They would grow so large as to shut God out of their +landscape. There would be no getting along with them. Each man would feel +that he was the essential factor. They would go back to the homefolks to +tell of themselves. God seems to know us folk down on the earth fairly +well. + +Now He would lessen their numbers, but in doing it He will pick out the +best. The men are encamped on the hillsides overlooking a valley. Across +the valley to the north lay the encamped armies of three nations. They +were a vast host. They were spread out as thick as the grasshoppers of +Egypt had been years before. Everywhere you looked there they were +swarming. + +Gideon spoke to his men. He said, "Gentlemen, Fellow-Israelites, there is +the enemy. Take a good look at them." And his followers looked, and as +they looked some of them began to get scared. They had not realized just +what was involved. Their footwear seemed to grow too large. They were +shaking in their boots. And their eyes grew big and their faces white +under the tan. + +Then Gideon said, "Now, every man of you that thinks it can't be done--I +wish you would get right out of this, and go back home." And he watched. +And I imagine even Gideon shook a bit inside as he watched. They +commenced to move away in squads, in scores, in fifties. Great gaps were +left in the mob of men. Here is a fellow standing, looking. He thinks, "It +looks pretty bad, sure enough; but then, I suppose, if God is planning--" +hello, the fellow by his side has gone, and on this other side too--"I +guess I'd better go too." And off he goes. Fear is very contagious. There +is great power in feeling a man by your side. And two-thirds of them +disappear over the hills. + +The motto of these disappearing men was this: "It can't be done." They +must have organized themselves into a society to perpetuate their own +idea. If so the society has shown great vitality. Many of its members +abide with us until this day. No, probably they didn't organize. They +didn't have enough gumption to. And such a sentiment grows like a weed +without any cultivation. + +I recall a certain town in Ohio where I had gone to talk about an +enlargement and re-vitalizing of the Young Men's Christian Association. +Thousands of young men in the place needed just such help as that +organization is supposed to provide. I outlined the plan to a clergyman. +He said it was a good plan, there was great need, the thing should be +done, "but," he said, with an air of settling the thing, "it can't be done +in _this town_." + +Among others I talked with a business man. He listened attentively, +approved the plans, agreed upon the great need, and then settling back in +his chair with the same air of finality, used exactly the same words, with +the same emphasis, "It can't be done in _this town_." I got that same +reply from several men that day. And I said to myself, "They are right; it +can't be done _with them_; but it can be done without them." And it was. + + + +Irresistible Logic. + + +But there remained ten thousand. These men by their staying said, "It +ought to be done. What ought to be done can be done. What can be done _we_ +can do. What we can do we _will_ do." Here is another man standing looking +at that vast host across the valley. He is thinking that it is a desperate +case, but he thinks of God's call through Gideon. Just then he notices +that his neighbor on the left has taken to his heels, and on his right +also. That shakes him for a moment. His heels say, "You go too." His heart +said, "No, stay." He obeyed his heart. He said, "I'll stay if I stay +alone." + +That was the stuff in these remaining ten thousand. They stood a double +test in remaining, the desperate situation seen in the presence of such an +enormous army, and the desertion of their fellows. They had _courage_; +not only willingness but courage. Courage is a heart quality. Courage is +the heart fighting. It faces fearful odds and keeps right straight ahead +regardless. + +A prize was offered once for the best definition of "pluck." The +definition that won the prize said, "Pluck is fighting with the scabbard +after the sword is broken." What a picture in a single sentence! The man +is fighting with might and main in the thick of the enemy, up and down, +parry and thrust, and just about holding his own, when suddenly, without a +moment's warning, the blade snaps close up to the hilt. The game's up now +surely. This accident decides the day. _Maybe_--for _some_ men. But not +for this fellow. He simply sets his jaws a bit firmer as, quick as +lightning, he grabs the scabbard by his side and fights with it. + +Such a man can't be whipped. He doesn't know when he is whipped. And the +man who doesn't know when he is whipped, never _is_ whipped. No man can be +whipped without his own consent. I said courage is a heart quality. These +ten thousand were not chicken-hearted nor downhearted. They were +lion-hearted, stout-hearted. They had hearts of oak. + +It was a keen stroke of generalship on Gideon's part that sent the timid, +discouraged ones back home. Nothing is more demoralizing than the presence +of such people. And there was no discipline much finer for those who +remained than to feel their fellows leaving them. It's hard to be left by +those who have been in touch. It is hard to stand alone. + +There is no harder test of character than that. And too there is no finer +thing to make character. Think how the fiber of those ten thousand +toughened and strengthened as they _stood_ there, with men on every side +hurrying away. This was the second test. But the men who can stand testing +are growing fewer. Thirty-two thousand men were willing. Only a third of +them are both willing and courageous. These men are more than volunteers. +They have seen the foe. Their fiber has stood the test, and toughened in +the test. They are _courageous_ volunteers. + + + +Hot Hearts. + + +But there is a third test. God comes to Gideon and says, "You have too +many men yet, Gideon." And Gideon's eyes bulge out a bit. Too many! Yes, +this is to be a quality fight. No common fighting here. God works best +with the men who come nearest to having His own thought of things. Numbers +don't count. You can't count men for service. You must weigh them, and +feel the firmness of their fiber. + +There is a little running brook down the valley. Gideon gives an order to +his men to advance a bit. And he watches them. Most of them as they come +to the water stretch out leisurely on the ground and putting their mouths +to the water take a good long drink, and another, and again. They seem to +say by their action, "Well, there's some tough work ahead, but we must +take care of ourselves. A man must look out for number one. We must not +get unduly stirred up over the thing. We're not fighting yet." + +But one fellow comes along with a quick, nervous step, and his eye still +on the enemy. He is all on tenter-hooks. His eye flashes fire. He reaches +down with a quick movement and gathers up some water in his hand, up to +his mouth, and hurries on. Then a second fellow, and a third, and more. +Gideon is watching. As each of these comes along he calls him off to one +side. When the whole number of men have passed the brook there are just +three hundred of the hot-hearted, intense-spirited fellows. + +God said, "Gideon, keep these men; send the others back." These thousands +sent back were sturdy men. They would make good fighters in many a +campaign, but they would not do for this higher kind of campaigning +planned for that day. The little band remaining had stood a third test, +they were willing, and courageous, _and enthusiastic_. + +Enthusiasm is the heart _burning_. These fellows had spring and snap to +them. Yet it was a _tempered_ spring and snap, the sort that would last. +By their action at the brook they said, "If there's fighting to be done, +let's do it quickly; let's go at the enemy with a vim and a rush. Oh! let +us at them." + + + +God Still Sifting. + + +Yet, mark you, their enthusiasm was _seasoned_. It grew _under fire_, or +practically so, in the presence of the danger. There is always an +abundance of the green article of enthusiasm, but it's not worth much for +steady ditch-work. There is a sort of wood enthusiasm, apple-wood. You +know how apple-wood burns in a fire. It catches quickly, throws out a good +many sparks, makes a loud crackling noise, but doesn't last long. + +There is another sort, a soft-coal enthusiasm. It's better than wood. But +it needs a lot of attention continually to keep a steady fire. Then +there's the hard-coal enthusiasm that will burn steadily and faithfully by +the hour. Yet no kind, mark you, will run long without fresh fuel. We need +in our service more of the seasoned enthusiasm. + +It has been said of General Grant that one great reason for his success as +a soldier was in his coolness. While the fighting and firing were hottest +he sat on his horse quietly, coolly watching, listening, and giving his +orders. And much of his power has been attributed to that quality. Well, +if coolness is a qualification for success in Christian service there +seems to be a large number of persons splendidly qualified. They are cool +all the time; cool as icebergs at the North Pole; cool from the topmost +layer of hair to the bottommost cuticle--about certain things. + +We want coolness of head such as General Grant had and hotness of heart +such as he had, too. The ideal combination is a cool head and a hot heart. +The head should resemble a refrigerator, and the heart a flaming furnace. +There is one bother, however, among many people. Either the coolness of +the head works down too much and affects the heart, and that is bad, or, +else the heat of the heart gets up into the head, and a hot head is always +bad. + +Yet there is a sure key to preserving the poise between the two. It is in +the quiet time daily with Jesus, over the Book, with the knee bent, and +the ear keen, and the spirit quiet. In that time there comes, and comes +ever more, the calmness for the brain, and the fresh fuel for the heart, +and new steadiness for the will that holds all under its strong hand. + +Many difficulties will yield only to fire. When you cannot reason your way +through a problem, or a difficulty, or into a man's heart, _burn_ your +way through. Nothing can withstand fire. It is very remarkable that the +symbol used most for God in the Bible is fire. A man never amounts to +anything until he catches fire. + +The proportions are worth noticing here. Thirty-two thousand were +_volunteers_. A third of that number are _courageous_ volunteers. About a +thirty-third of these, less than a hundredth of the original, are +_hot-hearted, courageous_ volunteers. + +This is Gideon's Band; three hundred young men fresh from the farm, who +were _willing_, and _courageous_, and _hot-hearted_, all heart qualities. +They stood every test. They had faced a foe that humanly they had no +chance to overcome, and because of God's call they were not only willing, +and stout-hearted, but intense in their desire to get at the fighting. + +Then under Gideon's leadership they were well fed, and organized; they +proved individually faithful in the thick of the fight, and they pushed +persistently on even when bodily tired out. And the nation knew a great +victory over its enemies, and a time of prosperity for years after. + +God is still sifting men for service. He will use gladly every man who is +willing to be used. When a man stands the first test well, there comes a +second. That, stood well, means others. These are our promotion tests. He +lets those who stand all testings into the thickest of the fight and up to +the highest heights of victory. + +Master, help us to endure every test as seeing Him who is invisible. + + + + +Footnotes + + + +[1] 1 John i:1. + +[2] 2 Corinthians iii:18. + +[3] Frances Ridley Havergal. + +[4] Exodus xxi:2-6, Leviticus xxv:39-43; Deuteronomy xv:12-18. + +[5] Psalm xi:6-8; Hebrews x:5-7. + +[6] Isaiah 1:4-6. + +[7] John v:19, 30; vi:38, 57; vii:16-17, 28; viii:28, 29. + +[8] John Sullivan Dwight. + +[9] Mark i:41; Matthew ix:36; Mark vi:34 (with Matthew xiv:14); +Matthew xx:34; xv:32; Mark v:19; Luke vii:13; x:33; xv:20 + +[10] Daniel xii:3. + +[11] James v:19. + +[12] Proverbs xi:30. + +[13] Luke v:10. + +[14] Acts xvii:6. + +[15] 1 Thessalonians iv:11; 2 Corinthians v. 9, Romans xv:20. + +[16] Attention is directed to a strong helpful address on "Money," by Rev. +A. F. Schauffler, D.D., in "The Student Missionary Appeal," published by +the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions. + +[17] Luke xvi:9. + +[18] Psalm cxix:54. + +[19] Psalm xxx:5. + +[20] Psalm lv:22. + +[21] Psalm lxviii:19. + +[22] I Peter v:7. + +[23] 1 Corinthians v:9-12. + +[24] Judges iii:15-30. + +[25] Judges iii:31. + +[26] Judges iv:4-16; v:1. + +[27] Judges iv:17-24. + +[28] Judges vi and vii. + +[29] Judges ix:50-57. + +[30] Judges xv:15-20. + +[31] 2 Corinthians viii:12. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12529 *** diff --git a/12529-h/12529-h.htm b/12529-h/12529-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ff3d7cd --- /dev/null +++ b/12529-h/12529-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4647 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Quiet Talks on Service, by S. D. Gordon</title> +<style type="text/css" title="Default"> + <!-- + + body { + font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; + margin: 5%; + } + + h1,h2,h3,h4 { + text-align: center; + font-weight: bold; + } + + h1,h2,h3,h4 { + font-variant: small-caps; + } + + h1.title { margin-top: 5em; } + + .sec h4 { + text-decoration: underline; + font-variant: normal; + text-align: left; + } + + .smallcaps { font-variant: small-caps } + + a:link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:red} + pre {font-size: 9pt;} + + div.chapter, #preface { + margin-top: 4em; + padding: 5px; + } + + hr { + height: 1px; + width: 80%; + } + + hr.full { + height: 5px; + width: 100% + } + + p.byline { + text-align: center; + font-variant: small-caps; + } + + .poem { + margin-left:10%; + margin-right:10%; + text-align: left; + } + + #tp, #verso { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 3em; + } + + ul { + list-style-type: none; + } + +--> +</style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12529 ***</div> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Quiet Talks on Service, by S. D. Gordon</h1> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<div id="tp"> + +<h1 class="title">Quiet Talks on Service</h1> + +<p class="byline">by</p> + +<h2 class="author">S. D. Gordon</h2> + +<h3>Author of "Quiet Talks on Power,"<br /> +and "Quiet Talks on Prayer"</h3> + +<h4>1906</h4> +</div> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + + +<div id="toc"> +<h2>Contents</h2> + + +<ul> + <li><a href="#ch01">Personal Contact with Jesus: The Beginning of Service</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch02">The Triple Life: The Perspective of Service</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch03">Yokefellows: The Rhythm of Service</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch04">A Passion for Winning Men: The Motive-power of Service</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch05">Deep-Sea Fishing: The Ambition of Service</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch06">Money: The Golden Channel of Service</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch07">Worry: A Hindrance to Service</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch08">Gideon's Band: Sifted for Service</a></li> +</ul> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch01"> +<h2>Personal Contact With Jesus: The Beginning of Service.</h2> + + + +<ul> + <li><a href="#ch01-1">The Beginning of an Endless Friendship.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch01-2">An Ideal Biography.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch01-3">The Eyes of the Heart.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch01-4">We are Changed.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch01-5">The Outlook Changed.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch01-6">Talking with Jesus.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch01-7">Getting Somebody Else.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch01-8">The True Source of Strong Service.</a></li> +</ul> + + + + +<h2>Personal Contact With Jesus: The Beginning of Service.</h2> + +<h3>(John i:35-51.)</h3> + + +<div class="sec" id="ch01-1"> +<h3>The Beginning of an Endless Friendship.</h3> + + +<p>About a quarter of four one afternoon, three young men were standing +together on a road leading down to a swift-running river. It was an old +road, beaten down hard by thousands of feet through hundreds of years. It +led down to the river, and then along its bank through a village +scatteringly nestled by the fords of the river. The young men were +intently absorbed in conversation.</p> + +<p>One of them was a man to attract attention anywhere. He was clearly the +leader of the three. His clothing was very plain, even to severeness. His +face was spare, suggesting a diet as severely plain as his garments. The +abundance of dark hair on head and face brought out sharply the spare, +thoughtful, earnest look of his face. His eyes glowed like coals of living +fire beneath the thick, bushy eyebrows. He talked quietly but intensely. +There was a subdued vigor and force about his very person.</p> + +<p>One of the others was a very different type of man. He was intense too, +like the leader, but there was a fineness and a far-looking depth about +his eye such as suggests a gray eye rather than a black. His hair was +softer and finer, and his skin too. In him intensity seemed to blend with +a fine grain in his whole make-up. The third man was a quiet, +matter-of-fact looking fellow. He did not talk much, except to ask an +occasional question. The three men were engaged in earnest conversation, +when a fourth man, a stranger, came down the road and, passing the three +by, went on ahead.</p> + +<p>The leader of the three called the attention of his companions to the +stranger. At once they leave his side and go after the stranger. As they +nearly catch up to him, he unexpectedly turns and in a kindly voice asks, +"Whom are you looking for?" Taken aback by the unexpected question, they +do not answer, but ask where he is going. Quickly noticing the point of +their question, he cordially says, "Come over and take tea with me."</p> + +<p>They gladly accepted the invitation, and spent the evening with him. And +the friendship begun that day continued to the end of their lives. Both +became his dear friends. And one, the fine-grained, intense man, became +his closest bosom friend. He never forgot that day. When he came years +after to write about his hospitable friend, found that afternoon, he could +remember every particular of their first meeting. We must always be +grateful to John for his simple, full account of his first meeting with +Jesus.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch01-2"> +<h3>An Ideal Biography.</h3> + + +<p>His simple story of that afternoon contains in it the three steps that +begin all service. They looked at Jesus; they talked with Jesus; forever +to the end of their lives they talked about Him. Here are the two personal +contacts that underlie all service, that lead into all service. The close +personal contact with Jesus begun and continued. And then personal contact +with other men ever after. The first always leads to the second. The power +and helpfulness of the second grow out of the first.</p> + +<p>There is a little line in the story that may serve as a graphic biography +of John the Herald. There could be no finer biography of anybody of whom +it could be truly written. It is this: "Looking upon Jesus as He walked, +he said look." He himself was absorbed in looking. Jesus caught him from +the first. He was ever looking. And he asked others to look. His whole +ministry was summed up in pointing Jesus out to others.</p> + +<p>He was ever insisting that men look at Jesus. Looking, he said "look." +His lips said it, and life said it. John's presence was always spelling +out that word "look," with his whole life an index finger pointing to +Jesus. If we might be like that. Every man of us may be in his life, in +the great unconscious influence of his presence, a clearly lettered +signpost pointing men to the Master. All true service begins in personal +contact with Jesus. One cannot know Him personally without catching the +warm contagion of His spirit for others. And there is a fine fragrance, a +gentle, soft warmth, about the service that grows out of being with Him.</p> + +<p>The beginning of John's contact with Jesus that day, and Andrew's, was in +looking. Their friend the herald bid them look. They found him looking. +They did as he was doing. Following the line of his eyes, and of his +teaching too, and of his life, they looked at Jesus. And as they looked +the sight of their eyes began to control them. They left John and +quickened their pace to get nearer to this Man at whom they were looking. +There never was a finer tribute to a man's faithfulness to his Master than +is found in these men leaving John. They could not help going. They had +been led by John into the circle of Jesus' attractive power. And at once +they are irresistibly drawn toward its center.</p> + +<p>The basis of the truest devotion and deepest loyalty to Jesus is not in a +creed but in Himself. There must be creeds. Whatever a man believes is of +course his creed. Though as quickly as he puts it into words he narrows +it. Truth is always more than any statement of it. Faith is always greater +than our words about it. We do not see Jesus with our outer eyes as did +these men in the Gospel narrative. We cannot put out our hands in any such +way as Thomas did and know by the feel. We must listen first to somebody +telling about Him.</p> + +<p>We listen either with eyes on the Book, or ears open to some faithful +mutual friend of His and ours. What we hear either way is a creed, +somebody's belief about Jesus. So we come to Jesus first through a creed, +somebody's belief, somebody's telling: so we know there is a Jesus, and +are drawn to Himself. When we come to know Himself, always afterwards He +is more than anything anybody ever told us, and more than we can ever +tell.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch01-3"> +<h3>The Eyes of the Heart.</h3> + + +<p>Looking at Jesus--what does it mean practically? It means hearing about +Him first, then actually appealing to Him, accepting His word as personal +to one's self, putting Him to the test in life, trusting His death to +square up one's sin score, trusting His power to clean the heart and +sweeten the spirit, and stiffen the will. It means holding the whole life +up to His ideals. Aye, it means more yet; something on His side, an +answering look from Him. There comes a consciousness within of His love +and winsomeness. That answering look of His holds us forever after His +willing slaves, love's slaves. Paul speaks of the eyes of the heart. It is +with these eyes we look at Him, and receive His answering look.</p> + +<p>There are different ways of looking at Jesus, degrees in looking. Our +experiences with Jesus affect the eyes of the heart. When this same John +as an old man was writing that first epistle, he seems to recall his +experience in looking that first day. He says "that which we have <i>seen</i> +with our eyes, that which we <i>beheld</i>."<sup><a href="#fn1">1</a></sup> From seeing with the eyes he +had gone to earnest, thoughtful <i>gazing</i>, caught with the vision of what +he saw. That was John's own experience. It is everybody's experience that +gets a look at Jesus. When the first looking sees something that catches +fire within, then does the inner fire affect the eye and more is seen.</p> + +<p>You have been in a strange city walking down the street, looking with +interest at what is there. But all at once you are caught by a sign that +contains a familiar name, and at once a whole flood of memories is +awakened.</p> + +<p>The little Jericho Jew peering down from the low out-reaching sycamore +branch was full of curiosity to see the Man that had changed his old +friend Levi Matthew so strangely. But that curiosity quickly changes into +something far deeper and more tender as Jesus comes to abide in his own +home.</p> + +<p>That lonely-lifed, sore-hearted woman on the Nain road looked with +startled wonder out of those wet eyes of hers as Jesus begins talking to +her dead son. What love and faith must have been in her looking as Jesus +with fine touch brings her boy by the hand over to her warm embrace again!</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch01-4"> +<h3>We are Changed.</h3> + + +<p>Looking at Jesus <i>changes us.</i> Paul's famous bit in the second Corinthian +letter has a wondrous tingle of gladness in it. "We all with open face +beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are changed from glory to +glory."<sup><a href="#fn2">2</a></sup> The change comes through our looking. The changing power comes +in through the eyes. It is the glory of the Lord that is seen. The +glorious Jesus looking in through our looking eyes changes us. It is +gradual. It is ever more, and yet more, till by and by His own image comes +out fully in our faces.</p> + +<p>We become like those with whom we associate. A man's ideals mold him. +Living with Jesus makes us look like Himself. We are familiar with the +work that has been done in restoring old fine paintings. A painting by one +of the rare old master painters is found covered with the dust of decades. +Time has faded out much of the fine coloring and clearly marked outlines. +With great patience and skill it is worked over and over. And something of +the original beauty, coming to view again, fully repays the workman for +all his pains.</p> + +<p>The original image in which we were made has been badly obscured and faded +out. But if we give our great Master a chance He will restore it through +our eyes. It will take much patience and a skill nothing less than divine. +But the original will surely come out more and more till we shall again be +like the original, for we shall <i>see</i> Him as He is.</p> + +<p>The old German artist Hoffmann is said to visit at intervals the royal +gallery in Dresden, where he lives, to touch up his paintings there. Even +so our Master, living in us, keeps touching us up that the full beauty of +His ideal may be brought out.</p> + +<p>How often a girl growing up into the fullness of her mature young +womanhood calls out the remark, "You are growing more and more like your +mother." And the similar remark is heard of a young man developing the +traits and features of his father.</p> + +<p>There is a law of unconscious assimilation. We become like those with whom +we go. Without being conscious of it we take on the characteristics of +those with whom we live. I remember one time my brother returned home for +a visit after a prolonged absence. As we were walking down the street +together he said to me, "You have been going with Denning a good deal"--a +mutual friend of ours. Surprised, I said, "How do you know I have?" He +said, "You walk just like him." What my brother had said was strictly +true, though he did not know it. Our friend had a very decided way of +walking. As a matter of fact, we had been walking home from the Young +Men's Christian Association three or four nights every week. And +unconsciously I had grown to imitate his way of walking.</p> + +<p>That sentence of Paul's has also this meaning, "We all with open face +<i>reflecting</i> as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are changed." We stand +between Him and those who don't know Him. We are the mirror catching the +rays of His face and sending them down to those around. And not only do +those around see the light--His light--in us, but we are being changed all +the while. For others' sake as well as our own the mirror should be kept +clean, and well polished so the reflection will be distinct and true.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch01-5"> +<h3>The Outlook Changed.</h3> + + +<p>Looking at Jesus <i>changes the world for us.</i> It is as though the light of +His eyes fills our eyes and we see things all around as He sees them. Have +you ever gone out, as a child, and looked intently at the sun, repressing +the flinching its strength caused and insisting on looking? You could do +it for a short time only. It made your eyes ache. But as you turned your +eyes away from its brilliance you found everything changed. You remember a +beautiful yellow glory-light was over everything, and every ugly jagged +thing was softened and beautified by that glow in your eyes. Looking at +the sun had changed the world for you for a little.</p> + +<p>It is something like that on this higher plane, in this finer sense. That +must have been something of Paul's thought in explaining the glory of +Jesus that he saw on the Damascus road. "When I could not see for the +glory of that light." The old ideals were blurred. The old ambitions faded +away. The jagged, sharp lines of sacrifice and suffering involved in his +new life were not clearly seen. A halo had come over them.</p> + +<p>I recall a bit of a poem I ran across in an old magazine somewhere. It was +one of those vagrant, orphan poems with fine family lineaments that find +their way unfathered into odd corners of papers. It told about a man +riding on horseback through a bit of timber land in one of the cotton +states of the South.</p> + +<p>It was a bright October day, and he was riding along enjoying the air and +view, when all at once he came across a bit of a clearing in the trees, +and in the clearing an old cabin almost fallen to pieces, and in the +doorway of the cabin an old negress standing. Her back was bent nearly +double with the years of hard work, her face dried up and deeply bitten +with wrinkles, and her hair white. But her eyes were as bright as two +stars out of the dark blue, it said.</p> + +<p>And the man called out cheerily, "Good-morning, auntie, living here all +alone?" And she looked up, with her eyes brighter yet with the thought in +her heart, and in a shrill keyed-up voice said, "Jes me 'n' Jesus, massa." +But he said a hush came over the whole place, there seemed a halo about +the old broken-down cabin, and he thought he could see Somebody standing +by her side looking over her shoulder at him, and His form was like that +of the Son of God.</p> + +<p>How poor and limited and mean her world looked to him as he rode up. But +how quickly everything changed as he saw it through her seeing of it. With +the keen insight into spirit things so often found in such simplicity +among her race, she had gotten the whole simple philosophy of life. Her +world was changed and beautiful in the loneliness of the woods by reason +of her Master's presence.</p> + +<p>This removes the commonplace at once clear out of one's life. There is no +drudgery nor humdrum nor hardship, because everything is for Jesus, and +seen through His eyes. Whatever comes in the pathway of his work is +gladdest joy, whether an obscure narrow round of home work or shop or +store, or leaving home for a strange land far across the sea with a +peculiarly uncongenial spirit atmosphere. Contact with Jesus, seeing Him, +changes all for us.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch01-6"> +<h3>Talking with Jesus.</h3> + + +<p>These two men in the story went from their first looking into closer +contact. They looked at Jesus. Then they talked with Jesus. It was at His +own request. He wanted them. He wanted their friendship and their help. +Having started, it was easy for them to go. Having seen, they naturally +wanted more. At least two hours they talked, maybe longer. Judging by what +they did as soon as they got away, it was a most wonderful talk for them.</p> + +<p>This Jesus took them at once. His face, His presence, His talk, Himself +filled all their sky. Everything swung around into a new setting. He was +its center. All things began to adjust themselves for these men about +Jesus. He was irresistible to them. These two men went through some most +trying experiences as a result of the friendship formed that evening hour, +but these counted not in the scale with <i>Him</i>. They never got over the +talk with Him that twilight hour.</p> + +<p>That two hours' talk lengthened out into many another during the years +immediately after. They got into the habit of referring everything to Him, +and of judging everything by what He would think. It was so clear to the +end of their lives. For a little over three years did they keep Him by +their side actually, physically. But the habit of keeping Him there was +fixed for all the longer after years. The looking at Jesus and talking +with Jesus ever went side by side clear to the end of the years.</p> + +<p>It will be so. Getting a good look at this Master draws one off into the +quiet corner with the Book to listen and talk and learn more. And out of +this naturally grows (if one will give a little attention to good +gardening rules) the habit of talking with Him all the time. In the thick +of the crowd, in the solitude of one's duties, with hands full of work, +the heart talks with Him and listens, and sometimes the tongue talks out +too. Our common word for it is prayer. Prayer precedes true service, and +produces it, and sweetens it. Only the service that grows up naturally out +of this personal contact with Jesus counts and tells and weighs for the +most.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch01-7"> +<h3>Getting Somebody Else.</h3> + + +<p>These two men went away from Jesus that evening only to come back with +some others. They went from talking with Him to talking with others for +Him. Their personal contact was the beginning of their service. This is +one of the famous personal work chapters. There are three "findeths" in +it. Andrew findeth his brother Peter. That was a great find. John in his +modesty doesn't speak of it, but in all likelihood he findeth James <i>his</i> +brother. Jesus findeth Philip and Philip in turn findeth Nathaniel, the +guileless man.</p> + +<p>That word findeth is very suggestive, even to being picturesque. It tells +the absence of these other men. Their whereabouts might be guessed, but +were not known. There was in the searchers a purpose, and a warmth in the +heart under that purpose. As Andrew looked and listened he said to +himself, "Peter must hear this; Peter must see this Man." And perhaps he +asks to be excused and, reaching for his hat, hastens out to get his +brother and bring him back to the house. He wants more himself, but he'll +get it with Peter in too. And so it would be with John likely.</p> + +<p>Peter had to be searched for. Most men do. He was probably absorbed with +all his impulsive intensity in some matter on hand. May be Andrew had to +pull quite a bit to get him started. But he got him. Andrew was a good +sticker: hard to shake him off. His is a fine name for a brotherhood of +personal workers. And when Peter once got started he never quit going. He +stumbled some, but he got up, and got up only to go on. Most men need some +one to get them started. There's need of more starters, more of us +starting people moving Jesus' way.</p> + +<p>I think the memory of this evening's work with Peter must have come back +very vividly to Andrew one morning a few years afterwards. It's up on the +hills of Judea, in Jerusalem. There's a great crowd of people standing in +the streets, filling the space for a great distance. There are some +thousands of them. They are listening spellbound to a man talking. It is +Peter. And down there near by, maybe holding Peter's hat while he talks, +is Andrew. His eyes are glowing. And if you might listen to his heart +talking, I think you would hear it saying softly, "I'm so glad I brought +Peter that evening I met Jesus." Peter's talk that day swung three +thousand men and women over to Jesus. Somebody has said that if Peter were +their spiritual father, certainly Andrew was their spiritual grandfather. +And I think God reckons the thing that way, too.</p> + +<p>There is a great deal of good talk these days about regenerating society. +It used to be that men talked about "reaching the masses." Now the other +putting of it is commoner. It is helpful talk whichever way it is put. The +Gospel of Jesus is to affect all society. It <i>has</i> affected all society, +and is to more and more. But the thing to mark keenly is this, the key to +the mass is the man. The way to regenerate society is to start on the +individual.</p> + +<p>The law of influence through personal contact is too tremendous to be +grasped. You influence one man and you have influenced a group of men, and +then a group around each man of the group, and so on endlessly. +Hand-picked fruit gets the first and best market. The keenest marksmen are +picked out for the sharpshooters' corps.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch01-8"> +<h3>The True Source of Strong Service.</h3> + + +<p>One morning with a friend I walked out of the city of Geneva to where the +waters of the lake flow with swift rush into the Rhone. And we were both +greatly interested in the strange sight which has impressed so many +travellers. There are two rivers whose waters come together here, the +Rhone and the Arve, the Arve flowing into the Rhone. The waters of the +Rhone are beautifully clear and sparkling. The waters of the Arve come +through a clayey soil and are muddy, gray, and dull. And for a long +distance the two waters are wholly distinct. Two rivers of water are in +one river-bed, on one side the sparkling blue Rhone water, on the other +the dull gray Arve water, and the line between the two sharply defined. +And so it continues for a long distance. Then gradually they blend and the +gray begins to tinge all through the blue.</p> + +<p>I went to the guide-book and maps to find out something about this river +that kept on its way undefiled by its neighbor for so long. Its source is +in a glacier that is between ten thousand and eleven thousand feet high, +descending "from the gates of eternal night, at the foot of the pillar of +the sun." It is fed continually by the melting glacier which, in turn, is +being kept up by the snows and cold. Rising at this great height, ever +being renewed steadily by the glacier, it comes rushing down the swift +descent of the Swiss Alps through the lake of Geneva and on. There is the +secret of purity, side by side with its dirty neighbor.</p> + +<p>Our lives must have their source high up in the mountains of God, fed by a +ceaseless supply. Only so can there be the purity, and the momentum that +shall keep us pure, and keep us <i>moving</i> down in contact with men of the +earth. And we must keep closer to the source than is the Rhone at Geneva, +else the streams flowing alongside will unduly influence us. Constant +personal contact with Jesus is the beginning ever new of service.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch02"> +<h2>The Triple Life: The Perspective of Service.</h2> + + + +<ul> + <li><a href="#ch02-1">On An Errand for Jesus.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch02-2">The Parting Message.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch02-3">A Secret Life of Prayer.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch02-4">An Open Life of Purity.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch02-5">An Active Life of Service.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch02-6">The Perspective of True Service.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch02-7">A Long Time Coming.</a></li> +</ul> + + + + +<h2>The Triple Life: The Perspective of Service.</h2> + +<h3>(Luke ix:1-6; x:1-3, 17; John xx:19-23; Matthew xxviii:18-20.)</h3> + + +<div class="sec" id="ch02-1"> +<h3>On An Errand for Jesus.</h3> + + +<p>You remember there were four times that Jesus picked out a group of men, +and sent them on a special errand. About the middle of the second year of +His public life, He chose out twelve men and commissioned them for a +special bit of work. Six months before the tragic end, He chose seventy +others and sent them out in twos into all the places He was planning to +visit Himself. It was a remarkable campaign for carrying the news which He +was preaching into all the villages of that whole country through which +His journey south lay.</p> + +<p>Then the evening of that never-to-be-forgotten resurrection day, under +wholly changed conditions, He again commissions ten men of that first +twelve. Things had radically changed with Jesus. And there had been a bad +break in the loyalty of these men. Two of their number are absent. Judas +has gone to his own place, and Thomas was not there that evening. His +absence cost him a week of doubting and mental distress. Ten of the old +inner circle are commissioned anew. And then do you remember the last time +they were together? It was about six weeks later, on the rounded top of +the old Olives Mount, the eleven men with the Master. Four times He +commissioned a group of men for some service He wanted done.</p> + +<p>There are two things in these four commissions that make them alike. The +same two things are in each. The first thing is this: they are bidden to +"go." That ringing word "go ye" is in, each time. "As the Father hath sent +Me even so send I you." It is a familiar word to every follower of Jesus +then, and now, and always. A true follower of His always is stirred by a +spirit of <i>"go."</i> A going Christian is a growing Christian. A going church +has always been a growing church. Those ages when the church lost the +vision of her Master's face on Olives, and let other sounds crowd out of +her ears the sound of His voice, were stagnant ages. They are commonly +spoken of in history as the dark ages. "Go" is the ringing keynote of the +Christian life, whether in a man or in the church.</p> + +<p>The second thing found always in each of these commissions is this: they +were qualified, or empowered to go. Whom God calls He always qualifies. +Where His voice comes His Spirit breathes. If there has come to you some +bit of a call to service, to teach a class, or write a special letter, or +speak a word, or take up something needing to be done. And you hesitate. +You think that you cannot. You are not fit, you think, not qualified. The +thing to do is to do it.</p> + +<p>If the call is clear go ahead. Need is one of the strong calling voices of +God. It is always safe to respond. Put <i>out</i> your foot in the answering +swing, even though you cannot see clearly the place to put it <i>down</i>. God +attends to that part. Power comes <i>as we go</i>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch02-2"> +<h3>The Parting Message.</h3> + + +<p>Just now I want to talk with you a bit about the last one of these +commissions, the Olivet commission. I do not know just what day it was +given or at what hour. But I have thought it was in the twilight of a +Sabbath evening. There's a yellow glow of light filling all the western +sky running along the broken line of those hills yonder, and through the +trees, and in upon this group of men standing.</p> + +<p>Here in full view lies little Bethany fragrant with memories of Jesus' +power. Over yonder, those tree tops down in a bit of valley with the +brook--that is <i>Gethsemane</i>. And farther over there is the fortress city +of <i>Jerusalem</i>. And just outside its wall is the bit of a knoll called +<i>Calvary</i>. Here under these trees every night that last week of the +tragedy Jesus had slept out in the open, with His seamless coat wrapped +about Him. This is the spot He chooses for the good-by word. It is full of +most precious, fragrant memories.</p> + +<p>Here is the man who has been Simon, but out of whom a new man was coming +these days, Peter, the man of rock. And here are John and James, sons of +fire and of thunder, sons of their mother. And there, little Scotch +Andrew. At least our Scotch friends seem to have adopted him as their very +own. And close by his side is his friend with the Greek name, Philip. And +here the man to whom Jesus paid the great tribute of naming him the +guileless man.</p> + +<p>And the others, not so well known to us, but very well known to Jesus, and +to be not a whit less faithful than their brothers these coming days. But +somehow as you look you are at once irresistibly drawn past these to +<i>Him</i>--the Man in the midst. The Man with the great face, torn with the +thorns, and cut with the thongs, but shining with a sweet, wondrous, +beauty light.</p> + +<p>It is the last time they are together. He is going away; coming back soon, +they understand. They do not know just how soon. But meanwhile in His +absence they are to be as He Himself would be if He remained among men. +They are to stand for Him. And so with eyes fixed on His face they look, +and listen, and wonder a bit, just what the last word will be.</p> + +<p>What would you expect it to be? It was the good-by word between men who +were lovers, dearest friends. The tenderest thing would be said and the +most important. The one going away would speak of that which lay closest +down in His own heart. And whatever He might say would sink deepest into +their hearts, and control their action in the after days.</p> + +<p>He had been talking to them very insistently, about an hour before, down +in the city, about <i>waiting there</i> until the Holy Spirit came upon them. +And that word has fastened itself into their minds with newly sharpened +hooks of steel points. Now He talks about their being His witnesses, here +at home among their own folks, and out among their half-breed Samaritan +neighbors, whom they didn't like, and then--with eyes looking yearningly +out and finger pointing steadily out--to the farthest reach of the planet. +And now, as He is about to go, this is the word that comes from those +lips:</p> + +<blockquote class="poetry"> +<div class="stanza"><div class="line"> "All power hath been given unto Me.</div> +<div class="line"> Therefore go ye,</div> +<div class="line"> And make disciples of all nations."</div> +</div></blockquote> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch02-3"> +<h3>A Secret Life of Prayer.</h3> + + +<p>There are four things in that good-by word. Three are directly spoken, and +one is not spoken, but directly implied. First is this, your chief work is +to win men. That is directly said. The second is implied--it is the +toughest task you ever undertook. That is implied in this that it will +take more power than they have. A power that only He has. A supernatural +power. And we all know how true that is. Of all luggage man is the hardest +to move. He <i>won't</i> move unless he <i>will</i>. Every man of us that has ever +tried to change somebody's else purpose knows how impossible it is unless +by the inward pull. You simply <i>cannot</i> without the man's consent. The +third thing is this: I have all the power needed. The fourth this: <i>You</i> +go.</p> + +<p>And the Master meant to tell them, and to tell us, this: that a man should +lead a triple life, three lives in one. We sometimes hear of a man leading +a double life in a bad sense. In a good sense, every one of us should be +living a triple life, three distinct lives in one. The first of these +three lives is this: <i>a secret life, lived with Jesus, hidden from the +eyes of men</i>. An inner life of closest contact with Him, that the outside +folks know nothing about.</p> + +<p>Notice again the four statements in that good-by word. Your chief concern +is to win men. It is the toughest task you ever undertook: it will take +supernatural power. I have all the power you need. Instinctively you feel +as though the fourth thing should be, "I will go." That would seem to be +the logical conclusion. "No," Jesus says, "<i>you go</i>." Plainly if we are to +do something taking supernatural power, and we haven't any such power of +ourselves, there must be the closest kind of contact with the source of +power. The man who is to go must be in the most intimate contact with the +Man who has the powers needed in the going.</p> + +<p>And this is simply a law of all life, given to us here by life's greatest +Philosopher. The seen depends upon the secret always. The outer keys upon +the inner. The life that men see depends wholly upon the life that only +the Master sees. David had power to slay the lion and bear in secret, away +from the gaze of men, before he had power to slay the giant before the +wondering eyes of two nations. The closet becomes the swivel of the +street.</p> + +<p>In crossing the ocean there are two great dangers to be dreaded and +guarded against, aside from the storms that may arise. The greater of +these is an abandoned ship. One that through some stress of storm has been +left by the sailors in the attempt to save their lives. It is most +dangerous because it sends no warning ahead of its presence. In crossing +the Atlantic by the more northern routes the other danger is from the +icebergs that may be met in the steamer's path. If a fog obscure the +lookout the boat is slowed down, and a man kept busy with line and +thermometer taking the temperature of the water. The iceberg is kindlier +than the derelict, in the chill it sends out. The presence of the danger +can so be detected, and measures taken to avoid it.</p> + +<p>But the great danger here is not simply in the huge mountain of ice that +you see looming up against the sky, great as that is. It is in the unseen +ice. Hidden away below is a mountain of ice twice as large and heavy as +that seen above the water's surface. The danger lies in the terrific force +of a blow from this hidden pile that would crush the strongest steel +steamer, as I might crush an egg-shell in my fingers.</p> + +<p>We all admire the beauty of the trees that rear their heads, and send out +their branches, and make the world so beautiful with their soft green +foliage. But have you thought of the twin tree, the unseen tree that +belongs to these we see? For every tree that grows up and out with its +beauty and fruit there is another. The twin tree goes down and out.</p> + +<p>Sometimes, as far as this we see goes <i>up</i>, the other goes <i>down</i>; as far +as the branches go out so far do the underneath branches go out, +sometimes farther. This unseen tree is ever busy drawing moisture, and +food from the soil and sending it, ceaselessly sending it, up to the upper +tree. The beauty and fruitfulness above are because of this secret life of +the tree.</p> + +<p>I remember as a boy going to the bathroom in our home one day to draw some +water. But none came. There were a few drops, and some sputtering--there's +very apt to be sputtering when there is nothing else--but no flow of +water. And I wondered why. Soon I found that the main pipe in the street +was being fixed, and the water had been cut off at the curb. There was +water in the pipe clear from the curbstone up to the spigot, but I could +not get it because the reservoir connection under the ground had been +turned off.</p> + +<p>I have met some people since then that made me think of that. There is a +reservoir of water, clear and sweet, with which they have had connection, +and are supposed still to have. But when some thirsty body comes up for a +bit of refreshment, there's some sputtering, some noise, may be a few +stray drops--but no more. And folks seem thirstier because they were +expecting a cool, satisfying drink that never came.</p> + +<p>I think I know why it is so. The secret connection with the reservoir has +been tampered with. There <i>must</i> be the secret contact with Jesus +cultivated habitually if there is to be a sweet, strong outer life. And +not cultivated by hothouse methods. Such plants won't stand the chilly air +outside the glass-house. Cultivated by natural, simple contact with Jesus, +over His Word, habitually, until everything comes under the influence of +that secret life.</p> + +<p>One day a man was standing on a busy downtown thoroughfare in Cleveland +waiting for a car. There was a thick, dirty wire hanging down from the +cross arm high up of the wire pole. He happened to stop there. And +absorbed in thought, he mechanically put out his hand and took hold of the +wire. Instantly a look of intense agony came into his face. His arm, and +whole body began twisting and writhing. Then he fell to the ground +lifeless. The dirty-looking wire had direct connections with the +power-house. It was throbbing with a strong current. It was a "live" wire.</p> + +<p>Some men who have seemed quite unattractive in the light of some modern +standards have been found on touch to be charged with a life current of +tremendous power. And some others, outwardly more attractive, have been +found to be as powerless as a dead wire. And some there have been, and +are, very winsome and attractive in themselves, and charged with the life +current too. The great thing is the secret connections carefully +maintained with the source of power.</p> + +<p>There must be the closest kind of touch with God if His plan through us +for a planet is to carry out. We do not run on the storage battery plan, +but on the trolley plan, or the third rail. There must be constant full +touch with the feed wire or rail. And that "must" should be spelled in +capitals, and printed in red, and triply underscored.</p> + +<p>A man <i>must</i> plan for the bit of quiet time daily, preferably in the early +morning, alone with Jesus; with the door shut, the Book open, the spirit +quiet, the mind alert, the knee bent, the will bent too. If it be +resolutely <i>planned</i> for it can be gotten in every life. If not planned +for with a bit of red iron in the will, it will surely slip out. And the +man will surely slip down.</p> + +<p>Here is found the spirit in which a man may live all the day long, +wherever his feet may tread, in the fierce competition of trade, or in the +deadly enervation of some society circles. Out of such a man shall +breathe, all unconsciously to himself, an atmosphere fragrant as a +mountain breeze over a field of wild roses. This is the first life Jesus +bids us live.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch02-4"> +<h3>An Open Life of Purity.</h3> + + +<p>The second life we are to live is the exact reverse of this. It is indeed +the outer side of this: <i>an open life of purity lived among men for +Jesus</i>. Note again the logic of that good-by word. Your chief business is +to be down there in the thick of the crowd, winning men out of the dust +and dirt up into a new life of purity. It is the hardest job any man ever +undertook. It is practically impossible unless you have a power quite more +than human. Jesus quietly says, "I have the power that will do it."</p> + +<p>Again you feel that He must say next, "<i>I</i> will go." The thing must be +done. It is the one thing worth while. It will require a power we haven't. +<i>He</i> has it. You feel as though <i>He</i> must do the going. "No," He says, +with great emphasis. "<i>You</i> go. You be I; you live my life over again, +down there among men." The "Ye" and "Me" in that sentence are meant to be +interchangeable words.</p> + +<p>He is asking us to live His life over again among men. No, it is more than +that. He is asking us to let Him live His life over again in each of us. +The Man with the power that men can't resist would reach out to them +<i>through us.</i> He would be touching them in us. Jesus said, "As the Father +hath sent Me, even so send I you." He said again, "He that hath seen Me +hath seen the Father." Jesus embodied the Father to men. He asks us to +take His place and embody Himself to men.</p> + +<p>Paul understood this thoroughly. In writing to the friends throughout +Galatia, whom he had won up to Jesus, he says, "I have been crucified +with Christ." There is an old dead "I." "Nevertheless I live." There is a +new living "I." "Yet not I--the old I--but Christ liveth in me." <i>He</i> was +the new I. There was a new personality within Paul. I never weary of +recalling what Martin Luther said about that verse in the comment he made +on Galatians. You remember he said, "If somebody should knock at my +heart's door, and ask who lives here, I must not say 'Martin Luther lives +here.' I would say 'Martin Luther--is--dead--Jesus--Christ--lives--here.'"</p> + +<p>I wonder if any of us has ever been taken for Jesus. I wonder if anybody +has ever <i>mistaken</i> any of us for Him. You remember, He used to move among +men after the resurrection, and while they would feel the gentle +winsomeness of His presence and talk, they did not recognize Him. Has +somebody run across you or me sometime, and been with us a little while, +and then gone away saying to himself, "I wonder if that was Jesus back +again in disguise. He seemed so much like what I think Jesus must have +been--I wonder."</p> + +<p>Well, if it were so, of course we would not be conscious of it. A +Jesus-man is never absorbed in thinking about himself. He is taken up with +Jesus, and with folks. A man is always least conscious of the power of his +own presence and life. Everybody else knows more about it than he does. +Plainly this is the Master's plan for each of us. And more, it is the +result when He is allowed free sway.</p> + +<p>The controlling principle of His life was to please His Father. The +pervading purpose and passion was to win men out and up. The +characteristics of His life were purity, unselfishness, sympathy, and +simplicity. We are to be as He. He was the Father to all the race of men. +Each of us is to be Jesus to his circle.</p> + +<p>Please notice I'm not talking about lips just now but about lives. The +life is the indorsement of the lips. It makes the words of the lips more +than they sound or seem. Or, it makes them less, sometimes pitiably less, +little more than a discount clerk ever busily at work. The words ever go +to the level of the life, up or down. Water seeks its level persistently. +So do one's words, and they find it more quickly than the water, for they +go <i>through</i> all obstructions. And the life is the leveler of the words, +up or down.</p> + +<p>So far as this second life is concerned a man's lips might be sealed, and +his tongue dumb, but his life in its purity and simplicity, its +unselfishness and sympathetic warmness will ever be spelling out Jesus. +And He will be spelled out so big and plain that the man hurriedly +running, or lazily creeping, or half blind in a cloud of dust, will be +stopping and reading. If there were but more re-incarnations of Jesus how +folks would be coming a-running to Him.</p> + +<p>Do you remember that prayer in blank verse of the old Scottish preacher +and poet and saint, Horatius Bonar? He said:</p> + +<blockquote class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> + <div class="line">"Oh, turn me, mould me, mellow me for use.</div> + <div class="line">Pervade my being with Thy vital force,</div> + <div class="line">That this else inexpressive life of mine</div> + <div class="line">May become eloquent and full of power,</div> + <div class="line">Impregnated with life and strength divine.</div> + <div class="line">Put the bright torch of heaven into my hand,</div> + <div class="line">That I may carry it aloft</div> + <div class="line">And win the eye of weary wanderers here below</div> + <div class="line">To guide their feet into the paths of peace.</div> + <div class="line">I cannot raise the dead,</div> + <div class="line">Nor from this soil pluck precious dust,</div> + <div class="line">Nor bid the sleeper wake,</div> + <div class="line">Nor still the storm, nor bend the lightning back,</div> + <div class="line">Nor muffle up the thunder,</div> + <div class="line">Nor bid the chains fall from off creation's long enfettered limbs.</div> + <div class="line"><i>But</i> I can live a life that tells on other lives,</div> + <div class="line">And makes this world less full of anguish and of pain;</div> + <div class="line">A life that like the pebble dropped upon the sea</div> + <div class="line">Sends its wide circles to a hundred shores.</div> + <div class="line">May such a life be mine.</div> + <div class="line">Creator of true life, Thyself the life Thou givest,</div> + <div class="line">Give Thyself, that Thou mayst dwell in me, and I</div> + <div class="line">in Thee."</div> +</div></blockquote> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch02-5"> +<h3>An Active Life of Service.</h3> + + +<p>The third life is <i>a life of active service, of aggressive earnestness in +winning men.</i> I say aggressive. That word does not mean noise and dust, +shuffling of feet, and bustling confusion. It means rather the steady, +steady movement of the sun which noiselessly, dustlessly, moves onward, +hour after hour, day in and day out, regardless of any storms, or +disturbances. It means the quiet, peaceful, but resistless uninterrupted +movement of the moon rising night after night, and going through its +circle of action. Earnestness means the burning of the inner spirit. Its +fires dim not, for they are fed continually from secret sources.</p> + +<p>This third life is spoken of directly: "Go ye and make disciples." The +going is to be continued until folks farthest away have heard. Some people +are bounded by the horizon of the town where they live, some by the +particular church to which they belong, some the denomination, some the +state, or even the nation. Jesus fixes the horizon of His follower as that +of the world. Jesus was visionary. He talked about all nations, a race, a +world.</p> + +<p>All are to go. They are to go to all. Some may be made wholly free, by +arrangement with their fellow-followers, to give their full strength and +time to the direct going and telling. These are highly favored in +privilege. Some of these may go to deserted darkened places in the home +land. Some may go to the city slum, which in its dire need is of close kin +to the foreign-mission land. These are yet more highly favored in +privilege.</p> + +<p>Some may go to those far distant lands where Jesus is not known, where the +need of Him is so pathetically great. These are the most highly favored in +the privilege of service accorded them. Many others have been left free of +the necessity of earning bread and home and clothing and so have a rare +opportunity of devoting themselves to the going, as the Spirit of Jesus +guides. Many are given the talent to earn easily, and so, if they will, +may give much strength to service.</p> + +<p>The great majority everywhere and always are absorbed for most of the +waking hours of the day in earning something to eat, and something to +wear, and somewhere to sleep. Yet where there is the warm touch with Jesus +there will come the yearning for purity, and the life of service. With +these as with all there may be the service, strong and sweetly fragrant. +There is always some bit of spare time, with planning, that can be used in +direct service in church, or school, or mission. And the secret life of +prayer will give a steadiness that will guard against the over-use of +one's strength.</p> + +<p>There can be a personal going to some in words tactfully spoken. There is +the life of sweet purity and gentle patience always so winsome, that +speaks all the time in musical tones to one's circle. There is an +enormous, unconscious aggressiveness about such a life. Then there can be +the going through gold. And the entire planet can be brought under one's +thumb of influence through the strangely simple power of prayer.</p> + +<p>I have been running across some new versions of this last word of Jesus. A +sort of re-revisions they are. I have not found them in the common print, +but printed in lives, the lives of men. The print is large, chiefly +capitals, easily read. These lives are so noisy as to quite shut out what +the lips may be saying. There are variations in these translations.</p> + +<p>Sometime the message is made to read like this: "All power hath been given +unto Me, therefore go ye, and make--coins of gold--oh, belong to church of +course--that is proper and has many advantages--and give too. There are +advantages about that--give freely, or make it seem freely--give to +missions at home and abroad. That is regarded as a sure sign of a liberal +spirit. But be careful about the <i>proportion</i> of your giving. For the real +thing that counts at the year's end is how much you have added to the +stock of dollars in your grasp. These other things are good, but--merely +incidental. This thing of getting gold is the main drive."</p> + +<p>Please understand me, I never heard any of these folks talk in this blunt +way with their <i>tongues</i>. So far as I can hear, they are saying something +quite different. But what their tongues are saying is made indistinct and +blurred by some noise near by.</p> + +<p>Other translations I have run across have this variation: "Make a place +for yourself, in your profession, in society. Make a comfortable +living;--with a wide margin of meaning to that word 'comfortable'--belong +to the church, become a pillar, or at least move in the pillar's circle, +give of course, even freely in appearance, but remember these are the dust +in the scale, the other is the thing that weighs. All of one's energies +must be centered on the main thing."</p> + +<p>May I ask you to listen very quietly, while I repeat the Master's own +words over very softly and clearly, so that they may get into the inner +cockles of our hearts anew? "All power hath been given unto Me; therefore +go ye, and <i>make disciples of all nations</i>." These other translations are +wrong. They are misleading. <i>The one main thing is influencing men for +Jesus</i>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch02-6"> +<h3>The Perspective of True Service.</h3> + + +<p>It is not the only thing by any means. There is a multitude of things +perfectly proper and that must be done and well done. But through all +their doing is to run this one strong purpose. These other things are +details, important details, indispensably important, yet details. The +other is the one main thing toward which the doing of all the others is to +bend and blend.</p> + +<p>Please mark keenly that there are three lives here; three in one. The +secret life of prayer, the open life of purity, the active life of service +Not one, nor the other, not any two, but all three, this is the true +ideal. This is the true rounded life. And note sharply that this gives the +true perspective of service. The service life grows up out of the other +two. Its roots lie down in prayer and purity. This explains why so much +service is fruitless. It isn't rooted. There is no rich subsoil.</p> + +<p>It seems to be a part of the hurt of sin that men do not keep the +proportion of things balanced, and never have. In former days men shut +themselves up behind great walls that they might be pleasing to God. They +shut out the noise that they might have quiet to pray. They thought to +shut out the sin that they might be pure, forgetting that they carried it +in with them.</p> + +<p>In our day things have swung clean over to the other extreme. Now all is +activity. The emphasis of the time is upon doing. There is a lot of +running around, and rushing around. There is a great deal of activity that +seems inseparable from dust. The wheels make such a lot of noise as they +go around. <i>Doing</i> that does not root down in the secret touch with +Jesus, may be quite vigorous for a time, but soon leaves behind as its +only memory withered up branches. This is a <i>practical</i> age, we are +constantly told. Things must be judged by the standard of usefulness. That +is surely true, and good, but there is very serious danger that the true +perspective of service be lost in the dust that is being raised.</p> + +<p>The imprint of this disproportion or lack of proportion can even be found +in the theological teaching of long ago and now. At one time religion was +defined as having to do with a man's relation to God. That was emphasized +to the utter hiding away of all else. In our own day the swing is clear +over to the other side. Definitions of religion that make everything of +helping one's brother and fellow, are the popular thing. There seems to be +a sort of astigmatism that keeps us from seeing things straight. Though +always there have been those that saw straight and lived truly.</p> + +<p>Mark keenly that true touch with God always brings the longing to be pure, +and the loving of one's fellow. The nearer one gets to God the nearer will +he find himself getting to men. Often we find ourselves getting new +wonderful glimpses of God as we are eagerly helping somebody. Up seems to +include out, as though the line that drew us up to God led through men. +Yet with that always goes the other fact that touch with God makes one +long to be alone with Him.</p> + +<p>There are always the three turnings of a true life, upward, inward, +outward. Upward to God, inward to self, outward to the world. The more one +knows God the keener is the longing to get off with Himself alone, the +deeper is the yearning to be pure, and the stronger is the passion to help +others regardless of any sacrifice involved.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch02-7"> +<h3>A Long Time Coming.</h3> + + +<p>There is an old story that caught fire in my heart the first time it came +to me, and burns anew at each memory of it. It told of a time in the +southern part of our country when the sanitary regulations were not so +good as of late. A city was being scourged by a disease that seemed quite +beyond control. The city's carts were ever rolling over the cobble-stones, +helping carry away those whom the plague had slain.</p> + +<p>Into one very poor home, a laboring man's home, the plague had come. And +the father and children had been carried out until on the day of this +story there remained but two, the mother and her baby boy of perhaps five +years. The boy crept up into his mother's lap, put his arms about her +neck, and with his baby eyes so close, said, "Mother, father's dead, and +brothers and sister are dead;--if <i>you</i> die, what'll I do?"</p> + + +<p>The poor mother had thought of it, of course, What could she say? Quieting +her voice as much as possible, she said, "If I die, Jesus will come for +you." That was quite satisfactory to the boy. He had been taught about +Jesus, and felt quite safe with Him, and so went about his play on the +floor. And the boy's question proved only too prophetic. And quick work +was done by the dread disease. And soon she was being laid away by strange +hands.</p> + +<p>It is not difficult to understand that in the sore distress of the time +the boy was forgotten. When night came, he crept into bed, but could not +sleep. Late in the night he got up, found his way out along the street, +down the road, in to where he had seen the men put her. And throwing +himself down on the freshly shoveled earth, sobbed and sobbed until nature +kindly stole consciousness away for a time.</p> + +<p>Very early the next morning a gentleman coming down the road from some +errand of mercy, looked over the fence, and saw the little fellow lying +there. Quickly suspecting some sad story, he called him, "My boy, what are +you doing there?--My boy, wake up, what are you doing there all alone?" +The boy waked up, rubbed his baby eyes, and said, "Father's dead, and +brothers and sister's dead, and now--<i>mother's</i>--dead--too. And she said, +if she did die, Jesus would come for me. And He hasn't come. And I'm so +tired waiting." And the man swallowed something in his throat, and in a +voice not very clear, said, "Well, my boy, I've come for you." And the +little fellow waking up, with his baby eyes so big, said "I think you've +been a long time coming."</p> + +<p>Whenever I read these last words of Jesus or think of them, there comes up +a vision that floods out every other thing. It is of Jesus Himself +standing on that hilltop. His face is all scarred and marred, thorn-torn +and thong-cut. But it is beautiful, passing all beauty of earth, with its +wondrous beauty light. Those great eyes are looking out so yearningly, +<i>out</i> as though they were seeing men, the ones nearest and those farthest. +His arm is outstretched with the hand pointing out. And you cannot miss +the rough jagged hole in the palm. And He is saying, <i>"Go ye."</i> The +attitude, the scars, the eyes looking, the hand pointing, the voice +speaking, all are saying so intently, <i>"Go ye."</i></p> + +<p>And as I follow the line of those eyes, and the hand, there comes up an +answering vision. A great sea of faces that no man ever yet has numbered, +with answering eyes and outstretching hands. From hoary old China, from +our blood-brothers in India, from Africa where sin's tar stick seems to +have blackened blackest, from Romanized South America, and the islands, +aye from the slums, and frontiers, and mountains in the homeland, and from +those near by, from over the alley next to your house maybe, they seem to +come. And they are rubbing their eyes, and speaking. With lives so +pitifully barren, with lips mutely eloquent, with the soreness of their +hunger, they are saying, "You're a long time coming."</p> + +<p>Shall we go? Shall we <i>not</i> go? But how shall we best go? By keeping in +such close touch with Jesus that the warm throbbing of His heart is ever +against our own. Then will come a new purity into our lives as we go out +irresistibly attracted by the attraction of Jesus toward our fellows. And +then too shall go out of ourselves and out of our lives and service, a new +supernatural power touching men. It is Jesus within reaching men through +us.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch03"> +<h2>Yokefellows: The Rhythm of Service.</h2> + + + +<ul> + <li><a href="#ch03-1">The Master's Invitation.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch03-2">Surrender a Law of Life,</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch03-3">Free Surrender.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch03-4">"Him."</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch03-5">Yoked Service.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch03-6">In Step With Jesus.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch03-7">The Scar-marks of Surrender.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch03-8">Full Power Through Rhythm.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch03-9">He Is Our Peace.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch03-10">The Master's Touch.</a></li> +</ul> + + + + +<h2>Yokefellows: The Rhythm of Service.</h2> + +<h3>(Matthew xi. 25-30; Luke x:1, 17, 21-24.)</h3> + + +<div class="sec" id="ch03-1"> +<h3>The Master's Invitation.</h3> + + +<p>It was about six months before the tragic end that Jesus sent out +thirty-five deputations of two each. He was beginning that slow memorable +journey south that ended finally at the cross. These men are sent ahead to +prepare the way. By and by they return and make a glad exultant report of +the good results attending their work. Even the demons had acknowledged +the power of Jesus' name on their lips.</p> + +<p>As He was listening Jesus looked up, and said, "Father, I thank Thee." And +then, as though He could see those great crowds to whom they had been +ministering in His name, He said, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are +heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of +Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your +souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."</p> + +<p>There are two invitations here, "come" and "take." There are two sorts of +people. Those who are tugging and straining at work, and carrying heavy +burdens, and then those who have received rest, and are now asked to go a +step farther. There are two kinds of rest, a given rest, and a found rest. +The given rest cannot be found. It comes as a sheer out gift, from Jesus' +own hand. The found rest cannot be given, may I say? It comes stealing its +gentle way in as one fits into Jesus' plan for his life.</p> + +<p>Many folks have accepted the first of these invitations. They have "come" +to Jesus, and received sweet rest from His hand. But they have gone no +farther. At the close of that first invitation there is a punctuation +period, a full stop. Some of the old schoolbooks used to say that one +should stop at a period and count four. Well, a great many people have +followed that old rule here, and more than followed. They have stopped at +that period, and never gotten past it. I want just now to ask you to come +with me as we talk together a bit about this second invitation, "Take My +yoke."</p> + +<p>Jesus used several different words in tying people up to Himself. There is +a growth in them, as He draws us nearer and nearer. First always is the +invitation "Come unto Me." That means salvation, life. Then He says, +"Follow Me," "Come after Me." That means discipleship. "Learn of Me" +means training in discipleship. "Yoke up with Me" means closest +fellowship. "Abide in Me" leads one out into abundant life. "As the Father +hath sent Me, even so send I you," means living Jesus' life over again. +And then the last "Go ye" is the outer reach of all, service for a world.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch03-2"> +<h3>Surrender a Law of Life.</h3> + + +<p>Just now we want to talk together over this little three-worded sentence +from Jesus' lips, "Take My yoke." What does it mean? Well, that word yoke +is used in all literature outside of this book, as well as here, to mean +this: surrender by one and mastery by another one. Where two nations have +fought and the weaker has been forced to yield, it is quite commonly +spoken of as wearing the yoke of the stronger nation. The Romans required +their prisoners of war to pass under a yoke, sometimes a common cattle +yoke, sometimes an improvised yoke, to indicate their utter subjugation. +These Hebrews to whom Jesus is speaking are writhing with sore shoulders +under the galling yoke of the Romans. One can imagine an emphasis placed +on the "My." As though Jesus would say, "You have one yoke now; change +yokes. Take <i>My</i> yoke."</p> + +<p>There is too a higher, finer meaning to this surrender when by mutual +arrangement and free consent there is a yielding of one to another for a +purpose. And so what Jesus means here is simply this--<i>surrender</i>. Bend +your head down, bend down your neck, even though it's a bit stiff going +your own way, and fit it into this yoke of mine. Surrender to Me as your +Master.</p> + +<p>And somebody says, "I don't like that. 'Surrender!' that sounds like +force. I thought salvation was <i>free</i>." Will you please remember that the +principle of surrender is a law of all life. It is the law of military +life, inside the army. Every man there has surrendered to the officers +above him. In some armies that surrender has amounted to absolute control +of a man's person and property by the head of the army. It is the law of +naval service. The moment a man steps on board a man-of-war to serve he +surrenders the control of his life and movements absolutely to the officer +in command.</p> + +<p>It is the law in public, political life. A man entering the President's +cabinet, as a secretary of some department, surrenders any divergent views +he may have to those of his chief. With the largest freedom of thought +that must always be where there are strong men, yet there must of +necessity be the one dominant will if the administration is to be a +powerful one. It is the law of commercial life. The man entering the +employ of a bank, a manufacturing concern, a corporation of any sort, in +whatever capacity, enters to do the will of somebody else. Always there +must be the one dominant will if there is to be power and success.</p> + +<p>And then may I hush my voice and speak of the more sacred things very +softly and remind you of this. Surrender is the law of the highest form of +life known to us men. I mean wedded life. Where the surrender is not by +one to the other, but by each to the other. Two wills, always two wills +where there is strong life, yet in effect but one. Two persons but only +one purpose.</p> + +<p>And so you see, Jesus, the Master, the greatest of earth's teachers and +philosophers, is striking the keynote of life when here He asks us to +surrender freely and wholly to Himself as the autocrat of our lives. He +asks us to bend our strong wills to His, to yield our lives, our plans, +our ambitions, our friendships, our gold, absolutely to His control.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch03-3"> +<h3>Free Surrender.</h3> + + +<p>And if you still do not like the sound of that word surrender. It has a +harsh sound that grates upon your nerves. Will you please notice the first +word of that little sentence--"Take." Jesus does not say in sharp, hard +tones, "Come here; bend down; I'll <i>put</i> this yoke on you." Never that. If +you will, of your own glad accord, freely, winsomely <i>take</i> the yoke upon +you--that is what He asks. In military usage surrender is <i>forced</i>. Here +it must be <i>free</i>. Nothing else would be acceptable to Jesus.</p> + +<p>When our commissioners went a few years ago to Paris to treat with the +Spaniards, the latter are said to have desired certain changes in the +language of the protocol. With the polished suavity for which they are +noted the Spaniards urged that there be made slight changes in the +<i>words</i>: no real change in the meaning, they said, simply in the verbiage. +And our Judge Day at the head of the American Commissioners, listened +politely and patiently until the plea was presented. And then he quietly +said, "The article will be signed <i>as it reads</i>." And the Spaniards +protested, with much courtesy. The change asked for was trivial, merely in +the language, not in the force of the words. And our men listened +patiently and courteously. Then Mr. Day is said to have locked his little +square jaw and replied very quietly, "The article will be signed as it +reads." And the article was so signed. That is military usage. The +surrender was forced. The strength of the American fleets, the prestige of +great victory were back of the quiet man's demand.</p> + +<p>But that is not the law here. Jesus asks for only what we give freely and +spontaneously. He does not want anything except what is given with a +free, glad heart. This is to be a <i>voluntary</i> surrender. Jesus is a +voluntary Saviour. He wants only voluntary followers. He would have us be +as Himself. The oneness of spirit leads the way into the intimacy of +closest friendship. And that is His thought for us.</p> + +<p>Do you remember those fine lines, "The quality of mercy is not +<i>strained</i>"--if the thing be forced through a strainer, there is no mercy +there--"it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place +beneath." Only what the warm current of His love draws out does Jesus +desire from us. It is to be a <i>free</i> surrender.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch03-4"> +<h3>"Him."</h3> + + +<p>And if you still knit your mental brows, and shrug your shoulder. The +thing hasn't yet shaken off the harshness you have been clothing it with. +Please notice the second word of that sentence--"My." "Take <i>My</i> Yoke." +May I say gently but frankly that I would not surrender the control of my +life to any of you who are listening so kindly. And I surely would not ask +that I should be the autocrat of any of your lives. But--when--<i>Jesus</i> +comes along. The Man with the marvelous face all torn and scarred, but +with that great, soft, shining light. I do not know just how all of you +feel. I can guess how some of you feel. But I know one man who cannot +respond too quickly and eagerly. The only thing to do is to make the will +as strong as it can be made, and then to use all of its strength in +surrendering eagerly to this matchless Man Jesus. Doubtless many of you +know fully that same eagerness, and maybe more.</p> + +<p>I remember a simple story that twined its clinging tendril lingers about +my heart. It was of a woman whose long years had ripened her hair, and +sapped her strength. She was a true saint in her long life of devotion to +God. She knew the Bible by heart, and would repeat long passages from +memory. But as the years came the strength went, and with it the memory +gradually went too, to her grief. She seemed to have lost almost wholly +the power to recall at will what had been stored away.</p> + +<p>But one precious bit still stayed. She would sit by the big sunny window +of the sitting room in her home, repeating over that one bit, as though +chewing a delicious titbit, "I know whom I have believed and am persuaded +that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that +day." By and by part of that seemed to slip its hold, and she would +quietly be repeating, "that which I have committed to Him."</p> + +<p>The last few weeks as the ripened old saint hovered about the border land +between this and the spirit world her feebleness increased. Her loved +ones would notice her lips moving. And thinking she might be needing some +creature comfort they would go over and bend down to listen for her +request. And time and again they found the old saint repeating over to +herself one word, over and over again, the same one word, +"Him--<i>Him</i>--Him." She had list the whole Bible but one word. But she had +the whole Bible in that one word. Did she not? This is a surrender to +<i>Him</i>, the Man of the Book. The Man of all life.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch03-5"> +<h3>Yoked Service.</h3> + + +<p>They tell me that on a farm the yoke means service. Cattle are yoked to +serve, and to serve better, and to serve more easily. This is a surrender +for service, not for idleness. In military usage surrender often means +being kept in enforced idleness and under close guard. But this is not +like that. It is all up on a much higher plane. Jesus has every man's +life planned. It always awes me to recall that simple tremendous fact. +With loving strong thoughtfulness He has thought into each of our lives, +and planned it out, in whole, and in detail. He comes to a man and +says, "<i>I know</i> you. I have been <i>thinking</i> about you." Then very +softly--"I--<i>love</i>--you. I <i>need</i> you, for a plan of Mine. <i>Please</i> let +Me have the control of your life and all your power, for My plan." It is a +surrender for service.</p> + +<p>It is <i>yoked</i> service. There are two bows or loops to a yoke. A yoke in +action has both sides occupied, and as surely as I bow down My head and +slip it into the bow on one side--I know there is <i>Somebody else</i> on the +other side. It is yoked living now, yoked fellowship, yoked service. It is +not working <i>for</i> God now. It is working <i>with</i> Him. Jesus never sends +anybody ahead alone. He treads down the pathway through every thicket, +pushes aside the thorn-bushes, and clears the way, and then says with that +taking way of His, "Come along with Me. Let's go together, you and I."</p> + +<p>A man got up in a meeting to speak. It was down in Rhode Island, out a bit +from Providence. He was a farmer, an old man. He had become a Christian +late in life, and this evening was telling about his start. He had been a +rough, bad man. He said that when he became a Christian even the cat knew +that some change had taken place. That caught my ear. It had a genuine +ring. It seemed prophetic of the better day coming for all the lower +animal creation. So I listened.</p> + +<p>He said that the next morning after the change of purpose he was going +down to the village a little distance from his farm. He swung along the +road, happy in heart, singing softly to himself, and thinking about the +Saviour. All at once he could feel the fumes coming out of a saloon ahead. +He couldn't see the place yet, but his keen trained nose felt it. The +odors came out strong, and gripped him.</p> + +<p>He said he was frightened, and wondered how he would get by. He had never +gone by before, he said; always gone in; but he couldn't go in now. But +what to do, that was the rub. Then he smiled, and said, "I remembered, and +I said, 'Jesus, you'll have to come along and help me get by, I never can +by myself.'" And then in his simple, illiterate way he said, "<i>and He +come</i>--and <i>we</i> went by, and we've been going by ever since."</p> + +<p>Ah, the old Rhode Island farmer had found the whole simple philosophy of +the true life. Our Yokefellow is always there alongside. Every temptation +that comes to us He has felt the sharp edge of, and can overcome. Every +problem, every difficulty, every opportunity He knows, and is right there, +swinging in rhythmic step alongside. It's yoked living and yoked service.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch03-6"> +<h3>In Step with Jesus.</h3> + + +<p>Then please mark keenly that this surrender is for <i>surrendered</i> service. +No free-lancing here. No guerrilla warfare, no bushwhacking. There seems +to be quite a lot of that, in this army. Some earnest folks are very busy +"helping God out," regardless of the general movement of the whole army. +And a great help they are too--they <i>think</i>. It would be difficult to see +how God would ever get along without them--they <i>seem</i> to think. Poor +folks, they have gotten so covered with the dust made by their own feet +that they've completely lost track of things. There is a Lord to this +harvest. There is a great Commander-in-chief to this campaign. He has the +whole campaign for a <i>world</i> carefully planned out. And each man's part in +it is planned too. He knows best what needs to be done. He sees keenly the +strategic points, and the emergencies. If only He could but depend on our +ears being trained to know His voice, and our wills trained to simple, +full obedience, how much difference it would make to Him. Simple, full +strong obedience seems to take the keenest intelligence, the strongest +will, and the most thorough discipline.</p> + +<blockquote class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="line"> "Just to ask Him what to do,</div> +<div class="line"> All the day.</div> +<div class="line"> And to make you quick and true</div> +<div class="line"> To obey."<sup><a href="#fn3">3</a></sup></div> +</div></blockquote> + +<p>This surrender is for glad, obedient surrendered service.</p> + +<p>And note too that it is for <i>training</i> in service. They tell me that +where cattle are yoked for work it is usual to put a young restive beast +with an old, steady-going animal. The old worker sets the pace, and pulls +evenly, steadily ahead, and by and by the young undisciplined beast +gradually comes to learn the pace. That seems to fit in here with graphic +realness. So many of us seem to be full of an undisciplined unseasoned +strength. There are apt to be some hard drives ahead, and then pulling +back with a sudden jerk, and side lunges this way and that. There is +splendid strength, and eager willingness, but not much is accomplished for +lack of the steady, steady going regardless of rocks or ruts.</p> + +<p>Jesus says, "Yoke up with Me. Let's pull together, you and I." And if we +will pull steadily along, content to be by His side, and to be hearing His +quiet voice, and <i>always to keep His pace</i>, step by step with Him, without +regard to seeing results, all will be well, and by and by the best results +and the largest will be found to have come. And remember that as on the +farm, so here, the yoke is always carefully adjusted so that the young +learner may have the easier pulling.</p> + +<p>But it is well to put in this bit of a caution. If a man put his head into +the yoke, and then <i>pull back</i>--well, there'll be a man with a badly +chafed, sore neck in that neighborhood, and oil will be in demand. The +one safe rule is swinging straight ahead, steady, steady, without even +stopping to decide if the plow has cut properly, or if it is worth while.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch03-7"> +<h3>The Scar-marks of Surrender.</h3> + + +<p>Then Jesus adds this: "Learn of Me." I used to wonder just what that +means. But I think I know a part of its meaning now. You remember the +Hebrews had a scheme of qualified slavery.<sup><a href="#fn4">4</a></sup> A man might sell his service +for six years but at the end of that time he was scot-free. On the New +Year's morning of the seventh year he was given his full liberty, and +given some grain and oil to begin life with anew.</p> + +<p>But if on that morning he found himself reluctant to leave, all his ties +binding him to his master's home, this was the custom among them. He would +say to his master, "I don't want to leave you. This is home to me. I love +you and the mistress. I love the place. All my ties and affections are +here. I want to stay with you always." His master would say, "Do you mean +this?" "Yes," the man would reply, "I want to belong to you forever."</p> + +<p>Then his master would call in the leading men of the village or +neighborhood to witness the occurrence. And he would take his servant out +to the door of the home, and standing him up against the door-jamb would +pierce the lobe of his ear through with an awl. I suppose like a +shoemaker's awl. Then the man became not his slave, but his bond-slave, +forever. It was a personal surrender of himself to his master; it was +voluntary; it was for love's sake; it was for service; it was after a +trial; it was for life.</p> + +<p>Now that was what Jesus did. If you will turn to that Fortieth Psalm,<sup><a href="#fn5">5</a></sup> +from which we read, you will find words that are plainly prophetic of +Jesus, and afterwards quoted as referring to Him. "Mine ears hast Thou +opened, or digged or pierced for me." And in the fiftieth chapter of +Isaiah,<sup><a href="#fn6">6</a></sup> revised version, are these words likewise prophetic of Jesus. +"The Lord God hath <i>opened</i> mine ear, and <i>I was not rebellious, neither +turned away backward.</i> I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to +them that plucked off the hair; I hid not my face from shame and +spitting."</p> + +<p>And the truth is this. May the Spirit of God burn it deep into our hearts. +<i>Jesus was a surrendered Man.</i> Stop a bit and think into what that means. +Jesus is the giant Man of the human race, thought of just now as a man, +though He was so much more, too. In His wisdom as a teacher, His calm +poised judgment, the purity of His life, the tremendous power of His +personality in swaying man, He clear overtops the whole race of men. Now +that Master Man, that giant of the race, was a surrendered Man. For +instance run through John's Gospel, and pick out the negatives on His +lips, the "nots." Not His own will, nor His own words, nor His own +teaching, nor His own works.<sup><a href="#fn7">7</a></sup> Jesus came to earth to do Somebody's else +will. With all His giant powers He was utterly absorbed in doing what some +One else wished done. And now this giant Man, this surrendered Man, says, +"You do as I have done. Learn of Me: I am wholly given up to doing My +Father's will. You be wholly surrendered to Me, and so together we will +carry out the Father's will."</p> + +<p>Some one of a practical turn says, "That sounds very nice, but is it not a +bit fanciful? The lobe of Jesus' ear was not pierced through, was it?" No. +You are right. The scar-mark of Jesus' surrender was not in His ear, as +with the old Hebrew slave. You are quite right. It was in His cheek, and +brow, on His back, in His side and hands and feet. The scar-marks of His +surrender were--are--all over His face and form. Everybody who surrenders +bears some scar of it because of sin, his own or somebody's else. +Referring to the suffering endured in service Paul tenderly reckons it as +a mark of Jesus' ownership--"I bear the scars, the <i>stigmata</i>, of the Lord +Jesus." Even of the Master Himself is this so.</p> + +<p>And that scarred Jesus whose body told and tells of His surrender to His +Father comes to us. And with those hands eagerly outstretched, and eyes +beaming with the earnestness of His great passion for men, He says, "Yoke +up with Me, please. Let Me have the control of all your splendid powers, +in carrying out our Father's will for a world."</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch03-8"> +<h3>Full Power through Rhythm.</h3> + + +<p>Then Jesus, with a sweep, gathers up all the results in a single sentence, +"Ye shall find rest unto your souls." Some one may be thinking, "I do not +feel the need of rest or peace so much. I am hungry for power." Will you +please notice that Jesus is going to the very root of the thing here. +There must be peace before there can be power. <i>You</i> shall find peace. +<i>Others</i> shall find power. You will be conscious of the sweet sense of +peace within. Others will be conscious of the fragrant power breathing out +of your life, and service, and your very person.</p> + +<p>These things, peace and power, are the same. They are different movements +of the same river of God. The presence of God in fine harmony with you, +that it is that brings the sweet peace. And that too it is that brings the +gracious power into the life. The inward flow of the river is peace. The +outward flow of the same stream is power. There cannot be power save as +there is peace. There is nothing that hinders and holds back power as does +friction. That is true in mechanics: a bit of friction grit between the +wheels will check the full working of the machinery. A small nut fallen +down out of place will completely stop the machine and bring all of its +power to a standstill.</p> + +<p>This is <i>heart</i> rest. The heart is the center, the citadel of the life. +When the heart rests all is at rest. If the citadel can be captured the +outworks are included. It is a <i>found</i> rest. It comes quietly stealing its +soft way in as you go about your regular round of life. Just where you +are, in the thick of the old circumstances and conditions, there comes +breathing gently into your very being the great fragrant peace of God. You +find it coming in. There is all the zest of finding.</p> + +<p>It is rest <i>in service</i>. To many folks those two words "yoke" and "rest" +have seemed to jar, as though they did not get along well together. But +they do. The jarring is not in them but in our misunderstanding of them. A +yoke, we have thought, means work. Rest means quitting work; no more need +of work. But that is a bit of the hurt of sin that gets so many things +wrong end to.</p> + +<blockquote class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="line"> "Rest is not quitting</div> +<div class="line"> The busy career;</div> +<div class="line"> Rest is the fitting</div> +<div class="line"> Of self to its sphere."<sup><a href="#fn8">8</a></sup></div> +</div></blockquote> + +<p>True rest is in the unhurried rhythm of action. Have you thought of when +your heart rests? It does not stop, of course, while life lasts. But it +rests. It rests between beats. A beat and a rest. A throb of power and a +moment of perfect rest. A mighty motion that sends the warm red life +through all the intricate machinery of the body; then quiet composed rest. +The secret of the immeasurable power of this organ we call the heart lies +just here. There is enough power in a normal human heart to batter down +Bunker Hill Monument if it could be centered upon it. The secret of that +power is in the rhythm of action that combines motion with rest. We call +rhythm of color, beauty. Rhythm of sound is music. Rhythm of action is +power.</p> + +<p>I have often stood as a boy on the streets of old Philadelphia, and +watched a gang of foreign laborers at work. As a rule they could speak +only the language of their own fatherland. There would be a gang-boss to +direct their movements. Perhaps it was a huge stone to be moved, or a +piece of structural iron, or a heavy rail to be torn up. The ends of their +crowbars were fitted under the thing to be moved. Then they waited a +moment for the gang-boss to give the word. He would say, "heave ho!"</p> + +<p>Then all together they would sing "heave ho," and push. And a "heave ho," +and push; a "heave ho," and a push. They made perfect music. There was +always a small crowd gathered, watching and enjoying the simple music. +Their work was easier because done rhythmically. This, of course, is the +simple philosophy that provides music for soldiers on march. The men can +walk much longer, and farther, with less fatigue if they go to the sound +of music.</p> + +<p>The story is told of the contracts for some bridge-building in the Soudan +being carried off by American bidders. Their competitors in the bidding +specified a year's time or so, for the work. The Americans agreed to do it +in three months. They were awarded the contract, and to the others' +surprise had the work completed within the specified time.</p> + +<p>One of the contractors who had bid for the job on the basis of a year's +time said afterwards to the successful contractor, "I wish, if you +wouldn't mind doing so, you would tell me how you ever got that work done +in so short a time with those undisciplined Soudanese natives for +workmen. I have had them on other contracts and I know I couldn't have +done it. How did you ever do it?"</p> + +<p>And the American, whose blood was British a generation or two back, and +farther back yet Teutonic, smiled as he quietly said, "We had a band of +native musicians playing the liveliest music they knew within earshot of +every gang of laborers, while our gang-bosses kept them steadily at work."</p> + +<p>Rhythm is the secret of power. Full rhythm is possible only where there is +full obedience to nature. The man in full sweet harmony with God in all of +his life knows the stilling ecstasy of peace, and the marvelous outgoings +of real power. You shall find within your heart the great stilling calm of +God, as steadying as the rock of ages, as exhilarating as the subtle +fragrance of flowers, and as restful as a mother's bosom to her babe.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch03-9"> +<h3>He is Our Peace.</h3> + + +<p>But there is something here finer yet by far than this. Everything God +provides for us is personal. There is always the personal touch and +presence. Do you remember that during the earlier days of the recent war +with Spain this occurrence frequently took place? In the Caribbean waters +a Spanish merchantman would be overtaken by an American warship. A few +shots were sent over the bows of the merchantman with a demand for +surrender. And then the Spanish flag was seen to drop from the +merchantman's masthead in token of surrender.</p> + +<p>Then this was the method of procedure. A prize crew, consisting of an +officer with a few ensigns, was lowered from the American boat, pulled +across, and taken aboard the captured boat. The moment the prize crew +stepped aboard they were masters of the boat in their government's name. +Their presence signified the surrender of the foreigner, and the forced +peace now between the two boats.</p> + +<p>On a much higher plane this is what takes place with us. There has been +flying at my masthead a flag with a big I upon it. As quickly as I drop it +in token of my surrender to Somebody else, a prize crew is sent aboard to +take possession, and assume control. Who is the prize crew? The Holy +Spirit, whom Jesus the Master sends to represent Himself. He steps aboard +at once.</p> + +<p>He paces the deck as the ship's Master. His presence is peace. "He is our +peace." "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, <i>peace</i>." And while He +occupies the captain's quarters, with full cheery obedience on board, +there is ever the fine aroma of peace everywhere, and the fullness of +power.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch03-10"> +<h3>The Master's Touch.</h3> + + +<p>One morning a number of years ago in London a group of people had gathered +in a small auction shop for an advertised sale of fine old antiques and +curios. The auctioneer brought out an old blackened, dirty-looking violin. +He said, "Ladies and gentlemen, here is a remarkable old instrument I have +the great privilege of offering to you. It is a genuine Cremona, made by +the famous Antonius Stradivarius himself. It is very rare, and worth its +weight in gold. What am I bid?" The people present looked at it +critically. And some doubted the accuracy of the auctioneer's statements. +They saw that it did not have the Stradivarius name cut in. And he +explained that some of the earliest ones made did not have the name. And +that some that had the name cut in were not genuine. But he could assure +them that this was genuine. Still the buyers doubted and criticised, as +buyers have always done. Five guineas in gold were bid, but no more. The +auctioneer perspired and pleaded. "It was ridiculous to think of selling +such a rare violin for such a small sum," he said. But the bidding seemed +hopelessly stuck there.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile a man had entered the shop from the street. He was very tall and +very slender, with very black hair, middle-aged, wearing a velvet coat. He +walked up to the counter with a peculiar side-wise step, and without +noticing anybody in the shop picked up the violin, and was at once +absorbed in it. He dusted it tenderly with his handkerchief, changed the +tension of the strings, and held it up to his ear lingeringly as though +hearing something. Then putting the end of it up in position he reached +for the bow, while the murmur ran through the little audience, "Paganini."</p> + +<p>The bow seemed hardly to have touched the strings when such a soft +exquisite note came out filling the shop, and holding the people +spellbound. And as he played the listeners laughed for very delight, and +then wept for the fullness of their emotion. The men's hats were off, and +they all stood in rapt reverence, as though in a place of worship. He +played upon their emotions as he played upon the old soil-begrimed violin.</p> + +<p>By and by he stopped. And as they were released from the spell of the +music the people began clamoring for the violin. "Fifty guineas," "sixty," +"seventy," "eighty," they bid in hot haste. And at last it was knocked +down to the famous player himself for one hundred guineas in gold, and +that evening he held a vast audience of thousands breathless under the +spell of the music he drew from the old, dirty, blackened, despised +violin.</p> + +<p>It was despised till the master-player took possession. Its worth was not +known. The master's touch revealed the rare value, and brought out the +hidden harmonies. He gave the doubted little instrument its true place of +high honor before the multitude. May I say softly, some of us have been +despising the worth of the man within. We have been bidding five guineas +when the real value is immeasurably above that <i>because of the Maker</i>. Do +not let us be underbidding God's workmanship.</p> + +<p>The violin needed dusting, and readjustment of its strings before the +music came. Shall we not each of us yield this rarest instrument, his own +personality, to the Master's hand? There will be some changes needed, no +doubt, as the Master-player takes hold. And then will go singing out of +our persons and our lives, the rarest music of God, that shall enthrall +and bring all within earshot to the Master-musician.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch04"> +<h2>A Passion for Winning Men: The Motive-power of Service.</h2> + + + +<ul> + <li><a href="#ch04-1">A Day off.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch04-2">Moved with Compassion.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch04-3">Counting on Us.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch04-4">The Secret of Winsomeness.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch04-5">"As the Stars."</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch04-6">The Finest Wisdom.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch04-7">Three Essentials.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch04-8">A Blessed Library Corner.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch04-9">"Two Missing"--"Go Ye."</a></li> +</ul> + + + + +<h2>A Passion for Winning Men: The Motive-power of Service.</h2> + +<h3>(Mark vi:30-34.)</h3> + + +<div class="sec" id="ch04-1"> +<h3>A Day off.</h3> + + +<p>One morning toward the end, in the midst of His busiest campaigning, Jesus +was very tired. It is one of the touches of His humanness. So He said to +His disciples, "Let us take a day <i>off</i>." And they could see the sense of +it. They were tired too. So they got a boat, and boarded her, and set +sail, and headed out across the lake. And meanwhile a crowd of people had +come down to the beach to be talked to, and healed, and helped in various +ways.</p> + +<p>And you can just see the look of disappointment in their faces as they +say, "Why, He's going away." And for a few moments they stand there +utterly dejected. Then somebody--for a long while I have thought it was a +woman--somebody with eyes keenly watching the direction of the boat, said, +"I believe He's going so and so"--naming a place across the lake--"let's +run around the head of the lake, and meet Him when He gets out."</p> + +<p>And the crowd was taken with that. And they ran--literally <i>ran</i>--around +the head of the lake. And as they went they spread the word, "The Master's +going so and so. Come along with us." And the people came eagerly out of +the villages and cross-roads. And the crowd thickened and the longer way +around in distance proved the shorter way there in time. For by and by +when Peter ran the nose of the boat into the sand on the other side, and +the Master got out for <i>a day off</i>, there were five thousand men, maybe +ten thousand people waiting to receive Him.</p> + +<p>Do you think that Peter scrooged down his eyebrows, and in a jerky voice +said, "They might have given Him <i>one</i> day to Himself. Can't they see He's +tired?" Do you think that likely John chimed in, with that fire in his +voice which the after years mellowed and sweetened but never lost,--"Yes, +how inconsiderate a crowd is!" <i>Do</i> you think so? <i>I</i> do. Because they +were so much like us. But <i>He</i>--the most tired of them all--"<i>was moved +with compassion</i>," and spent the whole day in teaching, and talking +personally, and healing. And then when they had gone He went off to the +mountain for the quiet time at night He could not get in the daytime.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch04-2"> +<h3>Moved with Compassion.</h3> + + +<p>There is a great word used of Jesus, and by Him, nine times<sup><a href="#fn9">9</a></sup> in these +brief records, the word <i>compassion</i>. The sight of a leprous man, or of a +demon-distressed man, <i>moved</i> Him. The great multitudes huddling together +after Him, so pathetically, like leaderless sheep, eager, hungry, tired, +always stirred Him to the depths. The lone woman, bleeding her heart out +through her eyes, as she followed the body of her boy out--He couldn't +stand that at all.</p> + +<p>And when He was so moved, He always did something. He clean forgot His own +bodily needs so absorbed did He become in the folks around Him. The +healing touch was quickly given, the demonized man released from his sore +bonds, the disciples organized for a wider movement to help, the bread +multiplied so the crowds could find something comforting between their +hunger-cleaned teeth.</p> + +<p>The sight of suffering always stirred Him. The presence of a crowd seemed +always to touch and arouse Him peculiarly. He never learned that sort of +city culture that can look unmoved upon suffering or upon a leaderless, +helpless crowd. That word compassion, used of Him, is both deep and +tender in its meaning. The word, actually used under our English means to +have the bowels or heart, the seat of emotion, greatly stirred.</p> + +<p>The kindred word, sympathy, means to have the heart yearning, literally to +be suffering the same distress, to be so moved by somebody's pain or +suffering that you are suffering within yourself the same pain too. Our +plain English word, fellow-feeling, is the same in its force. Seeing the +suffering of some one else so moves you that the same suffering is going +on inside you as you see in them. This is the great word used so often of +Jesus, and by Him.</p> + +<p>There never lived a man who had such a passion for men as Jesus. He lived +to win them out of their distressed, sinful, needy lives up to a new +level. He <i>died</i> to win them. His last act was dying to win men. His last +word was, "Go ye and win men." And His first act when He got back home, +all scarred and marred by His contact with earth, was to send down the +same Spirit as swayed Him those human years to live in us that we might +have the same passion for winning men as He. Aye, and the same exquisite +tact in doing it as He had.</p> + +<p>I said the last act was dying to win men. And you remember that even in +the act of dying, He forgot the keen pain of body, and the far keener pain +of spirit, to turn His head as far as He could turn it, and speak the +word to the fellow by His side that meant the difference of <i>a world</i> to +him. Surely it was the ruling passion with Him to win men, strong in +death, aye, strongest in death, and finding its strongest expression in +His death.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch04-3"> +<h3>Counting on Us.</h3> + + +<p>Somebody has supposed the scene that he thinks may have taken place after +Jesus went back. The last the earth sees of Him is the cloud--not a rain +cloud, a <i>glory</i> cloud--that sweeps down and conceals Him from view. And +the earth has not seen Him since. Though the old Book does say that some +day He's coming back in just the same way as He went away, and some of us +are strongly inclined to think it will be as the Book says in that regard.</p> + +<p>But--have you ever tried to think of what took place on the other side of +that cloud? He has been gone down there on the earth thirty-odd years. +It's a long time. And they're fairly hungry in their eyes for a look again +at that blessed old face. And I have imagined them crowding down to where +they may get the first glimpse of His face again. And, do you know, lately +I have been wondering, with the softening of awe creeping into the +thought, whether--the Father--did not come the very first of them all +and--touch His lips up to where--the <i>scars</i> were in Jesus' brow and +cheeks--yes, His hands--and His feet, too. Tell me, you fathers here +listening, would you not have done something like that with <i>your</i> boy, +under such circumstances?</p> + +<p>You mothers, wouldn't you have been doing something like that with your +boy? And all the fatherhood of earth is named after the fatherhood of +heaven, we're told. And with God fatherhood means motherhood too, you +know. I do not <i>know</i> if it were so. But I think it's likely. It would be +just like God.</p> + +<p>But this friend I speak of has supposed that, after the first flush of +feeling has spent itself--the way <i>we</i> speak of such things done here, the +Master is walking down the golden street one day, arm in arm with Gabriel, +talking intently, earnestly. Gabriel is saying,</p> + +<p>"Master, you died for the whole world down there, did you not?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"You must have suffered much," with an earnest look into that great face +with its unremovable marks.</p> + +<p>"Yes," again comes the answer in a wondrous voice, very quiet, but +strangely full of deepest feeling.</p> + +<p>"And do they all know about it?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! Only a few in Palestine know about it so far."</p> + +<p>"Well, Master, what's your plan? What have you done about telling the +world that you died for, that you <i>have</i> died for them? What's your plan?"</p> + +<p>"Well," the Master is supposed to answer, "I asked Peter, and James and +John, and little Scotch Andrew, and some more of them down there just to +make it the business of their lives to tell others, and the others are to +tell others, and the others others, and yet others, and still others, +until the last man in the farthest circle has heard the story and has felt +the thrilling and the thralling power of it."</p> + +<p>And Gabriel knows us folk down here pretty well. He has had more than one +contact with the earth. He knows the kind of stuff in us. And he is +supposed to answer, with a sort of hesitating reluctance, as though he +could see difficulties in the working of the plan, "Yes--but--suppose +Peter fails. Suppose after a while John simply <i>does not</i> tell others. +Suppose their descendants, their successors away off in the first edge of +the twentieth century, get <i>so busy about things</i>--some of them proper +enough, some may be not quite so proper--that <i>they do not</i> tell +others--<i>what then?</i>"</p> + +<p>And his eyes are big with the intenseness of his thought, for he is +thinking of--the <i>suffering,</i> and he is thinking too of the difference to +the man who hasn't been told--"what then?"</p> + +<p>And back comes that quiet wondrous voice of Jesus, "Gabriel, <i>I haven't +made any other plans--I'm counting on them</i>."</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch04-4"> +<h3>The Secret of Winsomeness.</h3> + + +<p>That's a bit of this friend's imagination, it's true. But--it's the whole +Gospel story, through and through. Jesus has made that plan. He has not +made any other plan. He's counting on us, each of us, each in his own +circle, in his own way, as comes best, most natural to him tactfully, +quietly, earnestly--simply that, but all of that. And--if--we +fail--Him--let me be saying it very softly so the seriousness of it may +get into the inner cockles of our hearts--if we <i>fail Him</i>, just that far +we make <i>Jesus' dying a failure</i> so far as concerns those whom we touch.</p> + +<p>Yes, I know that sounds very serious. I'd rather not be saying it. I'm +<i>sure</i>, by the Book, it is so. And so, do you see the genius--may I use +that word very reverently of Him who was a man and far more than man--the +genius of His plan? He sent down the same Spirit that swayed Him those +human years to live in us, and control us, that we might have the same +fine passion for men as He, and the same exquisite tact in winning them as +He had.</p> + +<p>It must be a <i>passion</i>; a fire burning with the steady flame of anthracite +fed by a constant stream of oil. If it be less we will be swept off our +feet by the tides all around, or sucked under by their swift current. And +many a splendid man to-day is being swept off his feet and sucked under by +the tides and currents of life because no such passion as this is mooring +and steadying and driving his whole life.</p> + +<p>It must be a passion for <i>winning</i> men; not driving nor dragging, +<i>drawing</i>. Not argument nor coercion but warm, winsome wooing. Today the +sun up yonder is drawing up toward itself thousands of tons' weight of +water. Nobody sees it going, except perhaps in very small part. There's no +noise or dust. But the water rises up irresistibly toward the sun because +of the winning power in the sun for the water. It must be something like +that in this higher sphere. A winsomeness in us that will win men to us +and through us to the Master.</p> + +<p>"Oh! well," some one says, "if you put the thing that way you'll have to +count me out. I'm not winsome that way." Well, maybe you need not have +bothered to say it. We could easily know that without your saying it. We +are not winsome this way, any of us, of ourselves. But when we allow this +Jesus Spirit to take possession of us He imparts His winsomeness. For the +real secret of a transfigured life is a <i>transmitted</i> life. Somebody else +living in us, with a capital S for that Somebody, looking out of our +eyes, giving His beauty to our faces, and His winningness to our +personality.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch04-5"> +<h3>"As the Stars."</h3> + + +<p>The language used in the Scriptures for this sort of thing is full of +intense interest. Some time ago I was reading in the old prophecy of +Daniel. I was not thinking of this matter of winning men but simply trying +to get a fresh grasp of that wonderfully fascinating old bit of prophecy. +And all at once I came across that gem in the last chapter. I knew it was +there. You know it is there. Yet it came to me with all the freshness of a +new delightful surprise. "They that are wise shall shine with the +brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as +the stars forever and ever."<sup><a href="#fn10">10</a></sup></p> + +<p>Four times in those last two chapters of Daniel it refers to those that +are "wise"; literally, those that are <i>teachers</i>. Those who have +themselves learned the truth and are patiently, faithfully, winsomely +telling and teaching others. The word used for influencing the others is +full of practical picturesque meaning. "They that <i>turn</i> many." As if a +man were going the wrong way on a dangerous road. And <i>I know</i> it's the +wrong way. There's a sharp precipice ahead. But he is going steadily on, +head down, all absorbed, not noticing where the road leads.</p> + +<p>I might go up to him, and strike him sharply on the shoulder to get his +attention, and say, "See here, you're going the wrong way; can't you see +the danger ahead there? Come this way," with a vigorous pull. I have +sometimes seen that done, in just that way. And if the man is an American, +or an Englishman, or a German,--we're all very much alike,--he will say +coldly, "Excuse me. I think I can take care of myself. Thank you. I'll +look out for this individual."</p> + +<p>Or, I might slip gently up to the man, and get my arm in his, and begin to +turn, very gently at first, and turn, and turn, and then turn some more, +and then farther around still, and walk him off the other way. You will +have to get <i>close</i> to a man to do that. Some folks never do. And you'll +have to be at least half-way decent in your life to get close. Some folks +never can. And you will need to be warm enough all the time inside, to +melt through the icy cloak of indifference beneath which his heart may be +wrapped up. But I can tell you this: the old world where you and I live is +fairly hungry at its heart, with an eating hunger for turners of that +sort.</p> + +<p>And the promise of that old prophetic bit is this: "They shall <i>shine</i>." +You know everybody wants to shine. It is right to be ambitious, with a +right ambition. But if any of you are ambitious to shine in some other sky +than this, in your profession, in social life or in some firmament lower +than this, may I gently make this suggestion to you? Do your best shining +<i>now</i>. Get on the brightest shining surface possible now. For this is your +shining time. This is the sky-time for that sort of thing. It won't last +long, I must tell you frankly. And at the end a bitter biting at your +heart.</p> + +<p>I am fond of watching a display of fireworks on a Fourth of July night. +Perhaps the night is clear, the sky full of stars, bright and sparkling. A +sky rocket is sent off. It goes up with a rush and a noise. There is a +dash of many colored beautiful fire-stars. And a murmur of admiration from +the crowd. For a few moments you can see nothing as you look up but this +handful of fire-stars. The clear quiet stars beyond are eclipsed for a +narrow circle of space, and for a few moments of time.</p> + +<p>It doesn't last long. A small fraction of a minute at the most. Then it's +all over. And all that is left is a charred stick that sticks in the mud, +nobody knows where, nor cares. But look up yonder, the stars you could not +see a moment ago for these momentary ones are shining more brightly than +ever by contrast,</p> + +<blockquote class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="line"> "... And singing as they shine.</div> +<div class="line"> The hand that made us is divine."</div> +</div></blockquote> + +<p>You shine in the lower skies if you will. And of course you will if you +will. You will do as you will to do. But, at the end--a charred stick, a +bad taste in your mouth, a sharp tugging at your heart. And the story's +told. The last chapter's ended. The book is shut. But they whose one +absorbing ambition it is to turn others to righteousness may not shine +much here in earth's skies. And they may a bit, and it recks precious +little either way. But they <i>shall</i> shine as the stars, as bright and as +long.</p> + +<p>It does not mean Atlantic coast stars. It means desert stars, Babylonian +stars, where one can see so many more than here. They shake their wondrous +fire-light down into your face, and fairly dazzle your eyes. You "shall +shine as the stars," as bright and as long.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch04-6"> +<h3>The Finest Wisdom.</h3> + + +<p>James, the head of the Jerusalem Church, closes up his letter to the +dispersed Jews with this same word as Daniel uses. He would have all to +whom he is writing understand that he that <i>turns</i> another from the wrong +way will save a soul from death and hide away out of sight and reach a +mass of sin.<sup><a href="#fn11">11</a></sup> The old world needs more saving societies and saving +individuals of this sort.</p> + +<p>We have gotten great skill in saving dollars. Men give their whole +strength and time to that. There is something much higher, infinitely +higher, saving souls, rescuing lives, treasuring up precious men and +women. These people, James says, are famous for their use of the fine +cloak of charity. They make the best use of it in hiding away beyond any +chance of being found a great mass of ugly, crooked, poisonous sins.</p> + +<p>The man with the reputation of being the wisest man gives a special +definition of wisdom. The old version runs, "he that winneth souls is +wise."<sup><a href="#fn12">12</a></sup> This is a great statement from Solomon's pen. He had searched +into all the avenues of men's pursuits. He was a great experimenter. +Everything was put to a personal test. He amassed wealth beyond all +others. He delved into the fascinations of intellectual delights, of deep +intricate philosophies and problems.</p> + +<p>He knew the subtle appeal to strong men that there is in deftly handling +and controlling men, personally and in large numbers. He had tasted the +rich wines of pleasure as had few. This is his conclusion: the wise man is +he that gives his strength with all of its fine-grained cunning to wooing +men back, through the old Eden gate, up to the tree of life.</p> + +<p>This is the finest fruitage any life can yield. This will be to the bearer +of it a tree of life giving twelve crops of fruits, a crop of every month, +a perennial, alike in heat and frost, in storm and drought, and with a +peculiar healing quality in its green leaves for all men.</p> + +<p>The revised version gives a fine turn to this old bit, exactly reversing +the first statement. "He that is wise winneth souls." The old philosopher +says that here is the real test of wisdom. He that is a wise man gives the +cream of his thought and wisdom to personal influence with men. He thinks +the thing best worth while is drawing a man through the inner reach upon +his thinking and affections and will away from the impure and ignoble and +deceptive up into touch with his first Friend.</p> + +<p>And he finds too that nothing he has ever undertaken calls for a finer +play of all his powers at their best. All the diplomacy and fineness and +tact and keen management at his command will be called upon. He must be a +wise man to do such work. It is no fool's errand this. It demands the best +in the best.</p> + +<p>There is no body of men more keen or skilled in the handling and +influencing of men, than the politicians. And I use the word in its fine +meaning, as well as in its cheaper meanings. As democracy has won its way +increasingly among the governments of earth these politicians have +increased in number and in influence. Great measures of government have +depended on their skill in manipulating men. Rarest subtlety and +adroitness and rugged honesty have blended in the strongest of these +leaders.</p> + +<p>The fishing simile so commonly used in the winning of men over to one's +side is a peculiarly attractive, a matchless simile. And all of this +handling of men has often been for personal ends, often for wholly selfish +ends, often for strong national ends. Almost never has it been for the +benefit of the man being won, save at times very remotely.</p> + +<p>But Jesus would have us become skilled diplomats in winning men for their +own sakes. Getting them to climb the hills for the sake of the air and +view they will get, and enjoy. We are to win strong men full of life and +vigor and manly force up into touch with their Friend, Himself.</p> + +<p>There is too a most attractive winsome phrase on the Master's lips at the +close of that fishing story in Luke's fifth chapter,<sup><a href="#fn13">13</a></sup> "From henceforth +thou shall <i>catch</i> men" is the reading. But the revised margin gives this +added bit of color: "Thou shalt take men alive." They should get, not dead +fish, but living men. Men full of vigor and life--thou shalt have power +to sway these and induce them up to the highlands of a new life.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch04-7"> +<h3>Three Essentials.</h3> + + +<p>There are three simple essentials here for the man who would be following +his Master fully. The first is that a man shall surrender himself wholly +to Jesus as a Master. That so Jesus may have the full control of all. +Maybe some one thinks, "There is that strong word surrender again. Cannot +I help a man be better without going so far as that word seems to imply?"</p> + +<p>Will you kindly notice that the Spirit of Jesus <i>fills</i> the surrendered +man? And it is only as that Spirit does fill and sway that there can be +any such passion for men as Jesus had, and, too, the fine tact that He +always used. This is the first simple indispensable essential.</p> + +<p>The second is this: a bit of quiet time alone with Jesus daily over His +Word. The door should be shut. Outside things shut outside. And one's self +shut in alone with the Master. This is not a good thing--merely. I am not +recommending it to you. I am saying very much more. It is an <i>essential</i> +thing with every one who would follow the Master simply and fully. It is +time spent in coaling up, taking out the dead ashes, and readjusting the +drafts, so the fires will be kept burning steadily and clearly. This is +the second great essential.</p> + +<p>The third essential is this: a purpose, deep-seated, rock-rooted, +underlying every other purpose, taking precedence of every other, of +trying to win others, one by one, bit by bit, over to knowing Jesus +personally. I say "trying." I like that word. There may be some blunders, +some bad steps, some untactful work. But these will not turn one aside +from this purpose but simply make him more determined to become skilled in +this finest art.</p> + +<p>I mean something like this. Here is a young woman moving in a social +circle, just as bright and winsome as God meant every young woman to be. +And as she moves about, she is thinking--no, it is thinking itself out, +underneath in her subtle sub-consciousness,--"How can I drop the word +here, and touch there, and leave the light impress here, that shall count +with these lives for my Master?"</p> + +<p>Here is a man transacting business with another. And even while he is +dealing with figures, and contract terms, he is thinking,--no, again,--it +is so deeply rooted in that the thought, like the fine trendils of a +plant, is ever weaving itself intangibly but surely into the web of his +passing mental operations, "How can I tactfully leave the impress here, +perhaps speak the direct word, that shall be a doorway for Jesus into +this life?"</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch04-8"> +<h3>A Blessed Library Corner.</h3> + + +<p>I think I might tell you best just what I mean by a bit from a real life. +The bit that has been such a real inspiration to myself. It is about a +friend of mine, a business man, with large responsible interests, keen and +shrewd in his business dealings, a very earnest Christian man, with a +delightful, winning personality, and I am grateful to say who was a warm +friend of mine. He is in the presence of his Master now. He was a man much +my senior in years, who helped me very greatly. Whenever we chanced to +meet in our travels I would drop my affairs as far as I could to spend all +the time possible with him, both for the delight of his presence, and for +the practical help he always was. The last time we were ever together was +in Columbus, Ohio. We met there to attend an anniversary meeting of the +Young Men's Christian Association, in Dr. Gladden's Church, on the Capitol +Square. And Monday morning before taking our trains away in different +directions we went for a drive, to get the air, and talk a bit. I made the +suggestion of driving, for I knew I would get something from him. And I +was right. I did get something that I never forgot, and never shall.</p> + +<p>As we were driving, and talking, by and by, in a little lull of the talk, +he said very quietly, "Gordon, do you know what I have been doing lately?" +And I said, "No." "Well," he said, "it's been the delight of my life," and +I could see the gleam of light in his eyes. And I said, "Tell me what it +is that has been such a pleasure to you." And he said, "Well, I will." +Then he went on in a very taking way he had to tell this simple story. And +he was speaking as to a friend, for he was very modest, and would not have +spoken of the thing; except to <i>help</i>; that would always bring anything he +had.</p> + +<p>He said when he was at home--he travelled much--he would think about the +young men whom he knew who were not Christians. Splendid men, some of +them; full of power; clubmen, some of them. But who did not know Jesus +personally. And he would think, "Now there's such a man. I wonder what's +his easy side of approach." And he would think about him, and pray some +about him. And then make an opportunity to ask him up to his home for +dinner some evening. His position in the city would make any young man +feel honored with such an invitation.</p> + +<p>He said to me, "We have a pleasant time at the dinner table with the +family, and afterwards, a bit of music and so on. Then," with a quiet +smile he said, "I ask him into my library corner, my little study den, +and by and by we come to close quarters. I tell him what I'm thinking +about. I tell him what a Friend Jesus is. And how it helps to have Him in +all of one's life as a Friend and Master. Then I ask him softly if he +won't let Jesus be his Friend."</p> + +<p>He said, "I try to be as tactful as though I were selling a contract of +cars. Though there's a fine reverence here that never gets into business +talk. And then if it seems good, without causing him any embarrassment, we +have a bit of prayer together. Not always, but often." And he said to me, +with a tender eagerness in his voice, "Gordon, it's been the <i>delight</i> of +my life to have man after man accept Jesus in my library corner."</p> + +<p>And I looked at him. We were driving along the busiest block of the +busiest street in Columbus. The Capitol building on this side. And the old +Neil Hotel on this. And all around us were the electrics, and wagons and +carriages; so much noise and dust. And there that man sat by my side so +quiet, with his eyes dancing as they looked off at something I could not +see. And if ever Moses' face shined or Stephen's, his did that morning.</p> + +<p>I was caught as I looked. That was the <i>delight</i> of his life. Not his +money, nor his business, nor his social relations, though he took keen +interest in all of these, but this. And the sound of his voice, and the +sight of his face that morning, seemed to kindle the fires in my heart +that I might, in my own way, as came best to me, be doing something of +that same sort. That is what I mean by a deep-seated purpose, under every +other, to try to win men.</p> + +<p>I was telling this story one night to some people in his state, not +thinking that I was within maybe two hundred miles of his home. And as the +audience was dismissed I saw a man coming up the aisle toward the pulpit, +apparently to meet me. So I went down his way. He looked like a business +fellow, with a clean-cut way about him, and a strong manly face. Before we +met I noticed something glistening in his eye, and yet a smile across his +lips.</p> + +<p>And he <i>gripped</i> my hand. I can feel that grip now. And he half-blurted +out, "<i>I'm</i> one of those fellows! And there are a lot of us that are +thanking God with full hearts for that man's library room." And the grip +of that hand seemed to make the fires within burn just a bit stiffer.</p> + +<p>In an after conversation this friend told me how he had wanted to be a +Christian, but didn't seem to know just how. And nobody had ever spoken to +him about it, he said, though so often he had wished somebody would. There +are a great many just like him in that.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch04-9"> +<h3>"Two Missing"--"Go Ye."</h3> + + +<p>Same years ago I was a guest at a small wedding dinner party in New York +City. A Scotch-Irish gentleman, well known in that city, an old friend, +spoke across the table to me. He said he had heard recently a story of the +Scottish hills that he wanted to tell. And we all listened as he told this +simple tale. I have heard it since from other lips, variously told. But +good gold shines better by the friction of use. And I want to tell it to +you as my old friend from the Scotch end of Ireland told it that evening.</p> + +<p>It was of a shepherd in the Scottish hills who had brought his sheep back +to the fold for the night, and as he was arranging matters for the night +he was surprised to find that two of the sheep were missing. He looked +again. Yes, two were missing. And he knew which two. These shepherds are +keen to know their sheep. He was much surprised, and went to the out-house +of his dwelling to call his collie.</p> + +<p>There she lay after the day's work suckling her own little ones. He called +her. She looked up at him. He said, "Two are missing"--holding up two +fingers--"Away by, Collie, and get them." Without moving she looked up +into his face, as though she would say, "You wouldn't send me out again +to-night?--it's been a long day--I'm so tired--not again to-night." So her +eyes seemed to say. And again as many a time doubtless, "Away by, and get +the sheep," he said. And out she went.</p> + +<p>About midnight a scratching at the door aroused him. He found one of the +sheep back. He cared for it. A bit of warm food, and the like. Then out +again to the out-house. There the dog lay with her little ones. Again +he called her. She looked up. "Get the other sheep," he said. I do not +know if you men listening are as fond of a good collie as I am. Their +eyes seem human to me, almost, sometimes. And hers seemed so as she +looked up and seemed to be saying out of their great depths--"Not +<i>again</i>--to-night?--haven't I been faithful?--I'm so tired--not again!"</p> + +<p>And again as I suppose many a time before, "Away by, and get the sheep." +And out she went. About two or three, again the scratching. And he found +the last sheep back; badly torn; been down some ravine or gully. And the +dog was plainly played. And yet she seemed to give a bit of a wag to her +tired tail as though she would say, "There it is--I've done as you bade +me--it's back."</p> + +<p>And he cared for its needs, and then before lying down again to his own +rest, thought he would go and praise the dog for her faithful work. You +know how sensitive collies are to praise or criticism. He went out and +stooped over with a pat and a kindly word, and was startled to find that +the life-tether had slipped its hold. She lay there lifeless, with her +little ones tugging at her body.</p> + +<p>That was only a dog. We are men. Shall I apologize for using a <i>dog</i> for +an illustration? No. I will not. One of God's creatures, having a part in +His redemption. That was to save sheep. You and I are sent, not to save +sheep, but to save <i>men</i>. And how much then is a <i>man</i> better than a +sheep, or anything else!</p> + +<p>And our Master stands here to-day. Would that you and I might see His face +with the thorn marks of His trip to this earth. He points out with His +hand. And you can't miss a peculiar hole in its palm. He says, "There are +<i>two missing</i>--aye, more than two--that you know--that you touch--that you +can touch--that I died for--go <i>ye</i>."</p> + +<p>Shall we go? For Jesus' sake? Yes, for men's sake; splendid men, befooled +about Jesus, who can get Him only through us in touch with Him--for men's +sake, in Jesus' great Name.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch05"> +<h2>Deep-Sea Fishing: The Ambition of Service.</h2> + + + +<ul> + <li><a href="#ch05-1">A Water Haul.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch05-2">Living up in the Spirit Realm.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch05-3">Saved to Serve.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch05-4">Ambition in Service.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch05-5">Use What You Have.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch05-6">Expectancy in Service.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch05-7">Jesus Went into the Deeps.</a></li> +</ul> + + + + +<h2>Deep-Sea Fishing: The Ambition of Service.</h2> + +<h3>(Luke v:1-11.)</h3> + + +<div class="sec" id="ch05-1"> +<h3>A Water Haul.</h3> + + +<p>Jesus was very fond of the outdoors. The Gospels have a woodsy smell. He +taught in the synagogues, but He seemed to prefer the open air. He would +go out on a country road, or down by the beach of the Galilean lake, and +the people would eagerly gather around Him, and He would talk to them. One +morning He had gone down to the lake shore. The people crowded in about +Him and He commenced as usual to talk to them.</p> + +<p>But so eager were they not to miss a word that they pressed in about Him +very close. He was standing with His back to the water likely, and the +people seemed likely to crowd Him over into the water. So He looked around +for something to do. He was ever practical to the point of being +matter-of-fact. A practical idealist was Jesus, <i>the</i> practical Idealist. +Peter was down there, just a short distance off, with his partners and +crew in their fishing boats, cleaning up after the night's haul. Lifting +His voice a little, Jesus called out, "Peter, will you pull around here, +please."</p> + +<p>And Peter did. And Jesus, stepping into the boat, sat down, and went on +talking to the people. Interruptions never seemed to disturb Him. He +seemed to regard them in the light of possible index fingers pointing out +the next thing to be done. Every missionary, foreign and home, has to get +practised in just that, while holding steady to his underlying purpose.</p> + +<p>When He had finished talking, He turned to Peter and said quietly, "Launch +out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught." And Peter smiled +at the very idea, as he said, "Master, we've been out the whole night, and +haven't caught a thing, nothing but a water haul, but"--with a thoughtful +earnestness taking the place of the critical smile--"if you say so, of +course we will." And the Master said so. And now they can't handle the +haul.</p> + +<p>I want to bring to you anew this old word of command from Jesus' lips: +"Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught." These +men in the story had failed. They had gone out the evening before +intending and expecting to bring home a fine haul of fish for the +Capernaum or the Bethsaida market. They came back with nothing for the +night's work but tired muscles and torn nets. This message is for men who +have failed, or who have seemed to fail. There is no failure to an earnest +man. A man cannot fail without his own consent. Every seeming failure is +the seed of a coming success to earnest men.</p> + +<p>If any of us have seemed to fail, our boots have lead in them, and our +hearts are heavy too, for lack of success--this message is for us, "Launch +out, and let down." Failure is very apt to breed discouragement. Your +clothing seems damp and heavy with the dew of a fruitless night. +Oftentimes the best thing for that is action. Mix yourself with the action +of boats and nets and men. That's the Master's word here.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch05-2"> +<h3>Living up in the Spirit Realm.</h3> + + +<p>There are three facts that group about the message of Jesus in this story. +And those same three facts need to group themselves in bold outline about +our using of it, too. The first is this: there was <i>contact with Jesus as +a Master</i>. That must come in, and come in strong, before there can be any +right using of this word of command.</p> + +<p>There needs to be the first contact when a man turns over the control of +his life to Jesus as Master. There needs to be close contact that the +Master's plan of service may be clearly seen and faithfully started upon. +There must be continual contact that so His mastery may control and guide +at every step.</p> + +<p>The second fact is this: obedience to the Master's word. Obedience, mind +you, whether the thing you are told to do seems a likely thing to do or +not. Here with the fishermen there were some things that pulled the other +way. They had been out all night and failed. The very sense of failure +strong within them was against obedience. Discouraged men seldom succeed +at anything. And there was a very unlikely chance ahead. The time for +fishing with them was in the night. Failure behind, and a poor chance +ahead! Yet they obeyed.</p> + +<p>If Peter had acted the way some modern folks do he would have said +something like this: "You'll excuse me, Master, for saying it; but--this +is no time to fish in these waters. Pardon me, sir, I have no doubt you +know about carpentering. But <i>I'm a fisherman</i>. When it comes to yokes and +plows I'll gladly yield to you. But fishing--you see, I've been fishing +ever since I was a boy. Maybe up around Nazareth, in the brooks and ponds +up there, you can catch something in daylight, but not down here."</p> + +<p>I have heard many people talking that way. But Peter didn't. Aren't you +glad he didn't? He stumbled often. He talked foolishly to Jesus more than +once, but not this time. He obeyed. It was against his habit, against his +ideas of what was best, but the message was clear and he obeyed it. Happy +is the man who listens to the inner Voice, learns keenly how to hear +distinctly and accurately, and obeys. Faith is never contrary to reason, +but it is frequently <i>higher up</i>. The spirit realm is the highest.</p> + +<p>A man should reach up <i>through</i> his bodily life, <i>through</i> a keen, strong +intellectual perception and grasp, up into the spirit realm and abide +there. Many a man of splendid ability and earnestness never shakes off his +intellectual scaffolding in the upward building. It remains to hamper and +mar. Through a mastered body, and a disciplined mind, up to the spirit +level is the full swing. Obedience to the clearly discerned voice of +command from the Master is the one pathway of full power.</p> + +<p>The third fact was sure to follow these two. It came last. There were +unexpectedly large results. There always will be where the first two facts +are faithfully gotten in.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch05-3"> +<h3>Saved to Serve.</h3> + + +<p>There is a growth in this message of Jesus. There are four steps up and +out. First comes the plain call to <i>service: "Launch out</i>." This is the +ringing service call. It is a familiar word to a follower of Jesus. He was +always saying, "Go ye." To every man He said first of all, "Come." Then, +as quickly as a man came, the word was changed to "go."</p> + +<p>I like greatly the motto of the Salvation Army. It must have been born for +those workers in the warm heart of the mother of the Army, Catharine +Booth. That mother explains much of the marvelous power of that +organization. Their motto is, "<i>Saved to Serve</i>." Some seem to put the +period in after the first word. That's bad punctuation and worse +Christianity. We are saved to be savers. There is needed the divine Savior +and the human saver. Only he who has been saved can help save somebody +else. The tingle of experience in the blood attracts men.</p> + +<p>The Master says, "Launch out." Get down into the thick of the fight. One +should not unwisely wear out his strength. But on the other hand, it's +better to wear out than to rust out. You'll last longer, and any loss of +strength is to be preferred to the loss through yellow, eating rust. A +minister noted for his striking way of putting truth was preaching upon +the words that were spoken of Paul and his companions: "These that have +turned the world upside down are come hither also."<sup><a href="#fn14">14</a></sup> He said there were +three points to his sermon: first, the world was wrong side up; second, it +had to be gotten right side up; third, <i>we're the fellows to do it</i>. That +is the first note of this message, <i>we</i> are the fellows to do it.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch05-4"> +<h3>Ambition in Service.</h3> + + +<p>The second step in this ringing call to service is this: <i>ambition</i> in +service. "Launch out <i>into the deep</i>." The shore waters are largely +over-fished. Out in the deeps are fish that have never had smell or sight +of bait or net. Here, near shore, the lines get badly tangled sometimes, +and committees have to be appointed to try to untangle the lines and +sweeten up the fishermen.</p> + +<p>And the fish get very particular about the sort and shape of the bait. +Some men have taken to fishing wholly with pickles, but with very +unsatisfactory results. The fish nibble, but are seldom landed apparently. +And just a little bit out are fish that never have gotten a suggestion of +a good bite.</p> + +<p>There are deeps all around. One might fairly give an inward personal turn +to the word. There are <i>personal deeps</i> that have not yet been sounded. +There are untouched deeps in prayer, in Bible study, and in the winning of +others. There are deeps in acquaintance with Jesus, in purity of life, in +sacrifice and in giving whose bottom no greasy lead has yet touched. "Out +into the deep," comes that quiet intense inner voice of Jesus spoken into +one's innermost heart.</p> + +<p>There are the great <i>deeps in service</i> waiting our coming. Roundabout +every church is a fringe of deep, sometimes a deep fringe and broad, of +those practically untouched by the warm message of Jesus; and around every +Christian Association of men and of women. In the heart and on the edges +of every village and town and city unfathomed deeps lie; deeps in a man's +own state, deeps in our land, great untouched deeps in the world.</p> + +<p>Wherever there is a man who has not felt the warm side of the story of +Jesus' dying there is a deep. Wherever a group of such can be found is a +deep increased in depth by the number in the group. Wherever the great +crowds are gathered together to whom no word at all has come, neither by +personal touch nor printed page nor any other wise, there is the deepest +deep. With a deep glow in His eyes as He speaks the word, and the +tenderness and softness of deep emotion, and the earnestness of one who +has Himself been in the deep Jesus says anew to us to-day, "out into the +<i>deep</i>."</p> + +<p>We are to be ambitious in service. Jesus was ambitious. He reached out for +all, those nearest, those farthest. He talked of all nations, of a world. +His follower must have a long reach to keep up. That word ambition has +been much abused. It has been used much in connection with selfish +self-seeking, until that meaning has become almost its whole meaning in +the thinking of many people. But with the purpose dominant in Jesus we can +properly use it in its old literal meaning. Originally it simply meant +going around, being used in the sense of going out among people soliciting +their favor or their votes.</p> + +<p>It has the fine vitality of that word "go" in it. That for which a man is +ambitious decides the quality of the word. A pure, holy purpose makes the +intense reaching for it pure and holy too. An intense reaching out to the +farthest reach of the Master's word, that finds expression in the dominant +spirit of the life, in the service, in the giving, the sacrificing, the +praying--this is the true ambition.</p> + +<p>Paul uses three times a word that has the force of our word ambition.<sup><a href="#fn15">15</a></sup> +The American Revision uses ambition in the margin for it. In advising the +group of followers in Thessalonica he says, "<i>Study</i> to be quiet." The +practical force of the phrase there is this: be ambitious to be +unambitious in the world's abused meaning of ambitious. In writing the +second time to the friends at Corinth where his motives had been much +criticised he said, "I make it my aim (or ambition) to be well-pleasing +unto Him."</p> + +<p>And later, in writing to the Christians at Rome, whom he had never seen, +he said that he had made it his aim or had been ambitious to preach the +Gospel where nobody had yet gone. The literal meaning of the word he uses +is something like this, striving from a love of honor. And we may find a +fine meaning in that which was doubtless used otherwise.</p> + +<p>It was a matter of honor with Paul to do as he was doing. And he would +have the honor of having fully carried out his Master's wish. He coveted +earnestly the honor of being always pleasing to his Master both in life +and in the sort and reach of his service. Here are Paul's three ambitions: +to be wholly free of the fires of worldly ambitions; to be well-pleasing +to Jesus, his Lord; to reach out beyond, where nobody had yet gone with +the story of Jesus' dying and living again.</p> + +<p>Paul was obeying Jesus. Jesus said to those fishermen on Galilee's waters, +"Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught." Paul +said, "I have steadily made it the one thing I drove hard at in service, +to get out beyond all other lines and nets to where nobody has yet gone."</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch05-5"> +<h3>Use What You Have.</h3> + + +<p>The third step in this service-call is this: <i>practicality in service</i>: +"Let down your nets." I can imagine Peter saying, "Master, if we had known +your plans for this morning, I would have sent up to Tyre for the newest +patented nets, or down to Cairo. These nets of ours have been patched and +patched. They are so old." The Master says, "Let down <i>your</i> nets."</p> + +<p>There is a very common delusion that holds us back from doing something +because we are not skilled in doing it. "Let the pastor speak to that +young man; I can't do it very well." "I can't teach very well; let some +one else take that class." The Master says, "Use what you have." Do your +best. Your best may not be <i>the</i> best, but if it be your best, it will be +God-blest, and always bring a harvest.</p> + +<p>Use what you have. Do not despise the stuff God put into you. Train and +discipline it the best you can, and use it. And in using it you will be +training it. The best training is in <i>use</i>. Brains and pains and prayer +are an irresistible trinity. When the gray matter and the finger tips and +the knees get into a combination great results always come.</p> + +<p>The old Hebrew farmer Shamgar had only a long ox-goad with which to prod +his beasts in the field. The traditional enemy, the Philistine, comes up +over the hill. Shamgar's neighbors have taken to their heels. But Shamgar +is made of different stuff. He asks a man hurrying by, "How many do you +think there are?" And the man calls out, "About six hundred, I should +say."</p> + +<p>Shamgar sets his jaws together hard, gets a fresh grip on his ox-goad, +digs his heels into the ground for a good hold, and mutters to himself, "I +guess they are about four hundred short." And he smites, left and right, +up and down, hip and thigh, with his strange weapon. And a great victory +comes to the nation under its new leader.</p> + +<p>David had only a leather sling, home-made likely, and a few smooth stones +out of the running brook. He had skill in slinging stones, a keen trained +eye, a steady nerve, a practiced arm, and well-knit muscles. But what were +these against a giant almost twice his height and years, and armed to the +teeth? Yet the ruddy-faced stripling had something better yet along with +his sling and stones and skill. He had a simple trust in God. He had a hot +protest in his heart against the slandering of God's people by this +heathen giant. He <i>combined</i> all he had, sling, stones, skill, and faith, +and the laughing, sneering giant is soon under his feet, and feeling the +edge of his own sword. "Let down your nets." Use what you have.</p> + +<p>There was a woman living down by the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea a +good while ago. Her heart had been touched by God, and ever after beat +warm for others. But what could <i>she</i> do? She couldn't make speeches, nor +write papers for the missionary society, nor preside over its meetings. +She seemed to have one special gift. She could sew. She could do plain +sewing and overcast, cross-stitch and hem-stitch. I suppose she knew the +herring-bone-stitch and feather-stitch, and other sorts too.</p> + +<p>And so she just busied herself finding out poor folks who needed clothing, +some women too hard-worked to care for their children's clothing. And she +sewed for them. She was a seamstress for Jesus' sake to all the needy +folks she could find. I expect she stuck pretty closely to the plain +stitching, though likely as not she would put in some of the fancy too to +please the people she was winning to her Master.</p> + +<p>And she sewed the story of Jesus, and the heart of Jesus, into coats and +skirts and such. All through Joppa her message went into homes not +otherwise open perhaps. And the women read the story of her heart in the +stitches and they found Jesus through her needle. She used what she had. +And the women of the church have rightly honored her name in their +societies.</p> + +<p>But mark keenly this: while using to the full, and faithfully, just what +you have, there must needs be utter dependence upon God. Not what you +have, nor what you can do, but Somebody <i>in</i> what you have, and <i>through</i> +what you do. Notice, "Their nets were <i>breaking</i>." They were to use their +nets, but the power was somewhere else. As we are made up, there +frequently needs to be a breaking before the glory of God is revealed. It +need not be so, necessarily.</p> + +<p>Yet as a matter of fact most people have to stub their toes and then go +stumbling down with a clash, measuring their length on the earth, and +getting some scars that stay before they can be mightily used. So many +strong wills are strong enough to be stubborn, but not strong enough to +yield. Gideon's pitchers had to be broken before the lights flashed out +and brought panic to the enemy.</p> + +<p>It was when the alabaster box was broken that its fine fragrance filled +the house, and spread out into all the world. Somebody prayed, "O Lord, +take me, and break me, and make me." That is the usual order as a matter +of fact. Yet if the strength of stubbornness that must be broken down to +change its direction, were but swung God's way at once--But most folks +that have been greatly used have some of this sort of scars. Utter +dependence upon God's strength in doing God's service is the lesson of the +breaking nets.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch05-6"> +<h3>Expectancy in Service.</h3> + + +<p>The climax of this message of Jesus is in its end: "Let down your nets +<i>for a draught</i>." There is to be <i>expectancy in service</i>. Ideas of +draughts changed that day. "Peter, what would you call a good draught?" +"Well," the old fisherman says, as he sits stitching up the holes in his +nets, "after last night I think if we got a boat half full it wouldn't be +a bad haul." "Andrew, what's a draught?" And Andrew says, "I think after +this water haul we've had, a haul of holes, Peter hits it pretty close."</p> + +<p>"Master, how much is <i>a draught</i>?" And His answer comes back over the +water, "Twice as much as you are able to take care of, and then more." +They filled that boat, sent for another, filled that, and then didn't land +all they had caught.</p> + +<p>How much do you reckon a draught in your life, in your church, in your +mission, your field, <i>how much</i> are you <i>saying</i>?--"Master, what is your +reckoning of a draught here in this man's life, out here in this field of +service?" And from this Galilean story there comes back anew to our hearts +the Master's reply, "Twice as much as you have planned for, and then +more."</p> + +<p>Expectancy is the eye of faith. Faith always has a watch-tower. When +Elijah went to the tiptop of Carmel to pray, he was careful to send his +servant to watch the sea. Prayer is faith looking up. Expectancy is faith +looking out.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch05-7"> +<h3>Jesus Went into the Deeps.</h3> + + +<p>And so to every one of us to-day comes afresh that ringing command, +"Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draught."</p> + +<blockquote class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> + <div class="line">"'Launch out into the deep;'</div> + <div class="line"> The awful depth of a world's despair;</div> + <div class="line">Hearts that are breaking and eyes that weep;</div> + <div class="line"> Sorrow and ruin and death are there.</div> + <div class="line">And the sea is wide;</div> + <div class="line"> And its pitiless tide</div> + <div class="line">Bears on its bosom away.</div> + <div class="line"> Beauty and youth,</div> + <div class="line">In relentless ruth,</div> + <div class="line"> To its dark abyss for aye.</div> + <div class="line">But the Master's voice comes over the sea,</div> + <div class="line"> 'Let down your nets for a draught for Me.'</div> + <div class="line">And He stands in our midst,</div> + <div class="line"> On our wreck-strewn strand.</div> + <div class="line">And sweet and loving is His command.</div> + <div class="line"> His loving word is to each, to all.</div> + <div class="line">And wherever that loving word is heard,</div> + <div class="line"> There hang the nets of the royal Word.</div> + <div class="line">Trust to the nets, and not to your skill;</div> + <div class="line"> Trust to the royal Master's will.</div> + <div class="line">Let down the nets this day, this hour;</div> + <div class="line"> For the word of a king is a word of power,</div> + <div class="line">And the King's own word comes over the sea,</div> + <div class="line"> Let down your nets for a draught for Me.'"</div> +</div></blockquote> + +<p>There is a last word that comes up insisting to be said. It is this: Jesus +went down into the deeps for us. Deeper deeps than we know or ever shall +He sounded with the line of His own life on our behalf. He got badly +scarred that night of darkness. It is this scarred Jesus who earnestly +asks us to come along after Him so far as we can. His voice with a +tenderness of love wrought into it on the cross says to us, "Launch out +into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch06"> +<h2>Money: The Golden Channel of Service.</h2> + + + +<ul> + <li><a href="#ch06-1">Touching a Limitless Circle.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch06-2">Peculiar Effects of Money.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch06-3">Jesus' Law for the Use of Money.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch06-4">Foreign Exchange.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch06-5">Gold-Exchanged Lives.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch06-6">Spirit Alchemy.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch06-7">The Fragrance of the Life in the Gift.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch06-8">Sacrifice Hallows and Increases the Gift.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch06-9">A Living Sacrifice.</a></li> +</ul> + + + + +<h2>Money: The Golden Channel of Service.<sup><a href="#fn16">16</a></sup></h2> + +<h3>(Luke xvi:1-18.)</h3> + + +<div class="sec" id="ch06-1"> +<h3>Touching a Limitless Circle.</h3> + + +<p>There is an inky shadow over the home of God. There is a sharp pain +tugging at the heart of God. It's a family matter; a family disgrace. One +of God's family has gone off from the home circle and made a bad mess of +things. Such an affair is always a source of great grief, especially where +the family is an old one, with fine blood. And here the family is of the +oldest, and the blood the best. The Father feels the sharp edge of the +knife of disgrace very keenly. The hearth fire of God is lonely for the +one gone away.</p> + +<p>All of that Father's great love and rare wisdom have centered and blended +on a plan for winning the estranged member of His family back home, of his +own free glad accord. The other members of His family have gazed with +awe-touched faces upon the marvels of that plan. Its tenderness, its +depth, its wondrous love-wisdom have excited their deepest admiration +while they watch breathlessly to see the outcome.</p> + +<p>That prodigal is our own splendid planet. Some of us down here have gladly +welcomed the Father's plan and the Father's Son. His Son is His plan. But +most of us don't seem to understand the Father. And that is hard on Him. +And the greater number of us, by far the greater number, haven't even +heard of the Father's plan or of His Son, and have lost the memory of His +loving voice calling. He is always calling. And everyone hears that +calling voice. But very many do not recognize it as the Father's.</p> + +<p>In great tenderness the Father's plan for winning all includes the help of +those already won. Through His Son first, and then through His sons, +newborn, reborn, He is reaching out His warm, eager hand to all. He +breathed His own Spirit upon His Son. He breathes that same Spirit upon +each of us who will, that so we may, each of us, touch all the others with +the touch of God.</p> + +<p>Five great touches of God there are, each charged with a mighty current of +power. The fragrant life-touch, the musical voice-touch, the warm +service-touch, the potent golden-touch, the secret, subtle prayer-touch. +The first three of these are limited to a narrow circle, the circle of the +immediate personality. The last two are limitless. They are like our own +spirits. They reach directly, resistlessly, clear out through the personal +circle as far as the spirit reaches, even around the whole circle of the +planet.</p> + +<p>Just now for a little while we want to talk together about one of these, +the potent yellow golden-touch. The word service has been thought of quite +commonly as referring to certain restricted things that one may do for +another. It has a broader meaning too. Whatever we do to help another is +service. Not merely the direct activities, but praying and giving are +service of most potent influence. Money supplies a channel through which +one may reach most intimately to others, near by and around the world. It +is the golden channel of service.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch06-2"> +<h3>Peculiar Effects of Money.</h3> + + +<p>Money is queer stuff. The opposites meet in it so strikingly. It may be +the most cruel, exacting tyrant. It may be the most faithful, intelligent +servant. If it come into a man's life unaccompanied by a high, controlling +motive power, it has most peculiar effects upon him. It often wrinkles up +his face, and ties hard knots in the wrinkled lines. It can dwarf a warm +hand into a cold, hard, muscle-bound fist. It drains the warm blood from +the heart, and dries all the sweet, fragrant dew out of the spirit. The +hand suffers much. It is often stricken with a sort of palsy while in the +pocket, and cannot be withdrawn. Sometimes there is a violent cramp, or a +sort of pen paralysis that prevents the signing of the name--to certain +sorts of checks.</p> + +<p>But if, on the other hand, it come into a man's possession accompanied by +a pure unselfish motive that <i>controls</i>, it comes the nearest to +omnipotence of anything we handle. Gold of itself seems to have the +puckering quality of a green persimmon. The green fruit will contract the +mouth to its smallest proportions. And unmellowed gold acts in the same +way upon the mouth of the pocket.</p> + +<p>This is true of all gold and of all pockets. There are no exceptions. The +only possible way of effecting a change is to let a stronger power come in +and counteract the contracting power. Gold has the greatest contracting +power of any earthly substance. Its only sufficient counteractant is God. +God has the greatest expanding power known to angels or men. Gold +contracts. God expands. If God be the dominating motive power in a man's +life, then does gold come the nearest to omnipotence of any tangible +thing. It takes on the quality of Him who breathes upon it.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch06-3"> +<h3>Jesus' Law for the Use of Money.</h3> + + +<p>Jesus gives us the simple law for the right use of money. It is in that +sixteenth chapter of Luke. He is talking about the dishonest overseer of a +wealthy man's estate. His dishonest practices have been discovered, and he +is required to make a final settlement preliminary to his being +discharged. He has evidently been living extravagantly, for the loss of +position threatens him with beggary. Distressed to know what to do he hits +upon a farther extension of his dishonest practices, and uses the position +he is about to lose to buy up friends for his coming days of want.</p> + +<p>As he tells the story Jesus adds this comment: "for the sons of this world +are for their own generation wiser than the sons of light." Practically +they go on the supposition that the present generation is the only one. +For the short space of years making up their own generation they are wiser +than the sons of light. But for the long space of all coming generations +they are the rankest fools. That is included by contrast in Jesus' words. +The man who in his use of money thinks only or chiefly of the years making +up his own present life is--a fool. The man who takes into his reckoning +not only the present generation, but all coming generations, in disposing +of his money is the shrewd financier.</p> + +<p>Then occurs the sentence<sup><a href="#fn17">17</a></sup> that contains a wonderfully simple statement +for the keen, wise use of gold. The old version runs like this: "Make to +yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness that when ye fail they +may receive you into everlasting habitations." The revised version, both +English and American, reads this way: "Make to yourselves friends by means +of the mammon of unrighteousness that when <i>it</i> shall fail they may +receive you into the eternal tabernacles."</p> + +<p>I have ventured to make a rather free translation that I feel sure is true +to the words here in their connection and that gives in simple English +just what Jesus means. "Make to yourselves friends by means of money, +which the unrighteous world reckons riches, that when it fails they may +receive you," and so on. Money is not riches. The world commonly has been +befooled into thinking that it is. Perhaps we have not all quite escaped +that delusion. And money is not unrighteous. It is neither righteous, nor +unrighteous. It gets its moral quality from the man owning it for the time +being. It is as he is. It takes on the color of its ownership.</p> + +<p>Make to yourselves friends by means of the money that comes into your +control that when it fails they may receive you. That is to say, exchange +your money into the kind of coin that is current in the kingdom of God. +Exchange your gold into <i>lives</i>. That is the sort of coin current in the +homeland. This yellow stuff we call riches they use for paving stones up +in the homeland. Would that we might get it under our feet down here, +instead of being ruled by it.</p> + +<p>The current coin of heaven is lives of men. And that too will be reckoned +the precious metal when the Kingdom of God comes to the earth. Exchange +your money into <i>men</i>; purified, uplifted, redeemed men. Buy letters of +credit that will be good in the homeland, and in the coming Kingdom days +on the earth, if you would be wealthy.</p> + +<p>"That when it fails," Jesus says with fine discernment. Money will fail. +There is an end to the power of gold in itself. Money will be bankrupt +some day. It has enormous buying power now. Some day its buying power will +be all gone. Then it will take the place of cobble-stones. Yet it would +seem to be a failure there unless some new hardening process had been +found for it. Better use it while it has power of purchase. Better not be +caught with much of the yellow stuff sticking to you when the true values +are being settled. It'll all be dead loss then; dead stock, not worth the +space it occupies.</p> + +<p>You remember the very old story of the wealthy man who died. And in a +group of people talking together somebody asked the usual question, "How +much did he <i>leave</i>?" And a wise man in the company replied tersely, +"Every cent; didn't take a copper along." That story is apt to provoke a +smile. But, do you know, it is sadder than it is witty. The man had gained +great wealth. He must have been endowed with some force and talent to do +that. His whole life and strength and talent had been devoted to making +money and hoarding it. That money was the whole output of the man's life. +Then he died and the whole output of his life was left behind. He passed +out of this life stripped to the skin. Into the other world, where wealth +is reckoned otherwise than in gold, he entered a sheer pauper. The +purchasing power of his wealth stopped at the line of departure out of +this world. <i>It failed</i>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch06-4"> +<h3>Foreign Exchange.</h3> + + +<p>Exchange your gold into men. Buy up some of the kind of coin they use in +the homeland, so that you may have some wealth when you get there. Suppose +you should be over on the continent of Europe, shopping in Berlin. You buy +some goods in a store and lay down upon the counter a twenty-dollar gold +piece in payment. The salesman would say, "What sort of money is this?" +and you would likely say, "That is good American gold, sir." And he would +probably reply, "I have no doubt that is true, and that it is good money. +But it is not the sort we receive here. You will have to go to the bankers +and get it changed into German marks and then I'll be pleased to complete +this sale." And so you would be obliged to do if you had not thought to +provide yourself with German money.</p> + +<p>There are some people that will have an experience like that after a +while, I'm thinking. Some one thinks that that is not a very likely +illustration. A man going to Europe would provide himself with proper +money to use. Maybe it is not a very good illustration for <i>Europe</i>. But +how about some other strange lands to which folks go? There seem to be +several people who expect to go to a strange country, and yet do not +provide any of its recognized coinage before going.</p> + +<p>Here is a man who gets through his life down on the earth, and goes out +into the other life. Judging by the whole tenor of his life he will +attempt to take some of his belongings with him. Indeed so much are these +belongings a part of his very life that they seem inseparable from him. +Here he comes up to the gateway of the upper world. He is lugging along a +farm or two, some town lots, and houses, and a lot of beautifully engraved +paper, bank stock and railroad bonds and other bonds. They are absorbing +him completely as he puffs slowly along.</p> + +<p>And as he gets up to the gateway, the gateman will say, "What's all that +stuff?" "<i>Stuff!</i>" he will say, astonished; "this is the most precious +wealth of earth, sir. I have spent my whole life, the cream of my strength +in accumulating this." "Oh, well," the reply will be, "I have no doubt +that is so. I am not disputing your word at all. But that sort of thing +does not pass current up in this land. That has to be exchanged at the +bankers' offices for the sort of coinage we use here."</p> + +<p>The man looks a little relieved at this last remark. The other talk has +sounded strange, and given him a queer misgiving in his heart, as he +listened. But "banker" and "exchange"--that sounds familiar. The ground +feels a bit steadier. He picks up new spirit. "Where are the bankers' +offices, please?" he asks eagerly. "They are all down on the earth," comes +the quiet answer. "You must do your exchanging before you get as far up as +this. That stuff is all dead loss now. You can't take it back to the +bankers' now, and it is of no value here. Just leave it over on that dump +heap there outside the gate, and come in yourself." And the man comes in +with a strangely stripped and bare feeling.</p> + +<p>What we get and keep for the sake of having, we lose, for we leave it +behind. What we give away freely for <i>Jesus'</i> sake, for men's sake, we +will find by and by we have kept, for we have sent it ahead in a changed +form.</p> + +<p>There will be a strange readjustment of values on the other side. Some +men of splendid strength have spent it in accumulating earth's wealth. +They give, even freely it seems to be, in very large amounts. Yet be it +keenly marked the sum given by these men always bears a small proportion +to what is kept.</p> + +<p>Others there are of equally splendid strength, and fine powers, who have +been spending that strength in influencing men. Their passion seems to +have been for <i>men</i>, for men's <i>selves</i>, for men's <i>lives</i>. The great bulk +of their strength and time has been deliberately given to this. And some +that have not understood have thought such conduct strange, a sort of fad +with these men. But when values are readjusted by the standards of the +final clearing house, some who have been very wealthy down here will be +reckoned among the very poor. And some who have been reckoned poor will be +found to be the shrewdest of investors. They will be the millionaires of +the Kingdom time and in the homeland. I do not mean <i>dollar</i>-millionaires, +but <i>life-millionaires.</i> The standard of wealth in the homeland is +<i>lives</i>, not dollars.</p> + +<p>And some too there will be, and not few in numbers, who have given of +their strength in business pursuits to the making of money, as the Spirit +has guided them, or to whom it has been left in trust by others, and who +have been steadily investing the wealth that has come in the <i>lives of +men</i>. Some folks ought to be getting better acquainted at the foreign +exchange desk in the banks where this sort of business is done.</p> + +<p>There are a good many banks that make a specialty of this sort of foreign +exchange. The great Church Boards, the International Committee of the +Young Men's Christian Associations, the American Committee of the Young +Women's Christian Associations, the individual churches and associations, +and the Bible Societies are a few of the better known of the banks having +a large exchange business of this sort.</p> + +<p>Their methods of business have been very thoroughly systematized for the +convenience of investors. In almost every pew of a church may be found +little deposit envelopes, mediums of exchange. There are weekly +opportunities for making deposits. And the handling of the money has been +so thoroughly systematized, too, that, as a rule, a very small proportion +is taken up in keeping the banks running, the great bulk passing directly +out to the designated place of use.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch06-5"> +<h3>Gold-Exchanged Lives.</h3> + + +<p>Jesus says that our money in its new form will be waiting our arrival on +the other side. The men and women into whose lives we have been +exchanging it will be eagerly looking for us as the ship pulls into port. +When you get through with your life down here--it will be a long life, I +hope--you will go up and into the homeland. And--I suppose--at the first +you will have eyes and heart for nobody but <i>Jesus</i>. My mother used to say +to me, "I have thought that I would like to have a talk with Moses, and +with Elijah, and with John and Paul, but"--with the quick tears of deepest +emotion filling her dark eyes--"I have never been able in my thinking of +it, <i>to get past Jesus yet</i>." Even so it will be, no doubt, with all of +us.</p> + +<p>But this word of Jesus' own suggests that as you go in you will find some +one coming eagerly up with outstretched hands and such a glad face to meet +you. And he will say, "Oh! I have been looking forward so eagerly to +meeting you; welcome." And you will say, "Well, this is very kind of you. +But, pardon me, I can't just recall your face. Where was it I knew you? in +New York?"</p> + +<p>And he will say, with a flush of earnest feeling, "Oh, no! I never saw New +York. And I never saw you before. My home was over in the heart of China. +Our lives were very miserable there. There was a great tugging at my heart +that nothing seemed ever to ease. But one day a stranger came into our +village, with some little books, and as we gathered about him he talked +to us about <i>Jesus</i>, and you can never know how that story of Jesus came +to me, and how much it meant. My whole life was changed, and my home and +our village were changed. And since coming up here I have learned that it +was <i>through you</i> that that man came, and I want to thank you. Next to +Jesus I think you're the best friend I have."</p> + +<p>And you will be thinking, "I'm so glad I gave that money. I had to pinch +quite a bit, but that's nothing compared to the joy of this." And as that +is flashing swiftly through your thought, here is somebody else eagerly +pressing up, with the same word of welcome, and a face with such a glad +light the sight of which is alone quite enough to even up any sacrifice. +And you will say maybe, "And where did I meet you? are you from China, +too?"</p> + +<p>No, this one is from a western frontier settlement where the home +missionary had gone, and now this one elbowing by her with the same +lightened face is from the mountain section of the South. And so they come +eagerly up from many places where you have never been in person but where +you have gone potentially through your money. That is what Jesus means. +Make to yourselves friends by means of money which the unrighteous world +reckons riches, that when it fails they may welcome you eagerly into the +homeland. Exchange your gold into lives.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch06-6"> +<h3>Spirit Alchemy.</h3> + + +<p>There is a divine alchemy whereby money may be transmuted into redeemed, +purified, uplifted lives. There is another alchemy whereby men, made of +finest gold in the image of God, may be transmuted into the basest metals. +When Moses coming down from the presence of God saw the shocking sight of +the people worshiping a calf made of gold, he reproached Aaron for +permitting it. Do you remember Aaron's answer? He had the gift of speech, +you remember, an easy, smooth way of explaining things. Yet in the light +of the recited facts the answer seems rather lame. It needs a crutch to +steady it up. He said, that he had put in the gold and--"<i>there came out +this calf</i>."</p> + +<p>A great many men might fairly make use of Aaron's explanation. They have +put into the crucible of life their gold, themselves, God's finest gold +intrusted to their hands. And under their manipulation what has come out +is as a vealy, callow calf, a bull calf at that too, scrub stock, fit only +for the ax.</p> + +<p>There is the other, the divine alchemy whereby a man may put in the gold +intrusted to his handling and there shall come out <i>lives</i>, sweet, strong, +fragrant lives, made anew in the image of their Maker.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch06-7"> +<h3>The Fragrance of the Life in the Gift.</h3> + + +<p>It is a part of the peculiar potent value of money that there can be a +practical transfer of personality through its use. For instance I have a +friend whose heart burned to go to a foreign mission field for service +there. But the physician said it would not be wise for her to go. Yielding +to his expert judgment, she still yearned to be of service there. In the +providence of God she became intrusted with large wealth. And so she +arranged to have a man go in her stead to China, she caring for all the +expense involved, while he was so left wholly free for the service.</p> + +<p>Tell me, was that not a practical transfer of her personality to the point +of service where he is engaged? Then she arranged for another, and +another, and yet others. It is not only a transfer of personality in +practical results, but a duplication of personality, and a triplication, +and more. For she is busy in her home circle, while her representatives +are busy elsewhere through the influence of her action.</p> + +<p>A young woman, graduate of a western college, developed much talent in +speaking to other young women of the Christian life. Her public service +was much blessed in the lives of large numbers of women. She had no +wealth, but was dependent upon her efforts for a livelihood. Another young +woman, in the East, came under the warm spell of her personality and +speech. And her life was blessedly revolutionized by that spell. Her own +heart burned to be doing something of the sort for her sisters out over +the land.</p> + +<p>But she seemed not to have gifts of that kind. Yet she had been intrusted +with large means. And so she said to her new friend whom God had so +graciously blessed to her own life, "Let us be partners together. I will +so gladly give what I have, that you may be wholly free to give to others +what you have brought to me." And so it was arranged. And the one woman +gives of the gold of her inheritance while the other gives her life and +her special gift. The one in her home pays and prays. The other goes +constantly here and there, and lives are ever transformed through the +Spirit of God resting upon her.</p> + +<p>Is not that a practical transfer of personality? and duplication of +personality, too? Is not this young woman whose own actual personality +remains, in the gracious providence of God, in her home, is she not going +potentially about from place to place winning her sisters up to the +highlands of the best living? It surely is so.</p> + +<p>And these two are but illustrations of the many who have come to +understand Jesus' law for the right use of money. And there are to be many +more as the days go by, doing just that sort of thing. And let those of us +who have not been intrusted either with the large amount of money, or +with the large power to earn, remember that the <i>amount</i> involved does not +affect the law of results. All who have felt the blessed contagion of the +Master's example will give freely of what is in store, whether much or +little.</p> + +<p>Those whose giving is in smaller amounts by our bulky way of reckoning +values, may still be making that same blessed transfer and doubling their +own capacity for service through the agency of their gold. For the gold +given represents the life that gives. And the gift takes on the quality +and power and fragrance of the life that gives it. I have sometimes +thought that there seems to be a peculiar potency in the smaller gifts, +that represent as they so often do the greatest, most devoted sacrifice. +Could we trace the intricate crossings of the lines of influence in the +web of life, we would be awed many times at the potency of the giving that +is small in amount but tinted red with the life-blood of sacrifice.</p> + +<p>It should be remembered that through this strange stuff called money there +is a double transfer of personality going on all the time. Men are +constantly transferring themselves into gold, in a perfectly proper way. A +man gives his labor, and at the end of a specified period he gets a +certain amount of money. That money represents himself. It is himself for +that length of time. That is the first transfer of manhood in money. It is +going on all the time. It is necessarily so, for so we get our food, and +clothing, and home.</p> + +<p>Then there is the re-transfer of this money into some other form. As we +choose to use this money, so we are re-transferring ourselves into what +forms we will. The money is the transition state of ourselves. We pass +through it out into the exchange of life. We reveal ourselves in the way +we pass it out. In no way does a man reveal the true inner self more. And +if perchance we let it, or some of it, lie and gather rust, there we are, +some part of us being covered with rust.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch06-8"> +<h3>Sacrifice Hallows and Increases the Gift.</h3> + + +<p>But there is more yet to be said here. The great blending of the spirit +forces with gold comes out wondrously in this: that <i>sacrifice hallows +what it touches</i>. And under its hallowing touch values increase by long +leaps and big bounds. Here is a fine opportunity for those who would +increase the value of gifts that seem small in amount. Without stopping +now for the philosophy of it, this is the tremendous fact.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the annual foreign missionary offering is being taken up in your +church. The pastor has preached a special sermon, and it has caught fire +within you. You find yourself thinking as he preaches, and during the +prayer following, "I believe I can easily make it fifty dollars this year. +I gave thirty-five last time." You want to be careful <i>not</i> to make it +fifty dollars, because you can do that <i>easily</i>. If you are shrewd to have +your money count the most, you will pinch a bit somewhere and make it +sixty-two fifty. For the extra amount that you pinch to give will hallow +the original sum and increase its practical value enormously. Sacrifice +hallows what it touches, and the hallowing touch acts in geometrical +proportion upon the value of the gift.</p> + +<p>Better turn your gown, and readjust your hat, for the sacrifice involved +will give a new beauty to the spirit looking out through your face. And +real folks will not be able to get past the beauty of face to the +incidentals of your apparel. Wear your derby another season, and get your +shoes half-soled, and some deft mending done. Let that extra horse go to +other buyers, and the automobile be picked up by somebody who has not yet +mined any of the fine gold of sacrifice. The coming rainy day will never +be able to use up all that some folks are salting down for it.</p> + +<p>And yet some folks, many folks, should be spending more on their bodies +and giving less. The giving should never intrench upon the strength of +one's personality. That is a treasure to be sacredly guarded. All the +power of one's life, in serving, in giving, in praying, in speaking, and +in personal contact, the power of all roots down in the personality. The +safe rule, and the only safe rule, is to decide such questions with the +knee-joint bent, and the door shut, and the spirit willing. A strong will +played upon by the Holy Spirit, mellowed by emotions that have been moved +by the need, and held steady by a disciplined judgment must attend to +loosening the purse-strings.</p> + +<p>But the one fact being emphasized here just now is that the element of +sacrifice must be in the giving if it is to be effective. Sacrifice was +the dominant factor in <i>God's</i> giving of His Son, real sacrifice. It was +dominant in <i>Jesus'</i> giving of His own self and His life, keen cutting +sacrifice. Who will follow in <i>their</i> train? Whoever will, will be getting +a post-graduate course in financiering and in multiplying of values. He +will be astonished at the results working out, and most astonished at the +final disclosures.</p> + +<p>Keeping out of circulation more than one's wants, properly adjusted, call +for is poor financiering. For that which is held back is not earning +anything. All beyond one's needs should be out in circulation for the +Master in His campaign for a world. Yet nowhere is there finer chance or +greater need for the play of keen judgment than in deciding that question +of need. Mistakes are made on both sides. It looks very much as though the +most serious mistakes are being made on the side of too little sacrifice +or none. Yet clearly some serious mistakes are made on the other side +too. But no one may criticise another. Each must decide for himself. In +the judgment of charity we are to presume that each is doing what he +thinks right and best. We are, none of us, the keeper of our brother's +purse.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch06-9"> +<h3>A Living Sacrifice.</h3> + + +<p>There is a simple story told that contains its truth in its very +naturalness and simplicity. It reveals a bit of the real life ever going +on all around us unnoticed. A minister in a certain small town in an +eastern state received from the home mission board of his church a letter +asking for a special offering for a needy field in the West. With the +letter was literature setting forth the need. The call appealed to him and +with good heart he prepared a special sermon, calling the attention of his +people to the great need.</p> + +<p>Sabbath morning came and he preached the sermon. But somehow it did not +just seem to hook in. That banker down there on the left looked listless, +and yawned a couple of times behind his hand. And the merchant over on the +right, who could give freely, examined his watch secretly more than once. +And so it was with a little tinge of discouragement insistently creeping +into his spirit that he finished, and sat down. And he remained with head +bowed in prayer that the results might prove better than seemed likely, +while the church officers passed down the aisles with the collection +plates.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile something unseen by human eye was going on in the very last pew. +Back there, sitting alone, was a little girl of a poor family. She had met +with a misfortune which left her crippled. And her whole life seemed so +dark and hopeless. But some kind friends in the church, pitying her +condition, had made up a small fund and bought her a pair of crutches. And +these had seemed to transform her completely. She went about her rounds +always as cheery and bright as a bit of sunshine.</p> + +<p>She had listened to the sermon, and her heart had been strangely warmed by +the preacher's story of need. And as he was finishing she was thinking, +"How I wish I might give something. But I haven't anything to give, not +even a copper left." And a very soft voice within seemed to say very +softly, but very distinctly, "There are your crutches." "Oh," she gasped +to herself as though it took away her very breath, "my crutches? I +couldn't give my <i>crutches</i>; they're my <i>life</i>." And that strangely clear +voice went on, so quietly, "Yes--you <i>could</i>--and then some one would know +of Jesus--if you did--and that would mean so much to them--He's meant so +much to you--give your crutches." And her breath seemed to fail her at the +thought. And so the little woman had her fight all unseen and unknown by +those in the church. And by and by the victory came. And she sat with a +beautiful light in her tearful eyes, and a smile coming to her lips, +waiting for the plate to get to her pew.</p> + +<p>And the man with the plate came down the aisle to the end. It seemed +hardly worth while reaching it into the last pew. Just little Maggie +sitting there alone, with her one foot dangling above the floor. But with +fine courtesy he stopped and passed the plate in. And Maggie in her +childlike simplicity lifted her crutches, and tried rather awkwardly to +put them on the collection plate. Quick as a flash the man caught her +thought, and with a queer lump in his throat reached out and steadied her +strange gift on the plate.</p> + +<p>And then he turned back and walked slowly up the aisle toward the pulpit, +carrying the plate in one hand and steadying the crutches on it with the +other. And people commenced to look. And eyes quickly dimmed. Everybody +knew the crutches. <i>Maggie</i>--giving her <i>crutches</i>! And the banker over +here blew his nose suddenly and reached for his pencil, and the merchant +reached out to stop the man returning up his aisle.</p> + +<p>As the pastor stood with his eyesight not very clear to receive the +morning's offering, he said, "Surely our little crippled friend is giving +us a wonderful example." Then the plates were called back toward the +pews. And somebody paid fifty dollars for the crutches, and sent them back +to that end pew. When the offering was counted up it contained several +hundred dollars. And the little girl, crippled in body but not in any +other way, hobbled out of church the happiest little woman in the world.</p> + +<p>She had recognized and obeyed the inner voice. That was the simple +explanation of her giving. And her gift, small in itself, <i>touched with +sacrifice</i>, became worth several hundred dollars in its earning power. And +the original investment was returned for its usual service. And her gift +has been increasing in its earning power as its recital has reached other +hearts, and the end is not yet. I do not know just where Maggie is now. +But I do know that she will be a greatly surprised woman some day when she +finds out what God has done with her sacrifice-hallowed gift. She +recognized and obeyed the inner Voice. That is the one law of giving, as +of all living.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch07"> +<h2>Worry: A Hindrance to Service.</h2> + + + +<ul> + <li><a href="#ch07-1">Fear Not.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch07-2">A Fence of Trust.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch07-3">A Lord of the Harvest.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch07-4">Do Your Best--Leave the Rest.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch07-5">Anxious for Nothing.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch07-6">Thankful for Anything.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch07-7">Prayerful about Everything.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch07-8">A Steamer Chair for His Friend.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch07-9">He Has You on His Heart.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch07-10">Paul's Prison Psalm.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch07-11">He Touched Her Hand.</a></li> +</ul> + + + + +<h2>Worry: A Hindrance to Service.</h2> + +<h3>(Psalm xxxvii:1-11; Matthew vi:19-34, Philippians iv:6-7. American +Revision.)</h3> + + +<div class="sec" id="ch07-1"> +<h3>Fear Not.</h3> + + +<p>There is nothing commoner than worry. Everybody seems to worry. Men worry. +Women worry. It is commonly supposed that women worry more than men. I +doubt it. After watching both pretty closely under all sorts of +circumstances I doubt it. Yet if it be true that woman does worry the +more, I think it is because, being more sensitively organized, she is more +keenly alive to the issues involved and to the responsibilities of life. +Poor people worry. Those with enough money to be easy worry. And those +with the largest wealth seem to worry too. Busy folks worry. And so do the +idle. The cultured and scholarly touch elbows with the ignorant here.</p> + +<p>Americans are supposed to be specialists in worrying. The name +Americanitis has been given to a certain run-down condition of the nerves. +Well, we may possibly have set the pace, and may be making new records. +But certainly there are plenty of pushing followers. Our Canadian +neighbors seem not to be wholly strangers to worry. Nor our British and +Dutch forbears. The European continentals, and those of the East nearer +and farther off seem to be good or bad at worrying. It is a characteristic +of the race everywhere, the difference being merely in the degree. It +seems inbred in man.</p> + +<p>There are two "don't-worry" chapters in this old Bible, one in the Old +Testament and one in the New. In the Old Testament is the Thirty-seventh +Psalm with its oft-repeated "fret not." The word under that English phrase +"fret not" is significant. It is so blunt as to sound almost like a bit of +American slang. Literally it means "don't get hot." The New Testament has +the sixth chapter of Matthew with Jesus' own words. One should be careful +here to note the better reading of the revision. The old version says +"take no thought," and that has been misunderstood by many who have not +thought about its meaning. The newer translations are truer to the meaning +on Jesus' lips. Do not take <i>anxious</i> thought, "be not anxious." But apart +from these two chapters there is a phrase running through these pages +clear through the whole Book, a phrase shot through, piercing everywhere, +even as the glorious sunlight pierces through the thick cloud and fog. I +mean the phrase "fear not." All worry roots down its tenacious tendrils +in fear.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch07-2"> +<h3>A Fence of Trust.</h3> + + +<p>It will help to understand just what worry is. It is always an advantage +to get an enemy clearly defined and keep it so, so you can hit it harder, +and make every blow tell on a vital part of its anatomy.</p> + +<p>Worry is not concern, but distress of mind. Some one said to me at the +close of a talk on worry, "some folks ought to worry more." Of course he +meant that some people should bear their share of the responsibilities of +life, instead of selfishly and lazily shirking them. There is a proper +concern about matters for which we are responsible. A man never makes a +good speech unless there is a feeling of concern, of apprehension lest +there be failure in that for which he is pleading. A strong sensitive +spirit feels the responsibility and does the best to meet it. Worry is +mental distress. It is sinking under the sense of responsibility. It is +<i>yielding</i> to the fear that there may be failure, instead of gripping the +lines and whip and determining to ride down the chance of its coming.</p> + +<p>Sometimes worry is carrying to-morrow's load with to-day's strength; +carrying two days in one. It is moving into to-morrow ahead of time. +There is just one day in the calendar of action; that's to-day. Planning +should include a wide swing of days; wise planning must. But action +belongs to one day only, to-day.</p> + +<blockquote class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="line"> "Build a little fence of trust</div> +<div class="line"> Around to-day;</div> +<div class="line"> Fill the space with living work</div> +<div class="line"> And therein stay;</div> +<div class="line"> Look not through the sheltering bars</div> +<div class="line"> Upon to-morrow;</div> +<div class="line"> God will help thee bear what comes</div> +<div class="line"> Of joy or sorrow."</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div class="line"> "Live for to-day, to-morrow's sun</div> +<div class="line"> To-morrow's cares will bring to light,</div> +<div class="line"> Go like the infant to thy sleep</div> +<div class="line"> And heaven thy morn shall bless."</div> +</div></blockquote> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch07-3"> +<h3>A Lord of the Harvest.</h3> + + +<p>Sometimes worry is carrying a load that one should not carry at all. I +think it was Lyman Beecher who said that he got along very comfortably +after he gave up running the universe. Some good earnest people are +greatly concerned about the way things in the world are going, I'm obliged +to confess to some pretty serious blunders there. It seemed to me that +there was so much to be done, so many people needing help, so much of +wrong and sin to fight that I must be ever pushing and never sleeping. I +had to sleep of course; but all my burden, which meant the burden of the +world's need as I saw it, was lugged faithfully to bed every night. There +was a lot of pillow-planning. But I found that the wrinkles grew thick, +and the physical strength gave out, and yet at the end of vigorous +campaigning there <i>seemed</i> about as much left to do as ever.</p> + +<p>Then one day my tired eyes lit upon that wondrous phrase, "the lord of the +harvest." It caught fire in my heart at once. "Oh! there is a <i>Lord</i> of +the harvest," I said to myself. I had been forgetting that. He is a Lord, +a masterful one. He has the whole campaign mapped out, and each one's part +in helping mapped out too. And I let the responsibility of the campaign +lie over where it belonged. When night time came I went to bed to sleep. +My pillow was this, "There is a <i>Lord</i> of the harvest."</p> + +<p>My keynote came to be <i>obedience</i> to Him. That meant keen ears to hear, +keen judgment to understand, keeping quiet so the sound of His voice would +always be distinctly heard. It meant trusting Him when things didn't seem +to go with a swing. It meant sweet sleep at night, and new strength at the +day's beginning. It did not mean any less work. It did seem to mean less +friction, less dust. Aye, it meant better work, for there was a swing to +it, and a joyous abandon in it, and a rhythm of music with it. And the +undercurrent of thought came to be like this: There is a <i>Lord</i> to the +harvest. He is taking care of things. My part is full, faithful, +intelligent obedience to Him. He is a Master, a masterful One. He is +organizing victory. And the fine tingle of victory was ever in the air.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch07-4"> +<h3>Do Your Best--Leave the Rest.</h3> + + +<p>I knew a mother one of whose sons was not a Christian man, and not of good +habits. She was a devoted true Christian woman, bearing her part in life's +service with fine faith and a keen sweet spirit. The children were all +Christians but this one, her first-born, the beginning of her strength. +The thought of him troubled her much. She prayed fervently, and used her +best endeavor, and the years grew on without change. And her face showed +the burden upon her fine spirit. We would talk together about her son, and +pray together, but her brow remained clouded.</p> + +<p>Then I marked a change. The lines of tension in her face relaxed. A new +quiet light came into her eye. There seemed a gentle intangible, but very +sure, peace breathing about her. And I knew there was no change in him. So +one day in conversation I ventured to ask about the change. And I shall +always remember the gentle voice and the quiet strength with which she +said, "I have given him over to my Father. And I know He will not fail +me. I am still praying, of course, as ever, and I am <i>trusting</i> for him." +She had been carrying a load that she should not have been carrying. And +now while the mother-heart was still concerned as much as ever, the sense +of assured victory brought the change in her spirit.</p> + +<p>Sometimes worry is fretting over past mistakes; it is chafing about what +we do not understand, or about plans of <i>ours</i> that have failed. A good +deal of worry comes from pride and over-sensitiveness. The roots here, it +will be noticed, of all alike are down in our own failures, our own +selves. And there would be cause for more worry if we had only ourselves. +But we have <i>a Father</i>.</p> + +<p>A very great deal of worry is wholly due to physical causes. Overworked +nerves always see things distorted. Huge phantom shapes loom up before us. +Overwork always makes a sensitive spirit worry, and worry usually makes us +overwork until we drop from exhaustion. When the cause is here, there are +some simple <i>human</i> helps. Some--a good bit--of <i>God's</i> fresh air will +work wonders. Even good people seem unchangeably opposed to <i>God's</i> air, +and insist on breathing old, worn-out, used-up second-hand air. God would +be greatly glorified if housekeepers and church sextons were given a +practical course in the use of fresh air, God's air. With that should be +simple food, and simple dress, and abundant sleep, and simple standards of +life.</p> + +<p>Worry is utterly <i>useless</i>. It never serves a good purpose. It brings no +good results. "Which of you can by being anxious add a single span to the +measure of his life?" Jesus asks in that sixth of Matthew. But much more +can be said. <i>It brings bad results</i>. The revision brings out the clear, +simple meaning of the Thirty-seventh Psalm, eighth verse. The old version +seems a bit puzzling, "Fret not thyself in anywise to do evil." The +revision reads, "Fret not thyself, it tendeth only to evil doing." The +results of worrying are always bad. The judgment is impaired. One cannot +think so clearly nor see so clearly. The temper is ruffled. The door is +quickly opened to worse things.</p> + +<p>It is <i>sinful</i> to worry. For the Master repeatedly commands us, "Be <i>not</i> +anxious." It helps to get a habit labeled correctly. Here to tack on +"sinful" in block letters, black ink, white paper, so as to get greatest +contrast is a decided help. And worrying is a reproach upon Jesus. Let the +Gentiles, the outsiders, the people who have not taken Jesus into their +lives, let them worry if they <i>will</i>. But <i>we</i> must not. For we have +<i>Jesus</i>. Let these who leave Him out grow crow-toes, and deeply-bitten +wrinkles, and turkey-foot markings. Without Him how can they help +themselves? But we folk who have <i>Jesus</i> should have smoothly rounded +faces, the lines all filled up and ironed out. It reproaches Jesus before +folks for us to be as they are in this regard.</p> + +<p>Out of the midst of a great pressure of work, with a body tired out, Dr. +Charles F. Deems, the busy pastor of The Church of The Strangers in New +York City, wrote these lines years ago:</p> + +<blockquote class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="line"> "The world is wide,</div> +<div class="line"> In time and tide,</div> +<div class="line"> And God is quick;</div> +<div class="line"> Then <i>do not hurry</i>.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div class="line"> "That man is blest,</div> +<div class="line"> Who <i>does his best</i>,</div> +<div class="line"> And <i>leaves</i> the rest;</div> +<div class="line"> Then <i>do not worry</i>."</div> +</div></blockquote> + +<p>A man should do his <i>best</i>. There should be no <i>shirking</i>. Yet I need +hardly say that here, because shirking people, lazy people do not worry. +They haven't enough snap about them to worry. But it steadies one to put +the thing just as Dr. Deems put it. "<i>Do your best, and</i>, then <i>leave</i> all +the rest to God." And when sleep time comes, sleep.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch07-5"> +<h3>Anxious for Nothing.</h3> + + +<p>Likely as not some one will say, "We knew all that before. But how are we +going to quit worrying? That's what we need to be told." Well, I can tell +you. Sometimes a man speaks cautiously, but here one can speak with great +positiveness. There are three simple rules how not to worry. They are +infallible. I heard of a society whose purpose it was to cure worry. There +were <i>thirty-seven</i> rules, I think. It would worry some of us a good bit +to memorize any such length of instruction as that. The remedy seems to be +on a high shelf. And in standing up on a chair and reaching there is some +danger that the chair may tip over and the last state not be an +improvement on the first.</p> + +<p>But here are three very simple rules, easy to follow, and they will never +fail. They are not my rules, that is, not of my making, or I might not be +speaking so positively. They are given by the blessed Holy Spirit, through +our dear old friend Paul. In Philippians, chapter four, verses six and +seven, are the words that contain the rules: "In nothing be anxious; but +in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your +requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all +understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus."</p> + +<p>The first rule is this, <i>anxious for nothing.</i> In other words, <i>don't</i> +worry. Deliberately refuse to think about annoying things. Set yourself +against being disturbed by disturbing things. Say to yourself, it is +useless, it has bad results, it is sinful, it is reproaching my Master, I +<i>won't.</i> That is the first simple rule.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch07-6"> +<h3>Thankful for Anything.</h3> + + +<p>The second helps to carry out the first. It is this, <i>thankful for +anything.</i> Thanksgiving and praise are always associated with singing. +When you feel the worry mood creeping on--it is a mood that attacks +you--when it comes sing something, especially something with Jesus' name +in it. These temptations to worry are from the Evil One. He can come in +only through an <i>open</i> door. Remember that. Yet the open doors seem +plenty. Even when we trustingly and resolutely keep every door of evil +shut the circle in which we move will open doors upon us. Singing +something with Jesus' name in it sends him or any of his brood off +quickly. They hate that Name of their Conqueror. They get away from the +sound of it as fast as they can.</p> + +<p>A friend was calling upon another and began pouring out a stream of +personal woes. This had gone wrong, and this, and this other would go +wrong. Everything was wrong. And her friend, who knew her quite well, had +her get a pencil and paper and asked her if possibly there was <i>one</i> thing +for which she could be thankful. Reluctantly from her lips came the +mention of some particular thing for which she felt indeed grateful. Then +a second was gradually recalled, and then more. And as the train of +thought grew on her she suddenly asked, "Why was I so despondent when I +came in? Everything seems so changed."</p> + +<p>It's a fine thing to go about one's work singing some hymn with praise in +it, and with Jesus' name in it. And if singing may not always be allowable +under all circumstances, you can <i>hum</i> a tune. And that brings up to the +memory the words connected with it. I know of a woman who was much given +to worrying. She made it a rule to sing the long-meter doxology whenever +things seemed not right. Ofttimes she could hardly get her lips shaped up +to begin the first words. But she would persist. And by the time the +fourth line came it was ringing out and her atmosphere had changed without +and within.</p> + +<p>This was David's rule. He said: "Thy statutes have been my songs in the +house of my pilgrimage."<sup><a href="#fn18">18</a></sup> He is not speaking of the time when he was +acknowledged king over both Judah and all Israel, when the fortress of +Jerusalem was his own capital. No, he is talking of the earlier days of +his <i>pilgrimage</i>. When he was being hunted over the Judean fastnesses by +King Saul. When with his band of faithful men he was ever fleeing for his +life. He slept in caves and dens or out in the open, and always with one +eye open. There he used to sing God's praises. A messenger would come +breathlessly in some morning with the news that Saul was just over yonder +ravine with a thousand men. And as David planned what best to do, and +arranged his men, he would be singing.</p> + +<p>Maybe he would sing that Twenty-third Psalm:</p> + +<blockquote class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="line"> "For Thou art with me; and Thy rod</div> +<div class="line"> And staff me comfort still."</div> +</div></blockquote> + +<p>Or, maybe sometimes,</p> + +<blockquote class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="line"> "To Thee I lift my soul;</div> +<div class="line"> O Lord, I trust in Thee:</div> +<div class="line"> My God, let me not be ashamed</div> +<div class="line"> Nor foes triumph o'er me."</div> +</div></blockquote> + +<p>Or, likely, he often sang:</p> + +<blockquote class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="line"> "The Lord's my light and saving health;</div> +<div class="line"> Who shall make me dismayed?</div> +<div class="line"> My life's strength is the Lord; of whom</div> +<div class="line"> Then shall I be afraid?"</div> +</div></blockquote> + +<p>Or if perhaps Ezra wrote this psalm it takes one back to his weary, +dangerous journey over from Babylon to Jerusalem and the very difficult +work he was undertaking in Jerusalem in reorganizing the life of the +people again. He used to sing on the way, and through all his +difficulties.</p> + +<p>It is a great rule.</p> + +<blockquote class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="line"> "When the day is gloomy</div> +<div class="line"> Sing some happy song;</div> +<div class="line"> Meet the world's repining</div> +<div class="line"> With a courage strong."</div> +</div></blockquote> + +<p>Some one asked me if whistling would do. She was a busy housewife and said +that was her rule. I have gone to singing myself. But maybe whistling is +just as good. I'm inclined to favor giving it a place within the range of +this rule.</p> + +<p>There's a bit of deep, simple philosophy here. Music is divine. There is +no music in the headquarters of the enemy. He has used it a great deal on +the earth. That's a bit of his cunning. But he always has to steal it from +God's sphere, and work it over to suit his own crafty purposes. Music, +singing, is an open doorway for the Spirit of God to come in, and come in +anew and move freely. Its sweet harmonies found their birth in the +presence of God where sweetest harmonies reign. Lovers of music should be +lovers of God, for He is the one great Master-musician.</p> + +<p>When Elisha was asked to prophesy victory for Israel over the enemy at one +time, he refused. He was not in harmony with this king nor his associates. +His spirit refused to respond to their request. But at their urgent +request he yielded, and called for a musician. And as the strains of music +fell upon his ear and entered into his spirit he felt the divine presence +and influence anew. We should use the musician more in our days of +battle. And God has wonderfully provided every one of us with a music-box +of sweet melodies. If we would only open the lid, and let frequent use +wear off the rust, and sing His praise more. In music God speaks to us +anew with great power. This is the second rule, <i>thankful for anything</i>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch07-7"> +<h3>Prayerful about Everything.</h3> + + +<p>The third rule helps to make both first and second effective. These three +are closely interwoven. They always work together. Each suggests the other +two. They are an interwoven trinity. The third is this, <i>prayerful about +everything</i>. There are some unusually fine bits from the old Book to help +here. Referring to the discipline which God's love makes Him use, David +says: "For His anger is but for a moment: His <i>favor</i> is for <i>a lifetime</i>. +Weeping <i>may</i> come in to lodge at even, but joy cometh in the +morning."<sup><a href="#fn19">19</a></sup> There <i>may</i> be weeping. There <i>shall</i> be joy. Weeping won't +stay long.</p> + +<p>There's a morning coming, always a morning coming, with the sunshine and +the chorus of the birds. Love's discipling touch that seems at the moment +like anger is only for a moment. (The printer wanted to change that word +discipling to disciplining; but God's tenderness comes to us anew when we +realize that <i>disciplining</i> with its sharp edge means the same as +<i>discipling</i> with its softer warmer touch.) The loving favor is for +always, a lifetime of eternal life.</p> + +<p>Again David says, "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall <i>sustain</i> +thee."<sup><a href="#fn20">20</a></sup> The margin explains that the thing that weighs as a burden is +something God has given us. He has sent it or allowed it to come. He has +strong purpose in all He does. Here the promise is not that the burden +will be removed, but that He will pick up both you and your burden into +His arms and carry both. Many a man has praised God for the burden that +made him know the tender touch of strong arms.</p> + +<p>The same thing is repeated in the Sixty-eighth Psalm<sup><a href="#fn21">21</a></sup> with tender +variations. "Blessed be the Lord who day by day beareth our burden." +Probably Peter knew a good bit about this subject. His temperament was of +the impulsive sort that knows quick squalls at sea. But he had learned how +to ride through them undisturbed to the calmer waters. He says, "Casting +all your anxiety upon Him because He careth for you."<sup><a href="#fn22">22</a></sup> The force of the +French version is said to be "<i>unloading</i> your anxiety upon Him." Back the +cart up, tilt it over, let down the tail-board, let it all slip out over +upon Him. The literal reading of that last half is, "<i>He has you on His +heart</i>."</p> + +<blockquote class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="line"> "Is not this enough alone</div> +<div class="line"> For the gladness of the day?"</div> +</div></blockquote> + +<p>But many of us have an inner feeling that some matters are too small, too +trivial to take to God. We will take the great things, the serious things +to Him and find the help needed. But it seems childish almost to be +bothering the great God about trifling details, we are apt to think. We +are even annoyed with ourselves to think that we have allowed such petty +things to make us lose our balance and control. We want to underscore and +italicize this fact: <i>if a thing is big enough to concern you, it is not +too small for Him "because He has you on His heart</i>." For <i>your</i> sake He +is eager to help in anything, however small in itself it may seem.</p> + +<p>Indeed it is the little things that fret and tease and nag so. The big +things are more easily handled. But the little insectivorous details that +will not down! Have you ever had this experience? You have retired on a +hot summer night, tired and heavy with sleep. You are almost off when a +mosquito that in some inexplicable way has eluded all screens and nettings +comes singing its way about your face. It is just one. It seems so small. +If it were only big enough to hit, something worthy of one's strength. But +the mean little nagging specimen seems to elude every effort of yours. +Maybe you take calm, deliberate measures to end its existence, but +meanwhile you are thoroughly aroused and lose quite a bit of the sleep you +need.</p> + +<p>Just such a mosquito warfare do the little cares make upon one's strength, +frittering it away. It cannot be too insistently repeated that whatever is +big enough to cause me any thought is not too small for my God. He is +concerned because I am concerned.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch07-8"> +<h3>A Steamer Chair for His Friend.</h3> + + +<p>It helps immensely here to recall the necessary qualities of a great +executive, one who is concerned about the conduct of large affairs. There +are two great qualities absolutely needful in any one occupying such a +position. There must be the ability to grasp the whole scheme involved, +and to keep one's finger upon every detail, as well. God is a great +executive, <i>the</i> great executive of the universe. He planned the vast +scheme of worlds making up the universe, and every detail. The whole +universe in its immensity, and the intricacy of its movements, is kept in +motion by Him. And every detail down to the smallest, the falling of one +of the smallest birds, is ever under His thoughtful eye and touch. And He +is our God. He has each of us on His heart.</p> + +<p>We may learn of God by looking at man, made in His image. A story is told +of a merchant well known on both sides of the water, illustrating this. +His business interests are very extensive, with great stores in three of +the world's great cities. He has displayed great genius for controlling +the details of his vast enterprise. It is said that at one time when his +business was developing its greatness, this was his habit. He would come +to a clerk's desk unexpectedly and, sitting down quietly, note the +transactions that came along. Here was a sales slip; three yards of +calico, seven cents per yard, twenty-one cents; a bolt of tape, three +cents, total twenty-four cents; cash fifty cents, twenty-six cents change. +He would very quietly note the calculations, and call attention to any +inaccuracies.</p> + +<p>He might stay there a half-hour. Then he was away again. It was never +known when he might come, nor where. He was always marked for his genial +courtesy toward all his employees. That was his habit for years, I am +told. His talent for details amounts to positive genius. And with this +goes the ability to originate and build up and keep ever growing his vast +business operations. And this man is but one of a very large class in our +day of specialized organization. This faculty of controlling both the +whole, and each detail, is a bit of the image of God in these men. Only +man is ever less than God. The best organization slips sometimes, +somewhere. But God never fails. Each of us is personal to Him. He can +think of each as though there were no other needing His thought, and He +does.</p> + +<p>A little incident is told of George Müller of Bristol, England. He is the +man who taught the whole world anew how to trust God. Poor in his own +holdings, he expended millions of dollars in caring for orphans, +supporting missionaries, and distributing printed truth. He never asked +any man for money nor made any needs known. He trusted God for all and for +each. The two thousand and more orphans, and the cutting of his quill pen +were alike subjects of prayer with him.</p> + +<p>At one time, in the course of his missionary travels around the world, he +was embarking on an ocean voyage. He was an old man at the time, and +accompanied by a young man who attended to the details of travel. After +they had boarded the steamer his companion came up hurriedly to say that +the steamer chair for Mr. Müller's use was not on board and he could not +get any trace of it. It would of course be a very necessary convenience +for the steamer trip. Mr. Müller inquired if the proper notice had been +sent to have it on board. Yes, all had been done that should have been +done. And now the time was very short.</p> + +<p>Mr. Müller breathed a quiet prayer, and then said to his companion not to +be disturbed, that he felt sure it would be on hand in time. The attendant +went off again to see what could be done, came back evidently annoyed at +the possibility of his elder distinguished companion being inconvenienced. +But Mr. Müller quieted him with the assurance that the chair would come. +They stood at the side rail above, overlooking the dock.</p> + +<p>At the very last moment, just as the hawsers were about to be thrown off, +and the gang plank pulled away, a truck of luggage was hurriedly run on +board, and on top of the pile the friends watching above could plainly see +a steamer chair with G. M. marked on it. Mr. Müller, standing in his group +of friends, looked up past them and quietly said, "Father, I thank Thee." +Was God in that simple occurrence? He surely was. He was concerned that +His faithful friend should have the chair for his bodily comfort. Man's +arrangements seemed in danger of slipping. His overruling touch was put in +for His friend's sake. A chair wasn't too small for God because it was for +His friend, Mr. Müller.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch07-9"> +<h3>He Has You on His Heart.</h3> + + +<p>I got a similar story from Dr. James H. Brookes of St. Louis, a number of +years ago while in his home over night. It was about J. Hudson Taylor, +founder of the China Inland Mission, who had learned through many years of +trusting how faithful God is. Mr. Taylor had been speaking in Dr. Brookes' +church, and was to go to a town in southern Illinois to speak at the +Sabbath services. Saturday morning they went down to the railroad station +to get the train, and stepped into the station just as the train was +pulling out at the other end. There was no possible chance of catching it. +It seemed all the more exasperating that they could see the train moving +away out of reach.</p> + +<p>Dr. Brookes of course felt much chagrined. Mr. Taylor being a stranger in +the country, and the guest of Dr. Brookes, had trusted his arrangements. +Inquiries were quickly made about other trains. But there would not be +another train out that way until night. And as they were questioning and +talking the station-master said, "There's that train over there; it runs +into Illinois and crosses another road down to where you want to go. They +are supposed to make connections, but they never do." Dr. Brookes said he +went off to make further inquiries, and coming back in a few moments was +surprised to find Mr. Taylor standing on the rear platform of the train +that never made the connection.</p> + +<p>He said, "Why, Mr. Taylor, that won't make the connection." And Mr. +Taylor smiled and in his very quiet way said, "Good-bye, Doctor, my Father +runneth the trains." That seemed to sound well for a sermon. But to Dr. +Brookes' misgivings there came again the quiet "Good-bye, Doctor, my +Father runneth the trains." After starting Mr. Taylor explained the +situation to the conductor, the importance of his engagement, and of +making the desired connection, hoping the trainman might be of some +service. The man hoped he would get the train, but said it was very +doubtful as they rarely did. Mr. Taylor thanked him, and sat quietly +praying.</p> + +<p>Was the connection made? As Mr. Taylor's train pulled in the other was +standing at the station. The conductor said, "Well, there it is, but I +didn't expect it." There was quite enough time to get across the platform +without hurrying and into the other train when it moved off. Was God in +that? I have no difficulty at all in understanding that He was. What +concerned His friend, in a strange land, on an errand for Himself surely +concerned Him. What concerns any trusting child of His concerns Him, for +He has us on His heart.</p> + +<p>I recall a personal experience in Boston one summer day. It was a very hot +day. I was to meet my mother and sister in the North Union station, where +we were to take a train out. I had their tickets. I reached the station +from my errands, hot and tired and with my head aching, ideal conditions +for worry. As I stepped into the station I realized at once that our +appointment to meet was not very definite. For the large station was +crowded. There was not much time before our train would go. And I +commenced to be agitated, which is a gentler way of saying worried. What +<i>would</i> I do? It would be extremely inconvenient, especially for my +mother, to miss the train. And the time was short, and--and--.</p> + +<p>You see I was not a <i>graduate</i> in this don't-worry school. I'm not yet; +still studying; expect to enter for post work when I do graduate. The +school is still open; open to all; instruction given <i>individually</i> only; +the Teacher has had long <i>experience</i> Himself on the earth, in the thick +of things.</p> + +<p>Well, I said as I stood a moment in the thick crowd, "Master, you know +where they are. Please take me to them. Maybe I should have been more +careful about the appointment, but I was tired at the start. Please--thank +you." And in less time than it takes to tell you I met them right in the +thick of the great crowd. And I felt sure that Peter got his putting of it +straight when he said of the Master, "<i>He has you on His heart</i>."</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch07-10"> +<h3>Paul's Prison Psalm.</h3> + + +<p>Did Paul follow his own rules? The best answer to that is this little +four-chaptered epistle where the rules are found. Philippians is a prison +psalm. The clanking of chains resounds throughout its brief pages. At one +end is Philippi; at the other Rome. Here is the Philippian end. In the +inner dungeon of a prison, dark, dirty, damp, is a man, Paul. His back is +bleeding and sore from the whipping-post. His feet are fast in the stocks. +His position is about as cramped and painful as it can be. It is midnight. +Paul would be asleep for weariness and exhaustion, but the position and +the pain hinder.</p> + +<p>Does no temptation come to him? He had been following a <i>vision</i> in coming +over to Philippi. This is a great ending to the vision he's been having. +Did no such temptation come? Very likely it did. But Paul is an old +campaigner. He knows best what to do. He begins singing. His music is +pitched in the major too. Most likely he is singing one of the old Hebrew +psalms that he knew by heart. It was a psalm of praise. That is one end of +this epistle.</p> + +<p>At the other end Paul is a prisoner at Rome. As he sits dictating his +letter, if he gets tired and would swing one limb over the other for a +change, a heavy chain at his ankle reminds him of his bonds. As he reaches +for a quill to put a loving touch to the end of the parchment, again the +forged steel pulls at his wrist. That is the setting of Philippians, the +prison psalm. What is its key word? Is it patience? That would seem +appropriate. Is it long-suffering? More appropriate yet. Some of us know +about short-suffering, but we are apt to be a bit short on long-suffering. +The keyword is <i>joy</i>, with its variations of rejoice, and rejoicing.</p> + +<p>And notice what joy is. It is the cataract in the stream of life. Peace is +the gentle even flowing of the river. Joy is where the waters go bubbling, +leaping with ecstatic bound, and forever after, as they go on, making the +channel deeper for the quiet flow of peace. Paul had put his no-worry +rules through the crucible of experience. He follows the Master in that. +These three rules really mean living ever in that Master's presence. When +we realize that He is ever alongside then it will be easier to be</p> + +<blockquote class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="line"> Anxious for nothing,</div> +<div class="line"> Thankful for anything,</div> +<div class="line"> Prayerful about everything.</div> +</div></blockquote> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch07-11"> +<h3>He Touched Her Hand.</h3> + + +<p>One morning on waking, a woman charged with the care of a home began +thinking of the day's simple duties. And as she thought they seemed to +magnify and pile up. There was her little daughter to get off to school +with her luncheon. Some of the church ladies were coming that morning for +a society meeting, and she had been planning a dainty luncheon for them. +The maid in the kitchen was not exactly ideal--yet. And as she thought +into the day her head began aching.</p> + +<p>After breakfast, as her husband was leaving for the day's business, he +took her hand and kissed her good-bye. "Why," he said, "my dear, your hand +is feverish. I'm afraid you've been doing too much. Better just take a day +off." And he was gone. And she said to herself, "A day off! The idea! Just +like a <i>man</i> to think that I could take a day off." But she had been +making a habit of getting a little time for reading and prayer after +breakfast. Pity she had not put it in earlier, at the day's very start. +Yet maybe she could not. Sometimes it is not possible. Yet <i>most times</i> it +is possible, by planning.</p> + +<p>Now she slipped to her room and, sitting down quietly, turned to the +chapter in her regular place of reading. It was the eighth of Matthew. As +she read she came to the words, "And <i>He touched her hand</i>, and the <i>fever +left her</i>; and she arose and ministered unto Him." And she knelt and +breathed out the soft prayer for a touch of the Master's hand upon her +own. And it came as she remained there a few moments. And then with much +quieter spirit she went on into the day.</p> + +<p>The luncheon for the church ladies was not quite so elaborate as she had +planned. There came to her an impulse to tell her morning's experience. +She shrank from doing it. It seemed a sacred thing. They might not +understand. But the impulse remained and she obeyed it, and quietly told +them. And as they listened there seemed to come a touch of the Spirit's +presence upon them all. And so the day was a blessed one. Its close found +her husband back again. And as he greeted her he said quietly, "My dear, +you did as I said, didn't you? The fever's gone."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch08"> +<h2>Gideon's Band: Sifted for Service.</h2> + + + +<ul> + <li><a href="#ch08-1">God Wants the Best.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch08-2">God's Use of Weak Things.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch08-3">Call for Volunteers.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch08-4">A Willing People.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch08-5">Courageous Volunteers.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch08-6">Irresistible Logic.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch08-7">Hot Hearts.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch08-8">God Still Sifting.</a></li> +</ul> + + + + +<h2>Gideon's Band: Sifted for Service.</h2> + +<h3>(1 Corinthians i:18-31; Judges vi and vii.)</h3> + + +<div class="sec" id="ch08-1"> +<h3>God Wants the Best.</h3> + + +<p>Salvation is for all. Service is for those chosen for it. All <i>may</i> serve. +That all do not is simply because service requires qualities which all do +not have. Yet, again, all may have them who will, for the required +qualities are <i>heart qualities</i>. And every one of us can cultivate the +heart qualities. There is special service, chiefly of leadership, +requiring brain qualities as well as heart. But the Master attends to the +choosing of men for such service.</p> + +<p>And where His spirit has touched human hearts there will be a glad doing +of just what service He appoints. It will be an honor to do just what He +asks because He asks. What it may happen to be will be a small matter in +itself. It is for Him, at His desire, and that is full enough to bring out +the best we have.</p> + +<p>Our old Tarsus and Antioch friend and leader has written a special word +about this matter of being chosen for service. It is in his first letter +to the recently organized church at Corinth. It is really his second +letter, for he seems to have written one before it that has not been +preserved.<sup><a href="#fn23">23</a></sup> There were some very serious matters in this new church +requiring strong treatment by its much-loved founder. Among them was one +about service.</p> + +<p>There were some who had gifts in service that seemed more attractive and +desirable than others had, it might be said more showy. And their +brethren, not free from the old worldly spirit, were envious and jealous. +And these who had such gifts were not free from a boasting spirit. +Factions or parties had arisen as a result. It was the bad world spirit of +competition and rivalry in among Christ's followers where it should never +come, yet where it still does come. In writing this letter Paul throughout +blends great plainness and common sense with great tenderness.</p> + +<p>In the beginning of his letter he calls attention to the fact that there +are not many among them of those who were reckoned by the world's +standards as wise or mighty or noble. On the contrary, in choosing His +leaders God had purposely chosen those reckoned by the world's standards +foolish that He might show plainly the shallowness of what they deem wise. +And so things reckoned weak had been chosen to give the conception of +what true strength is. And things even base, and despised, and not counted +at all had been used that so men might learn the God-standards of wisdom +and strength and honor and of what is worth while. The purpose being that +men should quit glorying in themselves and glorify Him from whom +everything had come, and was ever coming.</p> + +<p>The passage has oftentimes been quoted as though God prefers weakness; +never put so bluntly as that perhaps, but plainly meaning that. That of +course is not true. God wants the best we have. He needs the best. And for +leadership often His plans must wait till a man of the sort needed can be +gotten. And gotten frequently means broken, shattered, and then made over +wholly new, that the native strength may be used according to true +standards.</p> + +<p>Jacob was chosen rather than his elder brother Esau, not because of +Jacob's goodness but because of Esau's weakness. God was narrowed to these +two grandsons in carrying out the promise to Abraham. Jacob was +contemptible in his moral dealings, but he had qualities of leadership +wholly lacking in his brother. His moral character was a serious +hindrance. God had to handle him heroically before He could get the use of +his stronger mental equipment. Jacob had to get a bad throw-down before he +would be willing to let God have His way. His body must be weakened +before his mental power would yield. That was the weakness of his +stubbornness. Stubbornness is strength not strong enough to yield.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch08-2"> +<h3>God's Use of Weak Things.</h3> + + +<p>It is true that over and over again God has used men utterly weak and +foolish and despised in the light of life's common standards. He wants men +of the best mental strength, of the finest mental training, and He uses +such when they are willing to be used, and governed by the true +God-standards of life. But talent seems specially beset with temptation. +The very power to do great things seems often to bewilder the man +possessing it. Wrong ambition gets the saddle and the reins and whip too, +and rides hard.</p> + +<p>Frequently some man who had not guessed he had talent, born in some lonely +walk of life, without the training of the schools, is used for special +leadership. It takes longer time always. Early mental training is an +enormous advantage. Carey the cobbler had mental talents to grace a +Cambridge chair. It took a little longer time to get him into shape for +the pioneer work he did in India. Duff's training gave him a great +advantage.</p> + +<p>But God is never in a hurry. He can wait. What He asks is that we shall +bring the best we have natively, with the best possible training, and let +Him use us absolutely as He may wish. And always remember that every +mental power is a gift from Him; that actual power in life must be through +Him only; and that mental gifts are not serviceable save as they are ever +inbreathed by His own Spirit.</p> + +<p>This word of Paul's finds most graphic illustration in the book of Judges. +Judges should be put alongside of the first chapter of First Corinthians. +It is a series of pictorial illustrations of what Paul is saying there. +These two books, Joshua and Judges, side by side in the Old Testament +stand in sharpest contrast. The keynote of Joshua is victory; of Judges +defeat. There's music in both, but contrasted music. Joshua rings with +songs in the major key, triumphant, militant, joyous, victorious.</p> + +<p>The music of Judges is in the minor, sad and weeping, with the harps +hanging on the willows. Joshua is upon the mountain top with sun shining +and air bracing and outlook inspiring. Judges is down in the valley +bottoms, dark and gloomy, and depressing. Yet Judges has bright spots, and +has spurts of good music interspersed. It is a study in lights and +shadows, bright lights, and dark shadowings, but with the blacker tints +intensifying and overcoming the others.</p> + +<p>There are here seven striking illustrations of God's use of strange +unusual means, such as are reckoned weak and trivial. A <i>left-handed</i> man +uses that peculiarity to get a great victory and eighteen years of freedom +for the nation.<sup><a href="#fn24">24</a></sup> A farmer with as homely a weapon as an <i>ox-goad</i> +delivers his people from oppression.<sup><a href="#fn25">25</a></sup> Men came to be so scarce, that is +men that were men enough to take their true place as leaders, that a +<i>woman</i> had to step into the breach, and assume leadership. But the +student of history and of modern times is used to that. The result was +great victory, and a forty years' rest from the nation's enemies.<sup><a href="#fn26">26</a></sup></p> + +<p>A <i>nail</i> or <i>tent-pin</i>, only a wooden peg, in the hands of a woman with a +hammer helps to make the enemy's defeat more decisive.<sup><a href="#fn27">27</a></sup> <i>Three hundred</i> +young men with <i>pitchers and trumpets</i> completely rout the three armies of +three nations, and bring another deliverance.<sup><a href="#fn28">28</a></sup> Another time <i>a piece of +a millstone</i> shoved over the wall by a woman turns the tide of battle +favorably.<sup><a href="#fn29">29</a></sup> And as contemptible a thing as the <i>jawbone of an ass</i> in +the hands of one strong man is used to slay a thousand men.<sup><a href="#fn30">30</a></sup></p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch08-3"> +<h3>Call for Volunteers.</h3> + + +<p>It is of one of these, one of the most striking of these, that we are to +talk together awhile; the graphic story of Gideon and his band of three +hundred young fellows. Things were in bad shape in the nation; about as +bad in every way as they could be. This time it was the Midianites who +overran the land, and held the leaderless people in most abject slavery. +With them were joined two other nations, the Amalekites and the Children +of the East. When the crops were almost ready to harvest, these raiders +swooped in in great numbers and destroyed all the crops and drove away all +the stock.</p> + +<p>They harried the Israelites so that life was made very miserable for them. +They were forced to flee from their farms and take refuge in caves and +dens and the fastnesses among the hills. Then, as usual, when they got +into bad shape the people remembered God, and cried for help, and, as +usual with Him, He at once forgave them and planned another great +deliverance.</p> + +<p>First of all Gideon the leader is chosen out, and put through a bit of +schooling. That is a fascinating story of great helpfulness. Then this +trained young leader gathers his band of helpers. And we want to mark +keenly how these three hundred men were sifted out of the thousands for +service. They were sifted out. They sifted themselves out. In that army +of thousands were just three hundred who had the needed qualifications for +the bit of service God wanted done.</p> + +<p>Look over the gathered thousands: which are the chosen three hundred? No +man knew. They didn't know themselves until the tests came. They chose +themselves out by the way they stood the three tests applied. Even so is +God ever sifting out men for service. The more difficult the service, the +higher the grade of leadership needed, the severer the test. The testing +both reveals the qualities, and in part makes them.</p> + +<p>The first quality these men had was <i>willingness.</i> They were all +<i>volunteers</i>. When the call came they rallied to the leader's side. Gideon +sent runners, criers, out throughout that whole section. They went first +to his own family clan, then to his tribe, then to three neighboring +tribes. They said that God had called upon Gideon to lead a movement +against the Midianites and their allies and he wanted every man to come +and help. The messengers went swiftly through the whole territory of these +neighboring tribes, arousing the men to action and calling for volunteers.</p> + +<p>A good many did not respond to the summons. Some were simply indifferent. +They could not help hearing the call, but there was no response without or +within. No change of expression in the eye or face. They went right on in +their heavy, dull way as though they hadn't heard. They were utterly +indifferent to the call. Some were reluctant. They stopped and listened, +but with a heavy slant backwards to their bodies. Their heels bore most of +their weight. It was a good idea to get up such a movement, the enemy +ought to be driven back and out, but--but--and their eyes are half shut +already.</p> + +<p>Some criticised. Who was Gideon? A young upstart! trying to push himself +forward as a leader. He had no skill or experience. And the people had no +weapons. The enemy had stolen everything of the sort away. And they were +clear outnumbered. There wasn't a ghost of a show. It would only make bad +matters worse. This young upstart Gideon would soon be sorry enough when +he butted his head against the experienced Midianite leaders. +And--and--and--there they are talking, criticising, but not responding to +the call. Such critics seldom respond, and helpers criticise in a very +different way. It takes less brain to criticise unwisely, captiously, far +less than to help. Almost any hare-brain can tear a thing to pieces. And +nothing is commoner than just such criticism.</p> + +<p>Some ridiculed. "Ha! ha! ha! Gideon going to be national leader; ha! ha! +ha! And whip the enemy. Ridiculous! Absurd!" And some were outrightly +opposed. They objected. The people would be aroused, their hopes awakened +only to be dashed. The whole thing was wrong, for it was impossible. And +these men tried to keep others from going.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch08-4"> +<h3>A Willing People.</h3> + + +<p>But many came. A crowd of volunteers came hurrying from farms and caves, +bringing such weapons probably as they had been able to keep in hiding. +They were willing to respond. It was a motley crowd, no doubt. There were +thirty-two thousand of them. These four tribes had once numbered as many +as one hundred and eighty-four thousand five hundred fighting men. And at +another, later, enumeration they had two hundred and twelve thousand men +of war age. Their numbers may be smaller now, though possibly not. It +looks as though only a small minority of all had responded, maybe one in +six or so.</p> + +<p>These men had the first great qualification for service, they were +willing. They were actively willing. They willed to come down to the front +and help fight the enemy, and deliver their nation. It is a great quality +this of being willing. That prophetic One Hundred and Tenth Psalm mentions +this as the great characteristic of those who shall rally about God's King +in a coming day of power. God reckons our service not by our ability but +by our willingness.<sup><a href="#fn31">31</a></sup></p> + +<p>Whatever is given out of a warm, willing heart is eagerly accepted by +Him. The Hebrew tabernacle was constructed of free-will offerings. The +people came willingly with their offerings and left them for Moses' use. +Some brought gold and silver, some finely woven tapestries and silks. Here +was one poor woman who wanted to give but had very little. So she went out +to her little flock of goats whereby her living came to her, and cut off a +big bunch of goat's hair, and then with much pains dyed it red.</p> + +<p>And then one day she went up to where they were presenting their gifts and +timidly laid her bunch of goat's hair on the pile of offerings, and +quietly, quickly slipped away. It seemed very small on that pile of gold +and silver and richly-colored weavings. But it was the gift of her heart. +They had to have goat's hair as well as gold. And her offering was +acceptable because it came from a willing heart. Willingness is a heart +quality. It is the heart volunteering.</p> + +<blockquote class="poetry"> +<div class="line"> "Our wills are ours to make them Thine."</div> +</blockquote> + +<p>This was the first test. Thirty-two thousand out of four tribes stood this +test. Gideon's army had one great qualification at the start.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch08-5"> +<h3>Courageous Volunteers.</h3> + + +<p>Now these men are put to a second test. The next morning God surprised +Gideon by telling him that he had too many men. If a victory was given +them with so many men they would feel that they had done the thing +themselves. They would grow so large as to shut God out of their +landscape. There would be no getting along with them. Each man would feel +that he was the essential factor. They would go back to the homefolks to +tell of themselves. God seems to know us folk down on the earth fairly +well.</p> + +<p>Now He would lessen their numbers, but in doing it He will pick out the +best. The men are encamped on the hillsides overlooking a valley. Across +the valley to the north lay the encamped armies of three nations. They +were a vast host. They were spread out as thick as the grasshoppers of +Egypt had been years before. Everywhere you looked there they were +swarming.</p> + +<p>Gideon spoke to his men. He said, "Gentlemen, Fellow-Israelites, there is +the enemy. Take a good look at them." And his followers looked, and as +they looked some of them began to get scared. They had not realized just +what was involved. Their footwear seemed to grow too large. They were +shaking in their boots. And their eyes grew big and their faces white +under the tan.</p> + +<p>Then Gideon said, "Now, every man of you that thinks it can't be done--I +wish you would get right out of this, and go back home." And he watched. +And I imagine even Gideon shook a bit inside as he watched. They +commenced to move away in squads, in scores, in fifties. Great gaps were +left in the mob of men. Here is a fellow standing, looking. He thinks, "It +looks pretty bad, sure enough; but then, I suppose, if God is planning--" +hello, the fellow by his side has gone, and on this other side too--"I +guess I'd better go too." And off he goes. Fear is very contagious. There +is great power in feeling a man by your side. And two-thirds of them +disappear over the hills.</p> + +<p>The motto of these disappearing men was this: "It can't be done." They +must have organized themselves into a society to perpetuate their own +idea. If so the society has shown great vitality. Many of its members +abide with us until this day. No, probably they didn't organize. They +didn't have enough gumption to. And such a sentiment grows like a weed +without any cultivation.</p> + +<p>I recall a certain town in Ohio where I had gone to talk about an +enlargement and re-vitalizing of the Young Men's Christian Association. +Thousands of young men in the place needed just such help as that +organization is supposed to provide. I outlined the plan to a clergyman. +He said it was a good plan, there was great need, the thing should be +done, "but," he said, with an air of settling the thing, "it can't be done +in <i>this town</i>."</p> + +<p>Among others I talked with a business man. He listened attentively, +approved the plans, agreed upon the great need, and then settling back in +his chair with the same air of finality, used exactly the same words, with +the same emphasis, "It can't be done in <i>this town</i>." I got that same +reply from several men that day. And I said to myself, "They are right; it +can't be done <i>with them</i>; but it can be done without them." And it was.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch08-6"> +<h3>Irresistible Logic.</h3> + + +<p>But there remained ten thousand. These men by their staying said, "It +ought to be done. What ought to be done can be done. What can be done <i>we</i> +can do. What we can do we <i>will</i> do." Here is another man standing looking +at that vast host across the valley. He is thinking that it is a desperate +case, but he thinks of God's call through Gideon. Just then he notices +that his neighbor on the left has taken to his heels, and on his right +also. That shakes him for a moment. His heels say, "You go too." His heart +said, "No, stay." He obeyed his heart. He said, "I'll stay if I stay +alone."</p> + +<p>That was the stuff in these remaining ten thousand. They stood a double +test in remaining, the desperate situation seen in the presence of such an +enormous army, and the desertion of their fellows. They had <i>courage</i>; +not only willingness but courage. Courage is a heart quality. Courage is +the heart fighting. It faces fearful odds and keeps right straight ahead +regardless.</p> + +<p>A prize was offered once for the best definition of "pluck." The +definition that won the prize said, "Pluck is fighting with the scabbard +after the sword is broken." What a picture in a single sentence! The man +is fighting with might and main in the thick of the enemy, up and down, +parry and thrust, and just about holding his own, when suddenly, without a +moment's warning, the blade snaps close up to the hilt. The game's up now +surely. This accident decides the day. <i>Maybe</i>--for <i>some</i> men. But not +for this fellow. He simply sets his jaws a bit firmer as, quick as +lightning, he grabs the scabbard by his side and fights with it.</p> + +<p>Such a man can't be whipped. He doesn't know when he is whipped. And the +man who doesn't know when he is whipped, never <i>is</i> whipped. No man can be +whipped without his own consent. I said courage is a heart quality. These +ten thousand were not chicken-hearted nor downhearted. They were +lion-hearted, stout-hearted. They had hearts of oak.</p> + +<p>It was a keen stroke of generalship on Gideon's part that sent the timid, +discouraged ones back home. Nothing is more demoralizing than the presence +of such people. And there was no discipline much finer for those who +remained than to feel their fellows leaving them. It's hard to be left by +those who have been in touch. It is hard to stand alone.</p> + +<p>There is no harder test of character than that. And too there is no finer +thing to make character. Think how the fiber of those ten thousand +toughened and strengthened as they <i>stood</i> there, with men on every side +hurrying away. This was the second test. But the men who can stand testing +are growing fewer. Thirty-two thousand men were willing. Only a third of +them are both willing and courageous. These men are more than volunteers. +They have seen the foe. Their fiber has stood the test, and toughened in +the test. They are <i>courageous</i> volunteers.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch08-7"> +<h3>Hot Hearts.</h3> + + +<p>But there is a third test. God comes to Gideon and says, "You have too +many men yet, Gideon." And Gideon's eyes bulge out a bit. Too many! Yes, +this is to be a quality fight. No common fighting here. God works best +with the men who come nearest to having His own thought of things. Numbers +don't count. You can't count men for service. You must weigh them, and +feel the firmness of their fiber.</p> + +<p>There is a little running brook down the valley. Gideon gives an order to +his men to advance a bit. And he watches them. Most of them as they come +to the water stretch out leisurely on the ground and putting their mouths +to the water take a good long drink, and another, and again. They seem to +say by their action, "Well, there's some tough work ahead, but we must +take care of ourselves. A man must look out for number one. We must not +get unduly stirred up over the thing. We're not fighting yet."</p> + +<p>But one fellow comes along with a quick, nervous step, and his eye still +on the enemy. He is all on tenter-hooks. His eye flashes fire. He reaches +down with a quick movement and gathers up some water in his hand, up to +his mouth, and hurries on. Then a second fellow, and a third, and more. +Gideon is watching. As each of these comes along he calls him off to one +side. When the whole number of men have passed the brook there are just +three hundred of the hot-hearted, intense-spirited fellows.</p> + +<p>God said, "Gideon, keep these men; send the others back." These thousands +sent back were sturdy men. They would make good fighters in many a +campaign, but they would not do for this higher kind of campaigning +planned for that day. The little band remaining had stood a third test, +they were willing, and courageous, <i>and enthusiastic</i>.</p> + +<p>Enthusiasm is the heart <i>burning</i>. These fellows had spring and snap to +them. Yet it was a <i>tempered</i> spring and snap, the sort that would last. +By their action at the brook they said, "If there's fighting to be done, +let's do it quickly; let's go at the enemy with a vim and a rush. Oh! let +us at them."</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch08-8"> +<h3>God Still Sifting.</h3> + + +<p>Yet, mark you, their enthusiasm was <i>seasoned</i>. It grew <i>under fire</i>, or +practically so, in the presence of the danger. There is always an +abundance of the green article of enthusiasm, but it's not worth much for +steady ditch-work. There is a sort of wood enthusiasm, apple-wood. You +know how apple-wood burns in a fire. It catches quickly, throws out a good +many sparks, makes a loud crackling noise, but doesn't last long.</p> + +<p>There is another sort, a soft-coal enthusiasm. It's better than wood. But +it needs a lot of attention continually to keep a steady fire. Then +there's the hard-coal enthusiasm that will burn steadily and faithfully by +the hour. Yet no kind, mark you, will run long without fresh fuel. We need +in our service more of the seasoned enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>It has been said of General Grant that one great reason for his success as +a soldier was in his coolness. While the fighting and firing were hottest +he sat on his horse quietly, coolly watching, listening, and giving his +orders. And much of his power has been attributed to that quality. Well, +if coolness is a qualification for success in Christian service there +seems to be a large number of persons splendidly qualified. They are cool +all the time; cool as icebergs at the North Pole; cool from the topmost +layer of hair to the bottommost cuticle--about certain things.</p> + +<p>We want coolness of head such as General Grant had and hotness of heart +such as he had, too. The ideal combination is a cool head and a hot heart. +The head should resemble a refrigerator, and the heart a flaming furnace. +There is one bother, however, among many people. Either the coolness of +the head works down too much and affects the heart, and that is bad, or, +else the heat of the heart gets up into the head, and a hot head is always +bad.</p> + +<p>Yet there is a sure key to preserving the poise between the two. It is in +the quiet time daily with Jesus, over the Book, with the knee bent, and +the ear keen, and the spirit quiet. In that time there comes, and comes +ever more, the calmness for the brain, and the fresh fuel for the heart, +and new steadiness for the will that holds all under its strong hand.</p> + +<p>Many difficulties will yield only to fire. When you cannot reason your way +through a problem, or a difficulty, or into a man's heart, <i>burn</i> your +way through. Nothing can withstand fire. It is very remarkable that the +symbol used most for God in the Bible is fire. A man never amounts to +anything until he catches fire.</p> + +<p>The proportions are worth noticing here. Thirty-two thousand were +<i>volunteers</i>. A third of that number are <i>courageous</i> volunteers. About a +thirty-third of these, less than a hundredth of the original, are +<i>hot-hearted, courageous</i> volunteers.</p> + +<p>This is Gideon's Band; three hundred young men fresh from the farm, who +were <i>willing</i>, and <i>courageous</i>, and <i>hot-hearted</i>, all heart qualities. +They stood every test. They had faced a foe that humanly they had no +chance to overcome, and because of God's call they were not only willing, +and stout-hearted, but intense in their desire to get at the fighting.</p> + +<p>Then under Gideon's leadership they were well fed, and organized; they +proved individually faithful in the thick of the fight, and they pushed +persistently on even when bodily tired out. And the nation knew a great +victory over its enemies, and a time of prosperity for years after.</p> + +<p>God is still sifting men for service. He will use gladly every man who is +willing to be used. When a man stands the first test well, there comes a +second. That, stood well, means others. These are our promotion tests. He +lets those who stand all testings into the thickest of the fight and up to +the highest heights of victory.</p> + +<p>Master, help us to endure every test as seeing Him who is invisible.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div id="footnotes"> +<h2>Footnotes</h2> + + + +<p id="fn1">1. 1 John i:1.</p> + +<p id="fn2">2. 2 Corinthians iii:18.</p> + +<p id="fn3">3. Frances Ridley Havergal.</p> + +<p id="fn4">4. Exodus xxi:2-6, Leviticus xxv:39-43; Deuteronomy xv:12-18.</p> + +<p id="fn5">5. Psalm xi:6-8; Hebrews x:5-7.</p> + +<p id="fn6">6. Isaiah 1:4-6.</p> + +<p id="fn7">7. John v:19, 30; vi:38, 57; vii:16-17, 28; viii:28, 29.</p> + +<p id="fn8">8. John Sullivan Dwight.</p> + +<p id="fn9">9. Mark i:41; Matthew ix:36; Mark vi:34 (with Matthew xiv:14); +Matthew xx:34; xv:32; Mark v:19; Luke vii:13; x:33; xv:20</p> + +<p id="fn10">10. Daniel xii:3.</p> + +<p id="fn11">11. James v:19.</p> + +<p id="fn12">12. Proverbs xi:30.</p> + +<p id="fn13">13. Luke v:10.</p> + +<p id="fn14">14. Acts xvii:6.</p> + +<p id="fn15">15. 1 Thessalonians iv:11; 2 Corinthians v. 9, Romans xv:20.</p> + +<p id="fn16">16. Attention is directed to a strong helpful address on "Money," by Rev. +A. F. Schauffler, D.D., in "The Student Missionary Appeal," published by +the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions.</p> + +<p id="fn17">17. Luke xvi:9.</p> + +<p id="fn18">18. Psalm cxix:54.</p> + +<p id="fn19">19. Psalm xxx:5.</p> + +<p id="fn20">20. Psalm lv:22.</p> + +<p id="fn21">21. Psalm lxviii:19.</p> + +<p id="fn22">22. I Peter v:7.</p> + +<p id="fn23">23. 1 Corinthians v:9-12.</p> + +<p id="fn24">24. Judges iii:15-30.</p> + +<p id="fn25">25. Judges iii:31.</p> + +<p id="fn26">26. Judges iv:4-16; v:1.</p> + +<p id="fn27">27. Judges iv:17-24.</p> + +<p id="fn28">28. Judges vi and vii.</p> + +<p id="fn29">29. Judges ix:50-57.</p> + +<p id="fn30">30. Judges xv:15-20.</p> + +<p id="fn31">31. 2 Corinthians viii:12.</p> +</div> +<p> </p> +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12529 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9d4e2d9 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #12529 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12529) diff --git a/old/12529-8.txt b/old/12529-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3eeff32 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12529-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4933 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Quiet Talks on Service, by S. D. Gordon + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Quiet Talks on Service + +Author: S. D. Gordon + +Release Date: June 5, 2004 [eBook #12529] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: iso-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK QUIET TALKS ON SERVICE*** + + +E-text prepared by Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders + + + +QUIET TALKS ON SERVICE + +by + +S. D. GORDON + +Author of "Quiet Talks on Power" and "Quiet Talks on Prayer" + +1906 + + + + + + + +Contents + + + +Personal Contact with Jesus: The Beginning of Service +The Triple Life: The Perspective of Service +Yokefellows: The Rhythm of Service +A Passion for Winning Men: The Motive-power of Service +Deep-Sea Fishing: The Ambition of Service +Money: The Golden Channel of Service +Worry: A Hindrance to Service +Gideon's Band: Sifted for Service + + + + +Personal Contact With Jesus: The Beginning of Service. + + + + The Beginning of an Endless Friendship. + An Ideal Biography. + The Eyes of the Heart. + We are Changed. + The Outlook Changed. + Talking with Jesus. + Getting Somebody Else. + The True Source of Strong Service. + + + + +Personal Contact With Jesus: The Beginning of Service. + +(John i:35-51.) + + + +The Beginning of an Endless Friendship. + + +About a quarter of four one afternoon, three young men were standing +together on a road leading down to a swift-running river. It was an old +road, beaten down hard by thousands of feet through hundreds of years. It +led down to the river, and then along its bank through a village +scatteringly nestled by the fords of the river. The young men were +intently absorbed in conversation. + +One of them was a man to attract attention anywhere. He was clearly the +leader of the three. His clothing was very plain, even to severeness. His +face was spare, suggesting a diet as severely plain as his garments. The +abundance of dark hair on head and face brought out sharply the spare, +thoughtful, earnest look of his face. His eyes glowed like coals of living +fire beneath the thick, bushy eyebrows. He talked quietly but intensely. +There was a subdued vigor and force about his very person. + +One of the others was a very different type of man. He was intense too, +like the leader, but there was a fineness and a far-looking depth about +his eye such as suggests a gray eye rather than a black. His hair was +softer and finer, and his skin too. In him intensity seemed to blend with +a fine grain in his whole make-up. The third man was a quiet, +matter-of-fact looking fellow. He did not talk much, except to ask an +occasional question. The three men were engaged in earnest conversation, +when a fourth man, a stranger, came down the road and, passing the three +by, went on ahead. + +The leader of the three called the attention of his companions to the +stranger. At once they leave his side and go after the stranger. As they +nearly catch up to him, he unexpectedly turns and in a kindly voice asks, +"Whom are you looking for?" Taken aback by the unexpected question, they +do not answer, but ask where he is going. Quickly noticing the point of +their question, he cordially says, "Come over and take tea with me." + +They gladly accepted the invitation, and spent the evening with him. And +the friendship begun that day continued to the end of their lives. Both +became his dear friends. And one, the fine-grained, intense man, became +his closest bosom friend. He never forgot that day. When he came years +after to write about his hospitable friend, found that afternoon, he could +remember every particular of their first meeting. We must always be +grateful to John for his simple, full account of his first meeting with +Jesus. + + + +An Ideal Biography. + + +His simple story of that afternoon contains in it the three steps that +begin all service. They looked at Jesus; they talked with Jesus; forever +to the end of their lives they talked about Him. Here are the two personal +contacts that underlie all service, that lead into all service. The close +personal contact with Jesus begun and continued. And then personal contact +with other men ever after. The first always leads to the second. The power +and helpfulness of the second grow out of the first. + +There is a little line in the story that may serve as a graphic biography +of John the Herald. There could be no finer biography of anybody of whom +it could be truly written. It is this: "Looking upon Jesus as He walked, +he said look." He himself was absorbed in looking. Jesus caught him from +the first. He was ever looking. And he asked others to look. His whole +ministry was summed up in pointing Jesus out to others. + +He was ever insisting that men look at Jesus. Looking, he said "look." +His lips said it, and life said it. John's presence was always spelling +out that word "look," with his whole life an index finger pointing to +Jesus. If we might be like that. Every man of us may be in his life, in +the great unconscious influence of his presence, a clearly lettered +signpost pointing men to the Master. All true service begins in personal +contact with Jesus. One cannot know Him personally without catching the +warm contagion of His spirit for others. And there is a fine fragrance, a +gentle, soft warmth, about the service that grows out of being with Him. + +The beginning of John's contact with Jesus that day, and Andrew's, was in +looking. Their friend the herald bid them look. They found him looking. +They did as he was doing. Following the line of his eyes, and of his +teaching too, and of his life, they looked at Jesus. And as they looked +the sight of their eyes began to control them. They left John and +quickened their pace to get nearer to this Man at whom they were looking. +There never was a finer tribute to a man's faithfulness to his Master than +is found in these men leaving John. They could not help going. They had +been led by John into the circle of Jesus' attractive power. And at once +they are irresistibly drawn toward its center. + +The basis of the truest devotion and deepest loyalty to Jesus is not in a +creed but in Himself. There must be creeds. Whatever a man believes is of +course his creed. Though as quickly as he puts it into words he narrows +it. Truth is always more than any statement of it. Faith is always greater +than our words about it. We do not see Jesus with our outer eyes as did +these men in the Gospel narrative. We cannot put out our hands in any such +way as Thomas did and know by the feel. We must listen first to somebody +telling about Him. + +We listen either with eyes on the Book, or ears open to some faithful +mutual friend of His and ours. What we hear either way is a creed, +somebody's belief about Jesus. So we come to Jesus first through a creed, +somebody's belief, somebody's telling: so we know there is a Jesus, and +are drawn to Himself. When we come to know Himself, always afterwards He +is more than anything anybody ever told us, and more than we can ever +tell. + + + +The Eyes of the Heart. + + +Looking at Jesus--what does it mean practically? It means hearing about +Him first, then actually appealing to Him, accepting His word as personal +to one's self, putting Him to the test in life, trusting His death to +square up one's sin score, trusting His power to clean the heart and +sweeten the spirit, and stiffen the will. It means holding the whole life +up to His ideals. Aye, it means more yet; something on His side, an +answering look from Him. There comes a consciousness within of His love +and winsomeness. That answering look of His holds us forever after His +willing slaves, love's slaves. Paul speaks of the eyes of the heart. It is +with these eyes we look at Him, and receive His answering look. + +There are different ways of looking at Jesus, degrees in looking. Our +experiences with Jesus affect the eyes of the heart. When this same John +as an old man was writing that first epistle, he seems to recall his +experience in looking that first day. He says "that which we have _seen_ +with our eyes, that which we _beheld_."[1] From seeing with the eyes he +had gone to earnest, thoughtful _gazing_, caught with the vision of what +he saw. That was John's own experience. It is everybody's experience that +gets a look at Jesus. When the first looking sees something that catches +fire within, then does the inner fire affect the eye and more is seen. + +You have been in a strange city walking down the street, looking with +interest at what is there. But all at once you are caught by a sign that +contains a familiar name, and at once a whole flood of memories is +awakened. + +The little Jericho Jew peering down from the low out-reaching sycamore +branch was full of curiosity to see the Man that had changed his old +friend Levi Matthew so strangely. But that curiosity quickly changes into +something far deeper and more tender as Jesus comes to abide in his own +home. + +That lonely-lifed, sore-hearted woman on the Nain road looked with +startled wonder out of those wet eyes of hers as Jesus begins talking to +her dead son. What love and faith must have been in her looking as Jesus +with fine touch brings her boy by the hand over to her warm embrace again! + + + +We are Changed. + + +Looking at Jesus _changes us._ Paul's famous bit in the second Corinthian +letter has a wondrous tingle of gladness in it. "We all with open face +beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are changed from glory to +glory."[2] The change comes through our looking. The changing power comes +in through the eyes. It is the glory of the Lord that is seen. The +glorious Jesus looking in through our looking eyes changes us. It is +gradual. It is ever more, and yet more, till by and by His own image comes +out fully in our faces. + +We become like those with whom we associate. A man's ideals mold him. +Living with Jesus makes us look like Himself. We are familiar with the +work that has been done in restoring old fine paintings. A painting by one +of the rare old master painters is found covered with the dust of decades. +Time has faded out much of the fine coloring and clearly marked outlines. +With great patience and skill it is worked over and over. And something of +the original beauty, coming to view again, fully repays the workman for +all his pains. + +The original image in which we were made has been badly obscured and faded +out. But if we give our great Master a chance He will restore it through +our eyes. It will take much patience and a skill nothing less than divine. +But the original will surely come out more and more till we shall again be +like the original, for we shall _see_ Him as He is. + +The old German artist Hoffmann is said to visit at intervals the royal +gallery in Dresden, where he lives, to touch up his paintings there. Even +so our Master, living in us, keeps touching us up that the full beauty of +His ideal may be brought out. + +How often a girl growing up into the fullness of her mature young +womanhood calls out the remark, "You are growing more and more like your +mother." And the similar remark is heard of a young man developing the +traits and features of his father. + +There is a law of unconscious assimilation. We become like those with whom +we go. Without being conscious of it we take on the characteristics of +those with whom we live. I remember one time my brother returned home for +a visit after a prolonged absence. As we were walking down the street +together he said to me, "You have been going with Denning a good deal"--a +mutual friend of ours. Surprised, I said, "How do you know I have?" He +said, "You walk just like him." What my brother had said was strictly +true, though he did not know it. Our friend had a very decided way of +walking. As a matter of fact, we had been walking home from the Young +Men's Christian Association three or four nights every week. And +unconsciously I had grown to imitate his way of walking. + +That sentence of Paul's has also this meaning, "We all with open face +_reflecting_ as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are changed." We stand +between Him and those who don't know Him. We are the mirror catching the +rays of His face and sending them down to those around. And not only do +those around see the light--His light--in us, but we are being changed all +the while. For others' sake as well as our own the mirror should be kept +clean, and well polished so the reflection will be distinct and true. + + + +The Outlook Changed. + + +Looking at Jesus _changes the world for us._ It is as though the light of +His eyes fills our eyes and we see things all around as He sees them. Have +you ever gone out, as a child, and looked intently at the sun, repressing +the flinching its strength caused and insisting on looking? You could do +it for a short time only. It made your eyes ache. But as you turned your +eyes away from its brilliance you found everything changed. You remember a +beautiful yellow glory-light was over everything, and every ugly jagged +thing was softened and beautified by that glow in your eyes. Looking at +the sun had changed the world for you for a little. + +It is something like that on this higher plane, in this finer sense. That +must have been something of Paul's thought in explaining the glory of +Jesus that he saw on the Damascus road. "When I could not see for the +glory of that light." The old ideals were blurred. The old ambitions faded +away. The jagged, sharp lines of sacrifice and suffering involved in his +new life were not clearly seen. A halo had come over them. + +I recall a bit of a poem I ran across in an old magazine somewhere. It was +one of those vagrant, orphan poems with fine family lineaments that find +their way unfathered into odd corners of papers. It told about a man +riding on horseback through a bit of timber land in one of the cotton +states of the South. + +It was a bright October day, and he was riding along enjoying the air and +view, when all at once he came across a bit of a clearing in the trees, +and in the clearing an old cabin almost fallen to pieces, and in the +doorway of the cabin an old negress standing. Her back was bent nearly +double with the years of hard work, her face dried up and deeply bitten +with wrinkles, and her hair white. But her eyes were as bright as two +stars out of the dark blue, it said. + +And the man called out cheerily, "Good-morning, auntie, living here all +alone?" And she looked up, with her eyes brighter yet with the thought in +her heart, and in a shrill keyed-up voice said, "Jes me 'n' Jesus, massa." +But he said a hush came over the whole place, there seemed a halo about +the old broken-down cabin, and he thought he could see Somebody standing +by her side looking over her shoulder at him, and His form was like that +of the Son of God. + +How poor and limited and mean her world looked to him as he rode up. But +how quickly everything changed as he saw it through her seeing of it. With +the keen insight into spirit things so often found in such simplicity +among her race, she had gotten the whole simple philosophy of life. Her +world was changed and beautiful in the loneliness of the woods by reason +of her Master's presence. + +This removes the commonplace at once clear out of one's life. There is no +drudgery nor humdrum nor hardship, because everything is for Jesus, and +seen through His eyes. Whatever comes in the pathway of his work is +gladdest joy, whether an obscure narrow round of home work or shop or +store, or leaving home for a strange land far across the sea with a +peculiarly uncongenial spirit atmosphere. Contact with Jesus, seeing Him, +changes all for us. + + + +Talking with Jesus. + + +These two men in the story went from their first looking into closer +contact. They looked at Jesus. Then they talked with Jesus. It was at His +own request. He wanted them. He wanted their friendship and their help. +Having started, it was easy for them to go. Having seen, they naturally +wanted more. At least two hours they talked, maybe longer. Judging by what +they did as soon as they got away, it was a most wonderful talk for them. + +This Jesus took them at once. His face, His presence, His talk, Himself +filled all their sky. Everything swung around into a new setting. He was +its center. All things began to adjust themselves for these men about +Jesus. He was irresistible to them. These two men went through some most +trying experiences as a result of the friendship formed that evening hour, +but these counted not in the scale with _Him_. They never got over the +talk with Him that twilight hour. + +That two hours' talk lengthened out into many another during the years +immediately after. They got into the habit of referring everything to Him, +and of judging everything by what He would think. It was so clear to the +end of their lives. For a little over three years did they keep Him by +their side actually, physically. But the habit of keeping Him there was +fixed for all the longer after years. The looking at Jesus and talking +with Jesus ever went side by side clear to the end of the years. + +It will be so. Getting a good look at this Master draws one off into the +quiet corner with the Book to listen and talk and learn more. And out of +this naturally grows (if one will give a little attention to good +gardening rules) the habit of talking with Him all the time. In the thick +of the crowd, in the solitude of one's duties, with hands full of work, +the heart talks with Him and listens, and sometimes the tongue talks out +too. Our common word for it is prayer. Prayer precedes true service, and +produces it, and sweetens it. Only the service that grows up naturally out +of this personal contact with Jesus counts and tells and weighs for the +most. + + + +Getting Somebody Else. + + +These two men went away from Jesus that evening only to come back with +some others. They went from talking with Him to talking with others for +Him. Their personal contact was the beginning of their service. This is +one of the famous personal work chapters. There are three "findeths" in +it. Andrew findeth his brother Peter. That was a great find. John in his +modesty doesn't speak of it, but in all likelihood he findeth James _his_ +brother. Jesus findeth Philip and Philip in turn findeth Nathaniel, the +guileless man. + +That word findeth is very suggestive, even to being picturesque. It tells +the absence of these other men. Their whereabouts might be guessed, but +were not known. There was in the searchers a purpose, and a warmth in the +heart under that purpose. As Andrew looked and listened he said to +himself, "Peter must hear this; Peter must see this Man." And perhaps he +asks to be excused and, reaching for his hat, hastens out to get his +brother and bring him back to the house. He wants more himself, but he'll +get it with Peter in too. And so it would be with John likely. + +Peter had to be searched for. Most men do. He was probably absorbed with +all his impulsive intensity in some matter on hand. May be Andrew had to +pull quite a bit to get him started. But he got him. Andrew was a good +sticker: hard to shake him off. His is a fine name for a brotherhood of +personal workers. And when Peter once got started he never quit going. He +stumbled some, but he got up, and got up only to go on. Most men need some +one to get them started. There's need of more starters, more of us +starting people moving Jesus' way. + +I think the memory of this evening's work with Peter must have come back +very vividly to Andrew one morning a few years afterwards. It's up on the +hills of Judea, in Jerusalem. There's a great crowd of people standing in +the streets, filling the space for a great distance. There are some +thousands of them. They are listening spellbound to a man talking. It is +Peter. And down there near by, maybe holding Peter's hat while he talks, +is Andrew. His eyes are glowing. And if you might listen to his heart +talking, I think you would hear it saying softly, "I'm so glad I brought +Peter that evening I met Jesus." Peter's talk that day swung three +thousand men and women over to Jesus. Somebody has said that if Peter were +their spiritual father, certainly Andrew was their spiritual grandfather. +And I think God reckons the thing that way, too. + +There is a great deal of good talk these days about regenerating society. +It used to be that men talked about "reaching the masses." Now the other +putting of it is commoner. It is helpful talk whichever way it is put. The +Gospel of Jesus is to affect all society. It _has_ affected all society, +and is to more and more. But the thing to mark keenly is this, the key to +the mass is the man. The way to regenerate society is to start on the +individual. + +The law of influence through personal contact is too tremendous to be +grasped. You influence one man and you have influenced a group of men, and +then a group around each man of the group, and so on endlessly. +Hand-picked fruit gets the first and best market. The keenest marksmen are +picked out for the sharpshooters' corps. + + + +The True Source of Strong Service. + + +One morning with a friend I walked out of the city of Geneva to where the +waters of the lake flow with swift rush into the Rhone. And we were both +greatly interested in the strange sight which has impressed so many +travellers. There are two rivers whose waters come together here, the +Rhone and the Arve, the Arve flowing into the Rhone. The waters of the +Rhone are beautifully clear and sparkling. The waters of the Arve come +through a clayey soil and are muddy, gray, and dull. And for a long +distance the two waters are wholly distinct. Two rivers of water are in +one river-bed, on one side the sparkling blue Rhone water, on the other +the dull gray Arve water, and the line between the two sharply defined. +And so it continues for a long distance. Then gradually they blend and the +gray begins to tinge all through the blue. + +I went to the guide-book and maps to find out something about this river +that kept on its way undefiled by its neighbor for so long. Its source is +in a glacier that is between ten thousand and eleven thousand feet high, +descending "from the gates of eternal night, at the foot of the pillar of +the sun." It is fed continually by the melting glacier which, in turn, is +being kept up by the snows and cold. Rising at this great height, ever +being renewed steadily by the glacier, it comes rushing down the swift +descent of the Swiss Alps through the lake of Geneva and on. There is the +secret of purity, side by side with its dirty neighbor. + +Our lives must have their source high up in the mountains of God, fed by a +ceaseless supply. Only so can there be the purity, and the momentum that +shall keep us pure, and keep us _moving_ down in contact with men of the +earth. And we must keep closer to the source than is the Rhone at Geneva, +else the streams flowing alongside will unduly influence us. Constant +personal contact with Jesus is the beginning ever new of service. + + + + +The Triple Life: The Perspective of Service. + + + + On An Errand for Jesus. + The Parting Message. + A Secret Life of Prayer. + An Open Life of Purity. + An Active Life of Service. + The Perspective of True Service. + A Long Time Coming. + + + + +The Triple Life: The Perspective of Service. + +(Luke ix:1-6; x:1-3, 17; John xx:19-23; Matthew xxviii:18-20.) + + + +On An Errand for Jesus. + + +You remember there were four times that Jesus picked out a group of men, +and sent them on a special errand. About the middle of the second year of +His public life, He chose out twelve men and commissioned them for a +special bit of work. Six months before the tragic end, He chose seventy +others and sent them out in twos into all the places He was planning to +visit Himself. It was a remarkable campaign for carrying the news which He +was preaching into all the villages of that whole country through which +His journey south lay. + +Then the evening of that never-to-be-forgotten resurrection day, under +wholly changed conditions, He again commissions ten men of that first +twelve. Things had radically changed with Jesus. And there had been a bad +break in the loyalty of these men. Two of their number are absent. Judas +has gone to his own place, and Thomas was not there that evening. His +absence cost him a week of doubting and mental distress. Ten of the old +inner circle are commissioned anew. And then do you remember the last time +they were together? It was about six weeks later, on the rounded top of +the old Olives Mount, the eleven men with the Master. Four times He +commissioned a group of men for some service He wanted done. + +There are two things in these four commissions that make them alike. The +same two things are in each. The first thing is this: they are bidden to +"go." That ringing word "go ye" is in, each time. "As the Father hath sent +Me even so send I you." It is a familiar word to every follower of Jesus +then, and now, and always. A true follower of His always is stirred by a +spirit of _"go."_ A going Christian is a growing Christian. A going church +has always been a growing church. Those ages when the church lost the +vision of her Master's face on Olives, and let other sounds crowd out of +her ears the sound of His voice, were stagnant ages. They are commonly +spoken of in history as the dark ages. "Go" is the ringing keynote of the +Christian life, whether in a man or in the church. + +The second thing found always in each of these commissions is this: they +were qualified, or empowered to go. Whom God calls He always qualifies. +Where His voice comes His Spirit breathes. If there has come to you some +bit of a call to service, to teach a class, or write a special letter, or +speak a word, or take up something needing to be done. And you hesitate. +You think that you cannot. You are not fit, you think, not qualified. The +thing to do is to do it. + +If the call is clear go ahead. Need is one of the strong calling voices of +God. It is always safe to respond. Put _out_ your foot in the answering +swing, even though you cannot see clearly the place to put it _down_. God +attends to that part. Power comes _as we go_. + + + +The Parting Message. + + +Just now I want to talk with you a bit about the last one of these +commissions, the Olivet commission. I do not know just what day it was +given or at what hour. But I have thought it was in the twilight of a +Sabbath evening. There's a yellow glow of light filling all the western +sky running along the broken line of those hills yonder, and through the +trees, and in upon this group of men standing. + +Here in full view lies little Bethany fragrant with memories of Jesus' +power. Over yonder, those tree tops down in a bit of valley with the +brook--that is _Gethsemane_. And farther over there is the fortress city +of _Jerusalem_. And just outside its wall is the bit of a knoll called +_Calvary_. Here under these trees every night that last week of the +tragedy Jesus had slept out in the open, with His seamless coat wrapped +about Him. This is the spot He chooses for the good-by word. It is full of +most precious, fragrant memories. + +Here is the man who has been Simon, but out of whom a new man was coming +these days, Peter, the man of rock. And here are John and James, sons of +fire and of thunder, sons of their mother. And there, little Scotch +Andrew. At least our Scotch friends seem to have adopted him as their very +own. And close by his side is his friend with the Greek name, Philip. And +here the man to whom Jesus paid the great tribute of naming him the +guileless man. + +And the others, not so well known to us, but very well known to Jesus, and +to be not a whit less faithful than their brothers these coming days. But +somehow as you look you are at once irresistibly drawn past these to +_Him_--the Man in the midst. The Man with the great face, torn with the +thorns, and cut with the thongs, but shining with a sweet, wondrous, +beauty light. + +It is the last time they are together. He is going away; coming back soon, +they understand. They do not know just how soon. But meanwhile in His +absence they are to be as He Himself would be if He remained among men. +They are to stand for Him. And so with eyes fixed on His face they look, +and listen, and wonder a bit, just what the last word will be. + +What would you expect it to be? It was the good-by word between men who +were lovers, dearest friends. The tenderest thing would be said and the +most important. The one going away would speak of that which lay closest +down in His own heart. And whatever He might say would sink deepest into +their hearts, and control their action in the after days. + +He had been talking to them very insistently, about an hour before, down +in the city, about _waiting there_ until the Holy Spirit came upon them. +And that word has fastened itself into their minds with newly sharpened +hooks of steel points. Now He talks about their being His witnesses, here +at home among their own folks, and out among their half-breed Samaritan +neighbors, whom they didn't like, and then--with eyes looking yearningly +out and finger pointing steadily out--to the farthest reach of the planet. +And now, as He is about to go, this is the word that comes from those +lips: + + "All power hath been given unto Me. + Therefore go ye, + And make disciples of all nations." + + + +A Secret Life of Prayer. + + +There are four things in that good-by word. Three are directly spoken, and +one is not spoken, but directly implied. First is this, your chief work is +to win men. That is directly said. The second is implied--it is the +toughest task you ever undertook. That is implied in this that it will +take more power than they have. A power that only He has. A supernatural +power. And we all know how true that is. Of all luggage man is the hardest +to move. He _won't_ move unless he _will_. Every man of us that has ever +tried to change somebody's else purpose knows how impossible it is unless +by the inward pull. You simply _cannot_ without the man's consent. The +third thing is this: I have all the power needed. The fourth this: _You_ +go. + +And the Master meant to tell them, and to tell us, this: that a man should +lead a triple life, three lives in one. We sometimes hear of a man leading +a double life in a bad sense. In a good sense, every one of us should be +living a triple life, three distinct lives in one. The first of these +three lives is this: _a secret life, lived with Jesus, hidden from the +eyes of men_. An inner life of closest contact with Him, that the outside +folks know nothing about. + +Notice again the four statements in that good-by word. Your chief concern +is to win men. It is the toughest task you ever undertook: it will take +supernatural power. I have all the power you need. Instinctively you feel +as though the fourth thing should be, "I will go." That would seem to be +the logical conclusion. "No," Jesus says, "_you go_." Plainly if we are to +do something taking supernatural power, and we haven't any such power of +ourselves, there must be the closest kind of contact with the source of +power. The man who is to go must be in the most intimate contact with the +Man who has the powers needed in the going. + +And this is simply a law of all life, given to us here by life's greatest +Philosopher. The seen depends upon the secret always. The outer keys upon +the inner. The life that men see depends wholly upon the life that only +the Master sees. David had power to slay the lion and bear in secret, away +from the gaze of men, before he had power to slay the giant before the +wondering eyes of two nations. The closet becomes the swivel of the +street. + +In crossing the ocean there are two great dangers to be dreaded and +guarded against, aside from the storms that may arise. The greater of +these is an abandoned ship. One that through some stress of storm has been +left by the sailors in the attempt to save their lives. It is most +dangerous because it sends no warning ahead of its presence. In crossing +the Atlantic by the more northern routes the other danger is from the +icebergs that may be met in the steamer's path. If a fog obscure the +lookout the boat is slowed down, and a man kept busy with line and +thermometer taking the temperature of the water. The iceberg is kindlier +than the derelict, in the chill it sends out. The presence of the danger +can so be detected, and measures taken to avoid it. + +But the great danger here is not simply in the huge mountain of ice that +you see looming up against the sky, great as that is. It is in the unseen +ice. Hidden away below is a mountain of ice twice as large and heavy as +that seen above the water's surface. The danger lies in the terrific force +of a blow from this hidden pile that would crush the strongest steel +steamer, as I might crush an egg-shell in my fingers. + +We all admire the beauty of the trees that rear their heads, and send out +their branches, and make the world so beautiful with their soft green +foliage. But have you thought of the twin tree, the unseen tree that +belongs to these we see? For every tree that grows up and out with its +beauty and fruit there is another. The twin tree goes down and out. + +Sometimes, as far as this we see goes _up_, the other goes _down_; as far +as the branches go out so far do the underneath branches go out, +sometimes farther. This unseen tree is ever busy drawing moisture, and +food from the soil and sending it, ceaselessly sending it, up to the upper +tree. The beauty and fruitfulness above are because of this secret life of +the tree. + +I remember as a boy going to the bathroom in our home one day to draw some +water. But none came. There were a few drops, and some sputtering--there's +very apt to be sputtering when there is nothing else--but no flow of +water. And I wondered why. Soon I found that the main pipe in the street +was being fixed, and the water had been cut off at the curb. There was +water in the pipe clear from the curbstone up to the spigot, but I could +not get it because the reservoir connection under the ground had been +turned off. + +I have met some people since then that made me think of that. There is a +reservoir of water, clear and sweet, with which they have had connection, +and are supposed still to have. But when some thirsty body comes up for a +bit of refreshment, there's some sputtering, some noise, may be a few +stray drops--but no more. And folks seem thirstier because they were +expecting a cool, satisfying drink that never came. + +I think I know why it is so. The secret connection with the reservoir has +been tampered with. There _must_ be the secret contact with Jesus +cultivated habitually if there is to be a sweet, strong outer life. And +not cultivated by hothouse methods. Such plants won't stand the chilly air +outside the glass-house. Cultivated by natural, simple contact with Jesus, +over His Word, habitually, until everything comes under the influence of +that secret life. + +One day a man was standing on a busy downtown thoroughfare in Cleveland +waiting for a car. There was a thick, dirty wire hanging down from the +cross arm high up of the wire pole. He happened to stop there. And +absorbed in thought, he mechanically put out his hand and took hold of the +wire. Instantly a look of intense agony came into his face. His arm, and +whole body began twisting and writhing. Then he fell to the ground +lifeless. The dirty-looking wire had direct connections with the +power-house. It was throbbing with a strong current. It was a "live" wire. + +Some men who have seemed quite unattractive in the light of some modern +standards have been found on touch to be charged with a life current of +tremendous power. And some others, outwardly more attractive, have been +found to be as powerless as a dead wire. And some there have been, and +are, very winsome and attractive in themselves, and charged with the life +current too. The great thing is the secret connections carefully +maintained with the source of power. + +There must be the closest kind of touch with God if His plan through us +for a planet is to carry out. We do not run on the storage battery plan, +but on the trolley plan, or the third rail. There must be constant full +touch with the feed wire or rail. And that "must" should be spelled in +capitals, and printed in red, and triply underscored. + +A man _must_ plan for the bit of quiet time daily, preferably in the early +morning, alone with Jesus; with the door shut, the Book open, the spirit +quiet, the mind alert, the knee bent, the will bent too. If it be +resolutely _planned_ for it can be gotten in every life. If not planned +for with a bit of red iron in the will, it will surely slip out. And the +man will surely slip down. + +Here is found the spirit in which a man may live all the day long, +wherever his feet may tread, in the fierce competition of trade, or in the +deadly enervation of some society circles. Out of such a man shall +breathe, all unconsciously to himself, an atmosphere fragrant as a +mountain breeze over a field of wild roses. This is the first life Jesus +bids us live. + + + +An Open Life of Purity. + + +The second life we are to live is the exact reverse of this. It is indeed +the outer side of this: _an open life of purity lived among men for +Jesus_. Note again the logic of that good-by word. Your chief business is +to be down there in the thick of the crowd, winning men out of the dust +and dirt up into a new life of purity. It is the hardest job any man ever +undertook. It is practically impossible unless you have a power quite more +than human. Jesus quietly says, "I have the power that will do it." + +Again you feel that He must say next, "_I_ will go." The thing must be +done. It is the one thing worth while. It will require a power we haven't. +_He_ has it. You feel as though _He_ must do the going. "No," He says, +with great emphasis. "_You_ go. You be I; you live my life over again, +down there among men." The "Ye" and "Me" in that sentence are meant to be +interchangeable words. + +He is asking us to live His life over again among men. No, it is more than +that. He is asking us to let Him live His life over again in each of us. +The Man with the power that men can't resist would reach out to them +_through us._ He would be touching them in us. Jesus said, "As the Father +hath sent Me, even so send I you." He said again, "He that hath seen Me +hath seen the Father." Jesus embodied the Father to men. He asks us to +take His place and embody Himself to men. + +Paul understood this thoroughly. In writing to the friends throughout +Galatia, whom he had won up to Jesus, he says, "I have been crucified +with Christ." There is an old dead "I." "Nevertheless I live." There is a +new living "I." "Yet not I--the old I--but Christ liveth in me." _He_ was +the new I. There was a new personality within Paul. I never weary of +recalling what Martin Luther said about that verse in the comment he made +on Galatians. You remember he said, "If somebody should knock at my +heart's door, and ask who lives here, I must not say 'Martin Luther lives +here.' I would say 'Martin Luther--is--dead--Jesus--Christ--lives--here.'" + +I wonder if any of us has ever been taken for Jesus. I wonder if anybody +has ever _mistaken_ any of us for Him. You remember, He used to move among +men after the resurrection, and while they would feel the gentle +winsomeness of His presence and talk, they did not recognize Him. Has +somebody run across you or me sometime, and been with us a little while, +and then gone away saying to himself, "I wonder if that was Jesus back +again in disguise. He seemed so much like what I think Jesus must have +been--I wonder." + +Well, if it were so, of course we would not be conscious of it. A +Jesus-man is never absorbed in thinking about himself. He is taken up with +Jesus, and with folks. A man is always least conscious of the power of his +own presence and life. Everybody else knows more about it than he does. +Plainly this is the Master's plan for each of us. And more, it is the +result when He is allowed free sway. + +The controlling principle of His life was to please His Father. The +pervading purpose and passion was to win men out and up. The +characteristics of His life were purity, unselfishness, sympathy, and +simplicity. We are to be as He. He was the Father to all the race of men. +Each of us is to be Jesus to his circle. + +Please notice I'm not talking about lips just now but about lives. The +life is the indorsement of the lips. It makes the words of the lips more +than they sound or seem. Or, it makes them less, sometimes pitiably less, +little more than a discount clerk ever busily at work. The words ever go +to the level of the life, up or down. Water seeks its level persistently. +So do one's words, and they find it more quickly than the water, for they +go _through_ all obstructions. And the life is the leveler of the words, +up or down. + +So far as this second life is concerned a man's lips might be sealed, and +his tongue dumb, but his life in its purity and simplicity, its +unselfishness and sympathetic warmness will ever be spelling out Jesus. +And He will be spelled out so big and plain that the man hurriedly +running, or lazily creeping, or half blind in a cloud of dust, will be +stopping and reading. If there were but more re-incarnations of Jesus how +folks would be coming a-running to Him. + +Do you remember that prayer in blank verse of the old Scottish preacher +and poet and saint, Horatius Bonar? He said: + + "Oh, turn me, mould me, mellow me for use. + Pervade my being with Thy vital force, + That this else inexpressive life of mine + May become eloquent and full of power, + Impregnated with life and strength divine. + Put the bright torch of heaven into my hand, + That I may carry it aloft + And win the eye of weary wanderers here below + To guide their feet into the paths of peace. + I cannot raise the dead, + Nor from this soil pluck precious dust, + Nor bid the sleeper wake, + Nor still the storm, nor bend the lightning back, + Nor muffle up the thunder, + Nor bid the chains fall from off creation's long enfettered limbs. + _But_ I can live a life that tells on other lives, + And makes this world less full of anguish and of pain; + A life that like the pebble dropped upon the sea + Sends its wide circles to a hundred shores. + May such a life be mine. + Creator of true life, Thyself the life Thou givest, + Give Thyself, that Thou mayst dwell in me, and I + in Thee." + + + +An Active Life of Service. + + +The third life is _a life of active service, of aggressive earnestness in +winning men._ I say aggressive. That word does not mean noise and dust, +shuffling of feet, and bustling confusion. It means rather the steady, +steady movement of the sun which noiselessly, dustlessly, moves onward, +hour after hour, day in and day out, regardless of any storms, or +disturbances. It means the quiet, peaceful, but resistless uninterrupted +movement of the moon rising night after night, and going through its +circle of action. Earnestness means the burning of the inner spirit. Its +fires dim not, for they are fed continually from secret sources. + +This third life is spoken of directly: "Go ye and make disciples." The +going is to be continued until folks farthest away have heard. Some people +are bounded by the horizon of the town where they live, some by the +particular church to which they belong, some the denomination, some the +state, or even the nation. Jesus fixes the horizon of His follower as that +of the world. Jesus was visionary. He talked about all nations, a race, a +world. + +All are to go. They are to go to all. Some may be made wholly free, by +arrangement with their fellow-followers, to give their full strength and +time to the direct going and telling. These are highly favored in +privilege. Some of these may go to deserted darkened places in the home +land. Some may go to the city slum, which in its dire need is of close kin +to the foreign-mission land. These are yet more highly favored in +privilege. + +Some may go to those far distant lands where Jesus is not known, where the +need of Him is so pathetically great. These are the most highly favored in +the privilege of service accorded them. Many others have been left free of +the necessity of earning bread and home and clothing and so have a rare +opportunity of devoting themselves to the going, as the Spirit of Jesus +guides. Many are given the talent to earn easily, and so, if they will, +may give much strength to service. + +The great majority everywhere and always are absorbed for most of the +waking hours of the day in earning something to eat, and something to +wear, and somewhere to sleep. Yet where there is the warm touch with Jesus +there will come the yearning for purity, and the life of service. With +these as with all there may be the service, strong and sweetly fragrant. +There is always some bit of spare time, with planning, that can be used in +direct service in church, or school, or mission. And the secret life of +prayer will give a steadiness that will guard against the over-use of +one's strength. + +There can be a personal going to some in words tactfully spoken. There is +the life of sweet purity and gentle patience always so winsome, that +speaks all the time in musical tones to one's circle. There is an +enormous, unconscious aggressiveness about such a life. Then there can be +the going through gold. And the entire planet can be brought under one's +thumb of influence through the strangely simple power of prayer. + +I have been running across some new versions of this last word of Jesus. A +sort of re-revisions they are. I have not found them in the common print, +but printed in lives, the lives of men. The print is large, chiefly +capitals, easily read. These lives are so noisy as to quite shut out what +the lips may be saying. There are variations in these translations. + +Sometime the message is made to read like this: "All power hath been given +unto Me, therefore go ye, and make--coins of gold--oh, belong to church of +course--that is proper and has many advantages--and give too. There are +advantages about that--give freely, or make it seem freely--give to +missions at home and abroad. That is regarded as a sure sign of a liberal +spirit. But be careful about the _proportion_ of your giving. For the real +thing that counts at the year's end is how much you have added to the +stock of dollars in your grasp. These other things are good, but--merely +incidental. This thing of getting gold is the main drive." + +Please understand me, I never heard any of these folks talk in this blunt +way with their _tongues_. So far as I can hear, they are saying something +quite different. But what their tongues are saying is made indistinct and +blurred by some noise near by. + +Other translations I have run across have this variation: "Make a place +for yourself, in your profession, in society. Make a comfortable +living;--with a wide margin of meaning to that word 'comfortable'--belong +to the church, become a pillar, or at least move in the pillar's circle, +give of course, even freely in appearance, but remember these are the dust +in the scale, the other is the thing that weighs. All of one's energies +must be centered on the main thing." + +May I ask you to listen very quietly, while I repeat the Master's own +words over very softly and clearly, so that they may get into the inner +cockles of our hearts anew? "All power hath been given unto Me; therefore +go ye, and _make disciples of all nations_." These other translations are +wrong. They are misleading. _The one main thing is influencing men for +Jesus_. + + + +The Perspective of True Service. + + +It is not the only thing by any means. There is a multitude of things +perfectly proper and that must be done and well done. But through all +their doing is to run this one strong purpose. These other things are +details, important details, indispensably important, yet details. The +other is the one main thing toward which the doing of all the others is to +bend and blend. + +Please mark keenly that there are three lives here; three in one. The +secret life of prayer, the open life of purity, the active life of service +Not one, nor the other, not any two, but all three, this is the true +ideal. This is the true rounded life. And note sharply that this gives the +true perspective of service. The service life grows up out of the other +two. Its roots lie down in prayer and purity. This explains why so much +service is fruitless. It isn't rooted. There is no rich subsoil. + +It seems to be a part of the hurt of sin that men do not keep the +proportion of things balanced, and never have. In former days men shut +themselves up behind great walls that they might be pleasing to God. They +shut out the noise that they might have quiet to pray. They thought to +shut out the sin that they might be pure, forgetting that they carried it +in with them. + +In our day things have swung clean over to the other extreme. Now all is +activity. The emphasis of the time is upon doing. There is a lot of +running around, and rushing around. There is a great deal of activity that +seems inseparable from dust. The wheels make such a lot of noise as they +go around. _Doing_ that does not root down in the secret touch with +Jesus, may be quite vigorous for a time, but soon leaves behind as its +only memory withered up branches. This is a _practical_ age, we are +constantly told. Things must be judged by the standard of usefulness. That +is surely true, and good, but there is very serious danger that the true +perspective of service be lost in the dust that is being raised. + +The imprint of this disproportion or lack of proportion can even be found +in the theological teaching of long ago and now. At one time religion was +defined as having to do with a man's relation to God. That was emphasized +to the utter hiding away of all else. In our own day the swing is clear +over to the other side. Definitions of religion that make everything of +helping one's brother and fellow, are the popular thing. There seems to be +a sort of astigmatism that keeps us from seeing things straight. Though +always there have been those that saw straight and lived truly. + +Mark keenly that true touch with God always brings the longing to be pure, +and the loving of one's fellow. The nearer one gets to God the nearer will +he find himself getting to men. Often we find ourselves getting new +wonderful glimpses of God as we are eagerly helping somebody. Up seems to +include out, as though the line that drew us up to God led through men. +Yet with that always goes the other fact that touch with God makes one +long to be alone with Him. + +There are always the three turnings of a true life, upward, inward, +outward. Upward to God, inward to self, outward to the world. The more one +knows God the keener is the longing to get off with Himself alone, the +deeper is the yearning to be pure, and the stronger is the passion to help +others regardless of any sacrifice involved. + + + +A Long Time Coming. + + +There is an old story that caught fire in my heart the first time it came +to me, and burns anew at each memory of it. It told of a time in the +southern part of our country when the sanitary regulations were not so +good as of late. A city was being scourged by a disease that seemed quite +beyond control. The city's carts were ever rolling over the cobble-stones, +helping carry away those whom the plague had slain. + +Into one very poor home, a laboring man's home, the plague had come. And +the father and children had been carried out until on the day of this +story there remained but two, the mother and her baby boy of perhaps five +years. The boy crept up into his mother's lap, put his arms about her +neck, and with his baby eyes so close, said, "Mother, father's dead, and +brothers and sister are dead;--if _you_ die, what'll I do?" + + +The poor mother had thought of it, of course, What could she say? Quieting +her voice as much as possible, she said, "If I die, Jesus will come for +you." That was quite satisfactory to the boy. He had been taught about +Jesus, and felt quite safe with Him, and so went about his play on the +floor. And the boy's question proved only too prophetic. And quick work +was done by the dread disease. And soon she was being laid away by strange +hands. + +It is not difficult to understand that in the sore distress of the time +the boy was forgotten. When night came, he crept into bed, but could not +sleep. Late in the night he got up, found his way out along the street, +down the road, in to where he had seen the men put her. And throwing +himself down on the freshly shoveled earth, sobbed and sobbed until nature +kindly stole consciousness away for a time. + +Very early the next morning a gentleman coming down the road from some +errand of mercy, looked over the fence, and saw the little fellow lying +there. Quickly suspecting some sad story, he called him, "My boy, what are +you doing there?--My boy, wake up, what are you doing there all alone?" +The boy waked up, rubbed his baby eyes, and said, "Father's dead, and +brothers and sister's dead, and now--_mother's_--dead--too. And she said, +if she did die, Jesus would come for me. And He hasn't come. And I'm so +tired waiting." And the man swallowed something in his throat, and in a +voice not very clear, said, "Well, my boy, I've come for you." And the +little fellow waking up, with his baby eyes so big, said "I think you've +been a long time coming." + +Whenever I read these last words of Jesus or think of them, there comes up +a vision that floods out every other thing. It is of Jesus Himself +standing on that hilltop. His face is all scarred and marred, thorn-torn +and thong-cut. But it is beautiful, passing all beauty of earth, with its +wondrous beauty light. Those great eyes are looking out so yearningly, +_out_ as though they were seeing men, the ones nearest and those farthest. +His arm is outstretched with the hand pointing out. And you cannot miss +the rough jagged hole in the palm. And He is saying, _"Go ye."_ The +attitude, the scars, the eyes looking, the hand pointing, the voice +speaking, all are saying so intently, _"Go ye."_ + +And as I follow the line of those eyes, and the hand, there comes up an +answering vision. A great sea of faces that no man ever yet has numbered, +with answering eyes and outstretching hands. From hoary old China, from +our blood-brothers in India, from Africa where sin's tar stick seems to +have blackened blackest, from Romanized South America, and the islands, +aye from the slums, and frontiers, and mountains in the homeland, and from +those near by, from over the alley next to your house maybe, they seem to +come. And they are rubbing their eyes, and speaking. With lives so +pitifully barren, with lips mutely eloquent, with the soreness of their +hunger, they are saying, "You're a long time coming." + +Shall we go? Shall we _not_ go? But how shall we best go? By keeping in +such close touch with Jesus that the warm throbbing of His heart is ever +against our own. Then will come a new purity into our lives as we go out +irresistibly attracted by the attraction of Jesus toward our fellows. And +then too shall go out of ourselves and out of our lives and service, a new +supernatural power touching men. It is Jesus within reaching men through +us. + + + + +Yokefellows: The Rhythm of Service. + + + + The Master's Invitation. + Surrender a Law of Life, + Free Surrender. + "Him." + Yoked Service. + In Step With Jesus. + The Scar-marks of Surrender. + Full Power Through Rhythm. + He Is Our Peace. + The Master's Touch. + + + + +Yokefellows: The Rhythm of Service. + +(Matthew xi. 25-30; Luke x:1, 17, 21-24.) + + + +The Master's Invitation. + + +It was about six months before the tragic end that Jesus sent out +thirty-five deputations of two each. He was beginning that slow memorable +journey south that ended finally at the cross. These men are sent ahead to +prepare the way. By and by they return and make a glad exultant report of +the good results attending their work. Even the demons had acknowledged +the power of Jesus' name on their lips. + +As He was listening Jesus looked up, and said, "Father, I thank Thee." And +then, as though He could see those great crowds to whom they had been +ministering in His name, He said, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are +heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of +Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your +souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." + +There are two invitations here, "come" and "take." There are two sorts of +people. Those who are tugging and straining at work, and carrying heavy +burdens, and then those who have received rest, and are now asked to go a +step farther. There are two kinds of rest, a given rest, and a found rest. +The given rest cannot be found. It comes as a sheer out gift, from Jesus' +own hand. The found rest cannot be given, may I say? It comes stealing its +gentle way in as one fits into Jesus' plan for his life. + +Many folks have accepted the first of these invitations. They have "come" +to Jesus, and received sweet rest from His hand. But they have gone no +farther. At the close of that first invitation there is a punctuation +period, a full stop. Some of the old schoolbooks used to say that one +should stop at a period and count four. Well, a great many people have +followed that old rule here, and more than followed. They have stopped at +that period, and never gotten past it. I want just now to ask you to come +with me as we talk together a bit about this second invitation, "Take My +yoke." + +Jesus used several different words in tying people up to Himself. There is +a growth in them, as He draws us nearer and nearer. First always is the +invitation "Come unto Me." That means salvation, life. Then He says, +"Follow Me," "Come after Me." That means discipleship. "Learn of Me" +means training in discipleship. "Yoke up with Me" means closest +fellowship. "Abide in Me" leads one out into abundant life. "As the Father +hath sent Me, even so send I you," means living Jesus' life over again. +And then the last "Go ye" is the outer reach of all, service for a world. + + + +Surrender a Law of Life. + + +Just now we want to talk together over this little three-worded sentence +from Jesus' lips, "Take My yoke." What does it mean? Well, that word yoke +is used in all literature outside of this book, as well as here, to mean +this: surrender by one and mastery by another one. Where two nations have +fought and the weaker has been forced to yield, it is quite commonly +spoken of as wearing the yoke of the stronger nation. The Romans required +their prisoners of war to pass under a yoke, sometimes a common cattle +yoke, sometimes an improvised yoke, to indicate their utter subjugation. +These Hebrews to whom Jesus is speaking are writhing with sore shoulders +under the galling yoke of the Romans. One can imagine an emphasis placed +on the "My." As though Jesus would say, "You have one yoke now; change +yokes. Take _My_ yoke." + +There is too a higher, finer meaning to this surrender when by mutual +arrangement and free consent there is a yielding of one to another for a +purpose. And so what Jesus means here is simply this--_surrender_. Bend +your head down, bend down your neck, even though it's a bit stiff going +your own way, and fit it into this yoke of mine. Surrender to Me as your +Master. + +And somebody says, "I don't like that. 'Surrender!' that sounds like +force. I thought salvation was _free_." Will you please remember that the +principle of surrender is a law of all life. It is the law of military +life, inside the army. Every man there has surrendered to the officers +above him. In some armies that surrender has amounted to absolute control +of a man's person and property by the head of the army. It is the law of +naval service. The moment a man steps on board a man-of-war to serve he +surrenders the control of his life and movements absolutely to the officer +in command. + +It is the law in public, political life. A man entering the President's +cabinet, as a secretary of some department, surrenders any divergent views +he may have to those of his chief. With the largest freedom of thought +that must always be where there are strong men, yet there must of +necessity be the one dominant will if the administration is to be a +powerful one. It is the law of commercial life. The man entering the +employ of a bank, a manufacturing concern, a corporation of any sort, in +whatever capacity, enters to do the will of somebody else. Always there +must be the one dominant will if there is to be power and success. + +And then may I hush my voice and speak of the more sacred things very +softly and remind you of this. Surrender is the law of the highest form of +life known to us men. I mean wedded life. Where the surrender is not by +one to the other, but by each to the other. Two wills, always two wills +where there is strong life, yet in effect but one. Two persons but only +one purpose. + +And so you see, Jesus, the Master, the greatest of earth's teachers and +philosophers, is striking the keynote of life when here He asks us to +surrender freely and wholly to Himself as the autocrat of our lives. He +asks us to bend our strong wills to His, to yield our lives, our plans, +our ambitions, our friendships, our gold, absolutely to His control. + + + +Free Surrender. + + +And if you still do not like the sound of that word surrender. It has a +harsh sound that grates upon your nerves. Will you please notice the first +word of that little sentence--"Take." Jesus does not say in sharp, hard +tones, "Come here; bend down; I'll _put_ this yoke on you." Never that. If +you will, of your own glad accord, freely, winsomely _take_ the yoke upon +you--that is what He asks. In military usage surrender is _forced_. Here +it must be _free_. Nothing else would be acceptable to Jesus. + +When our commissioners went a few years ago to Paris to treat with the +Spaniards, the latter are said to have desired certain changes in the +language of the protocol. With the polished suavity for which they are +noted the Spaniards urged that there be made slight changes in the +_words_: no real change in the meaning, they said, simply in the verbiage. +And our Judge Day at the head of the American Commissioners, listened +politely and patiently until the plea was presented. And then he quietly +said, "The article will be signed _as it reads_." And the Spaniards +protested, with much courtesy. The change asked for was trivial, merely in +the language, not in the force of the words. And our men listened +patiently and courteously. Then Mr. Day is said to have locked his little +square jaw and replied very quietly, "The article will be signed as it +reads." And the article was so signed. That is military usage. The +surrender was forced. The strength of the American fleets, the prestige of +great victory were back of the quiet man's demand. + +But that is not the law here. Jesus asks for only what we give freely and +spontaneously. He does not want anything except what is given with a +free, glad heart. This is to be a _voluntary_ surrender. Jesus is a +voluntary Saviour. He wants only voluntary followers. He would have us be +as Himself. The oneness of spirit leads the way into the intimacy of +closest friendship. And that is His thought for us. + +Do you remember those fine lines, "The quality of mercy is not +_strained_"--if the thing be forced through a strainer, there is no mercy +there--"it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place +beneath." Only what the warm current of His love draws out does Jesus +desire from us. It is to be a _free_ surrender. + + + +"Him." + + +And if you still knit your mental brows, and shrug your shoulder. The +thing hasn't yet shaken off the harshness you have been clothing it with. +Please notice the second word of that sentence--"My." "Take _My_ Yoke." +May I say gently but frankly that I would not surrender the control of my +life to any of you who are listening so kindly. And I surely would not ask +that I should be the autocrat of any of your lives. But--when--_Jesus_ +comes along. The Man with the marvelous face all torn and scarred, but +with that great, soft, shining light. I do not know just how all of you +feel. I can guess how some of you feel. But I know one man who cannot +respond too quickly and eagerly. The only thing to do is to make the will +as strong as it can be made, and then to use all of its strength in +surrendering eagerly to this matchless Man Jesus. Doubtless many of you +know fully that same eagerness, and maybe more. + +I remember a simple story that twined its clinging tendril lingers about +my heart. It was of a woman whose long years had ripened her hair, and +sapped her strength. She was a true saint in her long life of devotion to +God. She knew the Bible by heart, and would repeat long passages from +memory. But as the years came the strength went, and with it the memory +gradually went too, to her grief. She seemed to have lost almost wholly +the power to recall at will what had been stored away. + +But one precious bit still stayed. She would sit by the big sunny window +of the sitting room in her home, repeating over that one bit, as though +chewing a delicious titbit, "I know whom I have believed and am persuaded +that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that +day." By and by part of that seemed to slip its hold, and she would +quietly be repeating, "that which I have committed to Him." + +The last few weeks as the ripened old saint hovered about the border land +between this and the spirit world her feebleness increased. Her loved +ones would notice her lips moving. And thinking she might be needing some +creature comfort they would go over and bend down to listen for her +request. And time and again they found the old saint repeating over to +herself one word, over and over again, the same one word, +"Him--_Him_--Him." She had list the whole Bible but one word. But she had +the whole Bible in that one word. Did she not? This is a surrender to +_Him_, the Man of the Book. The Man of all life. + + + +Yoked Service. + + +They tell me that on a farm the yoke means service. Cattle are yoked to +serve, and to serve better, and to serve more easily. This is a surrender +for service, not for idleness. In military usage surrender often means +being kept in enforced idleness and under close guard. But this is not +like that. It is all up on a much higher plane. Jesus has every man's +life planned. It always awes me to recall that simple tremendous fact. +With loving strong thoughtfulness He has thought into each of our lives, +and planned it out, in whole, and in detail. He comes to a man and +says, "_I know_ you. I have been _thinking_ about you." Then very +softly--"I--_love_--you. I _need_ you, for a plan of Mine. _Please_ let +Me have the control of your life and all your power, for My plan." It is a +surrender for service. + +It is _yoked_ service. There are two bows or loops to a yoke. A yoke in +action has both sides occupied, and as surely as I bow down My head and +slip it into the bow on one side--I know there is _Somebody else_ on the +other side. It is yoked living now, yoked fellowship, yoked service. It is +not working _for_ God now. It is working _with_ Him. Jesus never sends +anybody ahead alone. He treads down the pathway through every thicket, +pushes aside the thorn-bushes, and clears the way, and then says with that +taking way of His, "Come along with Me. Let's go together, you and I." + +A man got up in a meeting to speak. It was down in Rhode Island, out a bit +from Providence. He was a farmer, an old man. He had become a Christian +late in life, and this evening was telling about his start. He had been a +rough, bad man. He said that when he became a Christian even the cat knew +that some change had taken place. That caught my ear. It had a genuine +ring. It seemed prophetic of the better day coming for all the lower +animal creation. So I listened. + +He said that the next morning after the change of purpose he was going +down to the village a little distance from his farm. He swung along the +road, happy in heart, singing softly to himself, and thinking about the +Saviour. All at once he could feel the fumes coming out of a saloon ahead. +He couldn't see the place yet, but his keen trained nose felt it. The +odors came out strong, and gripped him. + +He said he was frightened, and wondered how he would get by. He had never +gone by before, he said; always gone in; but he couldn't go in now. But +what to do, that was the rub. Then he smiled, and said, "I remembered, and +I said, 'Jesus, you'll have to come along and help me get by, I never can +by myself.'" And then in his simple, illiterate way he said, "_and He +come_--and _we_ went by, and we've been going by ever since." + +Ah, the old Rhode Island farmer had found the whole simple philosophy of +the true life. Our Yokefellow is always there alongside. Every temptation +that comes to us He has felt the sharp edge of, and can overcome. Every +problem, every difficulty, every opportunity He knows, and is right there, +swinging in rhythmic step alongside. It's yoked living and yoked service. + + + +In Step with Jesus. + + +Then please mark keenly that this surrender is for _surrendered_ service. +No free-lancing here. No guerrilla warfare, no bushwhacking. There seems +to be quite a lot of that, in this army. Some earnest folks are very busy +"helping God out," regardless of the general movement of the whole army. +And a great help they are too--they _think_. It would be difficult to see +how God would ever get along without them--they _seem_ to think. Poor +folks, they have gotten so covered with the dust made by their own feet +that they've completely lost track of things. There is a Lord to this +harvest. There is a great Commander-in-chief to this campaign. He has the +whole campaign for a _world_ carefully planned out. And each man's part in +it is planned too. He knows best what needs to be done. He sees keenly the +strategic points, and the emergencies. If only He could but depend on our +ears being trained to know His voice, and our wills trained to simple, +full obedience, how much difference it would make to Him. Simple, full +strong obedience seems to take the keenest intelligence, the strongest +will, and the most thorough discipline. + + "Just to ask Him what to do, + All the day. + And to make you quick and true + To obey."[3] + +This surrender is for glad, obedient surrendered service. + +And note too that it is for _training_ in service. They tell me that +where cattle are yoked for work it is usual to put a young restive beast +with an old, steady-going animal. The old worker sets the pace, and pulls +evenly, steadily ahead, and by and by the young undisciplined beast +gradually comes to learn the pace. That seems to fit in here with graphic +realness. So many of us seem to be full of an undisciplined unseasoned +strength. There are apt to be some hard drives ahead, and then pulling +back with a sudden jerk, and side lunges this way and that. There is +splendid strength, and eager willingness, but not much is accomplished for +lack of the steady, steady going regardless of rocks or ruts. + +Jesus says, "Yoke up with Me. Let's pull together, you and I." And if we +will pull steadily along, content to be by His side, and to be hearing His +quiet voice, and _always to keep His pace_, step by step with Him, without +regard to seeing results, all will be well, and by and by the best results +and the largest will be found to have come. And remember that as on the +farm, so here, the yoke is always carefully adjusted so that the young +learner may have the easier pulling. + +But it is well to put in this bit of a caution. If a man put his head into +the yoke, and then _pull back_--well, there'll be a man with a badly +chafed, sore neck in that neighborhood, and oil will be in demand. The +one safe rule is swinging straight ahead, steady, steady, without even +stopping to decide if the plow has cut properly, or if it is worth while. + + + +The Scar-marks of Surrender. + + +Then Jesus adds this: "Learn of Me." I used to wonder just what that +means. But I think I know a part of its meaning now. You remember the +Hebrews had a scheme of qualified slavery.[4] A man might sell his service +for six years but at the end of that time he was scot-free. On the New +Year's morning of the seventh year he was given his full liberty, and +given some grain and oil to begin life with anew. + +But if on that morning he found himself reluctant to leave, all his ties +binding him to his master's home, this was the custom among them. He would +say to his master, "I don't want to leave you. This is home to me. I love +you and the mistress. I love the place. All my ties and affections are +here. I want to stay with you always." His master would say, "Do you mean +this?" "Yes," the man would reply, "I want to belong to you forever." + +Then his master would call in the leading men of the village or +neighborhood to witness the occurrence. And he would take his servant out +to the door of the home, and standing him up against the door-jamb would +pierce the lobe of his ear through with an awl. I suppose like a +shoemaker's awl. Then the man became not his slave, but his bond-slave, +forever. It was a personal surrender of himself to his master; it was +voluntary; it was for love's sake; it was for service; it was after a +trial; it was for life. + +Now that was what Jesus did. If you will turn to that Fortieth Psalm,[5] +from which we read, you will find words that are plainly prophetic of +Jesus, and afterwards quoted as referring to Him. "Mine ears hast Thou +opened, or digged or pierced for me." And in the fiftieth chapter of +Isaiah,[6] revised version, are these words likewise prophetic of Jesus. +"The Lord God hath _opened_ mine ear, and _I was not rebellious, neither +turned away backward._ I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to +them that plucked off the hair; I hid not my face from shame and +spitting." + +And the truth is this. May the Spirit of God burn it deep into our hearts. +_Jesus was a surrendered Man._ Stop a bit and think into what that means. +Jesus is the giant Man of the human race, thought of just now as a man, +though He was so much more, too. In His wisdom as a teacher, His calm +poised judgment, the purity of His life, the tremendous power of His +personality in swaying man, He clear overtops the whole race of men. Now +that Master Man, that giant of the race, was a surrendered Man. For +instance run through John's Gospel, and pick out the negatives on His +lips, the "nots." Not His own will, nor His own words, nor His own +teaching, nor His own works.[7] Jesus came to earth to do Somebody's else +will. With all His giant powers He was utterly absorbed in doing what some +One else wished done. And now this giant Man, this surrendered Man, says, +"You do as I have done. Learn of Me: I am wholly given up to doing My +Father's will. You be wholly surrendered to Me, and so together we will +carry out the Father's will." + +Some one of a practical turn says, "That sounds very nice, but is it not a +bit fanciful? The lobe of Jesus' ear was not pierced through, was it?" No. +You are right. The scar-mark of Jesus' surrender was not in His ear, as +with the old Hebrew slave. You are quite right. It was in His cheek, and +brow, on His back, in His side and hands and feet. The scar-marks of His +surrender were--are--all over His face and form. Everybody who surrenders +bears some scar of it because of sin, his own or somebody's else. +Referring to the suffering endured in service Paul tenderly reckons it as +a mark of Jesus' ownership--"I bear the scars, the _stigmata_, of the Lord +Jesus." Even of the Master Himself is this so. + +And that scarred Jesus whose body told and tells of His surrender to His +Father comes to us. And with those hands eagerly outstretched, and eyes +beaming with the earnestness of His great passion for men, He says, "Yoke +up with Me, please. Let Me have the control of all your splendid powers, +in carrying out our Father's will for a world." + + + +Full Power through Rhythm. + + +Then Jesus, with a sweep, gathers up all the results in a single sentence, +"Ye shall find rest unto your souls." Some one may be thinking, "I do not +feel the need of rest or peace so much. I am hungry for power." Will you +please notice that Jesus is going to the very root of the thing here. +There must be peace before there can be power. _You_ shall find peace. +_Others_ shall find power. You will be conscious of the sweet sense of +peace within. Others will be conscious of the fragrant power breathing out +of your life, and service, and your very person. + +These things, peace and power, are the same. They are different movements +of the same river of God. The presence of God in fine harmony with you, +that it is that brings the sweet peace. And that too it is that brings the +gracious power into the life. The inward flow of the river is peace. The +outward flow of the same stream is power. There cannot be power save as +there is peace. There is nothing that hinders and holds back power as does +friction. That is true in mechanics: a bit of friction grit between the +wheels will check the full working of the machinery. A small nut fallen +down out of place will completely stop the machine and bring all of its +power to a standstill. + +This is _heart_ rest. The heart is the center, the citadel of the life. +When the heart rests all is at rest. If the citadel can be captured the +outworks are included. It is a _found_ rest. It comes quietly stealing its +soft way in as you go about your regular round of life. Just where you +are, in the thick of the old circumstances and conditions, there comes +breathing gently into your very being the great fragrant peace of God. You +find it coming in. There is all the zest of finding. + +It is rest _in service_. To many folks those two words "yoke" and "rest" +have seemed to jar, as though they did not get along well together. But +they do. The jarring is not in them but in our misunderstanding of them. A +yoke, we have thought, means work. Rest means quitting work; no more need +of work. But that is a bit of the hurt of sin that gets so many things +wrong end to. + + "Rest is not quitting + The busy career; + Rest is the fitting + Of self to its sphere."[8] + +True rest is in the unhurried rhythm of action. Have you thought of when +your heart rests? It does not stop, of course, while life lasts. But it +rests. It rests between beats. A beat and a rest. A throb of power and a +moment of perfect rest. A mighty motion that sends the warm red life +through all the intricate machinery of the body; then quiet composed rest. +The secret of the immeasurable power of this organ we call the heart lies +just here. There is enough power in a normal human heart to batter down +Bunker Hill Monument if it could be centered upon it. The secret of that +power is in the rhythm of action that combines motion with rest. We call +rhythm of color, beauty. Rhythm of sound is music. Rhythm of action is +power. + +I have often stood as a boy on the streets of old Philadelphia, and +watched a gang of foreign laborers at work. As a rule they could speak +only the language of their own fatherland. There would be a gang-boss to +direct their movements. Perhaps it was a huge stone to be moved, or a +piece of structural iron, or a heavy rail to be torn up. The ends of their +crowbars were fitted under the thing to be moved. Then they waited a +moment for the gang-boss to give the word. He would say, "heave ho!" + +Then all together they would sing "heave ho," and push. And a "heave ho," +and push; a "heave ho," and a push. They made perfect music. There was +always a small crowd gathered, watching and enjoying the simple music. +Their work was easier because done rhythmically. This, of course, is the +simple philosophy that provides music for soldiers on march. The men can +walk much longer, and farther, with less fatigue if they go to the sound +of music. + +The story is told of the contracts for some bridge-building in the Soudan +being carried off by American bidders. Their competitors in the bidding +specified a year's time or so, for the work. The Americans agreed to do it +in three months. They were awarded the contract, and to the others' +surprise had the work completed within the specified time. + +One of the contractors who had bid for the job on the basis of a year's +time said afterwards to the successful contractor, "I wish, if you +wouldn't mind doing so, you would tell me how you ever got that work done +in so short a time with those undisciplined Soudanese natives for +workmen. I have had them on other contracts and I know I couldn't have +done it. How did you ever do it?" + +And the American, whose blood was British a generation or two back, and +farther back yet Teutonic, smiled as he quietly said, "We had a band of +native musicians playing the liveliest music they knew within earshot of +every gang of laborers, while our gang-bosses kept them steadily at work." + +Rhythm is the secret of power. Full rhythm is possible only where there is +full obedience to nature. The man in full sweet harmony with God in all of +his life knows the stilling ecstasy of peace, and the marvelous outgoings +of real power. You shall find within your heart the great stilling calm of +God, as steadying as the rock of ages, as exhilarating as the subtle +fragrance of flowers, and as restful as a mother's bosom to her babe. + + + +He is Our Peace. + + +But there is something here finer yet by far than this. Everything God +provides for us is personal. There is always the personal touch and +presence. Do you remember that during the earlier days of the recent war +with Spain this occurrence frequently took place? In the Caribbean waters +a Spanish merchantman would be overtaken by an American warship. A few +shots were sent over the bows of the merchantman with a demand for +surrender. And then the Spanish flag was seen to drop from the +merchantman's masthead in token of surrender. + +Then this was the method of procedure. A prize crew, consisting of an +officer with a few ensigns, was lowered from the American boat, pulled +across, and taken aboard the captured boat. The moment the prize crew +stepped aboard they were masters of the boat in their government's name. +Their presence signified the surrender of the foreigner, and the forced +peace now between the two boats. + +On a much higher plane this is what takes place with us. There has been +flying at my masthead a flag with a big I upon it. As quickly as I drop it +in token of my surrender to Somebody else, a prize crew is sent aboard to +take possession, and assume control. Who is the prize crew? The Holy +Spirit, whom Jesus the Master sends to represent Himself. He steps aboard +at once. + +He paces the deck as the ship's Master. His presence is peace. "He is our +peace." "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, _peace_." And while He +occupies the captain's quarters, with full cheery obedience on board, +there is ever the fine aroma of peace everywhere, and the fullness of +power. + + + +The Master's Touch. + + +One morning a number of years ago in London a group of people had gathered +in a small auction shop for an advertised sale of fine old antiques and +curios. The auctioneer brought out an old blackened, dirty-looking violin. +He said, "Ladies and gentlemen, here is a remarkable old instrument I have +the great privilege of offering to you. It is a genuine Cremona, made by +the famous Antonius Stradivarius himself. It is very rare, and worth its +weight in gold. What am I bid?" The people present looked at it +critically. And some doubted the accuracy of the auctioneer's statements. +They saw that it did not have the Stradivarius name cut in. And he +explained that some of the earliest ones made did not have the name. And +that some that had the name cut in were not genuine. But he could assure +them that this was genuine. Still the buyers doubted and criticised, as +buyers have always done. Five guineas in gold were bid, but no more. The +auctioneer perspired and pleaded. "It was ridiculous to think of selling +such a rare violin for such a small sum," he said. But the bidding seemed +hopelessly stuck there. + +Meanwhile a man had entered the shop from the street. He was very tall and +very slender, with very black hair, middle-aged, wearing a velvet coat. He +walked up to the counter with a peculiar side-wise step, and without +noticing anybody in the shop picked up the violin, and was at once +absorbed in it. He dusted it tenderly with his handkerchief, changed the +tension of the strings, and held it up to his ear lingeringly as though +hearing something. Then putting the end of it up in position he reached +for the bow, while the murmur ran through the little audience, "Paganini." + +The bow seemed hardly to have touched the strings when such a soft +exquisite note came out filling the shop, and holding the people +spellbound. And as he played the listeners laughed for very delight, and +then wept for the fullness of their emotion. The men's hats were off, and +they all stood in rapt reverence, as though in a place of worship. He +played upon their emotions as he played upon the old soil-begrimed violin. + +By and by he stopped. And as they were released from the spell of the +music the people began clamoring for the violin. "Fifty guineas," "sixty," +"seventy," "eighty," they bid in hot haste. And at last it was knocked +down to the famous player himself for one hundred guineas in gold, and +that evening he held a vast audience of thousands breathless under the +spell of the music he drew from the old, dirty, blackened, despised +violin. + +It was despised till the master-player took possession. Its worth was not +known. The master's touch revealed the rare value, and brought out the +hidden harmonies. He gave the doubted little instrument its true place of +high honor before the multitude. May I say softly, some of us have been +despising the worth of the man within. We have been bidding five guineas +when the real value is immeasurably above that _because of the Maker_. Do +not let us be underbidding God's workmanship. + +The violin needed dusting, and readjustment of its strings before the +music came. Shall we not each of us yield this rarest instrument, his own +personality, to the Master's hand? There will be some changes needed, no +doubt, as the Master-player takes hold. And then will go singing out of +our persons and our lives, the rarest music of God, that shall enthrall +and bring all within earshot to the Master-musician. + + + + +A Passion for Winning Men: The Motive-power of Service. + + + + A Day off. + Moved with Compassion. + Counting on Us. + The Secret of Winsomeness. + "As the Stars." + The Finest Wisdom. + Three Essentials. + A Blessed Library Corner. + "Two Missing"--"Go Ye." + + + + +A Passion for Winning Men: The Motive-power of Service. + +(Mark vi:30-34.) + + + +A Day off. + + +One morning toward the end, in the midst of His busiest campaigning, Jesus +was very tired. It is one of the touches of His humanness. So He said to +His disciples, "Let us take a day _off_." And they could see the sense of +it. They were tired too. So they got a boat, and boarded her, and set +sail, and headed out across the lake. And meanwhile a crowd of people had +come down to the beach to be talked to, and healed, and helped in various +ways. + +And you can just see the look of disappointment in their faces as they +say, "Why, He's going away." And for a few moments they stand there +utterly dejected. Then somebody--for a long while I have thought it was a +woman--somebody with eyes keenly watching the direction of the boat, said, +"I believe He's going so and so"--naming a place across the lake--"let's +run around the head of the lake, and meet Him when He gets out." + +And the crowd was taken with that. And they ran--literally _ran_--around +the head of the lake. And as they went they spread the word, "The Master's +going so and so. Come along with us." And the people came eagerly out of +the villages and cross-roads. And the crowd thickened and the longer way +around in distance proved the shorter way there in time. For by and by +when Peter ran the nose of the boat into the sand on the other side, and +the Master got out for _a day off_, there were five thousand men, maybe +ten thousand people waiting to receive Him. + +Do you think that Peter scrooged down his eyebrows, and in a jerky voice +said, "They might have given Him _one_ day to Himself. Can't they see He's +tired?" Do you think that likely John chimed in, with that fire in his +voice which the after years mellowed and sweetened but never lost,--"Yes, +how inconsiderate a crowd is!" _Do_ you think so? _I_ do. Because they +were so much like us. But _He_--the most tired of them all--"_was moved +with compassion_," and spent the whole day in teaching, and talking +personally, and healing. And then when they had gone He went off to the +mountain for the quiet time at night He could not get in the daytime. + + + +Moved with Compassion. + + +There is a great word used of Jesus, and by Him, nine times[9] in these +brief records, the word _compassion_. The sight of a leprous man, or of a +demon-distressed man, _moved_ Him. The great multitudes huddling together +after Him, so pathetically, like leaderless sheep, eager, hungry, tired, +always stirred Him to the depths. The lone woman, bleeding her heart out +through her eyes, as she followed the body of her boy out--He couldn't +stand that at all. + +And when He was so moved, He always did something. He clean forgot His own +bodily needs so absorbed did He become in the folks around Him. The +healing touch was quickly given, the demonized man released from his sore +bonds, the disciples organized for a wider movement to help, the bread +multiplied so the crowds could find something comforting between their +hunger-cleaned teeth. + +The sight of suffering always stirred Him. The presence of a crowd seemed +always to touch and arouse Him peculiarly. He never learned that sort of +city culture that can look unmoved upon suffering or upon a leaderless, +helpless crowd. That word compassion, used of Him, is both deep and +tender in its meaning. The word, actually used under our English means to +have the bowels or heart, the seat of emotion, greatly stirred. + +The kindred word, sympathy, means to have the heart yearning, literally to +be suffering the same distress, to be so moved by somebody's pain or +suffering that you are suffering within yourself the same pain too. Our +plain English word, fellow-feeling, is the same in its force. Seeing the +suffering of some one else so moves you that the same suffering is going +on inside you as you see in them. This is the great word used so often of +Jesus, and by Him. + +There never lived a man who had such a passion for men as Jesus. He lived +to win them out of their distressed, sinful, needy lives up to a new +level. He _died_ to win them. His last act was dying to win men. His last +word was, "Go ye and win men." And His first act when He got back home, +all scarred and marred by His contact with earth, was to send down the +same Spirit as swayed Him those human years to live in us that we might +have the same passion for winning men as He. Aye, and the same exquisite +tact in doing it as He had. + +I said the last act was dying to win men. And you remember that even in +the act of dying, He forgot the keen pain of body, and the far keener pain +of spirit, to turn His head as far as He could turn it, and speak the +word to the fellow by His side that meant the difference of _a world_ to +him. Surely it was the ruling passion with Him to win men, strong in +death, aye, strongest in death, and finding its strongest expression in +His death. + + + +Counting on Us. + + +Somebody has supposed the scene that he thinks may have taken place after +Jesus went back. The last the earth sees of Him is the cloud--not a rain +cloud, a _glory_ cloud--that sweeps down and conceals Him from view. And +the earth has not seen Him since. Though the old Book does say that some +day He's coming back in just the same way as He went away, and some of us +are strongly inclined to think it will be as the Book says in that regard. + +But--have you ever tried to think of what took place on the other side of +that cloud? He has been gone down there on the earth thirty-odd years. +It's a long time. And they're fairly hungry in their eyes for a look again +at that blessed old face. And I have imagined them crowding down to where +they may get the first glimpse of His face again. And, do you know, lately +I have been wondering, with the softening of awe creeping into the +thought, whether--the Father--did not come the very first of them all +and--touch His lips up to where--the _scars_ were in Jesus' brow and +cheeks--yes, His hands--and His feet, too. Tell me, you fathers here +listening, would you not have done something like that with _your_ boy, +under such circumstances? + +You mothers, wouldn't you have been doing something like that with your +boy? And all the fatherhood of earth is named after the fatherhood of +heaven, we're told. And with God fatherhood means motherhood too, you +know. I do not _know_ if it were so. But I think it's likely. It would be +just like God. + +But this friend I speak of has supposed that, after the first flush of +feeling has spent itself--the way _we_ speak of such things done here, the +Master is walking down the golden street one day, arm in arm with Gabriel, +talking intently, earnestly. Gabriel is saying, + +"Master, you died for the whole world down there, did you not?" + +"Yes." + +"You must have suffered much," with an earnest look into that great face +with its unremovable marks. + +"Yes," again comes the answer in a wondrous voice, very quiet, but +strangely full of deepest feeling. + +"And do they all know about it?" + +"Oh, no! Only a few in Palestine know about it so far." + +"Well, Master, what's your plan? What have you done about telling the +world that you died for, that you _have_ died for them? What's your plan?" + +"Well," the Master is supposed to answer, "I asked Peter, and James and +John, and little Scotch Andrew, and some more of them down there just to +make it the business of their lives to tell others, and the others are to +tell others, and the others others, and yet others, and still others, +until the last man in the farthest circle has heard the story and has felt +the thrilling and the thralling power of it." + +And Gabriel knows us folk down here pretty well. He has had more than one +contact with the earth. He knows the kind of stuff in us. And he is +supposed to answer, with a sort of hesitating reluctance, as though he +could see difficulties in the working of the plan, "Yes--but--suppose +Peter fails. Suppose after a while John simply _does not_ tell others. +Suppose their descendants, their successors away off in the first edge of +the twentieth century, get _so busy about things_--some of them proper +enough, some may be not quite so proper--that _they do not_ tell +others--_what then?_" + +And his eyes are big with the intenseness of his thought, for he is +thinking of--the _suffering,_ and he is thinking too of the difference to +the man who hasn't been told--"what then?" + +And back comes that quiet wondrous voice of Jesus, "Gabriel, _I haven't +made any other plans--I'm counting on them_." + + + +The Secret of Winsomeness. + + +That's a bit of this friend's imagination, it's true. But--it's the whole +Gospel story, through and through. Jesus has made that plan. He has not +made any other plan. He's counting on us, each of us, each in his own +circle, in his own way, as comes best, most natural to him tactfully, +quietly, earnestly--simply that, but all of that. And--if--we +fail--Him--let me be saying it very softly so the seriousness of it may +get into the inner cockles of our hearts--if we _fail Him_, just that far +we make _Jesus' dying a failure_ so far as concerns those whom we touch. + +Yes, I know that sounds very serious. I'd rather not be saying it. I'm +_sure_, by the Book, it is so. And so, do you see the genius--may I use +that word very reverently of Him who was a man and far more than man--the +genius of His plan? He sent down the same Spirit that swayed Him those +human years to live in us, and control us, that we might have the same +fine passion for men as He, and the same exquisite tact in winning them as +He had. + +It must be a _passion_; a fire burning with the steady flame of anthracite +fed by a constant stream of oil. If it be less we will be swept off our +feet by the tides all around, or sucked under by their swift current. And +many a splendid man to-day is being swept off his feet and sucked under by +the tides and currents of life because no such passion as this is mooring +and steadying and driving his whole life. + +It must be a passion for _winning_ men; not driving nor dragging, +_drawing_. Not argument nor coercion but warm, winsome wooing. Today the +sun up yonder is drawing up toward itself thousands of tons' weight of +water. Nobody sees it going, except perhaps in very small part. There's no +noise or dust. But the water rises up irresistibly toward the sun because +of the winning power in the sun for the water. It must be something like +that in this higher sphere. A winsomeness in us that will win men to us +and through us to the Master. + +"Oh! well," some one says, "if you put the thing that way you'll have to +count me out. I'm not winsome that way." Well, maybe you need not have +bothered to say it. We could easily know that without your saying it. We +are not winsome this way, any of us, of ourselves. But when we allow this +Jesus Spirit to take possession of us He imparts His winsomeness. For the +real secret of a transfigured life is a _transmitted_ life. Somebody else +living in us, with a capital S for that Somebody, looking out of our +eyes, giving His beauty to our faces, and His winningness to our +personality. + + + +"As the Stars." + + +The language used in the Scriptures for this sort of thing is full of +intense interest. Some time ago I was reading in the old prophecy of +Daniel. I was not thinking of this matter of winning men but simply trying +to get a fresh grasp of that wonderfully fascinating old bit of prophecy. +And all at once I came across that gem in the last chapter. I knew it was +there. You know it is there. Yet it came to me with all the freshness of a +new delightful surprise. "They that are wise shall shine with the +brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as +the stars forever and ever."[10] + +Four times in those last two chapters of Daniel it refers to those that +are "wise"; literally, those that are _teachers_. Those who have +themselves learned the truth and are patiently, faithfully, winsomely +telling and teaching others. The word used for influencing the others is +full of practical picturesque meaning. "They that _turn_ many." As if a +man were going the wrong way on a dangerous road. And _I know_ it's the +wrong way. There's a sharp precipice ahead. But he is going steadily on, +head down, all absorbed, not noticing where the road leads. + +I might go up to him, and strike him sharply on the shoulder to get his +attention, and say, "See here, you're going the wrong way; can't you see +the danger ahead there? Come this way," with a vigorous pull. I have +sometimes seen that done, in just that way. And if the man is an American, +or an Englishman, or a German,--we're all very much alike,--he will say +coldly, "Excuse me. I think I can take care of myself. Thank you. I'll +look out for this individual." + +Or, I might slip gently up to the man, and get my arm in his, and begin to +turn, very gently at first, and turn, and turn, and then turn some more, +and then farther around still, and walk him off the other way. You will +have to get _close_ to a man to do that. Some folks never do. And you'll +have to be at least half-way decent in your life to get close. Some folks +never can. And you will need to be warm enough all the time inside, to +melt through the icy cloak of indifference beneath which his heart may be +wrapped up. But I can tell you this: the old world where you and I live is +fairly hungry at its heart, with an eating hunger for turners of that +sort. + +And the promise of that old prophetic bit is this: "They shall _shine_." +You know everybody wants to shine. It is right to be ambitious, with a +right ambition. But if any of you are ambitious to shine in some other sky +than this, in your profession, in social life or in some firmament lower +than this, may I gently make this suggestion to you? Do your best shining +_now_. Get on the brightest shining surface possible now. For this is your +shining time. This is the sky-time for that sort of thing. It won't last +long, I must tell you frankly. And at the end a bitter biting at your +heart. + +I am fond of watching a display of fireworks on a Fourth of July night. +Perhaps the night is clear, the sky full of stars, bright and sparkling. A +sky rocket is sent off. It goes up with a rush and a noise. There is a +dash of many colored beautiful fire-stars. And a murmur of admiration from +the crowd. For a few moments you can see nothing as you look up but this +handful of fire-stars. The clear quiet stars beyond are eclipsed for a +narrow circle of space, and for a few moments of time. + +It doesn't last long. A small fraction of a minute at the most. Then it's +all over. And all that is left is a charred stick that sticks in the mud, +nobody knows where, nor cares. But look up yonder, the stars you could not +see a moment ago for these momentary ones are shining more brightly than +ever by contrast, + + "... And singing as they shine. + The hand that made us is divine." + +You shine in the lower skies if you will. And of course you will if you +will. You will do as you will to do. But, at the end--a charred stick, a +bad taste in your mouth, a sharp tugging at your heart. And the story's +told. The last chapter's ended. The book is shut. But they whose one +absorbing ambition it is to turn others to righteousness may not shine +much here in earth's skies. And they may a bit, and it recks precious +little either way. But they _shall_ shine as the stars, as bright and as +long. + +It does not mean Atlantic coast stars. It means desert stars, Babylonian +stars, where one can see so many more than here. They shake their wondrous +fire-light down into your face, and fairly dazzle your eyes. You "shall +shine as the stars," as bright and as long. + + + +The Finest Wisdom. + + +James, the head of the Jerusalem Church, closes up his letter to the +dispersed Jews with this same word as Daniel uses. He would have all to +whom he is writing understand that he that _turns_ another from the wrong +way will save a soul from death and hide away out of sight and reach a +mass of sin.[11] The old world needs more saving societies and saving +individuals of this sort. + +We have gotten great skill in saving dollars. Men give their whole +strength and time to that. There is something much higher, infinitely +higher, saving souls, rescuing lives, treasuring up precious men and +women. These people, James says, are famous for their use of the fine +cloak of charity. They make the best use of it in hiding away beyond any +chance of being found a great mass of ugly, crooked, poisonous sins. + +The man with the reputation of being the wisest man gives a special +definition of wisdom. The old version runs, "he that winneth souls is +wise."[12] This is a great statement from Solomon's pen. He had searched +into all the avenues of men's pursuits. He was a great experimenter. +Everything was put to a personal test. He amassed wealth beyond all +others. He delved into the fascinations of intellectual delights, of deep +intricate philosophies and problems. + +He knew the subtle appeal to strong men that there is in deftly handling +and controlling men, personally and in large numbers. He had tasted the +rich wines of pleasure as had few. This is his conclusion: the wise man is +he that gives his strength with all of its fine-grained cunning to wooing +men back, through the old Eden gate, up to the tree of life. + +This is the finest fruitage any life can yield. This will be to the bearer +of it a tree of life giving twelve crops of fruits, a crop of every month, +a perennial, alike in heat and frost, in storm and drought, and with a +peculiar healing quality in its green leaves for all men. + +The revised version gives a fine turn to this old bit, exactly reversing +the first statement. "He that is wise winneth souls." The old philosopher +says that here is the real test of wisdom. He that is a wise man gives the +cream of his thought and wisdom to personal influence with men. He thinks +the thing best worth while is drawing a man through the inner reach upon +his thinking and affections and will away from the impure and ignoble and +deceptive up into touch with his first Friend. + +And he finds too that nothing he has ever undertaken calls for a finer +play of all his powers at their best. All the diplomacy and fineness and +tact and keen management at his command will be called upon. He must be a +wise man to do such work. It is no fool's errand this. It demands the best +in the best. + +There is no body of men more keen or skilled in the handling and +influencing of men, than the politicians. And I use the word in its fine +meaning, as well as in its cheaper meanings. As democracy has won its way +increasingly among the governments of earth these politicians have +increased in number and in influence. Great measures of government have +depended on their skill in manipulating men. Rarest subtlety and +adroitness and rugged honesty have blended in the strongest of these +leaders. + +The fishing simile so commonly used in the winning of men over to one's +side is a peculiarly attractive, a matchless simile. And all of this +handling of men has often been for personal ends, often for wholly selfish +ends, often for strong national ends. Almost never has it been for the +benefit of the man being won, save at times very remotely. + +But Jesus would have us become skilled diplomats in winning men for their +own sakes. Getting them to climb the hills for the sake of the air and +view they will get, and enjoy. We are to win strong men full of life and +vigor and manly force up into touch with their Friend, Himself. + +There is too a most attractive winsome phrase on the Master's lips at the +close of that fishing story in Luke's fifth chapter,[13] "From henceforth +thou shall _catch_ men" is the reading. But the revised margin gives this +added bit of color: "Thou shalt take men alive." They should get, not dead +fish, but living men. Men full of vigor and life--thou shalt have power +to sway these and induce them up to the highlands of a new life. + + + +Three Essentials. + + +There are three simple essentials here for the man who would be following +his Master fully. The first is that a man shall surrender himself wholly +to Jesus as a Master. That so Jesus may have the full control of all. +Maybe some one thinks, "There is that strong word surrender again. Cannot +I help a man be better without going so far as that word seems to imply?" + +Will you kindly notice that the Spirit of Jesus _fills_ the surrendered +man? And it is only as that Spirit does fill and sway that there can be +any such passion for men as Jesus had, and, too, the fine tact that He +always used. This is the first simple indispensable essential. + +The second is this: a bit of quiet time alone with Jesus daily over His +Word. The door should be shut. Outside things shut outside. And one's self +shut in alone with the Master. This is not a good thing--merely. I am not +recommending it to you. I am saying very much more. It is an _essential_ +thing with every one who would follow the Master simply and fully. It is +time spent in coaling up, taking out the dead ashes, and readjusting the +drafts, so the fires will be kept burning steadily and clearly. This is +the second great essential. + +The third essential is this: a purpose, deep-seated, rock-rooted, +underlying every other purpose, taking precedence of every other, of +trying to win others, one by one, bit by bit, over to knowing Jesus +personally. I say "trying." I like that word. There may be some blunders, +some bad steps, some untactful work. But these will not turn one aside +from this purpose but simply make him more determined to become skilled in +this finest art. + +I mean something like this. Here is a young woman moving in a social +circle, just as bright and winsome as God meant every young woman to be. +And as she moves about, she is thinking--no, it is thinking itself out, +underneath in her subtle sub-consciousness,--"How can I drop the word +here, and touch there, and leave the light impress here, that shall count +with these lives for my Master?" + +Here is a man transacting business with another. And even while he is +dealing with figures, and contract terms, he is thinking,--no, again,--it +is so deeply rooted in that the thought, like the fine trendils of a +plant, is ever weaving itself intangibly but surely into the web of his +passing mental operations, "How can I tactfully leave the impress here, +perhaps speak the direct word, that shall be a doorway for Jesus into +this life?" + + + +A Blessed Library Corner. + + +I think I might tell you best just what I mean by a bit from a real life. +The bit that has been such a real inspiration to myself. It is about a +friend of mine, a business man, with large responsible interests, keen and +shrewd in his business dealings, a very earnest Christian man, with a +delightful, winning personality, and I am grateful to say who was a warm +friend of mine. He is in the presence of his Master now. He was a man much +my senior in years, who helped me very greatly. Whenever we chanced to +meet in our travels I would drop my affairs as far as I could to spend all +the time possible with him, both for the delight of his presence, and for +the practical help he always was. The last time we were ever together was +in Columbus, Ohio. We met there to attend an anniversary meeting of the +Young Men's Christian Association, in Dr. Gladden's Church, on the Capitol +Square. And Monday morning before taking our trains away in different +directions we went for a drive, to get the air, and talk a bit. I made the +suggestion of driving, for I knew I would get something from him. And I +was right. I did get something that I never forgot, and never shall. + +As we were driving, and talking, by and by, in a little lull of the talk, +he said very quietly, "Gordon, do you know what I have been doing lately?" +And I said, "No." "Well," he said, "it's been the delight of my life," and +I could see the gleam of light in his eyes. And I said, "Tell me what it +is that has been such a pleasure to you." And he said, "Well, I will." +Then he went on in a very taking way he had to tell this simple story. And +he was speaking as to a friend, for he was very modest, and would not have +spoken of the thing; except to _help_; that would always bring anything he +had. + +He said when he was at home--he travelled much--he would think about the +young men whom he knew who were not Christians. Splendid men, some of +them; full of power; clubmen, some of them. But who did not know Jesus +personally. And he would think, "Now there's such a man. I wonder what's +his easy side of approach." And he would think about him, and pray some +about him. And then make an opportunity to ask him up to his home for +dinner some evening. His position in the city would make any young man +feel honored with such an invitation. + +He said to me, "We have a pleasant time at the dinner table with the +family, and afterwards, a bit of music and so on. Then," with a quiet +smile he said, "I ask him into my library corner, my little study den, +and by and by we come to close quarters. I tell him what I'm thinking +about. I tell him what a Friend Jesus is. And how it helps to have Him in +all of one's life as a Friend and Master. Then I ask him softly if he +won't let Jesus be his Friend." + +He said, "I try to be as tactful as though I were selling a contract of +cars. Though there's a fine reverence here that never gets into business +talk. And then if it seems good, without causing him any embarrassment, we +have a bit of prayer together. Not always, but often." And he said to me, +with a tender eagerness in his voice, "Gordon, it's been the _delight_ of +my life to have man after man accept Jesus in my library corner." + +And I looked at him. We were driving along the busiest block of the +busiest street in Columbus. The Capitol building on this side. And the old +Neil Hotel on this. And all around us were the electrics, and wagons and +carriages; so much noise and dust. And there that man sat by my side so +quiet, with his eyes dancing as they looked off at something I could not +see. And if ever Moses' face shined or Stephen's, his did that morning. + +I was caught as I looked. That was the _delight_ of his life. Not his +money, nor his business, nor his social relations, though he took keen +interest in all of these, but this. And the sound of his voice, and the +sight of his face that morning, seemed to kindle the fires in my heart +that I might, in my own way, as came best to me, be doing something of +that same sort. That is what I mean by a deep-seated purpose, under every +other, to try to win men. + +I was telling this story one night to some people in his state, not +thinking that I was within maybe two hundred miles of his home. And as the +audience was dismissed I saw a man coming up the aisle toward the pulpit, +apparently to meet me. So I went down his way. He looked like a business +fellow, with a clean-cut way about him, and a strong manly face. Before we +met I noticed something glistening in his eye, and yet a smile across his +lips. + +And he _gripped_ my hand. I can feel that grip now. And he half-blurted +out, "_I'm_ one of those fellows! And there are a lot of us that are +thanking God with full hearts for that man's library room." And the grip +of that hand seemed to make the fires within burn just a bit stiffer. + +In an after conversation this friend told me how he had wanted to be a +Christian, but didn't seem to know just how. And nobody had ever spoken to +him about it, he said, though so often he had wished somebody would. There +are a great many just like him in that. + + + +"Two Missing"--"Go Ye." + + +Same years ago I was a guest at a small wedding dinner party in New York +City. A Scotch-Irish gentleman, well known in that city, an old friend, +spoke across the table to me. He said he had heard recently a story of the +Scottish hills that he wanted to tell. And we all listened as he told this +simple tale. I have heard it since from other lips, variously told. But +good gold shines better by the friction of use. And I want to tell it to +you as my old friend from the Scotch end of Ireland told it that evening. + +It was of a shepherd in the Scottish hills who had brought his sheep back +to the fold for the night, and as he was arranging matters for the night +he was surprised to find that two of the sheep were missing. He looked +again. Yes, two were missing. And he knew which two. These shepherds are +keen to know their sheep. He was much surprised, and went to the out-house +of his dwelling to call his collie. + +There she lay after the day's work suckling her own little ones. He called +her. She looked up at him. He said, "Two are missing"--holding up two +fingers--"Away by, Collie, and get them." Without moving she looked up +into his face, as though she would say, "You wouldn't send me out again +to-night?--it's been a long day--I'm so tired--not again to-night." So her +eyes seemed to say. And again as many a time doubtless, "Away by, and get +the sheep," he said. And out she went. + +About midnight a scratching at the door aroused him. He found one of the +sheep back. He cared for it. A bit of warm food, and the like. Then out +again to the out-house. There the dog lay with her little ones. Again +he called her. She looked up. "Get the other sheep," he said. I do not +know if you men listening are as fond of a good collie as I am. Their +eyes seem human to me, almost, sometimes. And hers seemed so as she +looked up and seemed to be saying out of their great depths--"Not +_again_--to-night?--haven't I been faithful?--I'm so tired--not again!" + +And again as I suppose many a time before, "Away by, and get the sheep." +And out she went. About two or three, again the scratching. And he found +the last sheep back; badly torn; been down some ravine or gully. And the +dog was plainly played. And yet she seemed to give a bit of a wag to her +tired tail as though she would say, "There it is--I've done as you bade +me--it's back." + +And he cared for its needs, and then before lying down again to his own +rest, thought he would go and praise the dog for her faithful work. You +know how sensitive collies are to praise or criticism. He went out and +stooped over with a pat and a kindly word, and was startled to find that +the life-tether had slipped its hold. She lay there lifeless, with her +little ones tugging at her body. + +That was only a dog. We are men. Shall I apologize for using a _dog_ for +an illustration? No. I will not. One of God's creatures, having a part in +His redemption. That was to save sheep. You and I are sent, not to save +sheep, but to save _men_. And how much then is a _man_ better than a +sheep, or anything else! + +And our Master stands here to-day. Would that you and I might see His face +with the thorn marks of His trip to this earth. He points out with His +hand. And you can't miss a peculiar hole in its palm. He says, "There are +_two missing_--aye, more than two--that you know--that you touch--that you +can touch--that I died for--go _ye_." + +Shall we go? For Jesus' sake? Yes, for men's sake; splendid men, befooled +about Jesus, who can get Him only through us in touch with Him--for men's +sake, in Jesus' great Name. + + + + +Deep-Sea Fishing: The Ambition of Service. + + + + A Water Haul. + Living up in the Spirit Realm. + Saved to Serve. + Ambition in Service. + Use What You Have. + Expectancy in Service. + Jesus Went into the Deeps. + + + + +Deep-Sea Fishing: The Ambition of Service. + +(Luke v:1-11.) + + + +A Water Haul. + + +Jesus was very fond of the outdoors. The Gospels have a woodsy smell. He +taught in the synagogues, but He seemed to prefer the open air. He would +go out on a country road, or down by the beach of the Galilean lake, and +the people would eagerly gather around Him, and He would talk to them. One +morning He had gone down to the lake shore. The people crowded in about +Him and He commenced as usual to talk to them. + +But so eager were they not to miss a word that they pressed in about Him +very close. He was standing with His back to the water likely, and the +people seemed likely to crowd Him over into the water. So He looked around +for something to do. He was ever practical to the point of being +matter-of-fact. A practical idealist was Jesus, _the_ practical Idealist. +Peter was down there, just a short distance off, with his partners and +crew in their fishing boats, cleaning up after the night's haul. Lifting +His voice a little, Jesus called out, "Peter, will you pull around here, +please." + +And Peter did. And Jesus, stepping into the boat, sat down, and went on +talking to the people. Interruptions never seemed to disturb Him. He +seemed to regard them in the light of possible index fingers pointing out +the next thing to be done. Every missionary, foreign and home, has to get +practised in just that, while holding steady to his underlying purpose. + +When He had finished talking, He turned to Peter and said quietly, "Launch +out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught." And Peter smiled +at the very idea, as he said, "Master, we've been out the whole night, and +haven't caught a thing, nothing but a water haul, but"--with a thoughtful +earnestness taking the place of the critical smile--"if you say so, of +course we will." And the Master said so. And now they can't handle the +haul. + +I want to bring to you anew this old word of command from Jesus' lips: +"Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught." These +men in the story had failed. They had gone out the evening before +intending and expecting to bring home a fine haul of fish for the +Capernaum or the Bethsaida market. They came back with nothing for the +night's work but tired muscles and torn nets. This message is for men who +have failed, or who have seemed to fail. There is no failure to an earnest +man. A man cannot fail without his own consent. Every seeming failure is +the seed of a coming success to earnest men. + +If any of us have seemed to fail, our boots have lead in them, and our +hearts are heavy too, for lack of success--this message is for us, "Launch +out, and let down." Failure is very apt to breed discouragement. Your +clothing seems damp and heavy with the dew of a fruitless night. +Oftentimes the best thing for that is action. Mix yourself with the action +of boats and nets and men. That's the Master's word here. + + + +Living up in the Spirit Realm. + + +There are three facts that group about the message of Jesus in this story. +And those same three facts need to group themselves in bold outline about +our using of it, too. The first is this: there was _contact with Jesus as +a Master_. That must come in, and come in strong, before there can be any +right using of this word of command. + +There needs to be the first contact when a man turns over the control of +his life to Jesus as Master. There needs to be close contact that the +Master's plan of service may be clearly seen and faithfully started upon. +There must be continual contact that so His mastery may control and guide +at every step. + +The second fact is this: obedience to the Master's word. Obedience, mind +you, whether the thing you are told to do seems a likely thing to do or +not. Here with the fishermen there were some things that pulled the other +way. They had been out all night and failed. The very sense of failure +strong within them was against obedience. Discouraged men seldom succeed +at anything. And there was a very unlikely chance ahead. The time for +fishing with them was in the night. Failure behind, and a poor chance +ahead! Yet they obeyed. + +If Peter had acted the way some modern folks do he would have said +something like this: "You'll excuse me, Master, for saying it; but--this +is no time to fish in these waters. Pardon me, sir, I have no doubt you +know about carpentering. But _I'm a fisherman_. When it comes to yokes and +plows I'll gladly yield to you. But fishing--you see, I've been fishing +ever since I was a boy. Maybe up around Nazareth, in the brooks and ponds +up there, you can catch something in daylight, but not down here." + +I have heard many people talking that way. But Peter didn't. Aren't you +glad he didn't? He stumbled often. He talked foolishly to Jesus more than +once, but not this time. He obeyed. It was against his habit, against his +ideas of what was best, but the message was clear and he obeyed it. Happy +is the man who listens to the inner Voice, learns keenly how to hear +distinctly and accurately, and obeys. Faith is never contrary to reason, +but it is frequently _higher up_. The spirit realm is the highest. + +A man should reach up _through_ his bodily life, _through_ a keen, strong +intellectual perception and grasp, up into the spirit realm and abide +there. Many a man of splendid ability and earnestness never shakes off his +intellectual scaffolding in the upward building. It remains to hamper and +mar. Through a mastered body, and a disciplined mind, up to the spirit +level is the full swing. Obedience to the clearly discerned voice of +command from the Master is the one pathway of full power. + +The third fact was sure to follow these two. It came last. There were +unexpectedly large results. There always will be where the first two facts +are faithfully gotten in. + + + +Saved to Serve. + + +There is a growth in this message of Jesus. There are four steps up and +out. First comes the plain call to _service: "Launch out_." This is the +ringing service call. It is a familiar word to a follower of Jesus. He was +always saying, "Go ye." To every man He said first of all, "Come." Then, +as quickly as a man came, the word was changed to "go." + +I like greatly the motto of the Salvation Army. It must have been born for +those workers in the warm heart of the mother of the Army, Catharine +Booth. That mother explains much of the marvelous power of that +organization. Their motto is, "_Saved to Serve_." Some seem to put the +period in after the first word. That's bad punctuation and worse +Christianity. We are saved to be savers. There is needed the divine Savior +and the human saver. Only he who has been saved can help save somebody +else. The tingle of experience in the blood attracts men. + +The Master says, "Launch out." Get down into the thick of the fight. One +should not unwisely wear out his strength. But on the other hand, it's +better to wear out than to rust out. You'll last longer, and any loss of +strength is to be preferred to the loss through yellow, eating rust. A +minister noted for his striking way of putting truth was preaching upon +the words that were spoken of Paul and his companions: "These that have +turned the world upside down are come hither also."[14] He said there were +three points to his sermon: first, the world was wrong side up; second, it +had to be gotten right side up; third, _we're the fellows to do it_. That +is the first note of this message, _we_ are the fellows to do it. + + + +Ambition in Service. + + +The second step in this ringing call to service is this: _ambition_ in +service. "Launch out _into the deep_." The shore waters are largely +over-fished. Out in the deeps are fish that have never had smell or sight +of bait or net. Here, near shore, the lines get badly tangled sometimes, +and committees have to be appointed to try to untangle the lines and +sweeten up the fishermen. + +And the fish get very particular about the sort and shape of the bait. +Some men have taken to fishing wholly with pickles, but with very +unsatisfactory results. The fish nibble, but are seldom landed apparently. +And just a little bit out are fish that never have gotten a suggestion of +a good bite. + +There are deeps all around. One might fairly give an inward personal turn +to the word. There are _personal deeps_ that have not yet been sounded. +There are untouched deeps in prayer, in Bible study, and in the winning of +others. There are deeps in acquaintance with Jesus, in purity of life, in +sacrifice and in giving whose bottom no greasy lead has yet touched. "Out +into the deep," comes that quiet intense inner voice of Jesus spoken into +one's innermost heart. + +There are the great _deeps in service_ waiting our coming. Roundabout +every church is a fringe of deep, sometimes a deep fringe and broad, of +those practically untouched by the warm message of Jesus; and around every +Christian Association of men and of women. In the heart and on the edges +of every village and town and city unfathomed deeps lie; deeps in a man's +own state, deeps in our land, great untouched deeps in the world. + +Wherever there is a man who has not felt the warm side of the story of +Jesus' dying there is a deep. Wherever a group of such can be found is a +deep increased in depth by the number in the group. Wherever the great +crowds are gathered together to whom no word at all has come, neither by +personal touch nor printed page nor any other wise, there is the deepest +deep. With a deep glow in His eyes as He speaks the word, and the +tenderness and softness of deep emotion, and the earnestness of one who +has Himself been in the deep Jesus says anew to us to-day, "out into the +_deep_." + +We are to be ambitious in service. Jesus was ambitious. He reached out for +all, those nearest, those farthest. He talked of all nations, of a world. +His follower must have a long reach to keep up. That word ambition has +been much abused. It has been used much in connection with selfish +self-seeking, until that meaning has become almost its whole meaning in +the thinking of many people. But with the purpose dominant in Jesus we can +properly use it in its old literal meaning. Originally it simply meant +going around, being used in the sense of going out among people soliciting +their favor or their votes. + +It has the fine vitality of that word "go" in it. That for which a man is +ambitious decides the quality of the word. A pure, holy purpose makes the +intense reaching for it pure and holy too. An intense reaching out to the +farthest reach of the Master's word, that finds expression in the dominant +spirit of the life, in the service, in the giving, the sacrificing, the +praying--this is the true ambition. + +Paul uses three times a word that has the force of our word ambition.[15] +The American Revision uses ambition in the margin for it. In advising the +group of followers in Thessalonica he says, "_Study_ to be quiet." The +practical force of the phrase there is this: be ambitious to be +unambitious in the world's abused meaning of ambitious. In writing the +second time to the friends at Corinth where his motives had been much +criticised he said, "I make it my aim (or ambition) to be well-pleasing +unto Him." + +And later, in writing to the Christians at Rome, whom he had never seen, +he said that he had made it his aim or had been ambitious to preach the +Gospel where nobody had yet gone. The literal meaning of the word he uses +is something like this, striving from a love of honor. And we may find a +fine meaning in that which was doubtless used otherwise. + +It was a matter of honor with Paul to do as he was doing. And he would +have the honor of having fully carried out his Master's wish. He coveted +earnestly the honor of being always pleasing to his Master both in life +and in the sort and reach of his service. Here are Paul's three ambitions: +to be wholly free of the fires of worldly ambitions; to be well-pleasing +to Jesus, his Lord; to reach out beyond, where nobody had yet gone with +the story of Jesus' dying and living again. + +Paul was obeying Jesus. Jesus said to those fishermen on Galilee's waters, +"Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught." Paul +said, "I have steadily made it the one thing I drove hard at in service, +to get out beyond all other lines and nets to where nobody has yet gone." + + + +Use What You Have. + + +The third step in this service-call is this: _practicality in service_: +"Let down your nets." I can imagine Peter saying, "Master, if we had known +your plans for this morning, I would have sent up to Tyre for the newest +patented nets, or down to Cairo. These nets of ours have been patched and +patched. They are so old." The Master says, "Let down _your_ nets." + +There is a very common delusion that holds us back from doing something +because we are not skilled in doing it. "Let the pastor speak to that +young man; I can't do it very well." "I can't teach very well; let some +one else take that class." The Master says, "Use what you have." Do your +best. Your best may not be _the_ best, but if it be your best, it will be +God-blest, and always bring a harvest. + +Use what you have. Do not despise the stuff God put into you. Train and +discipline it the best you can, and use it. And in using it you will be +training it. The best training is in _use_. Brains and pains and prayer +are an irresistible trinity. When the gray matter and the finger tips and +the knees get into a combination great results always come. + +The old Hebrew farmer Shamgar had only a long ox-goad with which to prod +his beasts in the field. The traditional enemy, the Philistine, comes up +over the hill. Shamgar's neighbors have taken to their heels. But Shamgar +is made of different stuff. He asks a man hurrying by, "How many do you +think there are?" And the man calls out, "About six hundred, I should +say." + +Shamgar sets his jaws together hard, gets a fresh grip on his ox-goad, +digs his heels into the ground for a good hold, and mutters to himself, "I +guess they are about four hundred short." And he smites, left and right, +up and down, hip and thigh, with his strange weapon. And a great victory +comes to the nation under its new leader. + +David had only a leather sling, home-made likely, and a few smooth stones +out of the running brook. He had skill in slinging stones, a keen trained +eye, a steady nerve, a practiced arm, and well-knit muscles. But what were +these against a giant almost twice his height and years, and armed to the +teeth? Yet the ruddy-faced stripling had something better yet along with +his sling and stones and skill. He had a simple trust in God. He had a hot +protest in his heart against the slandering of God's people by this +heathen giant. He _combined_ all he had, sling, stones, skill, and faith, +and the laughing, sneering giant is soon under his feet, and feeling the +edge of his own sword. "Let down your nets." Use what you have. + +There was a woman living down by the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea a +good while ago. Her heart had been touched by God, and ever after beat +warm for others. But what could _she_ do? She couldn't make speeches, nor +write papers for the missionary society, nor preside over its meetings. +She seemed to have one special gift. She could sew. She could do plain +sewing and overcast, cross-stitch and hem-stitch. I suppose she knew the +herring-bone-stitch and feather-stitch, and other sorts too. + +And so she just busied herself finding out poor folks who needed clothing, +some women too hard-worked to care for their children's clothing. And she +sewed for them. She was a seamstress for Jesus' sake to all the needy +folks she could find. I expect she stuck pretty closely to the plain +stitching, though likely as not she would put in some of the fancy too to +please the people she was winning to her Master. + +And she sewed the story of Jesus, and the heart of Jesus, into coats and +skirts and such. All through Joppa her message went into homes not +otherwise open perhaps. And the women read the story of her heart in the +stitches and they found Jesus through her needle. She used what she had. +And the women of the church have rightly honored her name in their +societies. + +But mark keenly this: while using to the full, and faithfully, just what +you have, there must needs be utter dependence upon God. Not what you +have, nor what you can do, but Somebody _in_ what you have, and _through_ +what you do. Notice, "Their nets were _breaking_." They were to use their +nets, but the power was somewhere else. As we are made up, there +frequently needs to be a breaking before the glory of God is revealed. It +need not be so, necessarily. + +Yet as a matter of fact most people have to stub their toes and then go +stumbling down with a clash, measuring their length on the earth, and +getting some scars that stay before they can be mightily used. So many +strong wills are strong enough to be stubborn, but not strong enough to +yield. Gideon's pitchers had to be broken before the lights flashed out +and brought panic to the enemy. + +It was when the alabaster box was broken that its fine fragrance filled +the house, and spread out into all the world. Somebody prayed, "O Lord, +take me, and break me, and make me." That is the usual order as a matter +of fact. Yet if the strength of stubbornness that must be broken down to +change its direction, were but swung God's way at once--But most folks +that have been greatly used have some of this sort of scars. Utter +dependence upon God's strength in doing God's service is the lesson of the +breaking nets. + + + +Expectancy in Service. + + +The climax of this message of Jesus is in its end: "Let down your nets +_for a draught_." There is to be _expectancy in service_. Ideas of +draughts changed that day. "Peter, what would you call a good draught?" +"Well," the old fisherman says, as he sits stitching up the holes in his +nets, "after last night I think if we got a boat half full it wouldn't be +a bad haul." "Andrew, what's a draught?" And Andrew says, "I think after +this water haul we've had, a haul of holes, Peter hits it pretty close." + +"Master, how much is _a draught_?" And His answer comes back over the +water, "Twice as much as you are able to take care of, and then more." +They filled that boat, sent for another, filled that, and then didn't land +all they had caught. + +How much do you reckon a draught in your life, in your church, in your +mission, your field, _how much_ are you _saying_?--"Master, what is your +reckoning of a draught here in this man's life, out here in this field of +service?" And from this Galilean story there comes back anew to our hearts +the Master's reply, "Twice as much as you have planned for, and then +more." + +Expectancy is the eye of faith. Faith always has a watch-tower. When +Elijah went to the tiptop of Carmel to pray, he was careful to send his +servant to watch the sea. Prayer is faith looking up. Expectancy is faith +looking out. + + + +Jesus Went into the Deeps. + + +And so to every one of us to-day comes afresh that ringing command, +"Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draught." + + "'Launch out into the deep;' + The awful depth of a world's despair; + Hearts that are breaking and eyes that weep; + Sorrow and ruin and death are there. + And the sea is wide; + And its pitiless tide + Bears on its bosom away. + Beauty and youth, + In relentless ruth, + To its dark abyss for aye. + But the Master's voice comes over the sea, + 'Let down your nets for a draught for Me.' + And He stands in our midst, + On our wreck-strewn strand. + And sweet and loving is His command. + His loving word is to each, to all. + And wherever that loving word is heard, + There hang the nets of the royal Word. + Trust to the nets, and not to your skill; + Trust to the royal Master's will. + Let down the nets this day, this hour; + For the word of a king is a word of power, + And the King's own word comes over the sea, + Let down your nets for a draught for Me.'" + +There is a last word that comes up insisting to be said. It is this: Jesus +went down into the deeps for us. Deeper deeps than we know or ever shall +He sounded with the line of His own life on our behalf. He got badly +scarred that night of darkness. It is this scarred Jesus who earnestly +asks us to come along after Him so far as we can. His voice with a +tenderness of love wrought into it on the cross says to us, "Launch out +into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught." + + + + +Money: The Golden Channel of Service. + + + + Touching a Limitless Circle. + Peculiar Effects of Money. + Jesus' Law for the Use of Money. + Foreign Exchange. + Gold-Exchanged Lives. + Spirit Alchemy. + The Fragrance of the Life in the Gift. + Sacrifice Hallows and Increases the Gift. + A Living Sacrifice. + + + + +Money: The Golden Channel of Service.[16] + +(Luke xvi:1-18.) + + + +Touching a Limitless Circle. + + +There is an inky shadow over the home of God. There is a sharp pain +tugging at the heart of God. It's a family matter; a family disgrace. One +of God's family has gone off from the home circle and made a bad mess of +things. Such an affair is always a source of great grief, especially where +the family is an old one, with fine blood. And here the family is of the +oldest, and the blood the best. The Father feels the sharp edge of the +knife of disgrace very keenly. The hearth fire of God is lonely for the +one gone away. + +All of that Father's great love and rare wisdom have centered and blended +on a plan for winning the estranged member of His family back home, of his +own free glad accord. The other members of His family have gazed with +awe-touched faces upon the marvels of that plan. Its tenderness, its +depth, its wondrous love-wisdom have excited their deepest admiration +while they watch breathlessly to see the outcome. + +That prodigal is our own splendid planet. Some of us down here have gladly +welcomed the Father's plan and the Father's Son. His Son is His plan. But +most of us don't seem to understand the Father. And that is hard on Him. +And the greater number of us, by far the greater number, haven't even +heard of the Father's plan or of His Son, and have lost the memory of His +loving voice calling. He is always calling. And everyone hears that +calling voice. But very many do not recognize it as the Father's. + +In great tenderness the Father's plan for winning all includes the help of +those already won. Through His Son first, and then through His sons, +newborn, reborn, He is reaching out His warm, eager hand to all. He +breathed His own Spirit upon His Son. He breathes that same Spirit upon +each of us who will, that so we may, each of us, touch all the others with +the touch of God. + +Five great touches of God there are, each charged with a mighty current of +power. The fragrant life-touch, the musical voice-touch, the warm +service-touch, the potent golden-touch, the secret, subtle prayer-touch. +The first three of these are limited to a narrow circle, the circle of the +immediate personality. The last two are limitless. They are like our own +spirits. They reach directly, resistlessly, clear out through the personal +circle as far as the spirit reaches, even around the whole circle of the +planet. + +Just now for a little while we want to talk together about one of these, +the potent yellow golden-touch. The word service has been thought of quite +commonly as referring to certain restricted things that one may do for +another. It has a broader meaning too. Whatever we do to help another is +service. Not merely the direct activities, but praying and giving are +service of most potent influence. Money supplies a channel through which +one may reach most intimately to others, near by and around the world. It +is the golden channel of service. + + + +Peculiar Effects of Money. + + +Money is queer stuff. The opposites meet in it so strikingly. It may be +the most cruel, exacting tyrant. It may be the most faithful, intelligent +servant. If it come into a man's life unaccompanied by a high, controlling +motive power, it has most peculiar effects upon him. It often wrinkles up +his face, and ties hard knots in the wrinkled lines. It can dwarf a warm +hand into a cold, hard, muscle-bound fist. It drains the warm blood from +the heart, and dries all the sweet, fragrant dew out of the spirit. The +hand suffers much. It is often stricken with a sort of palsy while in the +pocket, and cannot be withdrawn. Sometimes there is a violent cramp, or a +sort of pen paralysis that prevents the signing of the name--to certain +sorts of checks. + +But if, on the other hand, it come into a man's possession accompanied by +a pure unselfish motive that _controls_, it comes the nearest to +omnipotence of anything we handle. Gold of itself seems to have the +puckering quality of a green persimmon. The green fruit will contract the +mouth to its smallest proportions. And unmellowed gold acts in the same +way upon the mouth of the pocket. + +This is true of all gold and of all pockets. There are no exceptions. The +only possible way of effecting a change is to let a stronger power come in +and counteract the contracting power. Gold has the greatest contracting +power of any earthly substance. Its only sufficient counteractant is God. +God has the greatest expanding power known to angels or men. Gold +contracts. God expands. If God be the dominating motive power in a man's +life, then does gold come the nearest to omnipotence of any tangible +thing. It takes on the quality of Him who breathes upon it. + + + +Jesus' Law for the Use of Money. + + +Jesus gives us the simple law for the right use of money. It is in that +sixteenth chapter of Luke. He is talking about the dishonest overseer of a +wealthy man's estate. His dishonest practices have been discovered, and he +is required to make a final settlement preliminary to his being +discharged. He has evidently been living extravagantly, for the loss of +position threatens him with beggary. Distressed to know what to do he hits +upon a farther extension of his dishonest practices, and uses the position +he is about to lose to buy up friends for his coming days of want. + +As he tells the story Jesus adds this comment: "for the sons of this world +are for their own generation wiser than the sons of light." Practically +they go on the supposition that the present generation is the only one. +For the short space of years making up their own generation they are wiser +than the sons of light. But for the long space of all coming generations +they are the rankest fools. That is included by contrast in Jesus' words. +The man who in his use of money thinks only or chiefly of the years making +up his own present life is--a fool. The man who takes into his reckoning +not only the present generation, but all coming generations, in disposing +of his money is the shrewd financier. + +Then occurs the sentence[17] that contains a wonderfully simple statement +for the keen, wise use of gold. The old version runs like this: "Make to +yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness that when ye fail they +may receive you into everlasting habitations." The revised version, both +English and American, reads this way: "Make to yourselves friends by means +of the mammon of unrighteousness that when _it_ shall fail they may +receive you into the eternal tabernacles." + +I have ventured to make a rather free translation that I feel sure is true +to the words here in their connection and that gives in simple English +just what Jesus means. "Make to yourselves friends by means of money, +which the unrighteous world reckons riches, that when it fails they may +receive you," and so on. Money is not riches. The world commonly has been +befooled into thinking that it is. Perhaps we have not all quite escaped +that delusion. And money is not unrighteous. It is neither righteous, nor +unrighteous. It gets its moral quality from the man owning it for the time +being. It is as he is. It takes on the color of its ownership. + +Make to yourselves friends by means of the money that comes into your +control that when it fails they may receive you. That is to say, exchange +your money into the kind of coin that is current in the kingdom of God. +Exchange your gold into _lives_. That is the sort of coin current in the +homeland. This yellow stuff we call riches they use for paving stones up +in the homeland. Would that we might get it under our feet down here, +instead of being ruled by it. + +The current coin of heaven is lives of men. And that too will be reckoned +the precious metal when the Kingdom of God comes to the earth. Exchange +your money into _men_; purified, uplifted, redeemed men. Buy letters of +credit that will be good in the homeland, and in the coming Kingdom days +on the earth, if you would be wealthy. + +"That when it fails," Jesus says with fine discernment. Money will fail. +There is an end to the power of gold in itself. Money will be bankrupt +some day. It has enormous buying power now. Some day its buying power will +be all gone. Then it will take the place of cobble-stones. Yet it would +seem to be a failure there unless some new hardening process had been +found for it. Better use it while it has power of purchase. Better not be +caught with much of the yellow stuff sticking to you when the true values +are being settled. It'll all be dead loss then; dead stock, not worth the +space it occupies. + +You remember the very old story of the wealthy man who died. And in a +group of people talking together somebody asked the usual question, "How +much did he _leave_?" And a wise man in the company replied tersely, +"Every cent; didn't take a copper along." That story is apt to provoke a +smile. But, do you know, it is sadder than it is witty. The man had gained +great wealth. He must have been endowed with some force and talent to do +that. His whole life and strength and talent had been devoted to making +money and hoarding it. That money was the whole output of the man's life. +Then he died and the whole output of his life was left behind. He passed +out of this life stripped to the skin. Into the other world, where wealth +is reckoned otherwise than in gold, he entered a sheer pauper. The +purchasing power of his wealth stopped at the line of departure out of +this world. _It failed_. + + + +Foreign Exchange. + + +Exchange your gold into men. Buy up some of the kind of coin they use in +the homeland, so that you may have some wealth when you get there. Suppose +you should be over on the continent of Europe, shopping in Berlin. You buy +some goods in a store and lay down upon the counter a twenty-dollar gold +piece in payment. The salesman would say, "What sort of money is this?" +and you would likely say, "That is good American gold, sir." And he would +probably reply, "I have no doubt that is true, and that it is good money. +But it is not the sort we receive here. You will have to go to the bankers +and get it changed into German marks and then I'll be pleased to complete +this sale." And so you would be obliged to do if you had not thought to +provide yourself with German money. + +There are some people that will have an experience like that after a +while, I'm thinking. Some one thinks that that is not a very likely +illustration. A man going to Europe would provide himself with proper +money to use. Maybe it is not a very good illustration for _Europe_. But +how about some other strange lands to which folks go? There seem to be +several people who expect to go to a strange country, and yet do not +provide any of its recognized coinage before going. + +Here is a man who gets through his life down on the earth, and goes out +into the other life. Judging by the whole tenor of his life he will +attempt to take some of his belongings with him. Indeed so much are these +belongings a part of his very life that they seem inseparable from him. +Here he comes up to the gateway of the upper world. He is lugging along a +farm or two, some town lots, and houses, and a lot of beautifully engraved +paper, bank stock and railroad bonds and other bonds. They are absorbing +him completely as he puffs slowly along. + +And as he gets up to the gateway, the gateman will say, "What's all that +stuff?" "_Stuff!_" he will say, astonished; "this is the most precious +wealth of earth, sir. I have spent my whole life, the cream of my strength +in accumulating this." "Oh, well," the reply will be, "I have no doubt +that is so. I am not disputing your word at all. But that sort of thing +does not pass current up in this land. That has to be exchanged at the +bankers' offices for the sort of coinage we use here." + +The man looks a little relieved at this last remark. The other talk has +sounded strange, and given him a queer misgiving in his heart, as he +listened. But "banker" and "exchange"--that sounds familiar. The ground +feels a bit steadier. He picks up new spirit. "Where are the bankers' +offices, please?" he asks eagerly. "They are all down on the earth," comes +the quiet answer. "You must do your exchanging before you get as far up as +this. That stuff is all dead loss now. You can't take it back to the +bankers' now, and it is of no value here. Just leave it over on that dump +heap there outside the gate, and come in yourself." And the man comes in +with a strangely stripped and bare feeling. + +What we get and keep for the sake of having, we lose, for we leave it +behind. What we give away freely for _Jesus'_ sake, for men's sake, we +will find by and by we have kept, for we have sent it ahead in a changed +form. + +There will be a strange readjustment of values on the other side. Some +men of splendid strength have spent it in accumulating earth's wealth. +They give, even freely it seems to be, in very large amounts. Yet be it +keenly marked the sum given by these men always bears a small proportion +to what is kept. + +Others there are of equally splendid strength, and fine powers, who have +been spending that strength in influencing men. Their passion seems to +have been for _men_, for men's _selves_, for men's _lives_. The great bulk +of their strength and time has been deliberately given to this. And some +that have not understood have thought such conduct strange, a sort of fad +with these men. But when values are readjusted by the standards of the +final clearing house, some who have been very wealthy down here will be +reckoned among the very poor. And some who have been reckoned poor will be +found to be the shrewdest of investors. They will be the millionaires of +the Kingdom time and in the homeland. I do not mean _dollar_-millionaires, +but _life-millionaires._ The standard of wealth in the homeland is +_lives_, not dollars. + +And some too there will be, and not few in numbers, who have given of +their strength in business pursuits to the making of money, as the Spirit +has guided them, or to whom it has been left in trust by others, and who +have been steadily investing the wealth that has come in the _lives of +men_. Some folks ought to be getting better acquainted at the foreign +exchange desk in the banks where this sort of business is done. + +There are a good many banks that make a specialty of this sort of foreign +exchange. The great Church Boards, the International Committee of the +Young Men's Christian Associations, the American Committee of the Young +Women's Christian Associations, the individual churches and associations, +and the Bible Societies are a few of the better known of the banks having +a large exchange business of this sort. + +Their methods of business have been very thoroughly systematized for the +convenience of investors. In almost every pew of a church may be found +little deposit envelopes, mediums of exchange. There are weekly +opportunities for making deposits. And the handling of the money has been +so thoroughly systematized, too, that, as a rule, a very small proportion +is taken up in keeping the banks running, the great bulk passing directly +out to the designated place of use. + + + +Gold-Exchanged Lives. + + +Jesus says that our money in its new form will be waiting our arrival on +the other side. The men and women into whose lives we have been +exchanging it will be eagerly looking for us as the ship pulls into port. +When you get through with your life down here--it will be a long life, I +hope--you will go up and into the homeland. And--I suppose--at the first +you will have eyes and heart for nobody but _Jesus_. My mother used to say +to me, "I have thought that I would like to have a talk with Moses, and +with Elijah, and with John and Paul, but"--with the quick tears of deepest +emotion filling her dark eyes--"I have never been able in my thinking of +it, _to get past Jesus yet_." Even so it will be, no doubt, with all of +us. + +But this word of Jesus' own suggests that as you go in you will find some +one coming eagerly up with outstretched hands and such a glad face to meet +you. And he will say, "Oh! I have been looking forward so eagerly to +meeting you; welcome." And you will say, "Well, this is very kind of you. +But, pardon me, I can't just recall your face. Where was it I knew you? in +New York?" + +And he will say, with a flush of earnest feeling, "Oh, no! I never saw New +York. And I never saw you before. My home was over in the heart of China. +Our lives were very miserable there. There was a great tugging at my heart +that nothing seemed ever to ease. But one day a stranger came into our +village, with some little books, and as we gathered about him he talked +to us about _Jesus_, and you can never know how that story of Jesus came +to me, and how much it meant. My whole life was changed, and my home and +our village were changed. And since coming up here I have learned that it +was _through you_ that that man came, and I want to thank you. Next to +Jesus I think you're the best friend I have." + +And you will be thinking, "I'm so glad I gave that money. I had to pinch +quite a bit, but that's nothing compared to the joy of this." And as that +is flashing swiftly through your thought, here is somebody else eagerly +pressing up, with the same word of welcome, and a face with such a glad +light the sight of which is alone quite enough to even up any sacrifice. +And you will say maybe, "And where did I meet you? are you from China, +too?" + +No, this one is from a western frontier settlement where the home +missionary had gone, and now this one elbowing by her with the same +lightened face is from the mountain section of the South. And so they come +eagerly up from many places where you have never been in person but where +you have gone potentially through your money. That is what Jesus means. +Make to yourselves friends by means of money which the unrighteous world +reckons riches, that when it fails they may welcome you eagerly into the +homeland. Exchange your gold into lives. + + + +Spirit Alchemy. + + +There is a divine alchemy whereby money may be transmuted into redeemed, +purified, uplifted lives. There is another alchemy whereby men, made of +finest gold in the image of God, may be transmuted into the basest metals. +When Moses coming down from the presence of God saw the shocking sight of +the people worshiping a calf made of gold, he reproached Aaron for +permitting it. Do you remember Aaron's answer? He had the gift of speech, +you remember, an easy, smooth way of explaining things. Yet in the light +of the recited facts the answer seems rather lame. It needs a crutch to +steady it up. He said, that he had put in the gold and--"_there came out +this calf_." + +A great many men might fairly make use of Aaron's explanation. They have +put into the crucible of life their gold, themselves, God's finest gold +intrusted to their hands. And under their manipulation what has come out +is as a vealy, callow calf, a bull calf at that too, scrub stock, fit only +for the ax. + +There is the other, the divine alchemy whereby a man may put in the gold +intrusted to his handling and there shall come out _lives_, sweet, strong, +fragrant lives, made anew in the image of their Maker. + + + +The Fragrance of the Life in the Gift. + + +It is a part of the peculiar potent value of money that there can be a +practical transfer of personality through its use. For instance I have a +friend whose heart burned to go to a foreign mission field for service +there. But the physician said it would not be wise for her to go. Yielding +to his expert judgment, she still yearned to be of service there. In the +providence of God she became intrusted with large wealth. And so she +arranged to have a man go in her stead to China, she caring for all the +expense involved, while he was so left wholly free for the service. + +Tell me, was that not a practical transfer of her personality to the point +of service where he is engaged? Then she arranged for another, and +another, and yet others. It is not only a transfer of personality in +practical results, but a duplication of personality, and a triplication, +and more. For she is busy in her home circle, while her representatives +are busy elsewhere through the influence of her action. + +A young woman, graduate of a western college, developed much talent in +speaking to other young women of the Christian life. Her public service +was much blessed in the lives of large numbers of women. She had no +wealth, but was dependent upon her efforts for a livelihood. Another young +woman, in the East, came under the warm spell of her personality and +speech. And her life was blessedly revolutionized by that spell. Her own +heart burned to be doing something of the sort for her sisters out over +the land. + +But she seemed not to have gifts of that kind. Yet she had been intrusted +with large means. And so she said to her new friend whom God had so +graciously blessed to her own life, "Let us be partners together. I will +so gladly give what I have, that you may be wholly free to give to others +what you have brought to me." And so it was arranged. And the one woman +gives of the gold of her inheritance while the other gives her life and +her special gift. The one in her home pays and prays. The other goes +constantly here and there, and lives are ever transformed through the +Spirit of God resting upon her. + +Is not that a practical transfer of personality? and duplication of +personality, too? Is not this young woman whose own actual personality +remains, in the gracious providence of God, in her home, is she not going +potentially about from place to place winning her sisters up to the +highlands of the best living? It surely is so. + +And these two are but illustrations of the many who have come to +understand Jesus' law for the right use of money. And there are to be many +more as the days go by, doing just that sort of thing. And let those of us +who have not been intrusted either with the large amount of money, or +with the large power to earn, remember that the _amount_ involved does not +affect the law of results. All who have felt the blessed contagion of the +Master's example will give freely of what is in store, whether much or +little. + +Those whose giving is in smaller amounts by our bulky way of reckoning +values, may still be making that same blessed transfer and doubling their +own capacity for service through the agency of their gold. For the gold +given represents the life that gives. And the gift takes on the quality +and power and fragrance of the life that gives it. I have sometimes +thought that there seems to be a peculiar potency in the smaller gifts, +that represent as they so often do the greatest, most devoted sacrifice. +Could we trace the intricate crossings of the lines of influence in the +web of life, we would be awed many times at the potency of the giving that +is small in amount but tinted red with the life-blood of sacrifice. + +It should be remembered that through this strange stuff called money there +is a double transfer of personality going on all the time. Men are +constantly transferring themselves into gold, in a perfectly proper way. A +man gives his labor, and at the end of a specified period he gets a +certain amount of money. That money represents himself. It is himself for +that length of time. That is the first transfer of manhood in money. It is +going on all the time. It is necessarily so, for so we get our food, and +clothing, and home. + +Then there is the re-transfer of this money into some other form. As we +choose to use this money, so we are re-transferring ourselves into what +forms we will. The money is the transition state of ourselves. We pass +through it out into the exchange of life. We reveal ourselves in the way +we pass it out. In no way does a man reveal the true inner self more. And +if perchance we let it, or some of it, lie and gather rust, there we are, +some part of us being covered with rust. + + + +Sacrifice Hallows and Increases the Gift. + + +But there is more yet to be said here. The great blending of the spirit +forces with gold comes out wondrously in this: that _sacrifice hallows +what it touches_. And under its hallowing touch values increase by long +leaps and big bounds. Here is a fine opportunity for those who would +increase the value of gifts that seem small in amount. Without stopping +now for the philosophy of it, this is the tremendous fact. + +Perhaps the annual foreign missionary offering is being taken up in your +church. The pastor has preached a special sermon, and it has caught fire +within you. You find yourself thinking as he preaches, and during the +prayer following, "I believe I can easily make it fifty dollars this year. +I gave thirty-five last time." You want to be careful _not_ to make it +fifty dollars, because you can do that _easily_. If you are shrewd to have +your money count the most, you will pinch a bit somewhere and make it +sixty-two fifty. For the extra amount that you pinch to give will hallow +the original sum and increase its practical value enormously. Sacrifice +hallows what it touches, and the hallowing touch acts in geometrical +proportion upon the value of the gift. + +Better turn your gown, and readjust your hat, for the sacrifice involved +will give a new beauty to the spirit looking out through your face. And +real folks will not be able to get past the beauty of face to the +incidentals of your apparel. Wear your derby another season, and get your +shoes half-soled, and some deft mending done. Let that extra horse go to +other buyers, and the automobile be picked up by somebody who has not yet +mined any of the fine gold of sacrifice. The coming rainy day will never +be able to use up all that some folks are salting down for it. + +And yet some folks, many folks, should be spending more on their bodies +and giving less. The giving should never intrench upon the strength of +one's personality. That is a treasure to be sacredly guarded. All the +power of one's life, in serving, in giving, in praying, in speaking, and +in personal contact, the power of all roots down in the personality. The +safe rule, and the only safe rule, is to decide such questions with the +knee-joint bent, and the door shut, and the spirit willing. A strong will +played upon by the Holy Spirit, mellowed by emotions that have been moved +by the need, and held steady by a disciplined judgment must attend to +loosening the purse-strings. + +But the one fact being emphasized here just now is that the element of +sacrifice must be in the giving if it is to be effective. Sacrifice was +the dominant factor in _God's_ giving of His Son, real sacrifice. It was +dominant in _Jesus'_ giving of His own self and His life, keen cutting +sacrifice. Who will follow in _their_ train? Whoever will, will be getting +a post-graduate course in financiering and in multiplying of values. He +will be astonished at the results working out, and most astonished at the +final disclosures. + +Keeping out of circulation more than one's wants, properly adjusted, call +for is poor financiering. For that which is held back is not earning +anything. All beyond one's needs should be out in circulation for the +Master in His campaign for a world. Yet nowhere is there finer chance or +greater need for the play of keen judgment than in deciding that question +of need. Mistakes are made on both sides. It looks very much as though the +most serious mistakes are being made on the side of too little sacrifice +or none. Yet clearly some serious mistakes are made on the other side +too. But no one may criticise another. Each must decide for himself. In +the judgment of charity we are to presume that each is doing what he +thinks right and best. We are, none of us, the keeper of our brother's +purse. + + + +A Living Sacrifice. + + +There is a simple story told that contains its truth in its very +naturalness and simplicity. It reveals a bit of the real life ever going +on all around us unnoticed. A minister in a certain small town in an +eastern state received from the home mission board of his church a letter +asking for a special offering for a needy field in the West. With the +letter was literature setting forth the need. The call appealed to him and +with good heart he prepared a special sermon, calling the attention of his +people to the great need. + +Sabbath morning came and he preached the sermon. But somehow it did not +just seem to hook in. That banker down there on the left looked listless, +and yawned a couple of times behind his hand. And the merchant over on the +right, who could give freely, examined his watch secretly more than once. +And so it was with a little tinge of discouragement insistently creeping +into his spirit that he finished, and sat down. And he remained with head +bowed in prayer that the results might prove better than seemed likely, +while the church officers passed down the aisles with the collection +plates. + +Meanwhile something unseen by human eye was going on in the very last pew. +Back there, sitting alone, was a little girl of a poor family. She had met +with a misfortune which left her crippled. And her whole life seemed so +dark and hopeless. But some kind friends in the church, pitying her +condition, had made up a small fund and bought her a pair of crutches. And +these had seemed to transform her completely. She went about her rounds +always as cheery and bright as a bit of sunshine. + +She had listened to the sermon, and her heart had been strangely warmed by +the preacher's story of need. And as he was finishing she was thinking, +"How I wish I might give something. But I haven't anything to give, not +even a copper left." And a very soft voice within seemed to say very +softly, but very distinctly, "There are your crutches." "Oh," she gasped +to herself as though it took away her very breath, "my crutches? I +couldn't give my _crutches_; they're my _life_." And that strangely clear +voice went on, so quietly, "Yes--you _could_--and then some one would know +of Jesus--if you did--and that would mean so much to them--He's meant so +much to you--give your crutches." And her breath seemed to fail her at the +thought. And so the little woman had her fight all unseen and unknown by +those in the church. And by and by the victory came. And she sat with a +beautiful light in her tearful eyes, and a smile coming to her lips, +waiting for the plate to get to her pew. + +And the man with the plate came down the aisle to the end. It seemed +hardly worth while reaching it into the last pew. Just little Maggie +sitting there alone, with her one foot dangling above the floor. But with +fine courtesy he stopped and passed the plate in. And Maggie in her +childlike simplicity lifted her crutches, and tried rather awkwardly to +put them on the collection plate. Quick as a flash the man caught her +thought, and with a queer lump in his throat reached out and steadied her +strange gift on the plate. + +And then he turned back and walked slowly up the aisle toward the pulpit, +carrying the plate in one hand and steadying the crutches on it with the +other. And people commenced to look. And eyes quickly dimmed. Everybody +knew the crutches. _Maggie_--giving her _crutches_! And the banker over +here blew his nose suddenly and reached for his pencil, and the merchant +reached out to stop the man returning up his aisle. + +As the pastor stood with his eyesight not very clear to receive the +morning's offering, he said, "Surely our little crippled friend is giving +us a wonderful example." Then the plates were called back toward the +pews. And somebody paid fifty dollars for the crutches, and sent them back +to that end pew. When the offering was counted up it contained several +hundred dollars. And the little girl, crippled in body but not in any +other way, hobbled out of church the happiest little woman in the world. + +She had recognized and obeyed the inner voice. That was the simple +explanation of her giving. And her gift, small in itself, _touched with +sacrifice_, became worth several hundred dollars in its earning power. And +the original investment was returned for its usual service. And her gift +has been increasing in its earning power as its recital has reached other +hearts, and the end is not yet. I do not know just where Maggie is now. +But I do know that she will be a greatly surprised woman some day when she +finds out what God has done with her sacrifice-hallowed gift. She +recognized and obeyed the inner Voice. That is the one law of giving, as +of all living. + + + + +Worry: A Hindrance to Service. + + + + Fear Not. + A Fence of Trust. + A Lord of the Harvest. + Do Your Best--Leave the Rest. + Anxious for Nothing. + Thankful for Anything. + Prayerful about Everything. + A Steamer Chair for His Friend. + He Has You on His Heart. + Paul's Prison Psalm. + He Touched Her Hand. + + + + +Worry: A Hindrance to Service. + +(Psalm xxxvii:1-11; Matthew vi:19-34, Philippians iv:6-7. American +Revision.) + + + +Fear Not. + + +There is nothing commoner than worry. Everybody seems to worry. Men worry. +Women worry. It is commonly supposed that women worry more than men. I +doubt it. After watching both pretty closely under all sorts of +circumstances I doubt it. Yet if it be true that woman does worry the +more, I think it is because, being more sensitively organized, she is more +keenly alive to the issues involved and to the responsibilities of life. +Poor people worry. Those with enough money to be easy worry. And those +with the largest wealth seem to worry too. Busy folks worry. And so do the +idle. The cultured and scholarly touch elbows with the ignorant here. + +Americans are supposed to be specialists in worrying. The name +Americanitis has been given to a certain run-down condition of the nerves. +Well, we may possibly have set the pace, and may be making new records. +But certainly there are plenty of pushing followers. Our Canadian +neighbors seem not to be wholly strangers to worry. Nor our British and +Dutch forbears. The European continentals, and those of the East nearer +and farther off seem to be good or bad at worrying. It is a characteristic +of the race everywhere, the difference being merely in the degree. It +seems inbred in man. + +There are two "don't-worry" chapters in this old Bible, one in the Old +Testament and one in the New. In the Old Testament is the Thirty-seventh +Psalm with its oft-repeated "fret not." The word under that English phrase +"fret not" is significant. It is so blunt as to sound almost like a bit of +American slang. Literally it means "don't get hot." The New Testament has +the sixth chapter of Matthew with Jesus' own words. One should be careful +here to note the better reading of the revision. The old version says +"take no thought," and that has been misunderstood by many who have not +thought about its meaning. The newer translations are truer to the meaning +on Jesus' lips. Do not take _anxious_ thought, "be not anxious." But apart +from these two chapters there is a phrase running through these pages +clear through the whole Book, a phrase shot through, piercing everywhere, +even as the glorious sunlight pierces through the thick cloud and fog. I +mean the phrase "fear not." All worry roots down its tenacious tendrils +in fear. + + + +A Fence of Trust. + + +It will help to understand just what worry is. It is always an advantage +to get an enemy clearly defined and keep it so, so you can hit it harder, +and make every blow tell on a vital part of its anatomy. + +Worry is not concern, but distress of mind. Some one said to me at the +close of a talk on worry, "some folks ought to worry more." Of course he +meant that some people should bear their share of the responsibilities of +life, instead of selfishly and lazily shirking them. There is a proper +concern about matters for which we are responsible. A man never makes a +good speech unless there is a feeling of concern, of apprehension lest +there be failure in that for which he is pleading. A strong sensitive +spirit feels the responsibility and does the best to meet it. Worry is +mental distress. It is sinking under the sense of responsibility. It is +_yielding_ to the fear that there may be failure, instead of gripping the +lines and whip and determining to ride down the chance of its coming. + +Sometimes worry is carrying to-morrow's load with to-day's strength; +carrying two days in one. It is moving into to-morrow ahead of time. +There is just one day in the calendar of action; that's to-day. Planning +should include a wide swing of days; wise planning must. But action +belongs to one day only, to-day. + + "Build a little fence of trust + Around to-day; + Fill the space with living work + And therein stay; + Look not through the sheltering bars + Upon to-morrow; + God will help thee bear what comes + Of joy or sorrow." + + "Live for to-day, to-morrow's sun + To-morrow's cares will bring to light, + Go like the infant to thy sleep + And heaven thy morn shall bless." + + + +A Lord of the Harvest. + + +Sometimes worry is carrying a load that one should not carry at all. I +think it was Lyman Beecher who said that he got along very comfortably +after he gave up running the universe. Some good earnest people are +greatly concerned about the way things in the world are going, I'm obliged +to confess to some pretty serious blunders there. It seemed to me that +there was so much to be done, so many people needing help, so much of +wrong and sin to fight that I must be ever pushing and never sleeping. I +had to sleep of course; but all my burden, which meant the burden of the +world's need as I saw it, was lugged faithfully to bed every night. There +was a lot of pillow-planning. But I found that the wrinkles grew thick, +and the physical strength gave out, and yet at the end of vigorous +campaigning there _seemed_ about as much left to do as ever. + +Then one day my tired eyes lit upon that wondrous phrase, "the lord of the +harvest." It caught fire in my heart at once. "Oh! there is a _Lord_ of +the harvest," I said to myself. I had been forgetting that. He is a Lord, +a masterful one. He has the whole campaign mapped out, and each one's part +in helping mapped out too. And I let the responsibility of the campaign +lie over where it belonged. When night time came I went to bed to sleep. +My pillow was this, "There is a _Lord_ of the harvest." + +My keynote came to be _obedience_ to Him. That meant keen ears to hear, +keen judgment to understand, keeping quiet so the sound of His voice would +always be distinctly heard. It meant trusting Him when things didn't seem +to go with a swing. It meant sweet sleep at night, and new strength at the +day's beginning. It did not mean any less work. It did seem to mean less +friction, less dust. Aye, it meant better work, for there was a swing to +it, and a joyous abandon in it, and a rhythm of music with it. And the +undercurrent of thought came to be like this: There is a _Lord_ to the +harvest. He is taking care of things. My part is full, faithful, +intelligent obedience to Him. He is a Master, a masterful One. He is +organizing victory. And the fine tingle of victory was ever in the air. + + + +Do Your Best--Leave the Rest. + + +I knew a mother one of whose sons was not a Christian man, and not of good +habits. She was a devoted true Christian woman, bearing her part in life's +service with fine faith and a keen sweet spirit. The children were all +Christians but this one, her first-born, the beginning of her strength. +The thought of him troubled her much. She prayed fervently, and used her +best endeavor, and the years grew on without change. And her face showed +the burden upon her fine spirit. We would talk together about her son, and +pray together, but her brow remained clouded. + +Then I marked a change. The lines of tension in her face relaxed. A new +quiet light came into her eye. There seemed a gentle intangible, but very +sure, peace breathing about her. And I knew there was no change in him. So +one day in conversation I ventured to ask about the change. And I shall +always remember the gentle voice and the quiet strength with which she +said, "I have given him over to my Father. And I know He will not fail +me. I am still praying, of course, as ever, and I am _trusting_ for him." +She had been carrying a load that she should not have been carrying. And +now while the mother-heart was still concerned as much as ever, the sense +of assured victory brought the change in her spirit. + +Sometimes worry is fretting over past mistakes; it is chafing about what +we do not understand, or about plans of _ours_ that have failed. A good +deal of worry comes from pride and over-sensitiveness. The roots here, it +will be noticed, of all alike are down in our own failures, our own +selves. And there would be cause for more worry if we had only ourselves. +But we have _a Father_. + +A very great deal of worry is wholly due to physical causes. Overworked +nerves always see things distorted. Huge phantom shapes loom up before us. +Overwork always makes a sensitive spirit worry, and worry usually makes us +overwork until we drop from exhaustion. When the cause is here, there are +some simple _human_ helps. Some--a good bit--of _God's_ fresh air will +work wonders. Even good people seem unchangeably opposed to _God's_ air, +and insist on breathing old, worn-out, used-up second-hand air. God would +be greatly glorified if housekeepers and church sextons were given a +practical course in the use of fresh air, God's air. With that should be +simple food, and simple dress, and abundant sleep, and simple standards of +life. + +Worry is utterly _useless_. It never serves a good purpose. It brings no +good results. "Which of you can by being anxious add a single span to the +measure of his life?" Jesus asks in that sixth of Matthew. But much more +can be said. _It brings bad results_. The revision brings out the clear, +simple meaning of the Thirty-seventh Psalm, eighth verse. The old version +seems a bit puzzling, "Fret not thyself in anywise to do evil." The +revision reads, "Fret not thyself, it tendeth only to evil doing." The +results of worrying are always bad. The judgment is impaired. One cannot +think so clearly nor see so clearly. The temper is ruffled. The door is +quickly opened to worse things. + +It is _sinful_ to worry. For the Master repeatedly commands us, "Be _not_ +anxious." It helps to get a habit labeled correctly. Here to tack on +"sinful" in block letters, black ink, white paper, so as to get greatest +contrast is a decided help. And worrying is a reproach upon Jesus. Let the +Gentiles, the outsiders, the people who have not taken Jesus into their +lives, let them worry if they _will_. But _we_ must not. For we have +_Jesus_. Let these who leave Him out grow crow-toes, and deeply-bitten +wrinkles, and turkey-foot markings. Without Him how can they help +themselves? But we folk who have _Jesus_ should have smoothly rounded +faces, the lines all filled up and ironed out. It reproaches Jesus before +folks for us to be as they are in this regard. + +Out of the midst of a great pressure of work, with a body tired out, Dr. +Charles F. Deems, the busy pastor of The Church of The Strangers in New +York City, wrote these lines years ago: + + "The world is wide, + In time and tide, + And God is quick; + Then _do not hurry_. + + "That man is blest, + Who _does his best_, + And _leaves_ the rest; + Then _do not worry_." + +A man should do his _best_. There should be no _shirking_. Yet I need +hardly say that here, because shirking people, lazy people do not worry. +They haven't enough snap about them to worry. But it steadies one to put +the thing just as Dr. Deems put it. "_Do your best, and_, then _leave_ all +the rest to God." And when sleep time comes, sleep. + + + +Anxious for Nothing. + + +Likely as not some one will say, "We knew all that before. But how are we +going to quit worrying? That's what we need to be told." Well, I can tell +you. Sometimes a man speaks cautiously, but here one can speak with great +positiveness. There are three simple rules how not to worry. They are +infallible. I heard of a society whose purpose it was to cure worry. There +were _thirty-seven_ rules, I think. It would worry some of us a good bit +to memorize any such length of instruction as that. The remedy seems to be +on a high shelf. And in standing up on a chair and reaching there is some +danger that the chair may tip over and the last state not be an +improvement on the first. + +But here are three very simple rules, easy to follow, and they will never +fail. They are not my rules, that is, not of my making, or I might not be +speaking so positively. They are given by the blessed Holy Spirit, through +our dear old friend Paul. In Philippians, chapter four, verses six and +seven, are the words that contain the rules: "In nothing be anxious; but +in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your +requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all +understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus." + +The first rule is this, _anxious for nothing._ In other words, _don't_ +worry. Deliberately refuse to think about annoying things. Set yourself +against being disturbed by disturbing things. Say to yourself, it is +useless, it has bad results, it is sinful, it is reproaching my Master, I +_won't._ That is the first simple rule. + + + +Thankful for Anything. + + +The second helps to carry out the first. It is this, _thankful for +anything._ Thanksgiving and praise are always associated with singing. +When you feel the worry mood creeping on--it is a mood that attacks +you--when it comes sing something, especially something with Jesus' name +in it. These temptations to worry are from the Evil One. He can come in +only through an _open_ door. Remember that. Yet the open doors seem +plenty. Even when we trustingly and resolutely keep every door of evil +shut the circle in which we move will open doors upon us. Singing +something with Jesus' name in it sends him or any of his brood off +quickly. They hate that Name of their Conqueror. They get away from the +sound of it as fast as they can. + +A friend was calling upon another and began pouring out a stream of +personal woes. This had gone wrong, and this, and this other would go +wrong. Everything was wrong. And her friend, who knew her quite well, had +her get a pencil and paper and asked her if possibly there was _one_ thing +for which she could be thankful. Reluctantly from her lips came the +mention of some particular thing for which she felt indeed grateful. Then +a second was gradually recalled, and then more. And as the train of +thought grew on her she suddenly asked, "Why was I so despondent when I +came in? Everything seems so changed." + +It's a fine thing to go about one's work singing some hymn with praise in +it, and with Jesus' name in it. And if singing may not always be allowable +under all circumstances, you can _hum_ a tune. And that brings up to the +memory the words connected with it. I know of a woman who was much given +to worrying. She made it a rule to sing the long-meter doxology whenever +things seemed not right. Ofttimes she could hardly get her lips shaped up +to begin the first words. But she would persist. And by the time the +fourth line came it was ringing out and her atmosphere had changed without +and within. + +This was David's rule. He said: "Thy statutes have been my songs in the +house of my pilgrimage."[18] He is not speaking of the time when he was +acknowledged king over both Judah and all Israel, when the fortress of +Jerusalem was his own capital. No, he is talking of the earlier days of +his _pilgrimage_. When he was being hunted over the Judean fastnesses by +King Saul. When with his band of faithful men he was ever fleeing for his +life. He slept in caves and dens or out in the open, and always with one +eye open. There he used to sing God's praises. A messenger would come +breathlessly in some morning with the news that Saul was just over yonder +ravine with a thousand men. And as David planned what best to do, and +arranged his men, he would be singing. + +Maybe he would sing that Twenty-third Psalm: + + "For Thou art with me; and Thy rod + And staff me comfort still." + +Or, maybe sometimes, + + "To Thee I lift my soul; + O Lord, I trust in Thee: + My God, let me not be ashamed + Nor foes triumph o'er me." + +Or, likely, he often sang: + + "The Lord's my light and saving health; + Who shall make me dismayed? + My life's strength is the Lord; of whom + Then shall I be afraid?" + +Or if perhaps Ezra wrote this psalm it takes one back to his weary, +dangerous journey over from Babylon to Jerusalem and the very difficult +work he was undertaking in Jerusalem in reorganizing the life of the +people again. He used to sing on the way, and through all his +difficulties. + +It is a great rule. + + "When the day is gloomy + Sing some happy song; + Meet the world's repining + With a courage strong." + +Some one asked me if whistling would do. She was a busy housewife and said +that was her rule. I have gone to singing myself. But maybe whistling is +just as good. I'm inclined to favor giving it a place within the range of +this rule. + +There's a bit of deep, simple philosophy here. Music is divine. There is +no music in the headquarters of the enemy. He has used it a great deal on +the earth. That's a bit of his cunning. But he always has to steal it from +God's sphere, and work it over to suit his own crafty purposes. Music, +singing, is an open doorway for the Spirit of God to come in, and come in +anew and move freely. Its sweet harmonies found their birth in the +presence of God where sweetest harmonies reign. Lovers of music should be +lovers of God, for He is the one great Master-musician. + +When Elisha was asked to prophesy victory for Israel over the enemy at one +time, he refused. He was not in harmony with this king nor his associates. +His spirit refused to respond to their request. But at their urgent +request he yielded, and called for a musician. And as the strains of music +fell upon his ear and entered into his spirit he felt the divine presence +and influence anew. We should use the musician more in our days of +battle. And God has wonderfully provided every one of us with a music-box +of sweet melodies. If we would only open the lid, and let frequent use +wear off the rust, and sing His praise more. In music God speaks to us +anew with great power. This is the second rule, _thankful for anything_. + + + +Prayerful about Everything. + + +The third rule helps to make both first and second effective. These three +are closely interwoven. They always work together. Each suggests the other +two. They are an interwoven trinity. The third is this, _prayerful about +everything_. There are some unusually fine bits from the old Book to help +here. Referring to the discipline which God's love makes Him use, David +says: "For His anger is but for a moment: His _favor_ is for _a lifetime_. +Weeping _may_ come in to lodge at even, but joy cometh in the +morning."[19] There _may_ be weeping. There _shall_ be joy. Weeping won't +stay long. + +There's a morning coming, always a morning coming, with the sunshine and +the chorus of the birds. Love's discipling touch that seems at the moment +like anger is only for a moment. (The printer wanted to change that word +discipling to disciplining; but God's tenderness comes to us anew when we +realize that _disciplining_ with its sharp edge means the same as +_discipling_ with its softer warmer touch.) The loving favor is for +always, a lifetime of eternal life. + +Again David says, "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall _sustain_ +thee."[20] The margin explains that the thing that weighs as a burden is +something God has given us. He has sent it or allowed it to come. He has +strong purpose in all He does. Here the promise is not that the burden +will be removed, but that He will pick up both you and your burden into +His arms and carry both. Many a man has praised God for the burden that +made him know the tender touch of strong arms. + +The same thing is repeated in the Sixty-eighth Psalm[21] with tender +variations. "Blessed be the Lord who day by day beareth our burden." +Probably Peter knew a good bit about this subject. His temperament was of +the impulsive sort that knows quick squalls at sea. But he had learned how +to ride through them undisturbed to the calmer waters. He says, "Casting +all your anxiety upon Him because He careth for you."[22] The force of the +French version is said to be "_unloading_ your anxiety upon Him." Back the +cart up, tilt it over, let down the tail-board, let it all slip out over +upon Him. The literal reading of that last half is, "_He has you on His +heart_." + + "Is not this enough alone + For the gladness of the day?" + +But many of us have an inner feeling that some matters are too small, too +trivial to take to God. We will take the great things, the serious things +to Him and find the help needed. But it seems childish almost to be +bothering the great God about trifling details, we are apt to think. We +are even annoyed with ourselves to think that we have allowed such petty +things to make us lose our balance and control. We want to underscore and +italicize this fact: _if a thing is big enough to concern you, it is not +too small for Him "because He has you on His heart_." For _your_ sake He +is eager to help in anything, however small in itself it may seem. + +Indeed it is the little things that fret and tease and nag so. The big +things are more easily handled. But the little insectivorous details that +will not down! Have you ever had this experience? You have retired on a +hot summer night, tired and heavy with sleep. You are almost off when a +mosquito that in some inexplicable way has eluded all screens and nettings +comes singing its way about your face. It is just one. It seems so small. +If it were only big enough to hit, something worthy of one's strength. But +the mean little nagging specimen seems to elude every effort of yours. +Maybe you take calm, deliberate measures to end its existence, but +meanwhile you are thoroughly aroused and lose quite a bit of the sleep you +need. + +Just such a mosquito warfare do the little cares make upon one's strength, +frittering it away. It cannot be too insistently repeated that whatever is +big enough to cause me any thought is not too small for my God. He is +concerned because I am concerned. + + + +A Steamer Chair for His Friend. + + +It helps immensely here to recall the necessary qualities of a great +executive, one who is concerned about the conduct of large affairs. There +are two great qualities absolutely needful in any one occupying such a +position. There must be the ability to grasp the whole scheme involved, +and to keep one's finger upon every detail, as well. God is a great +executive, _the_ great executive of the universe. He planned the vast +scheme of worlds making up the universe, and every detail. The whole +universe in its immensity, and the intricacy of its movements, is kept in +motion by Him. And every detail down to the smallest, the falling of one +of the smallest birds, is ever under His thoughtful eye and touch. And He +is our God. He has each of us on His heart. + +We may learn of God by looking at man, made in His image. A story is told +of a merchant well known on both sides of the water, illustrating this. +His business interests are very extensive, with great stores in three of +the world's great cities. He has displayed great genius for controlling +the details of his vast enterprise. It is said that at one time when his +business was developing its greatness, this was his habit. He would come +to a clerk's desk unexpectedly and, sitting down quietly, note the +transactions that came along. Here was a sales slip; three yards of +calico, seven cents per yard, twenty-one cents; a bolt of tape, three +cents, total twenty-four cents; cash fifty cents, twenty-six cents change. +He would very quietly note the calculations, and call attention to any +inaccuracies. + +He might stay there a half-hour. Then he was away again. It was never +known when he might come, nor where. He was always marked for his genial +courtesy toward all his employees. That was his habit for years, I am +told. His talent for details amounts to positive genius. And with this +goes the ability to originate and build up and keep ever growing his vast +business operations. And this man is but one of a very large class in our +day of specialized organization. This faculty of controlling both the +whole, and each detail, is a bit of the image of God in these men. Only +man is ever less than God. The best organization slips sometimes, +somewhere. But God never fails. Each of us is personal to Him. He can +think of each as though there were no other needing His thought, and He +does. + +A little incident is told of George Müller of Bristol, England. He is the +man who taught the whole world anew how to trust God. Poor in his own +holdings, he expended millions of dollars in caring for orphans, +supporting missionaries, and distributing printed truth. He never asked +any man for money nor made any needs known. He trusted God for all and for +each. The two thousand and more orphans, and the cutting of his quill pen +were alike subjects of prayer with him. + +At one time, in the course of his missionary travels around the world, he +was embarking on an ocean voyage. He was an old man at the time, and +accompanied by a young man who attended to the details of travel. After +they had boarded the steamer his companion came up hurriedly to say that +the steamer chair for Mr. Müller's use was not on board and he could not +get any trace of it. It would of course be a very necessary convenience +for the steamer trip. Mr. Müller inquired if the proper notice had been +sent to have it on board. Yes, all had been done that should have been +done. And now the time was very short. + +Mr. Müller breathed a quiet prayer, and then said to his companion not to +be disturbed, that he felt sure it would be on hand in time. The attendant +went off again to see what could be done, came back evidently annoyed at +the possibility of his elder distinguished companion being inconvenienced. +But Mr. Müller quieted him with the assurance that the chair would come. +They stood at the side rail above, overlooking the dock. + +At the very last moment, just as the hawsers were about to be thrown off, +and the gang plank pulled away, a truck of luggage was hurriedly run on +board, and on top of the pile the friends watching above could plainly see +a steamer chair with G. M. marked on it. Mr. Müller, standing in his group +of friends, looked up past them and quietly said, "Father, I thank Thee." +Was God in that simple occurrence? He surely was. He was concerned that +His faithful friend should have the chair for his bodily comfort. Man's +arrangements seemed in danger of slipping. His overruling touch was put in +for His friend's sake. A chair wasn't too small for God because it was for +His friend, Mr. Müller. + + + +He Has You on His Heart. + + +I got a similar story from Dr. James H. Brookes of St. Louis, a number of +years ago while in his home over night. It was about J. Hudson Taylor, +founder of the China Inland Mission, who had learned through many years of +trusting how faithful God is. Mr. Taylor had been speaking in Dr. Brookes' +church, and was to go to a town in southern Illinois to speak at the +Sabbath services. Saturday morning they went down to the railroad station +to get the train, and stepped into the station just as the train was +pulling out at the other end. There was no possible chance of catching it. +It seemed all the more exasperating that they could see the train moving +away out of reach. + +Dr. Brookes of course felt much chagrined. Mr. Taylor being a stranger in +the country, and the guest of Dr. Brookes, had trusted his arrangements. +Inquiries were quickly made about other trains. But there would not be +another train out that way until night. And as they were questioning and +talking the station-master said, "There's that train over there; it runs +into Illinois and crosses another road down to where you want to go. They +are supposed to make connections, but they never do." Dr. Brookes said he +went off to make further inquiries, and coming back in a few moments was +surprised to find Mr. Taylor standing on the rear platform of the train +that never made the connection. + +He said, "Why, Mr. Taylor, that won't make the connection." And Mr. +Taylor smiled and in his very quiet way said, "Good-bye, Doctor, my Father +runneth the trains." That seemed to sound well for a sermon. But to Dr. +Brookes' misgivings there came again the quiet "Good-bye, Doctor, my +Father runneth the trains." After starting Mr. Taylor explained the +situation to the conductor, the importance of his engagement, and of +making the desired connection, hoping the trainman might be of some +service. The man hoped he would get the train, but said it was very +doubtful as they rarely did. Mr. Taylor thanked him, and sat quietly +praying. + +Was the connection made? As Mr. Taylor's train pulled in the other was +standing at the station. The conductor said, "Well, there it is, but I +didn't expect it." There was quite enough time to get across the platform +without hurrying and into the other train when it moved off. Was God in +that? I have no difficulty at all in understanding that He was. What +concerned His friend, in a strange land, on an errand for Himself surely +concerned Him. What concerns any trusting child of His concerns Him, for +He has us on His heart. + +I recall a personal experience in Boston one summer day. It was a very hot +day. I was to meet my mother and sister in the North Union station, where +we were to take a train out. I had their tickets. I reached the station +from my errands, hot and tired and with my head aching, ideal conditions +for worry. As I stepped into the station I realized at once that our +appointment to meet was not very definite. For the large station was +crowded. There was not much time before our train would go. And I +commenced to be agitated, which is a gentler way of saying worried. What +_would_ I do? It would be extremely inconvenient, especially for my +mother, to miss the train. And the time was short, and--and--. + +You see I was not a _graduate_ in this don't-worry school. I'm not yet; +still studying; expect to enter for post work when I do graduate. The +school is still open; open to all; instruction given _individually_ only; +the Teacher has had long _experience_ Himself on the earth, in the thick +of things. + +Well, I said as I stood a moment in the thick crowd, "Master, you know +where they are. Please take me to them. Maybe I should have been more +careful about the appointment, but I was tired at the start. Please--thank +you." And in less time than it takes to tell you I met them right in the +thick of the great crowd. And I felt sure that Peter got his putting of it +straight when he said of the Master, "_He has you on His heart_." + + + +Paul's Prison Psalm. + + +Did Paul follow his own rules? The best answer to that is this little +four-chaptered epistle where the rules are found. Philippians is a prison +psalm. The clanking of chains resounds throughout its brief pages. At one +end is Philippi; at the other Rome. Here is the Philippian end. In the +inner dungeon of a prison, dark, dirty, damp, is a man, Paul. His back is +bleeding and sore from the whipping-post. His feet are fast in the stocks. +His position is about as cramped and painful as it can be. It is midnight. +Paul would be asleep for weariness and exhaustion, but the position and +the pain hinder. + +Does no temptation come to him? He had been following a _vision_ in coming +over to Philippi. This is a great ending to the vision he's been having. +Did no such temptation come? Very likely it did. But Paul is an old +campaigner. He knows best what to do. He begins singing. His music is +pitched in the major too. Most likely he is singing one of the old Hebrew +psalms that he knew by heart. It was a psalm of praise. That is one end of +this epistle. + +At the other end Paul is a prisoner at Rome. As he sits dictating his +letter, if he gets tired and would swing one limb over the other for a +change, a heavy chain at his ankle reminds him of his bonds. As he reaches +for a quill to put a loving touch to the end of the parchment, again the +forged steel pulls at his wrist. That is the setting of Philippians, the +prison psalm. What is its key word? Is it patience? That would seem +appropriate. Is it long-suffering? More appropriate yet. Some of us know +about short-suffering, but we are apt to be a bit short on long-suffering. +The keyword is _joy_, with its variations of rejoice, and rejoicing. + +And notice what joy is. It is the cataract in the stream of life. Peace is +the gentle even flowing of the river. Joy is where the waters go bubbling, +leaping with ecstatic bound, and forever after, as they go on, making the +channel deeper for the quiet flow of peace. Paul had put his no-worry +rules through the crucible of experience. He follows the Master in that. +These three rules really mean living ever in that Master's presence. When +we realize that He is ever alongside then it will be easier to be + + Anxious for nothing, + Thankful for anything, + Prayerful about everything. + + + +He Touched Her Hand. + + +One morning on waking, a woman charged with the care of a home began +thinking of the day's simple duties. And as she thought they seemed to +magnify and pile up. There was her little daughter to get off to school +with her luncheon. Some of the church ladies were coming that morning for +a society meeting, and she had been planning a dainty luncheon for them. +The maid in the kitchen was not exactly ideal--yet. And as she thought +into the day her head began aching. + +After breakfast, as her husband was leaving for the day's business, he +took her hand and kissed her good-bye. "Why," he said, "my dear, your hand +is feverish. I'm afraid you've been doing too much. Better just take a day +off." And he was gone. And she said to herself, "A day off! The idea! Just +like a _man_ to think that I could take a day off." But she had been +making a habit of getting a little time for reading and prayer after +breakfast. Pity she had not put it in earlier, at the day's very start. +Yet maybe she could not. Sometimes it is not possible. Yet _most times_ it +is possible, by planning. + +Now she slipped to her room and, sitting down quietly, turned to the +chapter in her regular place of reading. It was the eighth of Matthew. As +she read she came to the words, "And _He touched her hand_, and the _fever +left her_; and she arose and ministered unto Him." And she knelt and +breathed out the soft prayer for a touch of the Master's hand upon her +own. And it came as she remained there a few moments. And then with much +quieter spirit she went on into the day. + +The luncheon for the church ladies was not quite so elaborate as she had +planned. There came to her an impulse to tell her morning's experience. +She shrank from doing it. It seemed a sacred thing. They might not +understand. But the impulse remained and she obeyed it, and quietly told +them. And as they listened there seemed to come a touch of the Spirit's +presence upon them all. And so the day was a blessed one. Its close found +her husband back again. And as he greeted her he said quietly, "My dear, +you did as I said, didn't you? The fever's gone." + + + + +Gideon's Band: Sifted for Service. + + + + God Wants the Best. + God's Use of Weak Things. + Call for Volunteers. + A Willing People. + Courageous Volunteers. + Irresistible Logic. + Hot Hearts. + God Still Sifting. + + + + +Gideon's Band: Sifted for Service. + +(1 Corinthians i:18-31; Judges vi and vii.) + + + +God Wants the Best. + + +Salvation is for all. Service is for those chosen for it. All _may_ serve. +That all do not is simply because service requires qualities which all do +not have. Yet, again, all may have them who will, for the required +qualities are _heart qualities_. And every one of us can cultivate the +heart qualities. There is special service, chiefly of leadership, +requiring brain qualities as well as heart. But the Master attends to the +choosing of men for such service. + +And where His spirit has touched human hearts there will be a glad doing +of just what service He appoints. It will be an honor to do just what He +asks because He asks. What it may happen to be will be a small matter in +itself. It is for Him, at His desire, and that is full enough to bring out +the best we have. + +Our old Tarsus and Antioch friend and leader has written a special word +about this matter of being chosen for service. It is in his first letter +to the recently organized church at Corinth. It is really his second +letter, for he seems to have written one before it that has not been +preserved.[23] There were some very serious matters in this new church +requiring strong treatment by its much-loved founder. Among them was one +about service. + +There were some who had gifts in service that seemed more attractive and +desirable than others had, it might be said more showy. And their +brethren, not free from the old worldly spirit, were envious and jealous. +And these who had such gifts were not free from a boasting spirit. +Factions or parties had arisen as a result. It was the bad world spirit of +competition and rivalry in among Christ's followers where it should never +come, yet where it still does come. In writing this letter Paul throughout +blends great plainness and common sense with great tenderness. + +In the beginning of his letter he calls attention to the fact that there +are not many among them of those who were reckoned by the world's +standards as wise or mighty or noble. On the contrary, in choosing His +leaders God had purposely chosen those reckoned by the world's standards +foolish that He might show plainly the shallowness of what they deem wise. +And so things reckoned weak had been chosen to give the conception of +what true strength is. And things even base, and despised, and not counted +at all had been used that so men might learn the God-standards of wisdom +and strength and honor and of what is worth while. The purpose being that +men should quit glorying in themselves and glorify Him from whom +everything had come, and was ever coming. + +The passage has oftentimes been quoted as though God prefers weakness; +never put so bluntly as that perhaps, but plainly meaning that. That of +course is not true. God wants the best we have. He needs the best. And for +leadership often His plans must wait till a man of the sort needed can be +gotten. And gotten frequently means broken, shattered, and then made over +wholly new, that the native strength may be used according to true +standards. + +Jacob was chosen rather than his elder brother Esau, not because of +Jacob's goodness but because of Esau's weakness. God was narrowed to these +two grandsons in carrying out the promise to Abraham. Jacob was +contemptible in his moral dealings, but he had qualities of leadership +wholly lacking in his brother. His moral character was a serious +hindrance. God had to handle him heroically before He could get the use of +his stronger mental equipment. Jacob had to get a bad throw-down before he +would be willing to let God have His way. His body must be weakened +before his mental power would yield. That was the weakness of his +stubbornness. Stubbornness is strength not strong enough to yield. + + + +God's Use of Weak Things. + + +It is true that over and over again God has used men utterly weak and +foolish and despised in the light of life's common standards. He wants men +of the best mental strength, of the finest mental training, and He uses +such when they are willing to be used, and governed by the true +God-standards of life. But talent seems specially beset with temptation. +The very power to do great things seems often to bewilder the man +possessing it. Wrong ambition gets the saddle and the reins and whip too, +and rides hard. + +Frequently some man who had not guessed he had talent, born in some lonely +walk of life, without the training of the schools, is used for special +leadership. It takes longer time always. Early mental training is an +enormous advantage. Carey the cobbler had mental talents to grace a +Cambridge chair. It took a little longer time to get him into shape for +the pioneer work he did in India. Duff's training gave him a great +advantage. + +But God is never in a hurry. He can wait. What He asks is that we shall +bring the best we have natively, with the best possible training, and let +Him use us absolutely as He may wish. And always remember that every +mental power is a gift from Him; that actual power in life must be through +Him only; and that mental gifts are not serviceable save as they are ever +inbreathed by His own Spirit. + +This word of Paul's finds most graphic illustration in the book of Judges. +Judges should be put alongside of the first chapter of First Corinthians. +It is a series of pictorial illustrations of what Paul is saying there. +These two books, Joshua and Judges, side by side in the Old Testament +stand in sharpest contrast. The keynote of Joshua is victory; of Judges +defeat. There's music in both, but contrasted music. Joshua rings with +songs in the major key, triumphant, militant, joyous, victorious. + +The music of Judges is in the minor, sad and weeping, with the harps +hanging on the willows. Joshua is upon the mountain top with sun shining +and air bracing and outlook inspiring. Judges is down in the valley +bottoms, dark and gloomy, and depressing. Yet Judges has bright spots, and +has spurts of good music interspersed. It is a study in lights and +shadows, bright lights, and dark shadowings, but with the blacker tints +intensifying and overcoming the others. + +There are here seven striking illustrations of God's use of strange +unusual means, such as are reckoned weak and trivial. A _left-handed_ man +uses that peculiarity to get a great victory and eighteen years of freedom +for the nation.[24] A farmer with as homely a weapon as an _ox-goad_ +delivers his people from oppression.[25] Men came to be so scarce, that is +men that were men enough to take their true place as leaders, that a +_woman_ had to step into the breach, and assume leadership. But the +student of history and of modern times is used to that. The result was +great victory, and a forty years' rest from the nation's enemies.[26] + +A _nail_ or _tent-pin_, only a wooden peg, in the hands of a woman with a +hammer helps to make the enemy's defeat more decisive.[27] _Three hundred_ +young men with _pitchers and trumpets_ completely rout the three armies of +three nations, and bring another deliverance.[28] Another time _a piece of +a millstone_ shoved over the wall by a woman turns the tide of battle +favorably.[29] And as contemptible a thing as the _jawbone of an ass_ in +the hands of one strong man is used to slay a thousand men.[30] + + + +Call for Volunteers. + + +It is of one of these, one of the most striking of these, that we are to +talk together awhile; the graphic story of Gideon and his band of three +hundred young fellows. Things were in bad shape in the nation; about as +bad in every way as they could be. This time it was the Midianites who +overran the land, and held the leaderless people in most abject slavery. +With them were joined two other nations, the Amalekites and the Children +of the East. When the crops were almost ready to harvest, these raiders +swooped in in great numbers and destroyed all the crops and drove away all +the stock. + +They harried the Israelites so that life was made very miserable for them. +They were forced to flee from their farms and take refuge in caves and +dens and the fastnesses among the hills. Then, as usual, when they got +into bad shape the people remembered God, and cried for help, and, as +usual with Him, He at once forgave them and planned another great +deliverance. + +First of all Gideon the leader is chosen out, and put through a bit of +schooling. That is a fascinating story of great helpfulness. Then this +trained young leader gathers his band of helpers. And we want to mark +keenly how these three hundred men were sifted out of the thousands for +service. They were sifted out. They sifted themselves out. In that army +of thousands were just three hundred who had the needed qualifications for +the bit of service God wanted done. + +Look over the gathered thousands: which are the chosen three hundred? No +man knew. They didn't know themselves until the tests came. They chose +themselves out by the way they stood the three tests applied. Even so is +God ever sifting out men for service. The more difficult the service, the +higher the grade of leadership needed, the severer the test. The testing +both reveals the qualities, and in part makes them. + +The first quality these men had was _willingness._ They were all +_volunteers_. When the call came they rallied to the leader's side. Gideon +sent runners, criers, out throughout that whole section. They went first +to his own family clan, then to his tribe, then to three neighboring +tribes. They said that God had called upon Gideon to lead a movement +against the Midianites and their allies and he wanted every man to come +and help. The messengers went swiftly through the whole territory of these +neighboring tribes, arousing the men to action and calling for volunteers. + +A good many did not respond to the summons. Some were simply indifferent. +They could not help hearing the call, but there was no response without or +within. No change of expression in the eye or face. They went right on in +their heavy, dull way as though they hadn't heard. They were utterly +indifferent to the call. Some were reluctant. They stopped and listened, +but with a heavy slant backwards to their bodies. Their heels bore most of +their weight. It was a good idea to get up such a movement, the enemy +ought to be driven back and out, but--but--and their eyes are half shut +already. + +Some criticised. Who was Gideon? A young upstart! trying to push himself +forward as a leader. He had no skill or experience. And the people had no +weapons. The enemy had stolen everything of the sort away. And they were +clear outnumbered. There wasn't a ghost of a show. It would only make bad +matters worse. This young upstart Gideon would soon be sorry enough when +he butted his head against the experienced Midianite leaders. +And--and--and--there they are talking, criticising, but not responding to +the call. Such critics seldom respond, and helpers criticise in a very +different way. It takes less brain to criticise unwisely, captiously, far +less than to help. Almost any hare-brain can tear a thing to pieces. And +nothing is commoner than just such criticism. + +Some ridiculed. "Ha! ha! ha! Gideon going to be national leader; ha! ha! +ha! And whip the enemy. Ridiculous! Absurd!" And some were outrightly +opposed. They objected. The people would be aroused, their hopes awakened +only to be dashed. The whole thing was wrong, for it was impossible. And +these men tried to keep others from going. + + + +A Willing People. + + +But many came. A crowd of volunteers came hurrying from farms and caves, +bringing such weapons probably as they had been able to keep in hiding. +They were willing to respond. It was a motley crowd, no doubt. There were +thirty-two thousand of them. These four tribes had once numbered as many +as one hundred and eighty-four thousand five hundred fighting men. And at +another, later, enumeration they had two hundred and twelve thousand men +of war age. Their numbers may be smaller now, though possibly not. It +looks as though only a small minority of all had responded, maybe one in +six or so. + +These men had the first great qualification for service, they were +willing. They were actively willing. They willed to come down to the front +and help fight the enemy, and deliver their nation. It is a great quality +this of being willing. That prophetic One Hundred and Tenth Psalm mentions +this as the great characteristic of those who shall rally about God's King +in a coming day of power. God reckons our service not by our ability but +by our willingness.[31] + +Whatever is given out of a warm, willing heart is eagerly accepted by +Him. The Hebrew tabernacle was constructed of free-will offerings. The +people came willingly with their offerings and left them for Moses' use. +Some brought gold and silver, some finely woven tapestries and silks. Here +was one poor woman who wanted to give but had very little. So she went out +to her little flock of goats whereby her living came to her, and cut off a +big bunch of goat's hair, and then with much pains dyed it red. + +And then one day she went up to where they were presenting their gifts and +timidly laid her bunch of goat's hair on the pile of offerings, and +quietly, quickly slipped away. It seemed very small on that pile of gold +and silver and richly-colored weavings. But it was the gift of her heart. +They had to have goat's hair as well as gold. And her offering was +acceptable because it came from a willing heart. Willingness is a heart +quality. It is the heart volunteering. + + "Our wills are ours to make them Thine." + +This was the first test. Thirty-two thousand out of four tribes stood this +test. Gideon's army had one great qualification at the start. + + + +Courageous Volunteers. + + +Now these men are put to a second test. The next morning God surprised +Gideon by telling him that he had too many men. If a victory was given +them with so many men they would feel that they had done the thing +themselves. They would grow so large as to shut God out of their +landscape. There would be no getting along with them. Each man would feel +that he was the essential factor. They would go back to the homefolks to +tell of themselves. God seems to know us folk down on the earth fairly +well. + +Now He would lessen their numbers, but in doing it He will pick out the +best. The men are encamped on the hillsides overlooking a valley. Across +the valley to the north lay the encamped armies of three nations. They +were a vast host. They were spread out as thick as the grasshoppers of +Egypt had been years before. Everywhere you looked there they were +swarming. + +Gideon spoke to his men. He said, "Gentlemen, Fellow-Israelites, there is +the enemy. Take a good look at them." And his followers looked, and as +they looked some of them began to get scared. They had not realized just +what was involved. Their footwear seemed to grow too large. They were +shaking in their boots. And their eyes grew big and their faces white +under the tan. + +Then Gideon said, "Now, every man of you that thinks it can't be done--I +wish you would get right out of this, and go back home." And he watched. +And I imagine even Gideon shook a bit inside as he watched. They +commenced to move away in squads, in scores, in fifties. Great gaps were +left in the mob of men. Here is a fellow standing, looking. He thinks, "It +looks pretty bad, sure enough; but then, I suppose, if God is planning--" +hello, the fellow by his side has gone, and on this other side too--"I +guess I'd better go too." And off he goes. Fear is very contagious. There +is great power in feeling a man by your side. And two-thirds of them +disappear over the hills. + +The motto of these disappearing men was this: "It can't be done." They +must have organized themselves into a society to perpetuate their own +idea. If so the society has shown great vitality. Many of its members +abide with us until this day. No, probably they didn't organize. They +didn't have enough gumption to. And such a sentiment grows like a weed +without any cultivation. + +I recall a certain town in Ohio where I had gone to talk about an +enlargement and re-vitalizing of the Young Men's Christian Association. +Thousands of young men in the place needed just such help as that +organization is supposed to provide. I outlined the plan to a clergyman. +He said it was a good plan, there was great need, the thing should be +done, "but," he said, with an air of settling the thing, "it can't be done +in _this town_." + +Among others I talked with a business man. He listened attentively, +approved the plans, agreed upon the great need, and then settling back in +his chair with the same air of finality, used exactly the same words, with +the same emphasis, "It can't be done in _this town_." I got that same +reply from several men that day. And I said to myself, "They are right; it +can't be done _with them_; but it can be done without them." And it was. + + + +Irresistible Logic. + + +But there remained ten thousand. These men by their staying said, "It +ought to be done. What ought to be done can be done. What can be done _we_ +can do. What we can do we _will_ do." Here is another man standing looking +at that vast host across the valley. He is thinking that it is a desperate +case, but he thinks of God's call through Gideon. Just then he notices +that his neighbor on the left has taken to his heels, and on his right +also. That shakes him for a moment. His heels say, "You go too." His heart +said, "No, stay." He obeyed his heart. He said, "I'll stay if I stay +alone." + +That was the stuff in these remaining ten thousand. They stood a double +test in remaining, the desperate situation seen in the presence of such an +enormous army, and the desertion of their fellows. They had _courage_; +not only willingness but courage. Courage is a heart quality. Courage is +the heart fighting. It faces fearful odds and keeps right straight ahead +regardless. + +A prize was offered once for the best definition of "pluck." The +definition that won the prize said, "Pluck is fighting with the scabbard +after the sword is broken." What a picture in a single sentence! The man +is fighting with might and main in the thick of the enemy, up and down, +parry and thrust, and just about holding his own, when suddenly, without a +moment's warning, the blade snaps close up to the hilt. The game's up now +surely. This accident decides the day. _Maybe_--for _some_ men. But not +for this fellow. He simply sets his jaws a bit firmer as, quick as +lightning, he grabs the scabbard by his side and fights with it. + +Such a man can't be whipped. He doesn't know when he is whipped. And the +man who doesn't know when he is whipped, never _is_ whipped. No man can be +whipped without his own consent. I said courage is a heart quality. These +ten thousand were not chicken-hearted nor downhearted. They were +lion-hearted, stout-hearted. They had hearts of oak. + +It was a keen stroke of generalship on Gideon's part that sent the timid, +discouraged ones back home. Nothing is more demoralizing than the presence +of such people. And there was no discipline much finer for those who +remained than to feel their fellows leaving them. It's hard to be left by +those who have been in touch. It is hard to stand alone. + +There is no harder test of character than that. And too there is no finer +thing to make character. Think how the fiber of those ten thousand +toughened and strengthened as they _stood_ there, with men on every side +hurrying away. This was the second test. But the men who can stand testing +are growing fewer. Thirty-two thousand men were willing. Only a third of +them are both willing and courageous. These men are more than volunteers. +They have seen the foe. Their fiber has stood the test, and toughened in +the test. They are _courageous_ volunteers. + + + +Hot Hearts. + + +But there is a third test. God comes to Gideon and says, "You have too +many men yet, Gideon." And Gideon's eyes bulge out a bit. Too many! Yes, +this is to be a quality fight. No common fighting here. God works best +with the men who come nearest to having His own thought of things. Numbers +don't count. You can't count men for service. You must weigh them, and +feel the firmness of their fiber. + +There is a little running brook down the valley. Gideon gives an order to +his men to advance a bit. And he watches them. Most of them as they come +to the water stretch out leisurely on the ground and putting their mouths +to the water take a good long drink, and another, and again. They seem to +say by their action, "Well, there's some tough work ahead, but we must +take care of ourselves. A man must look out for number one. We must not +get unduly stirred up over the thing. We're not fighting yet." + +But one fellow comes along with a quick, nervous step, and his eye still +on the enemy. He is all on tenter-hooks. His eye flashes fire. He reaches +down with a quick movement and gathers up some water in his hand, up to +his mouth, and hurries on. Then a second fellow, and a third, and more. +Gideon is watching. As each of these comes along he calls him off to one +side. When the whole number of men have passed the brook there are just +three hundred of the hot-hearted, intense-spirited fellows. + +God said, "Gideon, keep these men; send the others back." These thousands +sent back were sturdy men. They would make good fighters in many a +campaign, but they would not do for this higher kind of campaigning +planned for that day. The little band remaining had stood a third test, +they were willing, and courageous, _and enthusiastic_. + +Enthusiasm is the heart _burning_. These fellows had spring and snap to +them. Yet it was a _tempered_ spring and snap, the sort that would last. +By their action at the brook they said, "If there's fighting to be done, +let's do it quickly; let's go at the enemy with a vim and a rush. Oh! let +us at them." + + + +God Still Sifting. + + +Yet, mark you, their enthusiasm was _seasoned_. It grew _under fire_, or +practically so, in the presence of the danger. There is always an +abundance of the green article of enthusiasm, but it's not worth much for +steady ditch-work. There is a sort of wood enthusiasm, apple-wood. You +know how apple-wood burns in a fire. It catches quickly, throws out a good +many sparks, makes a loud crackling noise, but doesn't last long. + +There is another sort, a soft-coal enthusiasm. It's better than wood. But +it needs a lot of attention continually to keep a steady fire. Then +there's the hard-coal enthusiasm that will burn steadily and faithfully by +the hour. Yet no kind, mark you, will run long without fresh fuel. We need +in our service more of the seasoned enthusiasm. + +It has been said of General Grant that one great reason for his success as +a soldier was in his coolness. While the fighting and firing were hottest +he sat on his horse quietly, coolly watching, listening, and giving his +orders. And much of his power has been attributed to that quality. Well, +if coolness is a qualification for success in Christian service there +seems to be a large number of persons splendidly qualified. They are cool +all the time; cool as icebergs at the North Pole; cool from the topmost +layer of hair to the bottommost cuticle--about certain things. + +We want coolness of head such as General Grant had and hotness of heart +such as he had, too. The ideal combination is a cool head and a hot heart. +The head should resemble a refrigerator, and the heart a flaming furnace. +There is one bother, however, among many people. Either the coolness of +the head works down too much and affects the heart, and that is bad, or, +else the heat of the heart gets up into the head, and a hot head is always +bad. + +Yet there is a sure key to preserving the poise between the two. It is in +the quiet time daily with Jesus, over the Book, with the knee bent, and +the ear keen, and the spirit quiet. In that time there comes, and comes +ever more, the calmness for the brain, and the fresh fuel for the heart, +and new steadiness for the will that holds all under its strong hand. + +Many difficulties will yield only to fire. When you cannot reason your way +through a problem, or a difficulty, or into a man's heart, _burn_ your +way through. Nothing can withstand fire. It is very remarkable that the +symbol used most for God in the Bible is fire. A man never amounts to +anything until he catches fire. + +The proportions are worth noticing here. Thirty-two thousand were +_volunteers_. A third of that number are _courageous_ volunteers. About a +thirty-third of these, less than a hundredth of the original, are +_hot-hearted, courageous_ volunteers. + +This is Gideon's Band; three hundred young men fresh from the farm, who +were _willing_, and _courageous_, and _hot-hearted_, all heart qualities. +They stood every test. They had faced a foe that humanly they had no +chance to overcome, and because of God's call they were not only willing, +and stout-hearted, but intense in their desire to get at the fighting. + +Then under Gideon's leadership they were well fed, and organized; they +proved individually faithful in the thick of the fight, and they pushed +persistently on even when bodily tired out. And the nation knew a great +victory over its enemies, and a time of prosperity for years after. + +God is still sifting men for service. He will use gladly every man who is +willing to be used. When a man stands the first test well, there comes a +second. That, stood well, means others. These are our promotion tests. He +lets those who stand all testings into the thickest of the fight and up to +the highest heights of victory. + +Master, help us to endure every test as seeing Him who is invisible. + + + + +Footnotes + + + +[1] 1 John i:1. + +[2] 2 Corinthians iii:18. + +[3] Frances Ridley Havergal. + +[4] Exodus xxi:2-6, Leviticus xxv:39-43; Deuteronomy xv:12-18. + +[5] Psalm xi:6-8; Hebrews x:5-7. + +[6] Isaiah 1:4-6. + +[7] John v:19, 30; vi:38, 57; vii:16-17, 28; viii:28, 29. + +[8] John Sullivan Dwight. + +[9] Mark i:41; Matthew ix:36; Mark vi:34 (with Matthew xiv:14); +Matthew xx:34; xv:32; Mark v:19; Luke vii:13; x:33; xv:20 + +[10] Daniel xii:3. + +[11] James v:19. + +[12] Proverbs xi:30. + +[13] Luke v:10. + +[14] Acts xvii:6. + +[15] 1 Thessalonians iv:11; 2 Corinthians v. 9, Romans xv:20. + +[16] Attention is directed to a strong helpful address on "Money," by Rev. +A. F. Schauffler, D.D., in "The Student Missionary Appeal," published by +the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions. + +[17] Luke xvi:9. + +[18] Psalm cxix:54. + +[19] Psalm xxx:5. + +[20] Psalm lv:22. + +[21] Psalm lxviii:19. + +[22] I Peter v:7. + +[23] 1 Corinthians v:9-12. + +[24] Judges iii:15-30. + +[25] Judges iii:31. + +[26] Judges iv:4-16; v:1. + +[27] Judges iv:17-24. + +[28] Judges vi and vii. + +[29] Judges ix:50-57. + +[30] Judges xv:15-20. + +[31] 2 Corinthians viii:12. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK QUIET TALKS ON SERVICE*** + + +******* This file should be named 12529-8.txt or 12529-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/5/2/12529 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Gordon</title> +<style type="text/css" title="Default"> + <!-- + + body { + font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; + margin: 5%; + } + + h1,h2,h3,h4 { + text-align: center; + font-weight: bold; + } + + h1,h2,h3,h4 { + font-variant: small-caps; + } + + h1.title { margin-top: 5em; } + + .sec h4 { + text-decoration: underline; + font-variant: normal; + text-align: left; + } + + .smallcaps { font-variant: small-caps } + + a:link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:red} + pre {font-size: 9pt;} + + div.chapter, #preface { + margin-top: 4em; + padding: 5px; + } + + hr { + height: 1px; + width: 80%; + } + + hr.full { + height: 5px; + width: 100% + } + + p.byline { + text-align: center; + font-variant: small-caps; + } + + .poem { + margin-left:10%; + margin-right:10%; + text-align: left; + } + + #tp, #verso { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 3em; + } + + ul { + list-style-type: none; + } + +--> +</style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Quiet Talks on Service, by S. D. Gordon</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Quiet Talks on Service</p> +<p>Author: S. D. Gordon</p> +<p>Release Date: June 5, 2004 [eBook #12529]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: iso-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK QUIET TALKS ON SERVICE***</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h4>E-text prepared by Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders</h4> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<div id="tp"> + +<h1 class="title">Quiet Talks on Service</h1> + +<p class="byline">by</p> + +<h2 class="author">S. D. Gordon</h2> + +<h3>Author of "Quiet Talks on Power,"<br /> +and "Quiet Talks on Prayer"</h3> + +<h4>1906</h4> +</div> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + + +<div id="toc"> +<h2>Contents</h2> + + +<ul> + <li><a href="#ch01">Personal Contact with Jesus: The Beginning of Service</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch02">The Triple Life: The Perspective of Service</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch03">Yokefellows: The Rhythm of Service</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch04">A Passion for Winning Men: The Motive-power of Service</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch05">Deep-Sea Fishing: The Ambition of Service</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch06">Money: The Golden Channel of Service</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch07">Worry: A Hindrance to Service</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch08">Gideon's Band: Sifted for Service</a></li> +</ul> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch01"> +<h2>Personal Contact With Jesus: The Beginning of Service.</h2> + + + +<ul> + <li><a href="#ch01-1">The Beginning of an Endless Friendship.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch01-2">An Ideal Biography.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch01-3">The Eyes of the Heart.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch01-4">We are Changed.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch01-5">The Outlook Changed.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch01-6">Talking with Jesus.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch01-7">Getting Somebody Else.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch01-8">The True Source of Strong Service.</a></li> +</ul> + + + + +<h2>Personal Contact With Jesus: The Beginning of Service.</h2> + +<h3>(John i:35-51.)</h3> + + +<div class="sec" id="ch01-1"> +<h3>The Beginning of an Endless Friendship.</h3> + + +<p>About a quarter of four one afternoon, three young men were standing +together on a road leading down to a swift-running river. It was an old +road, beaten down hard by thousands of feet through hundreds of years. It +led down to the river, and then along its bank through a village +scatteringly nestled by the fords of the river. The young men were +intently absorbed in conversation.</p> + +<p>One of them was a man to attract attention anywhere. He was clearly the +leader of the three. His clothing was very plain, even to severeness. His +face was spare, suggesting a diet as severely plain as his garments. The +abundance of dark hair on head and face brought out sharply the spare, +thoughtful, earnest look of his face. His eyes glowed like coals of living +fire beneath the thick, bushy eyebrows. He talked quietly but intensely. +There was a subdued vigor and force about his very person.</p> + +<p>One of the others was a very different type of man. He was intense too, +like the leader, but there was a fineness and a far-looking depth about +his eye such as suggests a gray eye rather than a black. His hair was +softer and finer, and his skin too. In him intensity seemed to blend with +a fine grain in his whole make-up. The third man was a quiet, +matter-of-fact looking fellow. He did not talk much, except to ask an +occasional question. The three men were engaged in earnest conversation, +when a fourth man, a stranger, came down the road and, passing the three +by, went on ahead.</p> + +<p>The leader of the three called the attention of his companions to the +stranger. At once they leave his side and go after the stranger. As they +nearly catch up to him, he unexpectedly turns and in a kindly voice asks, +"Whom are you looking for?" Taken aback by the unexpected question, they +do not answer, but ask where he is going. Quickly noticing the point of +their question, he cordially says, "Come over and take tea with me."</p> + +<p>They gladly accepted the invitation, and spent the evening with him. And +the friendship begun that day continued to the end of their lives. Both +became his dear friends. And one, the fine-grained, intense man, became +his closest bosom friend. He never forgot that day. When he came years +after to write about his hospitable friend, found that afternoon, he could +remember every particular of their first meeting. We must always be +grateful to John for his simple, full account of his first meeting with +Jesus.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch01-2"> +<h3>An Ideal Biography.</h3> + + +<p>His simple story of that afternoon contains in it the three steps that +begin all service. They looked at Jesus; they talked with Jesus; forever +to the end of their lives they talked about Him. Here are the two personal +contacts that underlie all service, that lead into all service. The close +personal contact with Jesus begun and continued. And then personal contact +with other men ever after. The first always leads to the second. The power +and helpfulness of the second grow out of the first.</p> + +<p>There is a little line in the story that may serve as a graphic biography +of John the Herald. There could be no finer biography of anybody of whom +it could be truly written. It is this: "Looking upon Jesus as He walked, +he said look." He himself was absorbed in looking. Jesus caught him from +the first. He was ever looking. And he asked others to look. His whole +ministry was summed up in pointing Jesus out to others.</p> + +<p>He was ever insisting that men look at Jesus. Looking, he said "look." +His lips said it, and life said it. John's presence was always spelling +out that word "look," with his whole life an index finger pointing to +Jesus. If we might be like that. Every man of us may be in his life, in +the great unconscious influence of his presence, a clearly lettered +signpost pointing men to the Master. All true service begins in personal +contact with Jesus. One cannot know Him personally without catching the +warm contagion of His spirit for others. And there is a fine fragrance, a +gentle, soft warmth, about the service that grows out of being with Him.</p> + +<p>The beginning of John's contact with Jesus that day, and Andrew's, was in +looking. Their friend the herald bid them look. They found him looking. +They did as he was doing. Following the line of his eyes, and of his +teaching too, and of his life, they looked at Jesus. And as they looked +the sight of their eyes began to control them. They left John and +quickened their pace to get nearer to this Man at whom they were looking. +There never was a finer tribute to a man's faithfulness to his Master than +is found in these men leaving John. They could not help going. They had +been led by John into the circle of Jesus' attractive power. And at once +they are irresistibly drawn toward its center.</p> + +<p>The basis of the truest devotion and deepest loyalty to Jesus is not in a +creed but in Himself. There must be creeds. Whatever a man believes is of +course his creed. Though as quickly as he puts it into words he narrows +it. Truth is always more than any statement of it. Faith is always greater +than our words about it. We do not see Jesus with our outer eyes as did +these men in the Gospel narrative. We cannot put out our hands in any such +way as Thomas did and know by the feel. We must listen first to somebody +telling about Him.</p> + +<p>We listen either with eyes on the Book, or ears open to some faithful +mutual friend of His and ours. What we hear either way is a creed, +somebody's belief about Jesus. So we come to Jesus first through a creed, +somebody's belief, somebody's telling: so we know there is a Jesus, and +are drawn to Himself. When we come to know Himself, always afterwards He +is more than anything anybody ever told us, and more than we can ever +tell.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch01-3"> +<h3>The Eyes of the Heart.</h3> + + +<p>Looking at Jesus--what does it mean practically? It means hearing about +Him first, then actually appealing to Him, accepting His word as personal +to one's self, putting Him to the test in life, trusting His death to +square up one's sin score, trusting His power to clean the heart and +sweeten the spirit, and stiffen the will. It means holding the whole life +up to His ideals. Aye, it means more yet; something on His side, an +answering look from Him. There comes a consciousness within of His love +and winsomeness. That answering look of His holds us forever after His +willing slaves, love's slaves. Paul speaks of the eyes of the heart. It is +with these eyes we look at Him, and receive His answering look.</p> + +<p>There are different ways of looking at Jesus, degrees in looking. Our +experiences with Jesus affect the eyes of the heart. When this same John +as an old man was writing that first epistle, he seems to recall his +experience in looking that first day. He says "that which we have <i>seen</i> +with our eyes, that which we <i>beheld</i>."<sup><a href="#fn1">1</a></sup> From seeing with the eyes he +had gone to earnest, thoughtful <i>gazing</i>, caught with the vision of what +he saw. That was John's own experience. It is everybody's experience that +gets a look at Jesus. When the first looking sees something that catches +fire within, then does the inner fire affect the eye and more is seen.</p> + +<p>You have been in a strange city walking down the street, looking with +interest at what is there. But all at once you are caught by a sign that +contains a familiar name, and at once a whole flood of memories is +awakened.</p> + +<p>The little Jericho Jew peering down from the low out-reaching sycamore +branch was full of curiosity to see the Man that had changed his old +friend Levi Matthew so strangely. But that curiosity quickly changes into +something far deeper and more tender as Jesus comes to abide in his own +home.</p> + +<p>That lonely-lifed, sore-hearted woman on the Nain road looked with +startled wonder out of those wet eyes of hers as Jesus begins talking to +her dead son. What love and faith must have been in her looking as Jesus +with fine touch brings her boy by the hand over to her warm embrace again!</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch01-4"> +<h3>We are Changed.</h3> + + +<p>Looking at Jesus <i>changes us.</i> Paul's famous bit in the second Corinthian +letter has a wondrous tingle of gladness in it. "We all with open face +beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are changed from glory to +glory."<sup><a href="#fn2">2</a></sup> The change comes through our looking. The changing power comes +in through the eyes. It is the glory of the Lord that is seen. The +glorious Jesus looking in through our looking eyes changes us. It is +gradual. It is ever more, and yet more, till by and by His own image comes +out fully in our faces.</p> + +<p>We become like those with whom we associate. A man's ideals mold him. +Living with Jesus makes us look like Himself. We are familiar with the +work that has been done in restoring old fine paintings. A painting by one +of the rare old master painters is found covered with the dust of decades. +Time has faded out much of the fine coloring and clearly marked outlines. +With great patience and skill it is worked over and over. And something of +the original beauty, coming to view again, fully repays the workman for +all his pains.</p> + +<p>The original image in which we were made has been badly obscured and faded +out. But if we give our great Master a chance He will restore it through +our eyes. It will take much patience and a skill nothing less than divine. +But the original will surely come out more and more till we shall again be +like the original, for we shall <i>see</i> Him as He is.</p> + +<p>The old German artist Hoffmann is said to visit at intervals the royal +gallery in Dresden, where he lives, to touch up his paintings there. Even +so our Master, living in us, keeps touching us up that the full beauty of +His ideal may be brought out.</p> + +<p>How often a girl growing up into the fullness of her mature young +womanhood calls out the remark, "You are growing more and more like your +mother." And the similar remark is heard of a young man developing the +traits and features of his father.</p> + +<p>There is a law of unconscious assimilation. We become like those with whom +we go. Without being conscious of it we take on the characteristics of +those with whom we live. I remember one time my brother returned home for +a visit after a prolonged absence. As we were walking down the street +together he said to me, "You have been going with Denning a good deal"--a +mutual friend of ours. Surprised, I said, "How do you know I have?" He +said, "You walk just like him." What my brother had said was strictly +true, though he did not know it. Our friend had a very decided way of +walking. As a matter of fact, we had been walking home from the Young +Men's Christian Association three or four nights every week. And +unconsciously I had grown to imitate his way of walking.</p> + +<p>That sentence of Paul's has also this meaning, "We all with open face +<i>reflecting</i> as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are changed." We stand +between Him and those who don't know Him. We are the mirror catching the +rays of His face and sending them down to those around. And not only do +those around see the light--His light--in us, but we are being changed all +the while. For others' sake as well as our own the mirror should be kept +clean, and well polished so the reflection will be distinct and true.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch01-5"> +<h3>The Outlook Changed.</h3> + + +<p>Looking at Jesus <i>changes the world for us.</i> It is as though the light of +His eyes fills our eyes and we see things all around as He sees them. Have +you ever gone out, as a child, and looked intently at the sun, repressing +the flinching its strength caused and insisting on looking? You could do +it for a short time only. It made your eyes ache. But as you turned your +eyes away from its brilliance you found everything changed. You remember a +beautiful yellow glory-light was over everything, and every ugly jagged +thing was softened and beautified by that glow in your eyes. Looking at +the sun had changed the world for you for a little.</p> + +<p>It is something like that on this higher plane, in this finer sense. That +must have been something of Paul's thought in explaining the glory of +Jesus that he saw on the Damascus road. "When I could not see for the +glory of that light." The old ideals were blurred. The old ambitions faded +away. The jagged, sharp lines of sacrifice and suffering involved in his +new life were not clearly seen. A halo had come over them.</p> + +<p>I recall a bit of a poem I ran across in an old magazine somewhere. It was +one of those vagrant, orphan poems with fine family lineaments that find +their way unfathered into odd corners of papers. It told about a man +riding on horseback through a bit of timber land in one of the cotton +states of the South.</p> + +<p>It was a bright October day, and he was riding along enjoying the air and +view, when all at once he came across a bit of a clearing in the trees, +and in the clearing an old cabin almost fallen to pieces, and in the +doorway of the cabin an old negress standing. Her back was bent nearly +double with the years of hard work, her face dried up and deeply bitten +with wrinkles, and her hair white. But her eyes were as bright as two +stars out of the dark blue, it said.</p> + +<p>And the man called out cheerily, "Good-morning, auntie, living here all +alone?" And she looked up, with her eyes brighter yet with the thought in +her heart, and in a shrill keyed-up voice said, "Jes me 'n' Jesus, massa." +But he said a hush came over the whole place, there seemed a halo about +the old broken-down cabin, and he thought he could see Somebody standing +by her side looking over her shoulder at him, and His form was like that +of the Son of God.</p> + +<p>How poor and limited and mean her world looked to him as he rode up. But +how quickly everything changed as he saw it through her seeing of it. With +the keen insight into spirit things so often found in such simplicity +among her race, she had gotten the whole simple philosophy of life. Her +world was changed and beautiful in the loneliness of the woods by reason +of her Master's presence.</p> + +<p>This removes the commonplace at once clear out of one's life. There is no +drudgery nor humdrum nor hardship, because everything is for Jesus, and +seen through His eyes. Whatever comes in the pathway of his work is +gladdest joy, whether an obscure narrow round of home work or shop or +store, or leaving home for a strange land far across the sea with a +peculiarly uncongenial spirit atmosphere. Contact with Jesus, seeing Him, +changes all for us.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch01-6"> +<h3>Talking with Jesus.</h3> + + +<p>These two men in the story went from their first looking into closer +contact. They looked at Jesus. Then they talked with Jesus. It was at His +own request. He wanted them. He wanted their friendship and their help. +Having started, it was easy for them to go. Having seen, they naturally +wanted more. At least two hours they talked, maybe longer. Judging by what +they did as soon as they got away, it was a most wonderful talk for them.</p> + +<p>This Jesus took them at once. His face, His presence, His talk, Himself +filled all their sky. Everything swung around into a new setting. He was +its center. All things began to adjust themselves for these men about +Jesus. He was irresistible to them. These two men went through some most +trying experiences as a result of the friendship formed that evening hour, +but these counted not in the scale with <i>Him</i>. They never got over the +talk with Him that twilight hour.</p> + +<p>That two hours' talk lengthened out into many another during the years +immediately after. They got into the habit of referring everything to Him, +and of judging everything by what He would think. It was so clear to the +end of their lives. For a little over three years did they keep Him by +their side actually, physically. But the habit of keeping Him there was +fixed for all the longer after years. The looking at Jesus and talking +with Jesus ever went side by side clear to the end of the years.</p> + +<p>It will be so. Getting a good look at this Master draws one off into the +quiet corner with the Book to listen and talk and learn more. And out of +this naturally grows (if one will give a little attention to good +gardening rules) the habit of talking with Him all the time. In the thick +of the crowd, in the solitude of one's duties, with hands full of work, +the heart talks with Him and listens, and sometimes the tongue talks out +too. Our common word for it is prayer. Prayer precedes true service, and +produces it, and sweetens it. Only the service that grows up naturally out +of this personal contact with Jesus counts and tells and weighs for the +most.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch01-7"> +<h3>Getting Somebody Else.</h3> + + +<p>These two men went away from Jesus that evening only to come back with +some others. They went from talking with Him to talking with others for +Him. Their personal contact was the beginning of their service. This is +one of the famous personal work chapters. There are three "findeths" in +it. Andrew findeth his brother Peter. That was a great find. John in his +modesty doesn't speak of it, but in all likelihood he findeth James <i>his</i> +brother. Jesus findeth Philip and Philip in turn findeth Nathaniel, the +guileless man.</p> + +<p>That word findeth is very suggestive, even to being picturesque. It tells +the absence of these other men. Their whereabouts might be guessed, but +were not known. There was in the searchers a purpose, and a warmth in the +heart under that purpose. As Andrew looked and listened he said to +himself, "Peter must hear this; Peter must see this Man." And perhaps he +asks to be excused and, reaching for his hat, hastens out to get his +brother and bring him back to the house. He wants more himself, but he'll +get it with Peter in too. And so it would be with John likely.</p> + +<p>Peter had to be searched for. Most men do. He was probably absorbed with +all his impulsive intensity in some matter on hand. May be Andrew had to +pull quite a bit to get him started. But he got him. Andrew was a good +sticker: hard to shake him off. His is a fine name for a brotherhood of +personal workers. And when Peter once got started he never quit going. He +stumbled some, but he got up, and got up only to go on. Most men need some +one to get them started. There's need of more starters, more of us +starting people moving Jesus' way.</p> + +<p>I think the memory of this evening's work with Peter must have come back +very vividly to Andrew one morning a few years afterwards. It's up on the +hills of Judea, in Jerusalem. There's a great crowd of people standing in +the streets, filling the space for a great distance. There are some +thousands of them. They are listening spellbound to a man talking. It is +Peter. And down there near by, maybe holding Peter's hat while he talks, +is Andrew. His eyes are glowing. And if you might listen to his heart +talking, I think you would hear it saying softly, "I'm so glad I brought +Peter that evening I met Jesus." Peter's talk that day swung three +thousand men and women over to Jesus. Somebody has said that if Peter were +their spiritual father, certainly Andrew was their spiritual grandfather. +And I think God reckons the thing that way, too.</p> + +<p>There is a great deal of good talk these days about regenerating society. +It used to be that men talked about "reaching the masses." Now the other +putting of it is commoner. It is helpful talk whichever way it is put. The +Gospel of Jesus is to affect all society. It <i>has</i> affected all society, +and is to more and more. But the thing to mark keenly is this, the key to +the mass is the man. The way to regenerate society is to start on the +individual.</p> + +<p>The law of influence through personal contact is too tremendous to be +grasped. You influence one man and you have influenced a group of men, and +then a group around each man of the group, and so on endlessly. +Hand-picked fruit gets the first and best market. The keenest marksmen are +picked out for the sharpshooters' corps.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch01-8"> +<h3>The True Source of Strong Service.</h3> + + +<p>One morning with a friend I walked out of the city of Geneva to where the +waters of the lake flow with swift rush into the Rhone. And we were both +greatly interested in the strange sight which has impressed so many +travellers. There are two rivers whose waters come together here, the +Rhone and the Arve, the Arve flowing into the Rhone. The waters of the +Rhone are beautifully clear and sparkling. The waters of the Arve come +through a clayey soil and are muddy, gray, and dull. And for a long +distance the two waters are wholly distinct. Two rivers of water are in +one river-bed, on one side the sparkling blue Rhone water, on the other +the dull gray Arve water, and the line between the two sharply defined. +And so it continues for a long distance. Then gradually they blend and the +gray begins to tinge all through the blue.</p> + +<p>I went to the guide-book and maps to find out something about this river +that kept on its way undefiled by its neighbor for so long. Its source is +in a glacier that is between ten thousand and eleven thousand feet high, +descending "from the gates of eternal night, at the foot of the pillar of +the sun." It is fed continually by the melting glacier which, in turn, is +being kept up by the snows and cold. Rising at this great height, ever +being renewed steadily by the glacier, it comes rushing down the swift +descent of the Swiss Alps through the lake of Geneva and on. There is the +secret of purity, side by side with its dirty neighbor.</p> + +<p>Our lives must have their source high up in the mountains of God, fed by a +ceaseless supply. Only so can there be the purity, and the momentum that +shall keep us pure, and keep us <i>moving</i> down in contact with men of the +earth. And we must keep closer to the source than is the Rhone at Geneva, +else the streams flowing alongside will unduly influence us. Constant +personal contact with Jesus is the beginning ever new of service.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch02"> +<h2>The Triple Life: The Perspective of Service.</h2> + + + +<ul> + <li><a href="#ch02-1">On An Errand for Jesus.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch02-2">The Parting Message.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch02-3">A Secret Life of Prayer.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch02-4">An Open Life of Purity.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch02-5">An Active Life of Service.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch02-6">The Perspective of True Service.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch02-7">A Long Time Coming.</a></li> +</ul> + + + + +<h2>The Triple Life: The Perspective of Service.</h2> + +<h3>(Luke ix:1-6; x:1-3, 17; John xx:19-23; Matthew xxviii:18-20.)</h3> + + +<div class="sec" id="ch02-1"> +<h3>On An Errand for Jesus.</h3> + + +<p>You remember there were four times that Jesus picked out a group of men, +and sent them on a special errand. About the middle of the second year of +His public life, He chose out twelve men and commissioned them for a +special bit of work. Six months before the tragic end, He chose seventy +others and sent them out in twos into all the places He was planning to +visit Himself. It was a remarkable campaign for carrying the news which He +was preaching into all the villages of that whole country through which +His journey south lay.</p> + +<p>Then the evening of that never-to-be-forgotten resurrection day, under +wholly changed conditions, He again commissions ten men of that first +twelve. Things had radically changed with Jesus. And there had been a bad +break in the loyalty of these men. Two of their number are absent. Judas +has gone to his own place, and Thomas was not there that evening. His +absence cost him a week of doubting and mental distress. Ten of the old +inner circle are commissioned anew. And then do you remember the last time +they were together? It was about six weeks later, on the rounded top of +the old Olives Mount, the eleven men with the Master. Four times He +commissioned a group of men for some service He wanted done.</p> + +<p>There are two things in these four commissions that make them alike. The +same two things are in each. The first thing is this: they are bidden to +"go." That ringing word "go ye" is in, each time. "As the Father hath sent +Me even so send I you." It is a familiar word to every follower of Jesus +then, and now, and always. A true follower of His always is stirred by a +spirit of <i>"go."</i> A going Christian is a growing Christian. A going church +has always been a growing church. Those ages when the church lost the +vision of her Master's face on Olives, and let other sounds crowd out of +her ears the sound of His voice, were stagnant ages. They are commonly +spoken of in history as the dark ages. "Go" is the ringing keynote of the +Christian life, whether in a man or in the church.</p> + +<p>The second thing found always in each of these commissions is this: they +were qualified, or empowered to go. Whom God calls He always qualifies. +Where His voice comes His Spirit breathes. If there has come to you some +bit of a call to service, to teach a class, or write a special letter, or +speak a word, or take up something needing to be done. And you hesitate. +You think that you cannot. You are not fit, you think, not qualified. The +thing to do is to do it.</p> + +<p>If the call is clear go ahead. Need is one of the strong calling voices of +God. It is always safe to respond. Put <i>out</i> your foot in the answering +swing, even though you cannot see clearly the place to put it <i>down</i>. God +attends to that part. Power comes <i>as we go</i>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch02-2"> +<h3>The Parting Message.</h3> + + +<p>Just now I want to talk with you a bit about the last one of these +commissions, the Olivet commission. I do not know just what day it was +given or at what hour. But I have thought it was in the twilight of a +Sabbath evening. There's a yellow glow of light filling all the western +sky running along the broken line of those hills yonder, and through the +trees, and in upon this group of men standing.</p> + +<p>Here in full view lies little Bethany fragrant with memories of Jesus' +power. Over yonder, those tree tops down in a bit of valley with the +brook--that is <i>Gethsemane</i>. And farther over there is the fortress city +of <i>Jerusalem</i>. And just outside its wall is the bit of a knoll called +<i>Calvary</i>. Here under these trees every night that last week of the +tragedy Jesus had slept out in the open, with His seamless coat wrapped +about Him. This is the spot He chooses for the good-by word. It is full of +most precious, fragrant memories.</p> + +<p>Here is the man who has been Simon, but out of whom a new man was coming +these days, Peter, the man of rock. And here are John and James, sons of +fire and of thunder, sons of their mother. And there, little Scotch +Andrew. At least our Scotch friends seem to have adopted him as their very +own. And close by his side is his friend with the Greek name, Philip. And +here the man to whom Jesus paid the great tribute of naming him the +guileless man.</p> + +<p>And the others, not so well known to us, but very well known to Jesus, and +to be not a whit less faithful than their brothers these coming days. But +somehow as you look you are at once irresistibly drawn past these to +<i>Him</i>--the Man in the midst. The Man with the great face, torn with the +thorns, and cut with the thongs, but shining with a sweet, wondrous, +beauty light.</p> + +<p>It is the last time they are together. He is going away; coming back soon, +they understand. They do not know just how soon. But meanwhile in His +absence they are to be as He Himself would be if He remained among men. +They are to stand for Him. And so with eyes fixed on His face they look, +and listen, and wonder a bit, just what the last word will be.</p> + +<p>What would you expect it to be? It was the good-by word between men who +were lovers, dearest friends. The tenderest thing would be said and the +most important. The one going away would speak of that which lay closest +down in His own heart. And whatever He might say would sink deepest into +their hearts, and control their action in the after days.</p> + +<p>He had been talking to them very insistently, about an hour before, down +in the city, about <i>waiting there</i> until the Holy Spirit came upon them. +And that word has fastened itself into their minds with newly sharpened +hooks of steel points. Now He talks about their being His witnesses, here +at home among their own folks, and out among their half-breed Samaritan +neighbors, whom they didn't like, and then--with eyes looking yearningly +out and finger pointing steadily out--to the farthest reach of the planet. +And now, as He is about to go, this is the word that comes from those +lips:</p> + +<blockquote class="poetry"> +<div class="stanza"><div class="line"> "All power hath been given unto Me.</div> +<div class="line"> Therefore go ye,</div> +<div class="line"> And make disciples of all nations."</div> +</div></blockquote> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch02-3"> +<h3>A Secret Life of Prayer.</h3> + + +<p>There are four things in that good-by word. Three are directly spoken, and +one is not spoken, but directly implied. First is this, your chief work is +to win men. That is directly said. The second is implied--it is the +toughest task you ever undertook. That is implied in this that it will +take more power than they have. A power that only He has. A supernatural +power. And we all know how true that is. Of all luggage man is the hardest +to move. He <i>won't</i> move unless he <i>will</i>. Every man of us that has ever +tried to change somebody's else purpose knows how impossible it is unless +by the inward pull. You simply <i>cannot</i> without the man's consent. The +third thing is this: I have all the power needed. The fourth this: <i>You</i> +go.</p> + +<p>And the Master meant to tell them, and to tell us, this: that a man should +lead a triple life, three lives in one. We sometimes hear of a man leading +a double life in a bad sense. In a good sense, every one of us should be +living a triple life, three distinct lives in one. The first of these +three lives is this: <i>a secret life, lived with Jesus, hidden from the +eyes of men</i>. An inner life of closest contact with Him, that the outside +folks know nothing about.</p> + +<p>Notice again the four statements in that good-by word. Your chief concern +is to win men. It is the toughest task you ever undertook: it will take +supernatural power. I have all the power you need. Instinctively you feel +as though the fourth thing should be, "I will go." That would seem to be +the logical conclusion. "No," Jesus says, "<i>you go</i>." Plainly if we are to +do something taking supernatural power, and we haven't any such power of +ourselves, there must be the closest kind of contact with the source of +power. The man who is to go must be in the most intimate contact with the +Man who has the powers needed in the going.</p> + +<p>And this is simply a law of all life, given to us here by life's greatest +Philosopher. The seen depends upon the secret always. The outer keys upon +the inner. The life that men see depends wholly upon the life that only +the Master sees. David had power to slay the lion and bear in secret, away +from the gaze of men, before he had power to slay the giant before the +wondering eyes of two nations. The closet becomes the swivel of the +street.</p> + +<p>In crossing the ocean there are two great dangers to be dreaded and +guarded against, aside from the storms that may arise. The greater of +these is an abandoned ship. One that through some stress of storm has been +left by the sailors in the attempt to save their lives. It is most +dangerous because it sends no warning ahead of its presence. In crossing +the Atlantic by the more northern routes the other danger is from the +icebergs that may be met in the steamer's path. If a fog obscure the +lookout the boat is slowed down, and a man kept busy with line and +thermometer taking the temperature of the water. The iceberg is kindlier +than the derelict, in the chill it sends out. The presence of the danger +can so be detected, and measures taken to avoid it.</p> + +<p>But the great danger here is not simply in the huge mountain of ice that +you see looming up against the sky, great as that is. It is in the unseen +ice. Hidden away below is a mountain of ice twice as large and heavy as +that seen above the water's surface. The danger lies in the terrific force +of a blow from this hidden pile that would crush the strongest steel +steamer, as I might crush an egg-shell in my fingers.</p> + +<p>We all admire the beauty of the trees that rear their heads, and send out +their branches, and make the world so beautiful with their soft green +foliage. But have you thought of the twin tree, the unseen tree that +belongs to these we see? For every tree that grows up and out with its +beauty and fruit there is another. The twin tree goes down and out.</p> + +<p>Sometimes, as far as this we see goes <i>up</i>, the other goes <i>down</i>; as far +as the branches go out so far do the underneath branches go out, +sometimes farther. This unseen tree is ever busy drawing moisture, and +food from the soil and sending it, ceaselessly sending it, up to the upper +tree. The beauty and fruitfulness above are because of this secret life of +the tree.</p> + +<p>I remember as a boy going to the bathroom in our home one day to draw some +water. But none came. There were a few drops, and some sputtering--there's +very apt to be sputtering when there is nothing else--but no flow of +water. And I wondered why. Soon I found that the main pipe in the street +was being fixed, and the water had been cut off at the curb. There was +water in the pipe clear from the curbstone up to the spigot, but I could +not get it because the reservoir connection under the ground had been +turned off.</p> + +<p>I have met some people since then that made me think of that. There is a +reservoir of water, clear and sweet, with which they have had connection, +and are supposed still to have. But when some thirsty body comes up for a +bit of refreshment, there's some sputtering, some noise, may be a few +stray drops--but no more. And folks seem thirstier because they were +expecting a cool, satisfying drink that never came.</p> + +<p>I think I know why it is so. The secret connection with the reservoir has +been tampered with. There <i>must</i> be the secret contact with Jesus +cultivated habitually if there is to be a sweet, strong outer life. And +not cultivated by hothouse methods. Such plants won't stand the chilly air +outside the glass-house. Cultivated by natural, simple contact with Jesus, +over His Word, habitually, until everything comes under the influence of +that secret life.</p> + +<p>One day a man was standing on a busy downtown thoroughfare in Cleveland +waiting for a car. There was a thick, dirty wire hanging down from the +cross arm high up of the wire pole. He happened to stop there. And +absorbed in thought, he mechanically put out his hand and took hold of the +wire. Instantly a look of intense agony came into his face. His arm, and +whole body began twisting and writhing. Then he fell to the ground +lifeless. The dirty-looking wire had direct connections with the +power-house. It was throbbing with a strong current. It was a "live" wire.</p> + +<p>Some men who have seemed quite unattractive in the light of some modern +standards have been found on touch to be charged with a life current of +tremendous power. And some others, outwardly more attractive, have been +found to be as powerless as a dead wire. And some there have been, and +are, very winsome and attractive in themselves, and charged with the life +current too. The great thing is the secret connections carefully +maintained with the source of power.</p> + +<p>There must be the closest kind of touch with God if His plan through us +for a planet is to carry out. We do not run on the storage battery plan, +but on the trolley plan, or the third rail. There must be constant full +touch with the feed wire or rail. And that "must" should be spelled in +capitals, and printed in red, and triply underscored.</p> + +<p>A man <i>must</i> plan for the bit of quiet time daily, preferably in the early +morning, alone with Jesus; with the door shut, the Book open, the spirit +quiet, the mind alert, the knee bent, the will bent too. If it be +resolutely <i>planned</i> for it can be gotten in every life. If not planned +for with a bit of red iron in the will, it will surely slip out. And the +man will surely slip down.</p> + +<p>Here is found the spirit in which a man may live all the day long, +wherever his feet may tread, in the fierce competition of trade, or in the +deadly enervation of some society circles. Out of such a man shall +breathe, all unconsciously to himself, an atmosphere fragrant as a +mountain breeze over a field of wild roses. This is the first life Jesus +bids us live.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch02-4"> +<h3>An Open Life of Purity.</h3> + + +<p>The second life we are to live is the exact reverse of this. It is indeed +the outer side of this: <i>an open life of purity lived among men for +Jesus</i>. Note again the logic of that good-by word. Your chief business is +to be down there in the thick of the crowd, winning men out of the dust +and dirt up into a new life of purity. It is the hardest job any man ever +undertook. It is practically impossible unless you have a power quite more +than human. Jesus quietly says, "I have the power that will do it."</p> + +<p>Again you feel that He must say next, "<i>I</i> will go." The thing must be +done. It is the one thing worth while. It will require a power we haven't. +<i>He</i> has it. You feel as though <i>He</i> must do the going. "No," He says, +with great emphasis. "<i>You</i> go. You be I; you live my life over again, +down there among men." The "Ye" and "Me" in that sentence are meant to be +interchangeable words.</p> + +<p>He is asking us to live His life over again among men. No, it is more than +that. He is asking us to let Him live His life over again in each of us. +The Man with the power that men can't resist would reach out to them +<i>through us.</i> He would be touching them in us. Jesus said, "As the Father +hath sent Me, even so send I you." He said again, "He that hath seen Me +hath seen the Father." Jesus embodied the Father to men. He asks us to +take His place and embody Himself to men.</p> + +<p>Paul understood this thoroughly. In writing to the friends throughout +Galatia, whom he had won up to Jesus, he says, "I have been crucified +with Christ." There is an old dead "I." "Nevertheless I live." There is a +new living "I." "Yet not I--the old I--but Christ liveth in me." <i>He</i> was +the new I. There was a new personality within Paul. I never weary of +recalling what Martin Luther said about that verse in the comment he made +on Galatians. You remember he said, "If somebody should knock at my +heart's door, and ask who lives here, I must not say 'Martin Luther lives +here.' I would say 'Martin Luther--is--dead--Jesus--Christ--lives--here.'"</p> + +<p>I wonder if any of us has ever been taken for Jesus. I wonder if anybody +has ever <i>mistaken</i> any of us for Him. You remember, He used to move among +men after the resurrection, and while they would feel the gentle +winsomeness of His presence and talk, they did not recognize Him. Has +somebody run across you or me sometime, and been with us a little while, +and then gone away saying to himself, "I wonder if that was Jesus back +again in disguise. He seemed so much like what I think Jesus must have +been--I wonder."</p> + +<p>Well, if it were so, of course we would not be conscious of it. A +Jesus-man is never absorbed in thinking about himself. He is taken up with +Jesus, and with folks. A man is always least conscious of the power of his +own presence and life. Everybody else knows more about it than he does. +Plainly this is the Master's plan for each of us. And more, it is the +result when He is allowed free sway.</p> + +<p>The controlling principle of His life was to please His Father. The +pervading purpose and passion was to win men out and up. The +characteristics of His life were purity, unselfishness, sympathy, and +simplicity. We are to be as He. He was the Father to all the race of men. +Each of us is to be Jesus to his circle.</p> + +<p>Please notice I'm not talking about lips just now but about lives. The +life is the indorsement of the lips. It makes the words of the lips more +than they sound or seem. Or, it makes them less, sometimes pitiably less, +little more than a discount clerk ever busily at work. The words ever go +to the level of the life, up or down. Water seeks its level persistently. +So do one's words, and they find it more quickly than the water, for they +go <i>through</i> all obstructions. And the life is the leveler of the words, +up or down.</p> + +<p>So far as this second life is concerned a man's lips might be sealed, and +his tongue dumb, but his life in its purity and simplicity, its +unselfishness and sympathetic warmness will ever be spelling out Jesus. +And He will be spelled out so big and plain that the man hurriedly +running, or lazily creeping, or half blind in a cloud of dust, will be +stopping and reading. If there were but more re-incarnations of Jesus how +folks would be coming a-running to Him.</p> + +<p>Do you remember that prayer in blank verse of the old Scottish preacher +and poet and saint, Horatius Bonar? He said:</p> + +<blockquote class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> + <div class="line">"Oh, turn me, mould me, mellow me for use.</div> + <div class="line">Pervade my being with Thy vital force,</div> + <div class="line">That this else inexpressive life of mine</div> + <div class="line">May become eloquent and full of power,</div> + <div class="line">Impregnated with life and strength divine.</div> + <div class="line">Put the bright torch of heaven into my hand,</div> + <div class="line">That I may carry it aloft</div> + <div class="line">And win the eye of weary wanderers here below</div> + <div class="line">To guide their feet into the paths of peace.</div> + <div class="line">I cannot raise the dead,</div> + <div class="line">Nor from this soil pluck precious dust,</div> + <div class="line">Nor bid the sleeper wake,</div> + <div class="line">Nor still the storm, nor bend the lightning back,</div> + <div class="line">Nor muffle up the thunder,</div> + <div class="line">Nor bid the chains fall from off creation's long enfettered limbs.</div> + <div class="line"><i>But</i> I can live a life that tells on other lives,</div> + <div class="line">And makes this world less full of anguish and of pain;</div> + <div class="line">A life that like the pebble dropped upon the sea</div> + <div class="line">Sends its wide circles to a hundred shores.</div> + <div class="line">May such a life be mine.</div> + <div class="line">Creator of true life, Thyself the life Thou givest,</div> + <div class="line">Give Thyself, that Thou mayst dwell in me, and I</div> + <div class="line">in Thee."</div> +</div></blockquote> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch02-5"> +<h3>An Active Life of Service.</h3> + + +<p>The third life is <i>a life of active service, of aggressive earnestness in +winning men.</i> I say aggressive. That word does not mean noise and dust, +shuffling of feet, and bustling confusion. It means rather the steady, +steady movement of the sun which noiselessly, dustlessly, moves onward, +hour after hour, day in and day out, regardless of any storms, or +disturbances. It means the quiet, peaceful, but resistless uninterrupted +movement of the moon rising night after night, and going through its +circle of action. Earnestness means the burning of the inner spirit. Its +fires dim not, for they are fed continually from secret sources.</p> + +<p>This third life is spoken of directly: "Go ye and make disciples." The +going is to be continued until folks farthest away have heard. Some people +are bounded by the horizon of the town where they live, some by the +particular church to which they belong, some the denomination, some the +state, or even the nation. Jesus fixes the horizon of His follower as that +of the world. Jesus was visionary. He talked about all nations, a race, a +world.</p> + +<p>All are to go. They are to go to all. Some may be made wholly free, by +arrangement with their fellow-followers, to give their full strength and +time to the direct going and telling. These are highly favored in +privilege. Some of these may go to deserted darkened places in the home +land. Some may go to the city slum, which in its dire need is of close kin +to the foreign-mission land. These are yet more highly favored in +privilege.</p> + +<p>Some may go to those far distant lands where Jesus is not known, where the +need of Him is so pathetically great. These are the most highly favored in +the privilege of service accorded them. Many others have been left free of +the necessity of earning bread and home and clothing and so have a rare +opportunity of devoting themselves to the going, as the Spirit of Jesus +guides. Many are given the talent to earn easily, and so, if they will, +may give much strength to service.</p> + +<p>The great majority everywhere and always are absorbed for most of the +waking hours of the day in earning something to eat, and something to +wear, and somewhere to sleep. Yet where there is the warm touch with Jesus +there will come the yearning for purity, and the life of service. With +these as with all there may be the service, strong and sweetly fragrant. +There is always some bit of spare time, with planning, that can be used in +direct service in church, or school, or mission. And the secret life of +prayer will give a steadiness that will guard against the over-use of +one's strength.</p> + +<p>There can be a personal going to some in words tactfully spoken. There is +the life of sweet purity and gentle patience always so winsome, that +speaks all the time in musical tones to one's circle. There is an +enormous, unconscious aggressiveness about such a life. Then there can be +the going through gold. And the entire planet can be brought under one's +thumb of influence through the strangely simple power of prayer.</p> + +<p>I have been running across some new versions of this last word of Jesus. A +sort of re-revisions they are. I have not found them in the common print, +but printed in lives, the lives of men. The print is large, chiefly +capitals, easily read. These lives are so noisy as to quite shut out what +the lips may be saying. There are variations in these translations.</p> + +<p>Sometime the message is made to read like this: "All power hath been given +unto Me, therefore go ye, and make--coins of gold--oh, belong to church of +course--that is proper and has many advantages--and give too. There are +advantages about that--give freely, or make it seem freely--give to +missions at home and abroad. That is regarded as a sure sign of a liberal +spirit. But be careful about the <i>proportion</i> of your giving. For the real +thing that counts at the year's end is how much you have added to the +stock of dollars in your grasp. These other things are good, but--merely +incidental. This thing of getting gold is the main drive."</p> + +<p>Please understand me, I never heard any of these folks talk in this blunt +way with their <i>tongues</i>. So far as I can hear, they are saying something +quite different. But what their tongues are saying is made indistinct and +blurred by some noise near by.</p> + +<p>Other translations I have run across have this variation: "Make a place +for yourself, in your profession, in society. Make a comfortable +living;--with a wide margin of meaning to that word 'comfortable'--belong +to the church, become a pillar, or at least move in the pillar's circle, +give of course, even freely in appearance, but remember these are the dust +in the scale, the other is the thing that weighs. All of one's energies +must be centered on the main thing."</p> + +<p>May I ask you to listen very quietly, while I repeat the Master's own +words over very softly and clearly, so that they may get into the inner +cockles of our hearts anew? "All power hath been given unto Me; therefore +go ye, and <i>make disciples of all nations</i>." These other translations are +wrong. They are misleading. <i>The one main thing is influencing men for +Jesus</i>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch02-6"> +<h3>The Perspective of True Service.</h3> + + +<p>It is not the only thing by any means. There is a multitude of things +perfectly proper and that must be done and well done. But through all +their doing is to run this one strong purpose. These other things are +details, important details, indispensably important, yet details. The +other is the one main thing toward which the doing of all the others is to +bend and blend.</p> + +<p>Please mark keenly that there are three lives here; three in one. The +secret life of prayer, the open life of purity, the active life of service +Not one, nor the other, not any two, but all three, this is the true +ideal. This is the true rounded life. And note sharply that this gives the +true perspective of service. The service life grows up out of the other +two. Its roots lie down in prayer and purity. This explains why so much +service is fruitless. It isn't rooted. There is no rich subsoil.</p> + +<p>It seems to be a part of the hurt of sin that men do not keep the +proportion of things balanced, and never have. In former days men shut +themselves up behind great walls that they might be pleasing to God. They +shut out the noise that they might have quiet to pray. They thought to +shut out the sin that they might be pure, forgetting that they carried it +in with them.</p> + +<p>In our day things have swung clean over to the other extreme. Now all is +activity. The emphasis of the time is upon doing. There is a lot of +running around, and rushing around. There is a great deal of activity that +seems inseparable from dust. The wheels make such a lot of noise as they +go around. <i>Doing</i> that does not root down in the secret touch with +Jesus, may be quite vigorous for a time, but soon leaves behind as its +only memory withered up branches. This is a <i>practical</i> age, we are +constantly told. Things must be judged by the standard of usefulness. That +is surely true, and good, but there is very serious danger that the true +perspective of service be lost in the dust that is being raised.</p> + +<p>The imprint of this disproportion or lack of proportion can even be found +in the theological teaching of long ago and now. At one time religion was +defined as having to do with a man's relation to God. That was emphasized +to the utter hiding away of all else. In our own day the swing is clear +over to the other side. Definitions of religion that make everything of +helping one's brother and fellow, are the popular thing. There seems to be +a sort of astigmatism that keeps us from seeing things straight. Though +always there have been those that saw straight and lived truly.</p> + +<p>Mark keenly that true touch with God always brings the longing to be pure, +and the loving of one's fellow. The nearer one gets to God the nearer will +he find himself getting to men. Often we find ourselves getting new +wonderful glimpses of God as we are eagerly helping somebody. Up seems to +include out, as though the line that drew us up to God led through men. +Yet with that always goes the other fact that touch with God makes one +long to be alone with Him.</p> + +<p>There are always the three turnings of a true life, upward, inward, +outward. Upward to God, inward to self, outward to the world. The more one +knows God the keener is the longing to get off with Himself alone, the +deeper is the yearning to be pure, and the stronger is the passion to help +others regardless of any sacrifice involved.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch02-7"> +<h3>A Long Time Coming.</h3> + + +<p>There is an old story that caught fire in my heart the first time it came +to me, and burns anew at each memory of it. It told of a time in the +southern part of our country when the sanitary regulations were not so +good as of late. A city was being scourged by a disease that seemed quite +beyond control. The city's carts were ever rolling over the cobble-stones, +helping carry away those whom the plague had slain.</p> + +<p>Into one very poor home, a laboring man's home, the plague had come. And +the father and children had been carried out until on the day of this +story there remained but two, the mother and her baby boy of perhaps five +years. The boy crept up into his mother's lap, put his arms about her +neck, and with his baby eyes so close, said, "Mother, father's dead, and +brothers and sister are dead;--if <i>you</i> die, what'll I do?"</p> + + +<p>The poor mother had thought of it, of course, What could she say? Quieting +her voice as much as possible, she said, "If I die, Jesus will come for +you." That was quite satisfactory to the boy. He had been taught about +Jesus, and felt quite safe with Him, and so went about his play on the +floor. And the boy's question proved only too prophetic. And quick work +was done by the dread disease. And soon she was being laid away by strange +hands.</p> + +<p>It is not difficult to understand that in the sore distress of the time +the boy was forgotten. When night came, he crept into bed, but could not +sleep. Late in the night he got up, found his way out along the street, +down the road, in to where he had seen the men put her. And throwing +himself down on the freshly shoveled earth, sobbed and sobbed until nature +kindly stole consciousness away for a time.</p> + +<p>Very early the next morning a gentleman coming down the road from some +errand of mercy, looked over the fence, and saw the little fellow lying +there. Quickly suspecting some sad story, he called him, "My boy, what are +you doing there?--My boy, wake up, what are you doing there all alone?" +The boy waked up, rubbed his baby eyes, and said, "Father's dead, and +brothers and sister's dead, and now--<i>mother's</i>--dead--too. And she said, +if she did die, Jesus would come for me. And He hasn't come. And I'm so +tired waiting." And the man swallowed something in his throat, and in a +voice not very clear, said, "Well, my boy, I've come for you." And the +little fellow waking up, with his baby eyes so big, said "I think you've +been a long time coming."</p> + +<p>Whenever I read these last words of Jesus or think of them, there comes up +a vision that floods out every other thing. It is of Jesus Himself +standing on that hilltop. His face is all scarred and marred, thorn-torn +and thong-cut. But it is beautiful, passing all beauty of earth, with its +wondrous beauty light. Those great eyes are looking out so yearningly, +<i>out</i> as though they were seeing men, the ones nearest and those farthest. +His arm is outstretched with the hand pointing out. And you cannot miss +the rough jagged hole in the palm. And He is saying, <i>"Go ye."</i> The +attitude, the scars, the eyes looking, the hand pointing, the voice +speaking, all are saying so intently, <i>"Go ye."</i></p> + +<p>And as I follow the line of those eyes, and the hand, there comes up an +answering vision. A great sea of faces that no man ever yet has numbered, +with answering eyes and outstretching hands. From hoary old China, from +our blood-brothers in India, from Africa where sin's tar stick seems to +have blackened blackest, from Romanized South America, and the islands, +aye from the slums, and frontiers, and mountains in the homeland, and from +those near by, from over the alley next to your house maybe, they seem to +come. And they are rubbing their eyes, and speaking. With lives so +pitifully barren, with lips mutely eloquent, with the soreness of their +hunger, they are saying, "You're a long time coming."</p> + +<p>Shall we go? Shall we <i>not</i> go? But how shall we best go? By keeping in +such close touch with Jesus that the warm throbbing of His heart is ever +against our own. Then will come a new purity into our lives as we go out +irresistibly attracted by the attraction of Jesus toward our fellows. And +then too shall go out of ourselves and out of our lives and service, a new +supernatural power touching men. It is Jesus within reaching men through +us.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch03"> +<h2>Yokefellows: The Rhythm of Service.</h2> + + + +<ul> + <li><a href="#ch03-1">The Master's Invitation.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch03-2">Surrender a Law of Life,</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch03-3">Free Surrender.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch03-4">"Him."</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch03-5">Yoked Service.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch03-6">In Step With Jesus.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch03-7">The Scar-marks of Surrender.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch03-8">Full Power Through Rhythm.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch03-9">He Is Our Peace.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch03-10">The Master's Touch.</a></li> +</ul> + + + + +<h2>Yokefellows: The Rhythm of Service.</h2> + +<h3>(Matthew xi. 25-30; Luke x:1, 17, 21-24.)</h3> + + +<div class="sec" id="ch03-1"> +<h3>The Master's Invitation.</h3> + + +<p>It was about six months before the tragic end that Jesus sent out +thirty-five deputations of two each. He was beginning that slow memorable +journey south that ended finally at the cross. These men are sent ahead to +prepare the way. By and by they return and make a glad exultant report of +the good results attending their work. Even the demons had acknowledged +the power of Jesus' name on their lips.</p> + +<p>As He was listening Jesus looked up, and said, "Father, I thank Thee." And +then, as though He could see those great crowds to whom they had been +ministering in His name, He said, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are +heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of +Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your +souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."</p> + +<p>There are two invitations here, "come" and "take." There are two sorts of +people. Those who are tugging and straining at work, and carrying heavy +burdens, and then those who have received rest, and are now asked to go a +step farther. There are two kinds of rest, a given rest, and a found rest. +The given rest cannot be found. It comes as a sheer out gift, from Jesus' +own hand. The found rest cannot be given, may I say? It comes stealing its +gentle way in as one fits into Jesus' plan for his life.</p> + +<p>Many folks have accepted the first of these invitations. They have "come" +to Jesus, and received sweet rest from His hand. But they have gone no +farther. At the close of that first invitation there is a punctuation +period, a full stop. Some of the old schoolbooks used to say that one +should stop at a period and count four. Well, a great many people have +followed that old rule here, and more than followed. They have stopped at +that period, and never gotten past it. I want just now to ask you to come +with me as we talk together a bit about this second invitation, "Take My +yoke."</p> + +<p>Jesus used several different words in tying people up to Himself. There is +a growth in them, as He draws us nearer and nearer. First always is the +invitation "Come unto Me." That means salvation, life. Then He says, +"Follow Me," "Come after Me." That means discipleship. "Learn of Me" +means training in discipleship. "Yoke up with Me" means closest +fellowship. "Abide in Me" leads one out into abundant life. "As the Father +hath sent Me, even so send I you," means living Jesus' life over again. +And then the last "Go ye" is the outer reach of all, service for a world.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch03-2"> +<h3>Surrender a Law of Life.</h3> + + +<p>Just now we want to talk together over this little three-worded sentence +from Jesus' lips, "Take My yoke." What does it mean? Well, that word yoke +is used in all literature outside of this book, as well as here, to mean +this: surrender by one and mastery by another one. Where two nations have +fought and the weaker has been forced to yield, it is quite commonly +spoken of as wearing the yoke of the stronger nation. The Romans required +their prisoners of war to pass under a yoke, sometimes a common cattle +yoke, sometimes an improvised yoke, to indicate their utter subjugation. +These Hebrews to whom Jesus is speaking are writhing with sore shoulders +under the galling yoke of the Romans. One can imagine an emphasis placed +on the "My." As though Jesus would say, "You have one yoke now; change +yokes. Take <i>My</i> yoke."</p> + +<p>There is too a higher, finer meaning to this surrender when by mutual +arrangement and free consent there is a yielding of one to another for a +purpose. And so what Jesus means here is simply this--<i>surrender</i>. Bend +your head down, bend down your neck, even though it's a bit stiff going +your own way, and fit it into this yoke of mine. Surrender to Me as your +Master.</p> + +<p>And somebody says, "I don't like that. 'Surrender!' that sounds like +force. I thought salvation was <i>free</i>." Will you please remember that the +principle of surrender is a law of all life. It is the law of military +life, inside the army. Every man there has surrendered to the officers +above him. In some armies that surrender has amounted to absolute control +of a man's person and property by the head of the army. It is the law of +naval service. The moment a man steps on board a man-of-war to serve he +surrenders the control of his life and movements absolutely to the officer +in command.</p> + +<p>It is the law in public, political life. A man entering the President's +cabinet, as a secretary of some department, surrenders any divergent views +he may have to those of his chief. With the largest freedom of thought +that must always be where there are strong men, yet there must of +necessity be the one dominant will if the administration is to be a +powerful one. It is the law of commercial life. The man entering the +employ of a bank, a manufacturing concern, a corporation of any sort, in +whatever capacity, enters to do the will of somebody else. Always there +must be the one dominant will if there is to be power and success.</p> + +<p>And then may I hush my voice and speak of the more sacred things very +softly and remind you of this. Surrender is the law of the highest form of +life known to us men. I mean wedded life. Where the surrender is not by +one to the other, but by each to the other. Two wills, always two wills +where there is strong life, yet in effect but one. Two persons but only +one purpose.</p> + +<p>And so you see, Jesus, the Master, the greatest of earth's teachers and +philosophers, is striking the keynote of life when here He asks us to +surrender freely and wholly to Himself as the autocrat of our lives. He +asks us to bend our strong wills to His, to yield our lives, our plans, +our ambitions, our friendships, our gold, absolutely to His control.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch03-3"> +<h3>Free Surrender.</h3> + + +<p>And if you still do not like the sound of that word surrender. It has a +harsh sound that grates upon your nerves. Will you please notice the first +word of that little sentence--"Take." Jesus does not say in sharp, hard +tones, "Come here; bend down; I'll <i>put</i> this yoke on you." Never that. If +you will, of your own glad accord, freely, winsomely <i>take</i> the yoke upon +you--that is what He asks. In military usage surrender is <i>forced</i>. Here +it must be <i>free</i>. Nothing else would be acceptable to Jesus.</p> + +<p>When our commissioners went a few years ago to Paris to treat with the +Spaniards, the latter are said to have desired certain changes in the +language of the protocol. With the polished suavity for which they are +noted the Spaniards urged that there be made slight changes in the +<i>words</i>: no real change in the meaning, they said, simply in the verbiage. +And our Judge Day at the head of the American Commissioners, listened +politely and patiently until the plea was presented. And then he quietly +said, "The article will be signed <i>as it reads</i>." And the Spaniards +protested, with much courtesy. The change asked for was trivial, merely in +the language, not in the force of the words. And our men listened +patiently and courteously. Then Mr. Day is said to have locked his little +square jaw and replied very quietly, "The article will be signed as it +reads." And the article was so signed. That is military usage. The +surrender was forced. The strength of the American fleets, the prestige of +great victory were back of the quiet man's demand.</p> + +<p>But that is not the law here. Jesus asks for only what we give freely and +spontaneously. He does not want anything except what is given with a +free, glad heart. This is to be a <i>voluntary</i> surrender. Jesus is a +voluntary Saviour. He wants only voluntary followers. He would have us be +as Himself. The oneness of spirit leads the way into the intimacy of +closest friendship. And that is His thought for us.</p> + +<p>Do you remember those fine lines, "The quality of mercy is not +<i>strained</i>"--if the thing be forced through a strainer, there is no mercy +there--"it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place +beneath." Only what the warm current of His love draws out does Jesus +desire from us. It is to be a <i>free</i> surrender.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch03-4"> +<h3>"Him."</h3> + + +<p>And if you still knit your mental brows, and shrug your shoulder. The +thing hasn't yet shaken off the harshness you have been clothing it with. +Please notice the second word of that sentence--"My." "Take <i>My</i> Yoke." +May I say gently but frankly that I would not surrender the control of my +life to any of you who are listening so kindly. And I surely would not ask +that I should be the autocrat of any of your lives. But--when--<i>Jesus</i> +comes along. The Man with the marvelous face all torn and scarred, but +with that great, soft, shining light. I do not know just how all of you +feel. I can guess how some of you feel. But I know one man who cannot +respond too quickly and eagerly. The only thing to do is to make the will +as strong as it can be made, and then to use all of its strength in +surrendering eagerly to this matchless Man Jesus. Doubtless many of you +know fully that same eagerness, and maybe more.</p> + +<p>I remember a simple story that twined its clinging tendril lingers about +my heart. It was of a woman whose long years had ripened her hair, and +sapped her strength. She was a true saint in her long life of devotion to +God. She knew the Bible by heart, and would repeat long passages from +memory. But as the years came the strength went, and with it the memory +gradually went too, to her grief. She seemed to have lost almost wholly +the power to recall at will what had been stored away.</p> + +<p>But one precious bit still stayed. She would sit by the big sunny window +of the sitting room in her home, repeating over that one bit, as though +chewing a delicious titbit, "I know whom I have believed and am persuaded +that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that +day." By and by part of that seemed to slip its hold, and she would +quietly be repeating, "that which I have committed to Him."</p> + +<p>The last few weeks as the ripened old saint hovered about the border land +between this and the spirit world her feebleness increased. Her loved +ones would notice her lips moving. And thinking she might be needing some +creature comfort they would go over and bend down to listen for her +request. And time and again they found the old saint repeating over to +herself one word, over and over again, the same one word, +"Him--<i>Him</i>--Him." She had list the whole Bible but one word. But she had +the whole Bible in that one word. Did she not? This is a surrender to +<i>Him</i>, the Man of the Book. The Man of all life.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch03-5"> +<h3>Yoked Service.</h3> + + +<p>They tell me that on a farm the yoke means service. Cattle are yoked to +serve, and to serve better, and to serve more easily. This is a surrender +for service, not for idleness. In military usage surrender often means +being kept in enforced idleness and under close guard. But this is not +like that. It is all up on a much higher plane. Jesus has every man's +life planned. It always awes me to recall that simple tremendous fact. +With loving strong thoughtfulness He has thought into each of our lives, +and planned it out, in whole, and in detail. He comes to a man and +says, "<i>I know</i> you. I have been <i>thinking</i> about you." Then very +softly--"I--<i>love</i>--you. I <i>need</i> you, for a plan of Mine. <i>Please</i> let +Me have the control of your life and all your power, for My plan." It is a +surrender for service.</p> + +<p>It is <i>yoked</i> service. There are two bows or loops to a yoke. A yoke in +action has both sides occupied, and as surely as I bow down My head and +slip it into the bow on one side--I know there is <i>Somebody else</i> on the +other side. It is yoked living now, yoked fellowship, yoked service. It is +not working <i>for</i> God now. It is working <i>with</i> Him. Jesus never sends +anybody ahead alone. He treads down the pathway through every thicket, +pushes aside the thorn-bushes, and clears the way, and then says with that +taking way of His, "Come along with Me. Let's go together, you and I."</p> + +<p>A man got up in a meeting to speak. It was down in Rhode Island, out a bit +from Providence. He was a farmer, an old man. He had become a Christian +late in life, and this evening was telling about his start. He had been a +rough, bad man. He said that when he became a Christian even the cat knew +that some change had taken place. That caught my ear. It had a genuine +ring. It seemed prophetic of the better day coming for all the lower +animal creation. So I listened.</p> + +<p>He said that the next morning after the change of purpose he was going +down to the village a little distance from his farm. He swung along the +road, happy in heart, singing softly to himself, and thinking about the +Saviour. All at once he could feel the fumes coming out of a saloon ahead. +He couldn't see the place yet, but his keen trained nose felt it. The +odors came out strong, and gripped him.</p> + +<p>He said he was frightened, and wondered how he would get by. He had never +gone by before, he said; always gone in; but he couldn't go in now. But +what to do, that was the rub. Then he smiled, and said, "I remembered, and +I said, 'Jesus, you'll have to come along and help me get by, I never can +by myself.'" And then in his simple, illiterate way he said, "<i>and He +come</i>--and <i>we</i> went by, and we've been going by ever since."</p> + +<p>Ah, the old Rhode Island farmer had found the whole simple philosophy of +the true life. Our Yokefellow is always there alongside. Every temptation +that comes to us He has felt the sharp edge of, and can overcome. Every +problem, every difficulty, every opportunity He knows, and is right there, +swinging in rhythmic step alongside. It's yoked living and yoked service.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch03-6"> +<h3>In Step with Jesus.</h3> + + +<p>Then please mark keenly that this surrender is for <i>surrendered</i> service. +No free-lancing here. No guerrilla warfare, no bushwhacking. There seems +to be quite a lot of that, in this army. Some earnest folks are very busy +"helping God out," regardless of the general movement of the whole army. +And a great help they are too--they <i>think</i>. It would be difficult to see +how God would ever get along without them--they <i>seem</i> to think. Poor +folks, they have gotten so covered with the dust made by their own feet +that they've completely lost track of things. There is a Lord to this +harvest. There is a great Commander-in-chief to this campaign. He has the +whole campaign for a <i>world</i> carefully planned out. And each man's part in +it is planned too. He knows best what needs to be done. He sees keenly the +strategic points, and the emergencies. If only He could but depend on our +ears being trained to know His voice, and our wills trained to simple, +full obedience, how much difference it would make to Him. Simple, full +strong obedience seems to take the keenest intelligence, the strongest +will, and the most thorough discipline.</p> + +<blockquote class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="line"> "Just to ask Him what to do,</div> +<div class="line"> All the day.</div> +<div class="line"> And to make you quick and true</div> +<div class="line"> To obey."<sup><a href="#fn3">3</a></sup></div> +</div></blockquote> + +<p>This surrender is for glad, obedient surrendered service.</p> + +<p>And note too that it is for <i>training</i> in service. They tell me that +where cattle are yoked for work it is usual to put a young restive beast +with an old, steady-going animal. The old worker sets the pace, and pulls +evenly, steadily ahead, and by and by the young undisciplined beast +gradually comes to learn the pace. That seems to fit in here with graphic +realness. So many of us seem to be full of an undisciplined unseasoned +strength. There are apt to be some hard drives ahead, and then pulling +back with a sudden jerk, and side lunges this way and that. There is +splendid strength, and eager willingness, but not much is accomplished for +lack of the steady, steady going regardless of rocks or ruts.</p> + +<p>Jesus says, "Yoke up with Me. Let's pull together, you and I." And if we +will pull steadily along, content to be by His side, and to be hearing His +quiet voice, and <i>always to keep His pace</i>, step by step with Him, without +regard to seeing results, all will be well, and by and by the best results +and the largest will be found to have come. And remember that as on the +farm, so here, the yoke is always carefully adjusted so that the young +learner may have the easier pulling.</p> + +<p>But it is well to put in this bit of a caution. If a man put his head into +the yoke, and then <i>pull back</i>--well, there'll be a man with a badly +chafed, sore neck in that neighborhood, and oil will be in demand. The +one safe rule is swinging straight ahead, steady, steady, without even +stopping to decide if the plow has cut properly, or if it is worth while.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch03-7"> +<h3>The Scar-marks of Surrender.</h3> + + +<p>Then Jesus adds this: "Learn of Me." I used to wonder just what that +means. But I think I know a part of its meaning now. You remember the +Hebrews had a scheme of qualified slavery.<sup><a href="#fn4">4</a></sup> A man might sell his service +for six years but at the end of that time he was scot-free. On the New +Year's morning of the seventh year he was given his full liberty, and +given some grain and oil to begin life with anew.</p> + +<p>But if on that morning he found himself reluctant to leave, all his ties +binding him to his master's home, this was the custom among them. He would +say to his master, "I don't want to leave you. This is home to me. I love +you and the mistress. I love the place. All my ties and affections are +here. I want to stay with you always." His master would say, "Do you mean +this?" "Yes," the man would reply, "I want to belong to you forever."</p> + +<p>Then his master would call in the leading men of the village or +neighborhood to witness the occurrence. And he would take his servant out +to the door of the home, and standing him up against the door-jamb would +pierce the lobe of his ear through with an awl. I suppose like a +shoemaker's awl. Then the man became not his slave, but his bond-slave, +forever. It was a personal surrender of himself to his master; it was +voluntary; it was for love's sake; it was for service; it was after a +trial; it was for life.</p> + +<p>Now that was what Jesus did. If you will turn to that Fortieth Psalm,<sup><a href="#fn5">5</a></sup> +from which we read, you will find words that are plainly prophetic of +Jesus, and afterwards quoted as referring to Him. "Mine ears hast Thou +opened, or digged or pierced for me." And in the fiftieth chapter of +Isaiah,<sup><a href="#fn6">6</a></sup> revised version, are these words likewise prophetic of Jesus. +"The Lord God hath <i>opened</i> mine ear, and <i>I was not rebellious, neither +turned away backward.</i> I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to +them that plucked off the hair; I hid not my face from shame and +spitting."</p> + +<p>And the truth is this. May the Spirit of God burn it deep into our hearts. +<i>Jesus was a surrendered Man.</i> Stop a bit and think into what that means. +Jesus is the giant Man of the human race, thought of just now as a man, +though He was so much more, too. In His wisdom as a teacher, His calm +poised judgment, the purity of His life, the tremendous power of His +personality in swaying man, He clear overtops the whole race of men. Now +that Master Man, that giant of the race, was a surrendered Man. For +instance run through John's Gospel, and pick out the negatives on His +lips, the "nots." Not His own will, nor His own words, nor His own +teaching, nor His own works.<sup><a href="#fn7">7</a></sup> Jesus came to earth to do Somebody's else +will. With all His giant powers He was utterly absorbed in doing what some +One else wished done. And now this giant Man, this surrendered Man, says, +"You do as I have done. Learn of Me: I am wholly given up to doing My +Father's will. You be wholly surrendered to Me, and so together we will +carry out the Father's will."</p> + +<p>Some one of a practical turn says, "That sounds very nice, but is it not a +bit fanciful? The lobe of Jesus' ear was not pierced through, was it?" No. +You are right. The scar-mark of Jesus' surrender was not in His ear, as +with the old Hebrew slave. You are quite right. It was in His cheek, and +brow, on His back, in His side and hands and feet. The scar-marks of His +surrender were--are--all over His face and form. Everybody who surrenders +bears some scar of it because of sin, his own or somebody's else. +Referring to the suffering endured in service Paul tenderly reckons it as +a mark of Jesus' ownership--"I bear the scars, the <i>stigmata</i>, of the Lord +Jesus." Even of the Master Himself is this so.</p> + +<p>And that scarred Jesus whose body told and tells of His surrender to His +Father comes to us. And with those hands eagerly outstretched, and eyes +beaming with the earnestness of His great passion for men, He says, "Yoke +up with Me, please. Let Me have the control of all your splendid powers, +in carrying out our Father's will for a world."</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch03-8"> +<h3>Full Power through Rhythm.</h3> + + +<p>Then Jesus, with a sweep, gathers up all the results in a single sentence, +"Ye shall find rest unto your souls." Some one may be thinking, "I do not +feel the need of rest or peace so much. I am hungry for power." Will you +please notice that Jesus is going to the very root of the thing here. +There must be peace before there can be power. <i>You</i> shall find peace. +<i>Others</i> shall find power. You will be conscious of the sweet sense of +peace within. Others will be conscious of the fragrant power breathing out +of your life, and service, and your very person.</p> + +<p>These things, peace and power, are the same. They are different movements +of the same river of God. The presence of God in fine harmony with you, +that it is that brings the sweet peace. And that too it is that brings the +gracious power into the life. The inward flow of the river is peace. The +outward flow of the same stream is power. There cannot be power save as +there is peace. There is nothing that hinders and holds back power as does +friction. That is true in mechanics: a bit of friction grit between the +wheels will check the full working of the machinery. A small nut fallen +down out of place will completely stop the machine and bring all of its +power to a standstill.</p> + +<p>This is <i>heart</i> rest. The heart is the center, the citadel of the life. +When the heart rests all is at rest. If the citadel can be captured the +outworks are included. It is a <i>found</i> rest. It comes quietly stealing its +soft way in as you go about your regular round of life. Just where you +are, in the thick of the old circumstances and conditions, there comes +breathing gently into your very being the great fragrant peace of God. You +find it coming in. There is all the zest of finding.</p> + +<p>It is rest <i>in service</i>. To many folks those two words "yoke" and "rest" +have seemed to jar, as though they did not get along well together. But +they do. The jarring is not in them but in our misunderstanding of them. A +yoke, we have thought, means work. Rest means quitting work; no more need +of work. But that is a bit of the hurt of sin that gets so many things +wrong end to.</p> + +<blockquote class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="line"> "Rest is not quitting</div> +<div class="line"> The busy career;</div> +<div class="line"> Rest is the fitting</div> +<div class="line"> Of self to its sphere."<sup><a href="#fn8">8</a></sup></div> +</div></blockquote> + +<p>True rest is in the unhurried rhythm of action. Have you thought of when +your heart rests? It does not stop, of course, while life lasts. But it +rests. It rests between beats. A beat and a rest. A throb of power and a +moment of perfect rest. A mighty motion that sends the warm red life +through all the intricate machinery of the body; then quiet composed rest. +The secret of the immeasurable power of this organ we call the heart lies +just here. There is enough power in a normal human heart to batter down +Bunker Hill Monument if it could be centered upon it. The secret of that +power is in the rhythm of action that combines motion with rest. We call +rhythm of color, beauty. Rhythm of sound is music. Rhythm of action is +power.</p> + +<p>I have often stood as a boy on the streets of old Philadelphia, and +watched a gang of foreign laborers at work. As a rule they could speak +only the language of their own fatherland. There would be a gang-boss to +direct their movements. Perhaps it was a huge stone to be moved, or a +piece of structural iron, or a heavy rail to be torn up. The ends of their +crowbars were fitted under the thing to be moved. Then they waited a +moment for the gang-boss to give the word. He would say, "heave ho!"</p> + +<p>Then all together they would sing "heave ho," and push. And a "heave ho," +and push; a "heave ho," and a push. They made perfect music. There was +always a small crowd gathered, watching and enjoying the simple music. +Their work was easier because done rhythmically. This, of course, is the +simple philosophy that provides music for soldiers on march. The men can +walk much longer, and farther, with less fatigue if they go to the sound +of music.</p> + +<p>The story is told of the contracts for some bridge-building in the Soudan +being carried off by American bidders. Their competitors in the bidding +specified a year's time or so, for the work. The Americans agreed to do it +in three months. They were awarded the contract, and to the others' +surprise had the work completed within the specified time.</p> + +<p>One of the contractors who had bid for the job on the basis of a year's +time said afterwards to the successful contractor, "I wish, if you +wouldn't mind doing so, you would tell me how you ever got that work done +in so short a time with those undisciplined Soudanese natives for +workmen. I have had them on other contracts and I know I couldn't have +done it. How did you ever do it?"</p> + +<p>And the American, whose blood was British a generation or two back, and +farther back yet Teutonic, smiled as he quietly said, "We had a band of +native musicians playing the liveliest music they knew within earshot of +every gang of laborers, while our gang-bosses kept them steadily at work."</p> + +<p>Rhythm is the secret of power. Full rhythm is possible only where there is +full obedience to nature. The man in full sweet harmony with God in all of +his life knows the stilling ecstasy of peace, and the marvelous outgoings +of real power. You shall find within your heart the great stilling calm of +God, as steadying as the rock of ages, as exhilarating as the subtle +fragrance of flowers, and as restful as a mother's bosom to her babe.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch03-9"> +<h3>He is Our Peace.</h3> + + +<p>But there is something here finer yet by far than this. Everything God +provides for us is personal. There is always the personal touch and +presence. Do you remember that during the earlier days of the recent war +with Spain this occurrence frequently took place? In the Caribbean waters +a Spanish merchantman would be overtaken by an American warship. A few +shots were sent over the bows of the merchantman with a demand for +surrender. And then the Spanish flag was seen to drop from the +merchantman's masthead in token of surrender.</p> + +<p>Then this was the method of procedure. A prize crew, consisting of an +officer with a few ensigns, was lowered from the American boat, pulled +across, and taken aboard the captured boat. The moment the prize crew +stepped aboard they were masters of the boat in their government's name. +Their presence signified the surrender of the foreigner, and the forced +peace now between the two boats.</p> + +<p>On a much higher plane this is what takes place with us. There has been +flying at my masthead a flag with a big I upon it. As quickly as I drop it +in token of my surrender to Somebody else, a prize crew is sent aboard to +take possession, and assume control. Who is the prize crew? The Holy +Spirit, whom Jesus the Master sends to represent Himself. He steps aboard +at once.</p> + +<p>He paces the deck as the ship's Master. His presence is peace. "He is our +peace." "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, <i>peace</i>." And while He +occupies the captain's quarters, with full cheery obedience on board, +there is ever the fine aroma of peace everywhere, and the fullness of +power.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch03-10"> +<h3>The Master's Touch.</h3> + + +<p>One morning a number of years ago in London a group of people had gathered +in a small auction shop for an advertised sale of fine old antiques and +curios. The auctioneer brought out an old blackened, dirty-looking violin. +He said, "Ladies and gentlemen, here is a remarkable old instrument I have +the great privilege of offering to you. It is a genuine Cremona, made by +the famous Antonius Stradivarius himself. It is very rare, and worth its +weight in gold. What am I bid?" The people present looked at it +critically. And some doubted the accuracy of the auctioneer's statements. +They saw that it did not have the Stradivarius name cut in. And he +explained that some of the earliest ones made did not have the name. And +that some that had the name cut in were not genuine. But he could assure +them that this was genuine. Still the buyers doubted and criticised, as +buyers have always done. Five guineas in gold were bid, but no more. The +auctioneer perspired and pleaded. "It was ridiculous to think of selling +such a rare violin for such a small sum," he said. But the bidding seemed +hopelessly stuck there.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile a man had entered the shop from the street. He was very tall and +very slender, with very black hair, middle-aged, wearing a velvet coat. He +walked up to the counter with a peculiar side-wise step, and without +noticing anybody in the shop picked up the violin, and was at once +absorbed in it. He dusted it tenderly with his handkerchief, changed the +tension of the strings, and held it up to his ear lingeringly as though +hearing something. Then putting the end of it up in position he reached +for the bow, while the murmur ran through the little audience, "Paganini."</p> + +<p>The bow seemed hardly to have touched the strings when such a soft +exquisite note came out filling the shop, and holding the people +spellbound. And as he played the listeners laughed for very delight, and +then wept for the fullness of their emotion. The men's hats were off, and +they all stood in rapt reverence, as though in a place of worship. He +played upon their emotions as he played upon the old soil-begrimed violin.</p> + +<p>By and by he stopped. And as they were released from the spell of the +music the people began clamoring for the violin. "Fifty guineas," "sixty," +"seventy," "eighty," they bid in hot haste. And at last it was knocked +down to the famous player himself for one hundred guineas in gold, and +that evening he held a vast audience of thousands breathless under the +spell of the music he drew from the old, dirty, blackened, despised +violin.</p> + +<p>It was despised till the master-player took possession. Its worth was not +known. The master's touch revealed the rare value, and brought out the +hidden harmonies. He gave the doubted little instrument its true place of +high honor before the multitude. May I say softly, some of us have been +despising the worth of the man within. We have been bidding five guineas +when the real value is immeasurably above that <i>because of the Maker</i>. Do +not let us be underbidding God's workmanship.</p> + +<p>The violin needed dusting, and readjustment of its strings before the +music came. Shall we not each of us yield this rarest instrument, his own +personality, to the Master's hand? There will be some changes needed, no +doubt, as the Master-player takes hold. And then will go singing out of +our persons and our lives, the rarest music of God, that shall enthrall +and bring all within earshot to the Master-musician.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch04"> +<h2>A Passion for Winning Men: The Motive-power of Service.</h2> + + + +<ul> + <li><a href="#ch04-1">A Day off.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch04-2">Moved with Compassion.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch04-3">Counting on Us.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch04-4">The Secret of Winsomeness.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch04-5">"As the Stars."</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch04-6">The Finest Wisdom.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch04-7">Three Essentials.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch04-8">A Blessed Library Corner.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch04-9">"Two Missing"--"Go Ye."</a></li> +</ul> + + + + +<h2>A Passion for Winning Men: The Motive-power of Service.</h2> + +<h3>(Mark vi:30-34.)</h3> + + +<div class="sec" id="ch04-1"> +<h3>A Day off.</h3> + + +<p>One morning toward the end, in the midst of His busiest campaigning, Jesus +was very tired. It is one of the touches of His humanness. So He said to +His disciples, "Let us take a day <i>off</i>." And they could see the sense of +it. They were tired too. So they got a boat, and boarded her, and set +sail, and headed out across the lake. And meanwhile a crowd of people had +come down to the beach to be talked to, and healed, and helped in various +ways.</p> + +<p>And you can just see the look of disappointment in their faces as they +say, "Why, He's going away." And for a few moments they stand there +utterly dejected. Then somebody--for a long while I have thought it was a +woman--somebody with eyes keenly watching the direction of the boat, said, +"I believe He's going so and so"--naming a place across the lake--"let's +run around the head of the lake, and meet Him when He gets out."</p> + +<p>And the crowd was taken with that. And they ran--literally <i>ran</i>--around +the head of the lake. And as they went they spread the word, "The Master's +going so and so. Come along with us." And the people came eagerly out of +the villages and cross-roads. And the crowd thickened and the longer way +around in distance proved the shorter way there in time. For by and by +when Peter ran the nose of the boat into the sand on the other side, and +the Master got out for <i>a day off</i>, there were five thousand men, maybe +ten thousand people waiting to receive Him.</p> + +<p>Do you think that Peter scrooged down his eyebrows, and in a jerky voice +said, "They might have given Him <i>one</i> day to Himself. Can't they see He's +tired?" Do you think that likely John chimed in, with that fire in his +voice which the after years mellowed and sweetened but never lost,--"Yes, +how inconsiderate a crowd is!" <i>Do</i> you think so? <i>I</i> do. Because they +were so much like us. But <i>He</i>--the most tired of them all--"<i>was moved +with compassion</i>," and spent the whole day in teaching, and talking +personally, and healing. And then when they had gone He went off to the +mountain for the quiet time at night He could not get in the daytime.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch04-2"> +<h3>Moved with Compassion.</h3> + + +<p>There is a great word used of Jesus, and by Him, nine times<sup><a href="#fn9">9</a></sup> in these +brief records, the word <i>compassion</i>. The sight of a leprous man, or of a +demon-distressed man, <i>moved</i> Him. The great multitudes huddling together +after Him, so pathetically, like leaderless sheep, eager, hungry, tired, +always stirred Him to the depths. The lone woman, bleeding her heart out +through her eyes, as she followed the body of her boy out--He couldn't +stand that at all.</p> + +<p>And when He was so moved, He always did something. He clean forgot His own +bodily needs so absorbed did He become in the folks around Him. The +healing touch was quickly given, the demonized man released from his sore +bonds, the disciples organized for a wider movement to help, the bread +multiplied so the crowds could find something comforting between their +hunger-cleaned teeth.</p> + +<p>The sight of suffering always stirred Him. The presence of a crowd seemed +always to touch and arouse Him peculiarly. He never learned that sort of +city culture that can look unmoved upon suffering or upon a leaderless, +helpless crowd. That word compassion, used of Him, is both deep and +tender in its meaning. The word, actually used under our English means to +have the bowels or heart, the seat of emotion, greatly stirred.</p> + +<p>The kindred word, sympathy, means to have the heart yearning, literally to +be suffering the same distress, to be so moved by somebody's pain or +suffering that you are suffering within yourself the same pain too. Our +plain English word, fellow-feeling, is the same in its force. Seeing the +suffering of some one else so moves you that the same suffering is going +on inside you as you see in them. This is the great word used so often of +Jesus, and by Him.</p> + +<p>There never lived a man who had such a passion for men as Jesus. He lived +to win them out of their distressed, sinful, needy lives up to a new +level. He <i>died</i> to win them. His last act was dying to win men. His last +word was, "Go ye and win men." And His first act when He got back home, +all scarred and marred by His contact with earth, was to send down the +same Spirit as swayed Him those human years to live in us that we might +have the same passion for winning men as He. Aye, and the same exquisite +tact in doing it as He had.</p> + +<p>I said the last act was dying to win men. And you remember that even in +the act of dying, He forgot the keen pain of body, and the far keener pain +of spirit, to turn His head as far as He could turn it, and speak the +word to the fellow by His side that meant the difference of <i>a world</i> to +him. Surely it was the ruling passion with Him to win men, strong in +death, aye, strongest in death, and finding its strongest expression in +His death.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch04-3"> +<h3>Counting on Us.</h3> + + +<p>Somebody has supposed the scene that he thinks may have taken place after +Jesus went back. The last the earth sees of Him is the cloud--not a rain +cloud, a <i>glory</i> cloud--that sweeps down and conceals Him from view. And +the earth has not seen Him since. Though the old Book does say that some +day He's coming back in just the same way as He went away, and some of us +are strongly inclined to think it will be as the Book says in that regard.</p> + +<p>But--have you ever tried to think of what took place on the other side of +that cloud? He has been gone down there on the earth thirty-odd years. +It's a long time. And they're fairly hungry in their eyes for a look again +at that blessed old face. And I have imagined them crowding down to where +they may get the first glimpse of His face again. And, do you know, lately +I have been wondering, with the softening of awe creeping into the +thought, whether--the Father--did not come the very first of them all +and--touch His lips up to where--the <i>scars</i> were in Jesus' brow and +cheeks--yes, His hands--and His feet, too. Tell me, you fathers here +listening, would you not have done something like that with <i>your</i> boy, +under such circumstances?</p> + +<p>You mothers, wouldn't you have been doing something like that with your +boy? And all the fatherhood of earth is named after the fatherhood of +heaven, we're told. And with God fatherhood means motherhood too, you +know. I do not <i>know</i> if it were so. But I think it's likely. It would be +just like God.</p> + +<p>But this friend I speak of has supposed that, after the first flush of +feeling has spent itself--the way <i>we</i> speak of such things done here, the +Master is walking down the golden street one day, arm in arm with Gabriel, +talking intently, earnestly. Gabriel is saying,</p> + +<p>"Master, you died for the whole world down there, did you not?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"You must have suffered much," with an earnest look into that great face +with its unremovable marks.</p> + +<p>"Yes," again comes the answer in a wondrous voice, very quiet, but +strangely full of deepest feeling.</p> + +<p>"And do they all know about it?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! Only a few in Palestine know about it so far."</p> + +<p>"Well, Master, what's your plan? What have you done about telling the +world that you died for, that you <i>have</i> died for them? What's your plan?"</p> + +<p>"Well," the Master is supposed to answer, "I asked Peter, and James and +John, and little Scotch Andrew, and some more of them down there just to +make it the business of their lives to tell others, and the others are to +tell others, and the others others, and yet others, and still others, +until the last man in the farthest circle has heard the story and has felt +the thrilling and the thralling power of it."</p> + +<p>And Gabriel knows us folk down here pretty well. He has had more than one +contact with the earth. He knows the kind of stuff in us. And he is +supposed to answer, with a sort of hesitating reluctance, as though he +could see difficulties in the working of the plan, "Yes--but--suppose +Peter fails. Suppose after a while John simply <i>does not</i> tell others. +Suppose their descendants, their successors away off in the first edge of +the twentieth century, get <i>so busy about things</i>--some of them proper +enough, some may be not quite so proper--that <i>they do not</i> tell +others--<i>what then?</i>"</p> + +<p>And his eyes are big with the intenseness of his thought, for he is +thinking of--the <i>suffering,</i> and he is thinking too of the difference to +the man who hasn't been told--"what then?"</p> + +<p>And back comes that quiet wondrous voice of Jesus, "Gabriel, <i>I haven't +made any other plans--I'm counting on them</i>."</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch04-4"> +<h3>The Secret of Winsomeness.</h3> + + +<p>That's a bit of this friend's imagination, it's true. But--it's the whole +Gospel story, through and through. Jesus has made that plan. He has not +made any other plan. He's counting on us, each of us, each in his own +circle, in his own way, as comes best, most natural to him tactfully, +quietly, earnestly--simply that, but all of that. And--if--we +fail--Him--let me be saying it very softly so the seriousness of it may +get into the inner cockles of our hearts--if we <i>fail Him</i>, just that far +we make <i>Jesus' dying a failure</i> so far as concerns those whom we touch.</p> + +<p>Yes, I know that sounds very serious. I'd rather not be saying it. I'm +<i>sure</i>, by the Book, it is so. And so, do you see the genius--may I use +that word very reverently of Him who was a man and far more than man--the +genius of His plan? He sent down the same Spirit that swayed Him those +human years to live in us, and control us, that we might have the same +fine passion for men as He, and the same exquisite tact in winning them as +He had.</p> + +<p>It must be a <i>passion</i>; a fire burning with the steady flame of anthracite +fed by a constant stream of oil. If it be less we will be swept off our +feet by the tides all around, or sucked under by their swift current. And +many a splendid man to-day is being swept off his feet and sucked under by +the tides and currents of life because no such passion as this is mooring +and steadying and driving his whole life.</p> + +<p>It must be a passion for <i>winning</i> men; not driving nor dragging, +<i>drawing</i>. Not argument nor coercion but warm, winsome wooing. Today the +sun up yonder is drawing up toward itself thousands of tons' weight of +water. Nobody sees it going, except perhaps in very small part. There's no +noise or dust. But the water rises up irresistibly toward the sun because +of the winning power in the sun for the water. It must be something like +that in this higher sphere. A winsomeness in us that will win men to us +and through us to the Master.</p> + +<p>"Oh! well," some one says, "if you put the thing that way you'll have to +count me out. I'm not winsome that way." Well, maybe you need not have +bothered to say it. We could easily know that without your saying it. We +are not winsome this way, any of us, of ourselves. But when we allow this +Jesus Spirit to take possession of us He imparts His winsomeness. For the +real secret of a transfigured life is a <i>transmitted</i> life. Somebody else +living in us, with a capital S for that Somebody, looking out of our +eyes, giving His beauty to our faces, and His winningness to our +personality.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch04-5"> +<h3>"As the Stars."</h3> + + +<p>The language used in the Scriptures for this sort of thing is full of +intense interest. Some time ago I was reading in the old prophecy of +Daniel. I was not thinking of this matter of winning men but simply trying +to get a fresh grasp of that wonderfully fascinating old bit of prophecy. +And all at once I came across that gem in the last chapter. I knew it was +there. You know it is there. Yet it came to me with all the freshness of a +new delightful surprise. "They that are wise shall shine with the +brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as +the stars forever and ever."<sup><a href="#fn10">10</a></sup></p> + +<p>Four times in those last two chapters of Daniel it refers to those that +are "wise"; literally, those that are <i>teachers</i>. Those who have +themselves learned the truth and are patiently, faithfully, winsomely +telling and teaching others. The word used for influencing the others is +full of practical picturesque meaning. "They that <i>turn</i> many." As if a +man were going the wrong way on a dangerous road. And <i>I know</i> it's the +wrong way. There's a sharp precipice ahead. But he is going steadily on, +head down, all absorbed, not noticing where the road leads.</p> + +<p>I might go up to him, and strike him sharply on the shoulder to get his +attention, and say, "See here, you're going the wrong way; can't you see +the danger ahead there? Come this way," with a vigorous pull. I have +sometimes seen that done, in just that way. And if the man is an American, +or an Englishman, or a German,--we're all very much alike,--he will say +coldly, "Excuse me. I think I can take care of myself. Thank you. I'll +look out for this individual."</p> + +<p>Or, I might slip gently up to the man, and get my arm in his, and begin to +turn, very gently at first, and turn, and turn, and then turn some more, +and then farther around still, and walk him off the other way. You will +have to get <i>close</i> to a man to do that. Some folks never do. And you'll +have to be at least half-way decent in your life to get close. Some folks +never can. And you will need to be warm enough all the time inside, to +melt through the icy cloak of indifference beneath which his heart may be +wrapped up. But I can tell you this: the old world where you and I live is +fairly hungry at its heart, with an eating hunger for turners of that +sort.</p> + +<p>And the promise of that old prophetic bit is this: "They shall <i>shine</i>." +You know everybody wants to shine. It is right to be ambitious, with a +right ambition. But if any of you are ambitious to shine in some other sky +than this, in your profession, in social life or in some firmament lower +than this, may I gently make this suggestion to you? Do your best shining +<i>now</i>. Get on the brightest shining surface possible now. For this is your +shining time. This is the sky-time for that sort of thing. It won't last +long, I must tell you frankly. And at the end a bitter biting at your +heart.</p> + +<p>I am fond of watching a display of fireworks on a Fourth of July night. +Perhaps the night is clear, the sky full of stars, bright and sparkling. A +sky rocket is sent off. It goes up with a rush and a noise. There is a +dash of many colored beautiful fire-stars. And a murmur of admiration from +the crowd. For a few moments you can see nothing as you look up but this +handful of fire-stars. The clear quiet stars beyond are eclipsed for a +narrow circle of space, and for a few moments of time.</p> + +<p>It doesn't last long. A small fraction of a minute at the most. Then it's +all over. And all that is left is a charred stick that sticks in the mud, +nobody knows where, nor cares. But look up yonder, the stars you could not +see a moment ago for these momentary ones are shining more brightly than +ever by contrast,</p> + +<blockquote class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="line"> "... And singing as they shine.</div> +<div class="line"> The hand that made us is divine."</div> +</div></blockquote> + +<p>You shine in the lower skies if you will. And of course you will if you +will. You will do as you will to do. But, at the end--a charred stick, a +bad taste in your mouth, a sharp tugging at your heart. And the story's +told. The last chapter's ended. The book is shut. But they whose one +absorbing ambition it is to turn others to righteousness may not shine +much here in earth's skies. And they may a bit, and it recks precious +little either way. But they <i>shall</i> shine as the stars, as bright and as +long.</p> + +<p>It does not mean Atlantic coast stars. It means desert stars, Babylonian +stars, where one can see so many more than here. They shake their wondrous +fire-light down into your face, and fairly dazzle your eyes. You "shall +shine as the stars," as bright and as long.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch04-6"> +<h3>The Finest Wisdom.</h3> + + +<p>James, the head of the Jerusalem Church, closes up his letter to the +dispersed Jews with this same word as Daniel uses. He would have all to +whom he is writing understand that he that <i>turns</i> another from the wrong +way will save a soul from death and hide away out of sight and reach a +mass of sin.<sup><a href="#fn11">11</a></sup> The old world needs more saving societies and saving +individuals of this sort.</p> + +<p>We have gotten great skill in saving dollars. Men give their whole +strength and time to that. There is something much higher, infinitely +higher, saving souls, rescuing lives, treasuring up precious men and +women. These people, James says, are famous for their use of the fine +cloak of charity. They make the best use of it in hiding away beyond any +chance of being found a great mass of ugly, crooked, poisonous sins.</p> + +<p>The man with the reputation of being the wisest man gives a special +definition of wisdom. The old version runs, "he that winneth souls is +wise."<sup><a href="#fn12">12</a></sup> This is a great statement from Solomon's pen. He had searched +into all the avenues of men's pursuits. He was a great experimenter. +Everything was put to a personal test. He amassed wealth beyond all +others. He delved into the fascinations of intellectual delights, of deep +intricate philosophies and problems.</p> + +<p>He knew the subtle appeal to strong men that there is in deftly handling +and controlling men, personally and in large numbers. He had tasted the +rich wines of pleasure as had few. This is his conclusion: the wise man is +he that gives his strength with all of its fine-grained cunning to wooing +men back, through the old Eden gate, up to the tree of life.</p> + +<p>This is the finest fruitage any life can yield. This will be to the bearer +of it a tree of life giving twelve crops of fruits, a crop of every month, +a perennial, alike in heat and frost, in storm and drought, and with a +peculiar healing quality in its green leaves for all men.</p> + +<p>The revised version gives a fine turn to this old bit, exactly reversing +the first statement. "He that is wise winneth souls." The old philosopher +says that here is the real test of wisdom. He that is a wise man gives the +cream of his thought and wisdom to personal influence with men. He thinks +the thing best worth while is drawing a man through the inner reach upon +his thinking and affections and will away from the impure and ignoble and +deceptive up into touch with his first Friend.</p> + +<p>And he finds too that nothing he has ever undertaken calls for a finer +play of all his powers at their best. All the diplomacy and fineness and +tact and keen management at his command will be called upon. He must be a +wise man to do such work. It is no fool's errand this. It demands the best +in the best.</p> + +<p>There is no body of men more keen or skilled in the handling and +influencing of men, than the politicians. And I use the word in its fine +meaning, as well as in its cheaper meanings. As democracy has won its way +increasingly among the governments of earth these politicians have +increased in number and in influence. Great measures of government have +depended on their skill in manipulating men. Rarest subtlety and +adroitness and rugged honesty have blended in the strongest of these +leaders.</p> + +<p>The fishing simile so commonly used in the winning of men over to one's +side is a peculiarly attractive, a matchless simile. And all of this +handling of men has often been for personal ends, often for wholly selfish +ends, often for strong national ends. Almost never has it been for the +benefit of the man being won, save at times very remotely.</p> + +<p>But Jesus would have us become skilled diplomats in winning men for their +own sakes. Getting them to climb the hills for the sake of the air and +view they will get, and enjoy. We are to win strong men full of life and +vigor and manly force up into touch with their Friend, Himself.</p> + +<p>There is too a most attractive winsome phrase on the Master's lips at the +close of that fishing story in Luke's fifth chapter,<sup><a href="#fn13">13</a></sup> "From henceforth +thou shall <i>catch</i> men" is the reading. But the revised margin gives this +added bit of color: "Thou shalt take men alive." They should get, not dead +fish, but living men. Men full of vigor and life--thou shalt have power +to sway these and induce them up to the highlands of a new life.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch04-7"> +<h3>Three Essentials.</h3> + + +<p>There are three simple essentials here for the man who would be following +his Master fully. The first is that a man shall surrender himself wholly +to Jesus as a Master. That so Jesus may have the full control of all. +Maybe some one thinks, "There is that strong word surrender again. Cannot +I help a man be better without going so far as that word seems to imply?"</p> + +<p>Will you kindly notice that the Spirit of Jesus <i>fills</i> the surrendered +man? And it is only as that Spirit does fill and sway that there can be +any such passion for men as Jesus had, and, too, the fine tact that He +always used. This is the first simple indispensable essential.</p> + +<p>The second is this: a bit of quiet time alone with Jesus daily over His +Word. The door should be shut. Outside things shut outside. And one's self +shut in alone with the Master. This is not a good thing--merely. I am not +recommending it to you. I am saying very much more. It is an <i>essential</i> +thing with every one who would follow the Master simply and fully. It is +time spent in coaling up, taking out the dead ashes, and readjusting the +drafts, so the fires will be kept burning steadily and clearly. This is +the second great essential.</p> + +<p>The third essential is this: a purpose, deep-seated, rock-rooted, +underlying every other purpose, taking precedence of every other, of +trying to win others, one by one, bit by bit, over to knowing Jesus +personally. I say "trying." I like that word. There may be some blunders, +some bad steps, some untactful work. But these will not turn one aside +from this purpose but simply make him more determined to become skilled in +this finest art.</p> + +<p>I mean something like this. Here is a young woman moving in a social +circle, just as bright and winsome as God meant every young woman to be. +And as she moves about, she is thinking--no, it is thinking itself out, +underneath in her subtle sub-consciousness,--"How can I drop the word +here, and touch there, and leave the light impress here, that shall count +with these lives for my Master?"</p> + +<p>Here is a man transacting business with another. And even while he is +dealing with figures, and contract terms, he is thinking,--no, again,--it +is so deeply rooted in that the thought, like the fine trendils of a +plant, is ever weaving itself intangibly but surely into the web of his +passing mental operations, "How can I tactfully leave the impress here, +perhaps speak the direct word, that shall be a doorway for Jesus into +this life?"</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch04-8"> +<h3>A Blessed Library Corner.</h3> + + +<p>I think I might tell you best just what I mean by a bit from a real life. +The bit that has been such a real inspiration to myself. It is about a +friend of mine, a business man, with large responsible interests, keen and +shrewd in his business dealings, a very earnest Christian man, with a +delightful, winning personality, and I am grateful to say who was a warm +friend of mine. He is in the presence of his Master now. He was a man much +my senior in years, who helped me very greatly. Whenever we chanced to +meet in our travels I would drop my affairs as far as I could to spend all +the time possible with him, both for the delight of his presence, and for +the practical help he always was. The last time we were ever together was +in Columbus, Ohio. We met there to attend an anniversary meeting of the +Young Men's Christian Association, in Dr. Gladden's Church, on the Capitol +Square. And Monday morning before taking our trains away in different +directions we went for a drive, to get the air, and talk a bit. I made the +suggestion of driving, for I knew I would get something from him. And I +was right. I did get something that I never forgot, and never shall.</p> + +<p>As we were driving, and talking, by and by, in a little lull of the talk, +he said very quietly, "Gordon, do you know what I have been doing lately?" +And I said, "No." "Well," he said, "it's been the delight of my life," and +I could see the gleam of light in his eyes. And I said, "Tell me what it +is that has been such a pleasure to you." And he said, "Well, I will." +Then he went on in a very taking way he had to tell this simple story. And +he was speaking as to a friend, for he was very modest, and would not have +spoken of the thing; except to <i>help</i>; that would always bring anything he +had.</p> + +<p>He said when he was at home--he travelled much--he would think about the +young men whom he knew who were not Christians. Splendid men, some of +them; full of power; clubmen, some of them. But who did not know Jesus +personally. And he would think, "Now there's such a man. I wonder what's +his easy side of approach." And he would think about him, and pray some +about him. And then make an opportunity to ask him up to his home for +dinner some evening. His position in the city would make any young man +feel honored with such an invitation.</p> + +<p>He said to me, "We have a pleasant time at the dinner table with the +family, and afterwards, a bit of music and so on. Then," with a quiet +smile he said, "I ask him into my library corner, my little study den, +and by and by we come to close quarters. I tell him what I'm thinking +about. I tell him what a Friend Jesus is. And how it helps to have Him in +all of one's life as a Friend and Master. Then I ask him softly if he +won't let Jesus be his Friend."</p> + +<p>He said, "I try to be as tactful as though I were selling a contract of +cars. Though there's a fine reverence here that never gets into business +talk. And then if it seems good, without causing him any embarrassment, we +have a bit of prayer together. Not always, but often." And he said to me, +with a tender eagerness in his voice, "Gordon, it's been the <i>delight</i> of +my life to have man after man accept Jesus in my library corner."</p> + +<p>And I looked at him. We were driving along the busiest block of the +busiest street in Columbus. The Capitol building on this side. And the old +Neil Hotel on this. And all around us were the electrics, and wagons and +carriages; so much noise and dust. And there that man sat by my side so +quiet, with his eyes dancing as they looked off at something I could not +see. And if ever Moses' face shined or Stephen's, his did that morning.</p> + +<p>I was caught as I looked. That was the <i>delight</i> of his life. Not his +money, nor his business, nor his social relations, though he took keen +interest in all of these, but this. And the sound of his voice, and the +sight of his face that morning, seemed to kindle the fires in my heart +that I might, in my own way, as came best to me, be doing something of +that same sort. That is what I mean by a deep-seated purpose, under every +other, to try to win men.</p> + +<p>I was telling this story one night to some people in his state, not +thinking that I was within maybe two hundred miles of his home. And as the +audience was dismissed I saw a man coming up the aisle toward the pulpit, +apparently to meet me. So I went down his way. He looked like a business +fellow, with a clean-cut way about him, and a strong manly face. Before we +met I noticed something glistening in his eye, and yet a smile across his +lips.</p> + +<p>And he <i>gripped</i> my hand. I can feel that grip now. And he half-blurted +out, "<i>I'm</i> one of those fellows! And there are a lot of us that are +thanking God with full hearts for that man's library room." And the grip +of that hand seemed to make the fires within burn just a bit stiffer.</p> + +<p>In an after conversation this friend told me how he had wanted to be a +Christian, but didn't seem to know just how. And nobody had ever spoken to +him about it, he said, though so often he had wished somebody would. There +are a great many just like him in that.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch04-9"> +<h3>"Two Missing"--"Go Ye."</h3> + + +<p>Same years ago I was a guest at a small wedding dinner party in New York +City. A Scotch-Irish gentleman, well known in that city, an old friend, +spoke across the table to me. He said he had heard recently a story of the +Scottish hills that he wanted to tell. And we all listened as he told this +simple tale. I have heard it since from other lips, variously told. But +good gold shines better by the friction of use. And I want to tell it to +you as my old friend from the Scotch end of Ireland told it that evening.</p> + +<p>It was of a shepherd in the Scottish hills who had brought his sheep back +to the fold for the night, and as he was arranging matters for the night +he was surprised to find that two of the sheep were missing. He looked +again. Yes, two were missing. And he knew which two. These shepherds are +keen to know their sheep. He was much surprised, and went to the out-house +of his dwelling to call his collie.</p> + +<p>There she lay after the day's work suckling her own little ones. He called +her. She looked up at him. He said, "Two are missing"--holding up two +fingers--"Away by, Collie, and get them." Without moving she looked up +into his face, as though she would say, "You wouldn't send me out again +to-night?--it's been a long day--I'm so tired--not again to-night." So her +eyes seemed to say. And again as many a time doubtless, "Away by, and get +the sheep," he said. And out she went.</p> + +<p>About midnight a scratching at the door aroused him. He found one of the +sheep back. He cared for it. A bit of warm food, and the like. Then out +again to the out-house. There the dog lay with her little ones. Again +he called her. She looked up. "Get the other sheep," he said. I do not +know if you men listening are as fond of a good collie as I am. Their +eyes seem human to me, almost, sometimes. And hers seemed so as she +looked up and seemed to be saying out of their great depths--"Not +<i>again</i>--to-night?--haven't I been faithful?--I'm so tired--not again!"</p> + +<p>And again as I suppose many a time before, "Away by, and get the sheep." +And out she went. About two or three, again the scratching. And he found +the last sheep back; badly torn; been down some ravine or gully. And the +dog was plainly played. And yet she seemed to give a bit of a wag to her +tired tail as though she would say, "There it is--I've done as you bade +me--it's back."</p> + +<p>And he cared for its needs, and then before lying down again to his own +rest, thought he would go and praise the dog for her faithful work. You +know how sensitive collies are to praise or criticism. He went out and +stooped over with a pat and a kindly word, and was startled to find that +the life-tether had slipped its hold. She lay there lifeless, with her +little ones tugging at her body.</p> + +<p>That was only a dog. We are men. Shall I apologize for using a <i>dog</i> for +an illustration? No. I will not. One of God's creatures, having a part in +His redemption. That was to save sheep. You and I are sent, not to save +sheep, but to save <i>men</i>. And how much then is a <i>man</i> better than a +sheep, or anything else!</p> + +<p>And our Master stands here to-day. Would that you and I might see His face +with the thorn marks of His trip to this earth. He points out with His +hand. And you can't miss a peculiar hole in its palm. He says, "There are +<i>two missing</i>--aye, more than two--that you know--that you touch--that you +can touch--that I died for--go <i>ye</i>."</p> + +<p>Shall we go? For Jesus' sake? Yes, for men's sake; splendid men, befooled +about Jesus, who can get Him only through us in touch with Him--for men's +sake, in Jesus' great Name.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch05"> +<h2>Deep-Sea Fishing: The Ambition of Service.</h2> + + + +<ul> + <li><a href="#ch05-1">A Water Haul.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch05-2">Living up in the Spirit Realm.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch05-3">Saved to Serve.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch05-4">Ambition in Service.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch05-5">Use What You Have.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch05-6">Expectancy in Service.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch05-7">Jesus Went into the Deeps.</a></li> +</ul> + + + + +<h2>Deep-Sea Fishing: The Ambition of Service.</h2> + +<h3>(Luke v:1-11.)</h3> + + +<div class="sec" id="ch05-1"> +<h3>A Water Haul.</h3> + + +<p>Jesus was very fond of the outdoors. The Gospels have a woodsy smell. He +taught in the synagogues, but He seemed to prefer the open air. He would +go out on a country road, or down by the beach of the Galilean lake, and +the people would eagerly gather around Him, and He would talk to them. One +morning He had gone down to the lake shore. The people crowded in about +Him and He commenced as usual to talk to them.</p> + +<p>But so eager were they not to miss a word that they pressed in about Him +very close. He was standing with His back to the water likely, and the +people seemed likely to crowd Him over into the water. So He looked around +for something to do. He was ever practical to the point of being +matter-of-fact. A practical idealist was Jesus, <i>the</i> practical Idealist. +Peter was down there, just a short distance off, with his partners and +crew in their fishing boats, cleaning up after the night's haul. Lifting +His voice a little, Jesus called out, "Peter, will you pull around here, +please."</p> + +<p>And Peter did. And Jesus, stepping into the boat, sat down, and went on +talking to the people. Interruptions never seemed to disturb Him. He +seemed to regard them in the light of possible index fingers pointing out +the next thing to be done. Every missionary, foreign and home, has to get +practised in just that, while holding steady to his underlying purpose.</p> + +<p>When He had finished talking, He turned to Peter and said quietly, "Launch +out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught." And Peter smiled +at the very idea, as he said, "Master, we've been out the whole night, and +haven't caught a thing, nothing but a water haul, but"--with a thoughtful +earnestness taking the place of the critical smile--"if you say so, of +course we will." And the Master said so. And now they can't handle the +haul.</p> + +<p>I want to bring to you anew this old word of command from Jesus' lips: +"Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught." These +men in the story had failed. They had gone out the evening before +intending and expecting to bring home a fine haul of fish for the +Capernaum or the Bethsaida market. They came back with nothing for the +night's work but tired muscles and torn nets. This message is for men who +have failed, or who have seemed to fail. There is no failure to an earnest +man. A man cannot fail without his own consent. Every seeming failure is +the seed of a coming success to earnest men.</p> + +<p>If any of us have seemed to fail, our boots have lead in them, and our +hearts are heavy too, for lack of success--this message is for us, "Launch +out, and let down." Failure is very apt to breed discouragement. Your +clothing seems damp and heavy with the dew of a fruitless night. +Oftentimes the best thing for that is action. Mix yourself with the action +of boats and nets and men. That's the Master's word here.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch05-2"> +<h3>Living up in the Spirit Realm.</h3> + + +<p>There are three facts that group about the message of Jesus in this story. +And those same three facts need to group themselves in bold outline about +our using of it, too. The first is this: there was <i>contact with Jesus as +a Master</i>. That must come in, and come in strong, before there can be any +right using of this word of command.</p> + +<p>There needs to be the first contact when a man turns over the control of +his life to Jesus as Master. There needs to be close contact that the +Master's plan of service may be clearly seen and faithfully started upon. +There must be continual contact that so His mastery may control and guide +at every step.</p> + +<p>The second fact is this: obedience to the Master's word. Obedience, mind +you, whether the thing you are told to do seems a likely thing to do or +not. Here with the fishermen there were some things that pulled the other +way. They had been out all night and failed. The very sense of failure +strong within them was against obedience. Discouraged men seldom succeed +at anything. And there was a very unlikely chance ahead. The time for +fishing with them was in the night. Failure behind, and a poor chance +ahead! Yet they obeyed.</p> + +<p>If Peter had acted the way some modern folks do he would have said +something like this: "You'll excuse me, Master, for saying it; but--this +is no time to fish in these waters. Pardon me, sir, I have no doubt you +know about carpentering. But <i>I'm a fisherman</i>. When it comes to yokes and +plows I'll gladly yield to you. But fishing--you see, I've been fishing +ever since I was a boy. Maybe up around Nazareth, in the brooks and ponds +up there, you can catch something in daylight, but not down here."</p> + +<p>I have heard many people talking that way. But Peter didn't. Aren't you +glad he didn't? He stumbled often. He talked foolishly to Jesus more than +once, but not this time. He obeyed. It was against his habit, against his +ideas of what was best, but the message was clear and he obeyed it. Happy +is the man who listens to the inner Voice, learns keenly how to hear +distinctly and accurately, and obeys. Faith is never contrary to reason, +but it is frequently <i>higher up</i>. The spirit realm is the highest.</p> + +<p>A man should reach up <i>through</i> his bodily life, <i>through</i> a keen, strong +intellectual perception and grasp, up into the spirit realm and abide +there. Many a man of splendid ability and earnestness never shakes off his +intellectual scaffolding in the upward building. It remains to hamper and +mar. Through a mastered body, and a disciplined mind, up to the spirit +level is the full swing. Obedience to the clearly discerned voice of +command from the Master is the one pathway of full power.</p> + +<p>The third fact was sure to follow these two. It came last. There were +unexpectedly large results. There always will be where the first two facts +are faithfully gotten in.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch05-3"> +<h3>Saved to Serve.</h3> + + +<p>There is a growth in this message of Jesus. There are four steps up and +out. First comes the plain call to <i>service: "Launch out</i>." This is the +ringing service call. It is a familiar word to a follower of Jesus. He was +always saying, "Go ye." To every man He said first of all, "Come." Then, +as quickly as a man came, the word was changed to "go."</p> + +<p>I like greatly the motto of the Salvation Army. It must have been born for +those workers in the warm heart of the mother of the Army, Catharine +Booth. That mother explains much of the marvelous power of that +organization. Their motto is, "<i>Saved to Serve</i>." Some seem to put the +period in after the first word. That's bad punctuation and worse +Christianity. We are saved to be savers. There is needed the divine Savior +and the human saver. Only he who has been saved can help save somebody +else. The tingle of experience in the blood attracts men.</p> + +<p>The Master says, "Launch out." Get down into the thick of the fight. One +should not unwisely wear out his strength. But on the other hand, it's +better to wear out than to rust out. You'll last longer, and any loss of +strength is to be preferred to the loss through yellow, eating rust. A +minister noted for his striking way of putting truth was preaching upon +the words that were spoken of Paul and his companions: "These that have +turned the world upside down are come hither also."<sup><a href="#fn14">14</a></sup> He said there were +three points to his sermon: first, the world was wrong side up; second, it +had to be gotten right side up; third, <i>we're the fellows to do it</i>. That +is the first note of this message, <i>we</i> are the fellows to do it.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch05-4"> +<h3>Ambition in Service.</h3> + + +<p>The second step in this ringing call to service is this: <i>ambition</i> in +service. "Launch out <i>into the deep</i>." The shore waters are largely +over-fished. Out in the deeps are fish that have never had smell or sight +of bait or net. Here, near shore, the lines get badly tangled sometimes, +and committees have to be appointed to try to untangle the lines and +sweeten up the fishermen.</p> + +<p>And the fish get very particular about the sort and shape of the bait. +Some men have taken to fishing wholly with pickles, but with very +unsatisfactory results. The fish nibble, but are seldom landed apparently. +And just a little bit out are fish that never have gotten a suggestion of +a good bite.</p> + +<p>There are deeps all around. One might fairly give an inward personal turn +to the word. There are <i>personal deeps</i> that have not yet been sounded. +There are untouched deeps in prayer, in Bible study, and in the winning of +others. There are deeps in acquaintance with Jesus, in purity of life, in +sacrifice and in giving whose bottom no greasy lead has yet touched. "Out +into the deep," comes that quiet intense inner voice of Jesus spoken into +one's innermost heart.</p> + +<p>There are the great <i>deeps in service</i> waiting our coming. Roundabout +every church is a fringe of deep, sometimes a deep fringe and broad, of +those practically untouched by the warm message of Jesus; and around every +Christian Association of men and of women. In the heart and on the edges +of every village and town and city unfathomed deeps lie; deeps in a man's +own state, deeps in our land, great untouched deeps in the world.</p> + +<p>Wherever there is a man who has not felt the warm side of the story of +Jesus' dying there is a deep. Wherever a group of such can be found is a +deep increased in depth by the number in the group. Wherever the great +crowds are gathered together to whom no word at all has come, neither by +personal touch nor printed page nor any other wise, there is the deepest +deep. With a deep glow in His eyes as He speaks the word, and the +tenderness and softness of deep emotion, and the earnestness of one who +has Himself been in the deep Jesus says anew to us to-day, "out into the +<i>deep</i>."</p> + +<p>We are to be ambitious in service. Jesus was ambitious. He reached out for +all, those nearest, those farthest. He talked of all nations, of a world. +His follower must have a long reach to keep up. That word ambition has +been much abused. It has been used much in connection with selfish +self-seeking, until that meaning has become almost its whole meaning in +the thinking of many people. But with the purpose dominant in Jesus we can +properly use it in its old literal meaning. Originally it simply meant +going around, being used in the sense of going out among people soliciting +their favor or their votes.</p> + +<p>It has the fine vitality of that word "go" in it. That for which a man is +ambitious decides the quality of the word. A pure, holy purpose makes the +intense reaching for it pure and holy too. An intense reaching out to the +farthest reach of the Master's word, that finds expression in the dominant +spirit of the life, in the service, in the giving, the sacrificing, the +praying--this is the true ambition.</p> + +<p>Paul uses three times a word that has the force of our word ambition.<sup><a href="#fn15">15</a></sup> +The American Revision uses ambition in the margin for it. In advising the +group of followers in Thessalonica he says, "<i>Study</i> to be quiet." The +practical force of the phrase there is this: be ambitious to be +unambitious in the world's abused meaning of ambitious. In writing the +second time to the friends at Corinth where his motives had been much +criticised he said, "I make it my aim (or ambition) to be well-pleasing +unto Him."</p> + +<p>And later, in writing to the Christians at Rome, whom he had never seen, +he said that he had made it his aim or had been ambitious to preach the +Gospel where nobody had yet gone. The literal meaning of the word he uses +is something like this, striving from a love of honor. And we may find a +fine meaning in that which was doubtless used otherwise.</p> + +<p>It was a matter of honor with Paul to do as he was doing. And he would +have the honor of having fully carried out his Master's wish. He coveted +earnestly the honor of being always pleasing to his Master both in life +and in the sort and reach of his service. Here are Paul's three ambitions: +to be wholly free of the fires of worldly ambitions; to be well-pleasing +to Jesus, his Lord; to reach out beyond, where nobody had yet gone with +the story of Jesus' dying and living again.</p> + +<p>Paul was obeying Jesus. Jesus said to those fishermen on Galilee's waters, +"Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught." Paul +said, "I have steadily made it the one thing I drove hard at in service, +to get out beyond all other lines and nets to where nobody has yet gone."</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch05-5"> +<h3>Use What You Have.</h3> + + +<p>The third step in this service-call is this: <i>practicality in service</i>: +"Let down your nets." I can imagine Peter saying, "Master, if we had known +your plans for this morning, I would have sent up to Tyre for the newest +patented nets, or down to Cairo. These nets of ours have been patched and +patched. They are so old." The Master says, "Let down <i>your</i> nets."</p> + +<p>There is a very common delusion that holds us back from doing something +because we are not skilled in doing it. "Let the pastor speak to that +young man; I can't do it very well." "I can't teach very well; let some +one else take that class." The Master says, "Use what you have." Do your +best. Your best may not be <i>the</i> best, but if it be your best, it will be +God-blest, and always bring a harvest.</p> + +<p>Use what you have. Do not despise the stuff God put into you. Train and +discipline it the best you can, and use it. And in using it you will be +training it. The best training is in <i>use</i>. Brains and pains and prayer +are an irresistible trinity. When the gray matter and the finger tips and +the knees get into a combination great results always come.</p> + +<p>The old Hebrew farmer Shamgar had only a long ox-goad with which to prod +his beasts in the field. The traditional enemy, the Philistine, comes up +over the hill. Shamgar's neighbors have taken to their heels. But Shamgar +is made of different stuff. He asks a man hurrying by, "How many do you +think there are?" And the man calls out, "About six hundred, I should +say."</p> + +<p>Shamgar sets his jaws together hard, gets a fresh grip on his ox-goad, +digs his heels into the ground for a good hold, and mutters to himself, "I +guess they are about four hundred short." And he smites, left and right, +up and down, hip and thigh, with his strange weapon. And a great victory +comes to the nation under its new leader.</p> + +<p>David had only a leather sling, home-made likely, and a few smooth stones +out of the running brook. He had skill in slinging stones, a keen trained +eye, a steady nerve, a practiced arm, and well-knit muscles. But what were +these against a giant almost twice his height and years, and armed to the +teeth? Yet the ruddy-faced stripling had something better yet along with +his sling and stones and skill. He had a simple trust in God. He had a hot +protest in his heart against the slandering of God's people by this +heathen giant. He <i>combined</i> all he had, sling, stones, skill, and faith, +and the laughing, sneering giant is soon under his feet, and feeling the +edge of his own sword. "Let down your nets." Use what you have.</p> + +<p>There was a woman living down by the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea a +good while ago. Her heart had been touched by God, and ever after beat +warm for others. But what could <i>she</i> do? She couldn't make speeches, nor +write papers for the missionary society, nor preside over its meetings. +She seemed to have one special gift. She could sew. She could do plain +sewing and overcast, cross-stitch and hem-stitch. I suppose she knew the +herring-bone-stitch and feather-stitch, and other sorts too.</p> + +<p>And so she just busied herself finding out poor folks who needed clothing, +some women too hard-worked to care for their children's clothing. And she +sewed for them. She was a seamstress for Jesus' sake to all the needy +folks she could find. I expect she stuck pretty closely to the plain +stitching, though likely as not she would put in some of the fancy too to +please the people she was winning to her Master.</p> + +<p>And she sewed the story of Jesus, and the heart of Jesus, into coats and +skirts and such. All through Joppa her message went into homes not +otherwise open perhaps. And the women read the story of her heart in the +stitches and they found Jesus through her needle. She used what she had. +And the women of the church have rightly honored her name in their +societies.</p> + +<p>But mark keenly this: while using to the full, and faithfully, just what +you have, there must needs be utter dependence upon God. Not what you +have, nor what you can do, but Somebody <i>in</i> what you have, and <i>through</i> +what you do. Notice, "Their nets were <i>breaking</i>." They were to use their +nets, but the power was somewhere else. As we are made up, there +frequently needs to be a breaking before the glory of God is revealed. It +need not be so, necessarily.</p> + +<p>Yet as a matter of fact most people have to stub their toes and then go +stumbling down with a clash, measuring their length on the earth, and +getting some scars that stay before they can be mightily used. So many +strong wills are strong enough to be stubborn, but not strong enough to +yield. Gideon's pitchers had to be broken before the lights flashed out +and brought panic to the enemy.</p> + +<p>It was when the alabaster box was broken that its fine fragrance filled +the house, and spread out into all the world. Somebody prayed, "O Lord, +take me, and break me, and make me." That is the usual order as a matter +of fact. Yet if the strength of stubbornness that must be broken down to +change its direction, were but swung God's way at once--But most folks +that have been greatly used have some of this sort of scars. Utter +dependence upon God's strength in doing God's service is the lesson of the +breaking nets.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch05-6"> +<h3>Expectancy in Service.</h3> + + +<p>The climax of this message of Jesus is in its end: "Let down your nets +<i>for a draught</i>." There is to be <i>expectancy in service</i>. Ideas of +draughts changed that day. "Peter, what would you call a good draught?" +"Well," the old fisherman says, as he sits stitching up the holes in his +nets, "after last night I think if we got a boat half full it wouldn't be +a bad haul." "Andrew, what's a draught?" And Andrew says, "I think after +this water haul we've had, a haul of holes, Peter hits it pretty close."</p> + +<p>"Master, how much is <i>a draught</i>?" And His answer comes back over the +water, "Twice as much as you are able to take care of, and then more." +They filled that boat, sent for another, filled that, and then didn't land +all they had caught.</p> + +<p>How much do you reckon a draught in your life, in your church, in your +mission, your field, <i>how much</i> are you <i>saying</i>?--"Master, what is your +reckoning of a draught here in this man's life, out here in this field of +service?" And from this Galilean story there comes back anew to our hearts +the Master's reply, "Twice as much as you have planned for, and then +more."</p> + +<p>Expectancy is the eye of faith. Faith always has a watch-tower. When +Elijah went to the tiptop of Carmel to pray, he was careful to send his +servant to watch the sea. Prayer is faith looking up. Expectancy is faith +looking out.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch05-7"> +<h3>Jesus Went into the Deeps.</h3> + + +<p>And so to every one of us to-day comes afresh that ringing command, +"Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draught."</p> + +<blockquote class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> + <div class="line">"'Launch out into the deep;'</div> + <div class="line"> The awful depth of a world's despair;</div> + <div class="line">Hearts that are breaking and eyes that weep;</div> + <div class="line"> Sorrow and ruin and death are there.</div> + <div class="line">And the sea is wide;</div> + <div class="line"> And its pitiless tide</div> + <div class="line">Bears on its bosom away.</div> + <div class="line"> Beauty and youth,</div> + <div class="line">In relentless ruth,</div> + <div class="line"> To its dark abyss for aye.</div> + <div class="line">But the Master's voice comes over the sea,</div> + <div class="line"> 'Let down your nets for a draught for Me.'</div> + <div class="line">And He stands in our midst,</div> + <div class="line"> On our wreck-strewn strand.</div> + <div class="line">And sweet and loving is His command.</div> + <div class="line"> His loving word is to each, to all.</div> + <div class="line">And wherever that loving word is heard,</div> + <div class="line"> There hang the nets of the royal Word.</div> + <div class="line">Trust to the nets, and not to your skill;</div> + <div class="line"> Trust to the royal Master's will.</div> + <div class="line">Let down the nets this day, this hour;</div> + <div class="line"> For the word of a king is a word of power,</div> + <div class="line">And the King's own word comes over the sea,</div> + <div class="line"> Let down your nets for a draught for Me.'"</div> +</div></blockquote> + +<p>There is a last word that comes up insisting to be said. It is this: Jesus +went down into the deeps for us. Deeper deeps than we know or ever shall +He sounded with the line of His own life on our behalf. He got badly +scarred that night of darkness. It is this scarred Jesus who earnestly +asks us to come along after Him so far as we can. His voice with a +tenderness of love wrought into it on the cross says to us, "Launch out +into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch06"> +<h2>Money: The Golden Channel of Service.</h2> + + + +<ul> + <li><a href="#ch06-1">Touching a Limitless Circle.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch06-2">Peculiar Effects of Money.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch06-3">Jesus' Law for the Use of Money.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch06-4">Foreign Exchange.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch06-5">Gold-Exchanged Lives.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch06-6">Spirit Alchemy.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch06-7">The Fragrance of the Life in the Gift.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch06-8">Sacrifice Hallows and Increases the Gift.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch06-9">A Living Sacrifice.</a></li> +</ul> + + + + +<h2>Money: The Golden Channel of Service.<sup><a href="#fn16">16</a></sup></h2> + +<h3>(Luke xvi:1-18.)</h3> + + +<div class="sec" id="ch06-1"> +<h3>Touching a Limitless Circle.</h3> + + +<p>There is an inky shadow over the home of God. There is a sharp pain +tugging at the heart of God. It's a family matter; a family disgrace. One +of God's family has gone off from the home circle and made a bad mess of +things. Such an affair is always a source of great grief, especially where +the family is an old one, with fine blood. And here the family is of the +oldest, and the blood the best. The Father feels the sharp edge of the +knife of disgrace very keenly. The hearth fire of God is lonely for the +one gone away.</p> + +<p>All of that Father's great love and rare wisdom have centered and blended +on a plan for winning the estranged member of His family back home, of his +own free glad accord. The other members of His family have gazed with +awe-touched faces upon the marvels of that plan. Its tenderness, its +depth, its wondrous love-wisdom have excited their deepest admiration +while they watch breathlessly to see the outcome.</p> + +<p>That prodigal is our own splendid planet. Some of us down here have gladly +welcomed the Father's plan and the Father's Son. His Son is His plan. But +most of us don't seem to understand the Father. And that is hard on Him. +And the greater number of us, by far the greater number, haven't even +heard of the Father's plan or of His Son, and have lost the memory of His +loving voice calling. He is always calling. And everyone hears that +calling voice. But very many do not recognize it as the Father's.</p> + +<p>In great tenderness the Father's plan for winning all includes the help of +those already won. Through His Son first, and then through His sons, +newborn, reborn, He is reaching out His warm, eager hand to all. He +breathed His own Spirit upon His Son. He breathes that same Spirit upon +each of us who will, that so we may, each of us, touch all the others with +the touch of God.</p> + +<p>Five great touches of God there are, each charged with a mighty current of +power. The fragrant life-touch, the musical voice-touch, the warm +service-touch, the potent golden-touch, the secret, subtle prayer-touch. +The first three of these are limited to a narrow circle, the circle of the +immediate personality. The last two are limitless. They are like our own +spirits. They reach directly, resistlessly, clear out through the personal +circle as far as the spirit reaches, even around the whole circle of the +planet.</p> + +<p>Just now for a little while we want to talk together about one of these, +the potent yellow golden-touch. The word service has been thought of quite +commonly as referring to certain restricted things that one may do for +another. It has a broader meaning too. Whatever we do to help another is +service. Not merely the direct activities, but praying and giving are +service of most potent influence. Money supplies a channel through which +one may reach most intimately to others, near by and around the world. It +is the golden channel of service.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch06-2"> +<h3>Peculiar Effects of Money.</h3> + + +<p>Money is queer stuff. The opposites meet in it so strikingly. It may be +the most cruel, exacting tyrant. It may be the most faithful, intelligent +servant. If it come into a man's life unaccompanied by a high, controlling +motive power, it has most peculiar effects upon him. It often wrinkles up +his face, and ties hard knots in the wrinkled lines. It can dwarf a warm +hand into a cold, hard, muscle-bound fist. It drains the warm blood from +the heart, and dries all the sweet, fragrant dew out of the spirit. The +hand suffers much. It is often stricken with a sort of palsy while in the +pocket, and cannot be withdrawn. Sometimes there is a violent cramp, or a +sort of pen paralysis that prevents the signing of the name--to certain +sorts of checks.</p> + +<p>But if, on the other hand, it come into a man's possession accompanied by +a pure unselfish motive that <i>controls</i>, it comes the nearest to +omnipotence of anything we handle. Gold of itself seems to have the +puckering quality of a green persimmon. The green fruit will contract the +mouth to its smallest proportions. And unmellowed gold acts in the same +way upon the mouth of the pocket.</p> + +<p>This is true of all gold and of all pockets. There are no exceptions. The +only possible way of effecting a change is to let a stronger power come in +and counteract the contracting power. Gold has the greatest contracting +power of any earthly substance. Its only sufficient counteractant is God. +God has the greatest expanding power known to angels or men. Gold +contracts. God expands. If God be the dominating motive power in a man's +life, then does gold come the nearest to omnipotence of any tangible +thing. It takes on the quality of Him who breathes upon it.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch06-3"> +<h3>Jesus' Law for the Use of Money.</h3> + + +<p>Jesus gives us the simple law for the right use of money. It is in that +sixteenth chapter of Luke. He is talking about the dishonest overseer of a +wealthy man's estate. His dishonest practices have been discovered, and he +is required to make a final settlement preliminary to his being +discharged. He has evidently been living extravagantly, for the loss of +position threatens him with beggary. Distressed to know what to do he hits +upon a farther extension of his dishonest practices, and uses the position +he is about to lose to buy up friends for his coming days of want.</p> + +<p>As he tells the story Jesus adds this comment: "for the sons of this world +are for their own generation wiser than the sons of light." Practically +they go on the supposition that the present generation is the only one. +For the short space of years making up their own generation they are wiser +than the sons of light. But for the long space of all coming generations +they are the rankest fools. That is included by contrast in Jesus' words. +The man who in his use of money thinks only or chiefly of the years making +up his own present life is--a fool. The man who takes into his reckoning +not only the present generation, but all coming generations, in disposing +of his money is the shrewd financier.</p> + +<p>Then occurs the sentence<sup><a href="#fn17">17</a></sup> that contains a wonderfully simple statement +for the keen, wise use of gold. The old version runs like this: "Make to +yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness that when ye fail they +may receive you into everlasting habitations." The revised version, both +English and American, reads this way: "Make to yourselves friends by means +of the mammon of unrighteousness that when <i>it</i> shall fail they may +receive you into the eternal tabernacles."</p> + +<p>I have ventured to make a rather free translation that I feel sure is true +to the words here in their connection and that gives in simple English +just what Jesus means. "Make to yourselves friends by means of money, +which the unrighteous world reckons riches, that when it fails they may +receive you," and so on. Money is not riches. The world commonly has been +befooled into thinking that it is. Perhaps we have not all quite escaped +that delusion. And money is not unrighteous. It is neither righteous, nor +unrighteous. It gets its moral quality from the man owning it for the time +being. It is as he is. It takes on the color of its ownership.</p> + +<p>Make to yourselves friends by means of the money that comes into your +control that when it fails they may receive you. That is to say, exchange +your money into the kind of coin that is current in the kingdom of God. +Exchange your gold into <i>lives</i>. That is the sort of coin current in the +homeland. This yellow stuff we call riches they use for paving stones up +in the homeland. Would that we might get it under our feet down here, +instead of being ruled by it.</p> + +<p>The current coin of heaven is lives of men. And that too will be reckoned +the precious metal when the Kingdom of God comes to the earth. Exchange +your money into <i>men</i>; purified, uplifted, redeemed men. Buy letters of +credit that will be good in the homeland, and in the coming Kingdom days +on the earth, if you would be wealthy.</p> + +<p>"That when it fails," Jesus says with fine discernment. Money will fail. +There is an end to the power of gold in itself. Money will be bankrupt +some day. It has enormous buying power now. Some day its buying power will +be all gone. Then it will take the place of cobble-stones. Yet it would +seem to be a failure there unless some new hardening process had been +found for it. Better use it while it has power of purchase. Better not be +caught with much of the yellow stuff sticking to you when the true values +are being settled. It'll all be dead loss then; dead stock, not worth the +space it occupies.</p> + +<p>You remember the very old story of the wealthy man who died. And in a +group of people talking together somebody asked the usual question, "How +much did he <i>leave</i>?" And a wise man in the company replied tersely, +"Every cent; didn't take a copper along." That story is apt to provoke a +smile. But, do you know, it is sadder than it is witty. The man had gained +great wealth. He must have been endowed with some force and talent to do +that. His whole life and strength and talent had been devoted to making +money and hoarding it. That money was the whole output of the man's life. +Then he died and the whole output of his life was left behind. He passed +out of this life stripped to the skin. Into the other world, where wealth +is reckoned otherwise than in gold, he entered a sheer pauper. The +purchasing power of his wealth stopped at the line of departure out of +this world. <i>It failed</i>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch06-4"> +<h3>Foreign Exchange.</h3> + + +<p>Exchange your gold into men. Buy up some of the kind of coin they use in +the homeland, so that you may have some wealth when you get there. Suppose +you should be over on the continent of Europe, shopping in Berlin. You buy +some goods in a store and lay down upon the counter a twenty-dollar gold +piece in payment. The salesman would say, "What sort of money is this?" +and you would likely say, "That is good American gold, sir." And he would +probably reply, "I have no doubt that is true, and that it is good money. +But it is not the sort we receive here. You will have to go to the bankers +and get it changed into German marks and then I'll be pleased to complete +this sale." And so you would be obliged to do if you had not thought to +provide yourself with German money.</p> + +<p>There are some people that will have an experience like that after a +while, I'm thinking. Some one thinks that that is not a very likely +illustration. A man going to Europe would provide himself with proper +money to use. Maybe it is not a very good illustration for <i>Europe</i>. But +how about some other strange lands to which folks go? There seem to be +several people who expect to go to a strange country, and yet do not +provide any of its recognized coinage before going.</p> + +<p>Here is a man who gets through his life down on the earth, and goes out +into the other life. Judging by the whole tenor of his life he will +attempt to take some of his belongings with him. Indeed so much are these +belongings a part of his very life that they seem inseparable from him. +Here he comes up to the gateway of the upper world. He is lugging along a +farm or two, some town lots, and houses, and a lot of beautifully engraved +paper, bank stock and railroad bonds and other bonds. They are absorbing +him completely as he puffs slowly along.</p> + +<p>And as he gets up to the gateway, the gateman will say, "What's all that +stuff?" "<i>Stuff!</i>" he will say, astonished; "this is the most precious +wealth of earth, sir. I have spent my whole life, the cream of my strength +in accumulating this." "Oh, well," the reply will be, "I have no doubt +that is so. I am not disputing your word at all. But that sort of thing +does not pass current up in this land. That has to be exchanged at the +bankers' offices for the sort of coinage we use here."</p> + +<p>The man looks a little relieved at this last remark. The other talk has +sounded strange, and given him a queer misgiving in his heart, as he +listened. But "banker" and "exchange"--that sounds familiar. The ground +feels a bit steadier. He picks up new spirit. "Where are the bankers' +offices, please?" he asks eagerly. "They are all down on the earth," comes +the quiet answer. "You must do your exchanging before you get as far up as +this. That stuff is all dead loss now. You can't take it back to the +bankers' now, and it is of no value here. Just leave it over on that dump +heap there outside the gate, and come in yourself." And the man comes in +with a strangely stripped and bare feeling.</p> + +<p>What we get and keep for the sake of having, we lose, for we leave it +behind. What we give away freely for <i>Jesus'</i> sake, for men's sake, we +will find by and by we have kept, for we have sent it ahead in a changed +form.</p> + +<p>There will be a strange readjustment of values on the other side. Some +men of splendid strength have spent it in accumulating earth's wealth. +They give, even freely it seems to be, in very large amounts. Yet be it +keenly marked the sum given by these men always bears a small proportion +to what is kept.</p> + +<p>Others there are of equally splendid strength, and fine powers, who have +been spending that strength in influencing men. Their passion seems to +have been for <i>men</i>, for men's <i>selves</i>, for men's <i>lives</i>. The great bulk +of their strength and time has been deliberately given to this. And some +that have not understood have thought such conduct strange, a sort of fad +with these men. But when values are readjusted by the standards of the +final clearing house, some who have been very wealthy down here will be +reckoned among the very poor. And some who have been reckoned poor will be +found to be the shrewdest of investors. They will be the millionaires of +the Kingdom time and in the homeland. I do not mean <i>dollar</i>-millionaires, +but <i>life-millionaires.</i> The standard of wealth in the homeland is +<i>lives</i>, not dollars.</p> + +<p>And some too there will be, and not few in numbers, who have given of +their strength in business pursuits to the making of money, as the Spirit +has guided them, or to whom it has been left in trust by others, and who +have been steadily investing the wealth that has come in the <i>lives of +men</i>. Some folks ought to be getting better acquainted at the foreign +exchange desk in the banks where this sort of business is done.</p> + +<p>There are a good many banks that make a specialty of this sort of foreign +exchange. The great Church Boards, the International Committee of the +Young Men's Christian Associations, the American Committee of the Young +Women's Christian Associations, the individual churches and associations, +and the Bible Societies are a few of the better known of the banks having +a large exchange business of this sort.</p> + +<p>Their methods of business have been very thoroughly systematized for the +convenience of investors. In almost every pew of a church may be found +little deposit envelopes, mediums of exchange. There are weekly +opportunities for making deposits. And the handling of the money has been +so thoroughly systematized, too, that, as a rule, a very small proportion +is taken up in keeping the banks running, the great bulk passing directly +out to the designated place of use.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch06-5"> +<h3>Gold-Exchanged Lives.</h3> + + +<p>Jesus says that our money in its new form will be waiting our arrival on +the other side. The men and women into whose lives we have been +exchanging it will be eagerly looking for us as the ship pulls into port. +When you get through with your life down here--it will be a long life, I +hope--you will go up and into the homeland. And--I suppose--at the first +you will have eyes and heart for nobody but <i>Jesus</i>. My mother used to say +to me, "I have thought that I would like to have a talk with Moses, and +with Elijah, and with John and Paul, but"--with the quick tears of deepest +emotion filling her dark eyes--"I have never been able in my thinking of +it, <i>to get past Jesus yet</i>." Even so it will be, no doubt, with all of +us.</p> + +<p>But this word of Jesus' own suggests that as you go in you will find some +one coming eagerly up with outstretched hands and such a glad face to meet +you. And he will say, "Oh! I have been looking forward so eagerly to +meeting you; welcome." And you will say, "Well, this is very kind of you. +But, pardon me, I can't just recall your face. Where was it I knew you? in +New York?"</p> + +<p>And he will say, with a flush of earnest feeling, "Oh, no! I never saw New +York. And I never saw you before. My home was over in the heart of China. +Our lives were very miserable there. There was a great tugging at my heart +that nothing seemed ever to ease. But one day a stranger came into our +village, with some little books, and as we gathered about him he talked +to us about <i>Jesus</i>, and you can never know how that story of Jesus came +to me, and how much it meant. My whole life was changed, and my home and +our village were changed. And since coming up here I have learned that it +was <i>through you</i> that that man came, and I want to thank you. Next to +Jesus I think you're the best friend I have."</p> + +<p>And you will be thinking, "I'm so glad I gave that money. I had to pinch +quite a bit, but that's nothing compared to the joy of this." And as that +is flashing swiftly through your thought, here is somebody else eagerly +pressing up, with the same word of welcome, and a face with such a glad +light the sight of which is alone quite enough to even up any sacrifice. +And you will say maybe, "And where did I meet you? are you from China, +too?"</p> + +<p>No, this one is from a western frontier settlement where the home +missionary had gone, and now this one elbowing by her with the same +lightened face is from the mountain section of the South. And so they come +eagerly up from many places where you have never been in person but where +you have gone potentially through your money. That is what Jesus means. +Make to yourselves friends by means of money which the unrighteous world +reckons riches, that when it fails they may welcome you eagerly into the +homeland. Exchange your gold into lives.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch06-6"> +<h3>Spirit Alchemy.</h3> + + +<p>There is a divine alchemy whereby money may be transmuted into redeemed, +purified, uplifted lives. There is another alchemy whereby men, made of +finest gold in the image of God, may be transmuted into the basest metals. +When Moses coming down from the presence of God saw the shocking sight of +the people worshiping a calf made of gold, he reproached Aaron for +permitting it. Do you remember Aaron's answer? He had the gift of speech, +you remember, an easy, smooth way of explaining things. Yet in the light +of the recited facts the answer seems rather lame. It needs a crutch to +steady it up. He said, that he had put in the gold and--"<i>there came out +this calf</i>."</p> + +<p>A great many men might fairly make use of Aaron's explanation. They have +put into the crucible of life their gold, themselves, God's finest gold +intrusted to their hands. And under their manipulation what has come out +is as a vealy, callow calf, a bull calf at that too, scrub stock, fit only +for the ax.</p> + +<p>There is the other, the divine alchemy whereby a man may put in the gold +intrusted to his handling and there shall come out <i>lives</i>, sweet, strong, +fragrant lives, made anew in the image of their Maker.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch06-7"> +<h3>The Fragrance of the Life in the Gift.</h3> + + +<p>It is a part of the peculiar potent value of money that there can be a +practical transfer of personality through its use. For instance I have a +friend whose heart burned to go to a foreign mission field for service +there. But the physician said it would not be wise for her to go. Yielding +to his expert judgment, she still yearned to be of service there. In the +providence of God she became intrusted with large wealth. And so she +arranged to have a man go in her stead to China, she caring for all the +expense involved, while he was so left wholly free for the service.</p> + +<p>Tell me, was that not a practical transfer of her personality to the point +of service where he is engaged? Then she arranged for another, and +another, and yet others. It is not only a transfer of personality in +practical results, but a duplication of personality, and a triplication, +and more. For she is busy in her home circle, while her representatives +are busy elsewhere through the influence of her action.</p> + +<p>A young woman, graduate of a western college, developed much talent in +speaking to other young women of the Christian life. Her public service +was much blessed in the lives of large numbers of women. She had no +wealth, but was dependent upon her efforts for a livelihood. Another young +woman, in the East, came under the warm spell of her personality and +speech. And her life was blessedly revolutionized by that spell. Her own +heart burned to be doing something of the sort for her sisters out over +the land.</p> + +<p>But she seemed not to have gifts of that kind. Yet she had been intrusted +with large means. And so she said to her new friend whom God had so +graciously blessed to her own life, "Let us be partners together. I will +so gladly give what I have, that you may be wholly free to give to others +what you have brought to me." And so it was arranged. And the one woman +gives of the gold of her inheritance while the other gives her life and +her special gift. The one in her home pays and prays. The other goes +constantly here and there, and lives are ever transformed through the +Spirit of God resting upon her.</p> + +<p>Is not that a practical transfer of personality? and duplication of +personality, too? Is not this young woman whose own actual personality +remains, in the gracious providence of God, in her home, is she not going +potentially about from place to place winning her sisters up to the +highlands of the best living? It surely is so.</p> + +<p>And these two are but illustrations of the many who have come to +understand Jesus' law for the right use of money. And there are to be many +more as the days go by, doing just that sort of thing. And let those of us +who have not been intrusted either with the large amount of money, or +with the large power to earn, remember that the <i>amount</i> involved does not +affect the law of results. All who have felt the blessed contagion of the +Master's example will give freely of what is in store, whether much or +little.</p> + +<p>Those whose giving is in smaller amounts by our bulky way of reckoning +values, may still be making that same blessed transfer and doubling their +own capacity for service through the agency of their gold. For the gold +given represents the life that gives. And the gift takes on the quality +and power and fragrance of the life that gives it. I have sometimes +thought that there seems to be a peculiar potency in the smaller gifts, +that represent as they so often do the greatest, most devoted sacrifice. +Could we trace the intricate crossings of the lines of influence in the +web of life, we would be awed many times at the potency of the giving that +is small in amount but tinted red with the life-blood of sacrifice.</p> + +<p>It should be remembered that through this strange stuff called money there +is a double transfer of personality going on all the time. Men are +constantly transferring themselves into gold, in a perfectly proper way. A +man gives his labor, and at the end of a specified period he gets a +certain amount of money. That money represents himself. It is himself for +that length of time. That is the first transfer of manhood in money. It is +going on all the time. It is necessarily so, for so we get our food, and +clothing, and home.</p> + +<p>Then there is the re-transfer of this money into some other form. As we +choose to use this money, so we are re-transferring ourselves into what +forms we will. The money is the transition state of ourselves. We pass +through it out into the exchange of life. We reveal ourselves in the way +we pass it out. In no way does a man reveal the true inner self more. And +if perchance we let it, or some of it, lie and gather rust, there we are, +some part of us being covered with rust.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch06-8"> +<h3>Sacrifice Hallows and Increases the Gift.</h3> + + +<p>But there is more yet to be said here. The great blending of the spirit +forces with gold comes out wondrously in this: that <i>sacrifice hallows +what it touches</i>. And under its hallowing touch values increase by long +leaps and big bounds. Here is a fine opportunity for those who would +increase the value of gifts that seem small in amount. Without stopping +now for the philosophy of it, this is the tremendous fact.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the annual foreign missionary offering is being taken up in your +church. The pastor has preached a special sermon, and it has caught fire +within you. You find yourself thinking as he preaches, and during the +prayer following, "I believe I can easily make it fifty dollars this year. +I gave thirty-five last time." You want to be careful <i>not</i> to make it +fifty dollars, because you can do that <i>easily</i>. If you are shrewd to have +your money count the most, you will pinch a bit somewhere and make it +sixty-two fifty. For the extra amount that you pinch to give will hallow +the original sum and increase its practical value enormously. Sacrifice +hallows what it touches, and the hallowing touch acts in geometrical +proportion upon the value of the gift.</p> + +<p>Better turn your gown, and readjust your hat, for the sacrifice involved +will give a new beauty to the spirit looking out through your face. And +real folks will not be able to get past the beauty of face to the +incidentals of your apparel. Wear your derby another season, and get your +shoes half-soled, and some deft mending done. Let that extra horse go to +other buyers, and the automobile be picked up by somebody who has not yet +mined any of the fine gold of sacrifice. The coming rainy day will never +be able to use up all that some folks are salting down for it.</p> + +<p>And yet some folks, many folks, should be spending more on their bodies +and giving less. The giving should never intrench upon the strength of +one's personality. That is a treasure to be sacredly guarded. All the +power of one's life, in serving, in giving, in praying, in speaking, and +in personal contact, the power of all roots down in the personality. The +safe rule, and the only safe rule, is to decide such questions with the +knee-joint bent, and the door shut, and the spirit willing. A strong will +played upon by the Holy Spirit, mellowed by emotions that have been moved +by the need, and held steady by a disciplined judgment must attend to +loosening the purse-strings.</p> + +<p>But the one fact being emphasized here just now is that the element of +sacrifice must be in the giving if it is to be effective. Sacrifice was +the dominant factor in <i>God's</i> giving of His Son, real sacrifice. It was +dominant in <i>Jesus'</i> giving of His own self and His life, keen cutting +sacrifice. Who will follow in <i>their</i> train? Whoever will, will be getting +a post-graduate course in financiering and in multiplying of values. He +will be astonished at the results working out, and most astonished at the +final disclosures.</p> + +<p>Keeping out of circulation more than one's wants, properly adjusted, call +for is poor financiering. For that which is held back is not earning +anything. All beyond one's needs should be out in circulation for the +Master in His campaign for a world. Yet nowhere is there finer chance or +greater need for the play of keen judgment than in deciding that question +of need. Mistakes are made on both sides. It looks very much as though the +most serious mistakes are being made on the side of too little sacrifice +or none. Yet clearly some serious mistakes are made on the other side +too. But no one may criticise another. Each must decide for himself. In +the judgment of charity we are to presume that each is doing what he +thinks right and best. We are, none of us, the keeper of our brother's +purse.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch06-9"> +<h3>A Living Sacrifice.</h3> + + +<p>There is a simple story told that contains its truth in its very +naturalness and simplicity. It reveals a bit of the real life ever going +on all around us unnoticed. A minister in a certain small town in an +eastern state received from the home mission board of his church a letter +asking for a special offering for a needy field in the West. With the +letter was literature setting forth the need. The call appealed to him and +with good heart he prepared a special sermon, calling the attention of his +people to the great need.</p> + +<p>Sabbath morning came and he preached the sermon. But somehow it did not +just seem to hook in. That banker down there on the left looked listless, +and yawned a couple of times behind his hand. And the merchant over on the +right, who could give freely, examined his watch secretly more than once. +And so it was with a little tinge of discouragement insistently creeping +into his spirit that he finished, and sat down. And he remained with head +bowed in prayer that the results might prove better than seemed likely, +while the church officers passed down the aisles with the collection +plates.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile something unseen by human eye was going on in the very last pew. +Back there, sitting alone, was a little girl of a poor family. She had met +with a misfortune which left her crippled. And her whole life seemed so +dark and hopeless. But some kind friends in the church, pitying her +condition, had made up a small fund and bought her a pair of crutches. And +these had seemed to transform her completely. She went about her rounds +always as cheery and bright as a bit of sunshine.</p> + +<p>She had listened to the sermon, and her heart had been strangely warmed by +the preacher's story of need. And as he was finishing she was thinking, +"How I wish I might give something. But I haven't anything to give, not +even a copper left." And a very soft voice within seemed to say very +softly, but very distinctly, "There are your crutches." "Oh," she gasped +to herself as though it took away her very breath, "my crutches? I +couldn't give my <i>crutches</i>; they're my <i>life</i>." And that strangely clear +voice went on, so quietly, "Yes--you <i>could</i>--and then some one would know +of Jesus--if you did--and that would mean so much to them--He's meant so +much to you--give your crutches." And her breath seemed to fail her at the +thought. And so the little woman had her fight all unseen and unknown by +those in the church. And by and by the victory came. And she sat with a +beautiful light in her tearful eyes, and a smile coming to her lips, +waiting for the plate to get to her pew.</p> + +<p>And the man with the plate came down the aisle to the end. It seemed +hardly worth while reaching it into the last pew. Just little Maggie +sitting there alone, with her one foot dangling above the floor. But with +fine courtesy he stopped and passed the plate in. And Maggie in her +childlike simplicity lifted her crutches, and tried rather awkwardly to +put them on the collection plate. Quick as a flash the man caught her +thought, and with a queer lump in his throat reached out and steadied her +strange gift on the plate.</p> + +<p>And then he turned back and walked slowly up the aisle toward the pulpit, +carrying the plate in one hand and steadying the crutches on it with the +other. And people commenced to look. And eyes quickly dimmed. Everybody +knew the crutches. <i>Maggie</i>--giving her <i>crutches</i>! And the banker over +here blew his nose suddenly and reached for his pencil, and the merchant +reached out to stop the man returning up his aisle.</p> + +<p>As the pastor stood with his eyesight not very clear to receive the +morning's offering, he said, "Surely our little crippled friend is giving +us a wonderful example." Then the plates were called back toward the +pews. And somebody paid fifty dollars for the crutches, and sent them back +to that end pew. When the offering was counted up it contained several +hundred dollars. And the little girl, crippled in body but not in any +other way, hobbled out of church the happiest little woman in the world.</p> + +<p>She had recognized and obeyed the inner voice. That was the simple +explanation of her giving. And her gift, small in itself, <i>touched with +sacrifice</i>, became worth several hundred dollars in its earning power. And +the original investment was returned for its usual service. And her gift +has been increasing in its earning power as its recital has reached other +hearts, and the end is not yet. I do not know just where Maggie is now. +But I do know that she will be a greatly surprised woman some day when she +finds out what God has done with her sacrifice-hallowed gift. She +recognized and obeyed the inner Voice. That is the one law of giving, as +of all living.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch07"> +<h2>Worry: A Hindrance to Service.</h2> + + + +<ul> + <li><a href="#ch07-1">Fear Not.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch07-2">A Fence of Trust.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch07-3">A Lord of the Harvest.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch07-4">Do Your Best--Leave the Rest.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch07-5">Anxious for Nothing.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch07-6">Thankful for Anything.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch07-7">Prayerful about Everything.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch07-8">A Steamer Chair for His Friend.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch07-9">He Has You on His Heart.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch07-10">Paul's Prison Psalm.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch07-11">He Touched Her Hand.</a></li> +</ul> + + + + +<h2>Worry: A Hindrance to Service.</h2> + +<h3>(Psalm xxxvii:1-11; Matthew vi:19-34, Philippians iv:6-7. American +Revision.)</h3> + + +<div class="sec" id="ch07-1"> +<h3>Fear Not.</h3> + + +<p>There is nothing commoner than worry. Everybody seems to worry. Men worry. +Women worry. It is commonly supposed that women worry more than men. I +doubt it. After watching both pretty closely under all sorts of +circumstances I doubt it. Yet if it be true that woman does worry the +more, I think it is because, being more sensitively organized, she is more +keenly alive to the issues involved and to the responsibilities of life. +Poor people worry. Those with enough money to be easy worry. And those +with the largest wealth seem to worry too. Busy folks worry. And so do the +idle. The cultured and scholarly touch elbows with the ignorant here.</p> + +<p>Americans are supposed to be specialists in worrying. The name +Americanitis has been given to a certain run-down condition of the nerves. +Well, we may possibly have set the pace, and may be making new records. +But certainly there are plenty of pushing followers. Our Canadian +neighbors seem not to be wholly strangers to worry. Nor our British and +Dutch forbears. The European continentals, and those of the East nearer +and farther off seem to be good or bad at worrying. It is a characteristic +of the race everywhere, the difference being merely in the degree. It +seems inbred in man.</p> + +<p>There are two "don't-worry" chapters in this old Bible, one in the Old +Testament and one in the New. In the Old Testament is the Thirty-seventh +Psalm with its oft-repeated "fret not." The word under that English phrase +"fret not" is significant. It is so blunt as to sound almost like a bit of +American slang. Literally it means "don't get hot." The New Testament has +the sixth chapter of Matthew with Jesus' own words. One should be careful +here to note the better reading of the revision. The old version says +"take no thought," and that has been misunderstood by many who have not +thought about its meaning. The newer translations are truer to the meaning +on Jesus' lips. Do not take <i>anxious</i> thought, "be not anxious." But apart +from these two chapters there is a phrase running through these pages +clear through the whole Book, a phrase shot through, piercing everywhere, +even as the glorious sunlight pierces through the thick cloud and fog. I +mean the phrase "fear not." All worry roots down its tenacious tendrils +in fear.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch07-2"> +<h3>A Fence of Trust.</h3> + + +<p>It will help to understand just what worry is. It is always an advantage +to get an enemy clearly defined and keep it so, so you can hit it harder, +and make every blow tell on a vital part of its anatomy.</p> + +<p>Worry is not concern, but distress of mind. Some one said to me at the +close of a talk on worry, "some folks ought to worry more." Of course he +meant that some people should bear their share of the responsibilities of +life, instead of selfishly and lazily shirking them. There is a proper +concern about matters for which we are responsible. A man never makes a +good speech unless there is a feeling of concern, of apprehension lest +there be failure in that for which he is pleading. A strong sensitive +spirit feels the responsibility and does the best to meet it. Worry is +mental distress. It is sinking under the sense of responsibility. It is +<i>yielding</i> to the fear that there may be failure, instead of gripping the +lines and whip and determining to ride down the chance of its coming.</p> + +<p>Sometimes worry is carrying to-morrow's load with to-day's strength; +carrying two days in one. It is moving into to-morrow ahead of time. +There is just one day in the calendar of action; that's to-day. Planning +should include a wide swing of days; wise planning must. But action +belongs to one day only, to-day.</p> + +<blockquote class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="line"> "Build a little fence of trust</div> +<div class="line"> Around to-day;</div> +<div class="line"> Fill the space with living work</div> +<div class="line"> And therein stay;</div> +<div class="line"> Look not through the sheltering bars</div> +<div class="line"> Upon to-morrow;</div> +<div class="line"> God will help thee bear what comes</div> +<div class="line"> Of joy or sorrow."</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div class="line"> "Live for to-day, to-morrow's sun</div> +<div class="line"> To-morrow's cares will bring to light,</div> +<div class="line"> Go like the infant to thy sleep</div> +<div class="line"> And heaven thy morn shall bless."</div> +</div></blockquote> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch07-3"> +<h3>A Lord of the Harvest.</h3> + + +<p>Sometimes worry is carrying a load that one should not carry at all. I +think it was Lyman Beecher who said that he got along very comfortably +after he gave up running the universe. Some good earnest people are +greatly concerned about the way things in the world are going, I'm obliged +to confess to some pretty serious blunders there. It seemed to me that +there was so much to be done, so many people needing help, so much of +wrong and sin to fight that I must be ever pushing and never sleeping. I +had to sleep of course; but all my burden, which meant the burden of the +world's need as I saw it, was lugged faithfully to bed every night. There +was a lot of pillow-planning. But I found that the wrinkles grew thick, +and the physical strength gave out, and yet at the end of vigorous +campaigning there <i>seemed</i> about as much left to do as ever.</p> + +<p>Then one day my tired eyes lit upon that wondrous phrase, "the lord of the +harvest." It caught fire in my heart at once. "Oh! there is a <i>Lord</i> of +the harvest," I said to myself. I had been forgetting that. He is a Lord, +a masterful one. He has the whole campaign mapped out, and each one's part +in helping mapped out too. And I let the responsibility of the campaign +lie over where it belonged. When night time came I went to bed to sleep. +My pillow was this, "There is a <i>Lord</i> of the harvest."</p> + +<p>My keynote came to be <i>obedience</i> to Him. That meant keen ears to hear, +keen judgment to understand, keeping quiet so the sound of His voice would +always be distinctly heard. It meant trusting Him when things didn't seem +to go with a swing. It meant sweet sleep at night, and new strength at the +day's beginning. It did not mean any less work. It did seem to mean less +friction, less dust. Aye, it meant better work, for there was a swing to +it, and a joyous abandon in it, and a rhythm of music with it. And the +undercurrent of thought came to be like this: There is a <i>Lord</i> to the +harvest. He is taking care of things. My part is full, faithful, +intelligent obedience to Him. He is a Master, a masterful One. He is +organizing victory. And the fine tingle of victory was ever in the air.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch07-4"> +<h3>Do Your Best--Leave the Rest.</h3> + + +<p>I knew a mother one of whose sons was not a Christian man, and not of good +habits. She was a devoted true Christian woman, bearing her part in life's +service with fine faith and a keen sweet spirit. The children were all +Christians but this one, her first-born, the beginning of her strength. +The thought of him troubled her much. She prayed fervently, and used her +best endeavor, and the years grew on without change. And her face showed +the burden upon her fine spirit. We would talk together about her son, and +pray together, but her brow remained clouded.</p> + +<p>Then I marked a change. The lines of tension in her face relaxed. A new +quiet light came into her eye. There seemed a gentle intangible, but very +sure, peace breathing about her. And I knew there was no change in him. So +one day in conversation I ventured to ask about the change. And I shall +always remember the gentle voice and the quiet strength with which she +said, "I have given him over to my Father. And I know He will not fail +me. I am still praying, of course, as ever, and I am <i>trusting</i> for him." +She had been carrying a load that she should not have been carrying. And +now while the mother-heart was still concerned as much as ever, the sense +of assured victory brought the change in her spirit.</p> + +<p>Sometimes worry is fretting over past mistakes; it is chafing about what +we do not understand, or about plans of <i>ours</i> that have failed. A good +deal of worry comes from pride and over-sensitiveness. The roots here, it +will be noticed, of all alike are down in our own failures, our own +selves. And there would be cause for more worry if we had only ourselves. +But we have <i>a Father</i>.</p> + +<p>A very great deal of worry is wholly due to physical causes. Overworked +nerves always see things distorted. Huge phantom shapes loom up before us. +Overwork always makes a sensitive spirit worry, and worry usually makes us +overwork until we drop from exhaustion. When the cause is here, there are +some simple <i>human</i> helps. Some--a good bit--of <i>God's</i> fresh air will +work wonders. Even good people seem unchangeably opposed to <i>God's</i> air, +and insist on breathing old, worn-out, used-up second-hand air. God would +be greatly glorified if housekeepers and church sextons were given a +practical course in the use of fresh air, God's air. With that should be +simple food, and simple dress, and abundant sleep, and simple standards of +life.</p> + +<p>Worry is utterly <i>useless</i>. It never serves a good purpose. It brings no +good results. "Which of you can by being anxious add a single span to the +measure of his life?" Jesus asks in that sixth of Matthew. But much more +can be said. <i>It brings bad results</i>. The revision brings out the clear, +simple meaning of the Thirty-seventh Psalm, eighth verse. The old version +seems a bit puzzling, "Fret not thyself in anywise to do evil." The +revision reads, "Fret not thyself, it tendeth only to evil doing." The +results of worrying are always bad. The judgment is impaired. One cannot +think so clearly nor see so clearly. The temper is ruffled. The door is +quickly opened to worse things.</p> + +<p>It is <i>sinful</i> to worry. For the Master repeatedly commands us, "Be <i>not</i> +anxious." It helps to get a habit labeled correctly. Here to tack on +"sinful" in block letters, black ink, white paper, so as to get greatest +contrast is a decided help. And worrying is a reproach upon Jesus. Let the +Gentiles, the outsiders, the people who have not taken Jesus into their +lives, let them worry if they <i>will</i>. But <i>we</i> must not. For we have +<i>Jesus</i>. Let these who leave Him out grow crow-toes, and deeply-bitten +wrinkles, and turkey-foot markings. Without Him how can they help +themselves? But we folk who have <i>Jesus</i> should have smoothly rounded +faces, the lines all filled up and ironed out. It reproaches Jesus before +folks for us to be as they are in this regard.</p> + +<p>Out of the midst of a great pressure of work, with a body tired out, Dr. +Charles F. Deems, the busy pastor of The Church of The Strangers in New +York City, wrote these lines years ago:</p> + +<blockquote class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="line"> "The world is wide,</div> +<div class="line"> In time and tide,</div> +<div class="line"> And God is quick;</div> +<div class="line"> Then <i>do not hurry</i>.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div class="line"> "That man is blest,</div> +<div class="line"> Who <i>does his best</i>,</div> +<div class="line"> And <i>leaves</i> the rest;</div> +<div class="line"> Then <i>do not worry</i>."</div> +</div></blockquote> + +<p>A man should do his <i>best</i>. There should be no <i>shirking</i>. Yet I need +hardly say that here, because shirking people, lazy people do not worry. +They haven't enough snap about them to worry. But it steadies one to put +the thing just as Dr. Deems put it. "<i>Do your best, and</i>, then <i>leave</i> all +the rest to God." And when sleep time comes, sleep.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch07-5"> +<h3>Anxious for Nothing.</h3> + + +<p>Likely as not some one will say, "We knew all that before. But how are we +going to quit worrying? That's what we need to be told." Well, I can tell +you. Sometimes a man speaks cautiously, but here one can speak with great +positiveness. There are three simple rules how not to worry. They are +infallible. I heard of a society whose purpose it was to cure worry. There +were <i>thirty-seven</i> rules, I think. It would worry some of us a good bit +to memorize any such length of instruction as that. The remedy seems to be +on a high shelf. And in standing up on a chair and reaching there is some +danger that the chair may tip over and the last state not be an +improvement on the first.</p> + +<p>But here are three very simple rules, easy to follow, and they will never +fail. They are not my rules, that is, not of my making, or I might not be +speaking so positively. They are given by the blessed Holy Spirit, through +our dear old friend Paul. In Philippians, chapter four, verses six and +seven, are the words that contain the rules: "In nothing be anxious; but +in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your +requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all +understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus."</p> + +<p>The first rule is this, <i>anxious for nothing.</i> In other words, <i>don't</i> +worry. Deliberately refuse to think about annoying things. Set yourself +against being disturbed by disturbing things. Say to yourself, it is +useless, it has bad results, it is sinful, it is reproaching my Master, I +<i>won't.</i> That is the first simple rule.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch07-6"> +<h3>Thankful for Anything.</h3> + + +<p>The second helps to carry out the first. It is this, <i>thankful for +anything.</i> Thanksgiving and praise are always associated with singing. +When you feel the worry mood creeping on--it is a mood that attacks +you--when it comes sing something, especially something with Jesus' name +in it. These temptations to worry are from the Evil One. He can come in +only through an <i>open</i> door. Remember that. Yet the open doors seem +plenty. Even when we trustingly and resolutely keep every door of evil +shut the circle in which we move will open doors upon us. Singing +something with Jesus' name in it sends him or any of his brood off +quickly. They hate that Name of their Conqueror. They get away from the +sound of it as fast as they can.</p> + +<p>A friend was calling upon another and began pouring out a stream of +personal woes. This had gone wrong, and this, and this other would go +wrong. Everything was wrong. And her friend, who knew her quite well, had +her get a pencil and paper and asked her if possibly there was <i>one</i> thing +for which she could be thankful. Reluctantly from her lips came the +mention of some particular thing for which she felt indeed grateful. Then +a second was gradually recalled, and then more. And as the train of +thought grew on her she suddenly asked, "Why was I so despondent when I +came in? Everything seems so changed."</p> + +<p>It's a fine thing to go about one's work singing some hymn with praise in +it, and with Jesus' name in it. And if singing may not always be allowable +under all circumstances, you can <i>hum</i> a tune. And that brings up to the +memory the words connected with it. I know of a woman who was much given +to worrying. She made it a rule to sing the long-meter doxology whenever +things seemed not right. Ofttimes she could hardly get her lips shaped up +to begin the first words. But she would persist. And by the time the +fourth line came it was ringing out and her atmosphere had changed without +and within.</p> + +<p>This was David's rule. He said: "Thy statutes have been my songs in the +house of my pilgrimage."<sup><a href="#fn18">18</a></sup> He is not speaking of the time when he was +acknowledged king over both Judah and all Israel, when the fortress of +Jerusalem was his own capital. No, he is talking of the earlier days of +his <i>pilgrimage</i>. When he was being hunted over the Judean fastnesses by +King Saul. When with his band of faithful men he was ever fleeing for his +life. He slept in caves and dens or out in the open, and always with one +eye open. There he used to sing God's praises. A messenger would come +breathlessly in some morning with the news that Saul was just over yonder +ravine with a thousand men. And as David planned what best to do, and +arranged his men, he would be singing.</p> + +<p>Maybe he would sing that Twenty-third Psalm:</p> + +<blockquote class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="line"> "For Thou art with me; and Thy rod</div> +<div class="line"> And staff me comfort still."</div> +</div></blockquote> + +<p>Or, maybe sometimes,</p> + +<blockquote class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="line"> "To Thee I lift my soul;</div> +<div class="line"> O Lord, I trust in Thee:</div> +<div class="line"> My God, let me not be ashamed</div> +<div class="line"> Nor foes triumph o'er me."</div> +</div></blockquote> + +<p>Or, likely, he often sang:</p> + +<blockquote class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="line"> "The Lord's my light and saving health;</div> +<div class="line"> Who shall make me dismayed?</div> +<div class="line"> My life's strength is the Lord; of whom</div> +<div class="line"> Then shall I be afraid?"</div> +</div></blockquote> + +<p>Or if perhaps Ezra wrote this psalm it takes one back to his weary, +dangerous journey over from Babylon to Jerusalem and the very difficult +work he was undertaking in Jerusalem in reorganizing the life of the +people again. He used to sing on the way, and through all his +difficulties.</p> + +<p>It is a great rule.</p> + +<blockquote class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="line"> "When the day is gloomy</div> +<div class="line"> Sing some happy song;</div> +<div class="line"> Meet the world's repining</div> +<div class="line"> With a courage strong."</div> +</div></blockquote> + +<p>Some one asked me if whistling would do. She was a busy housewife and said +that was her rule. I have gone to singing myself. But maybe whistling is +just as good. I'm inclined to favor giving it a place within the range of +this rule.</p> + +<p>There's a bit of deep, simple philosophy here. Music is divine. There is +no music in the headquarters of the enemy. He has used it a great deal on +the earth. That's a bit of his cunning. But he always has to steal it from +God's sphere, and work it over to suit his own crafty purposes. Music, +singing, is an open doorway for the Spirit of God to come in, and come in +anew and move freely. Its sweet harmonies found their birth in the +presence of God where sweetest harmonies reign. Lovers of music should be +lovers of God, for He is the one great Master-musician.</p> + +<p>When Elisha was asked to prophesy victory for Israel over the enemy at one +time, he refused. He was not in harmony with this king nor his associates. +His spirit refused to respond to their request. But at their urgent +request he yielded, and called for a musician. And as the strains of music +fell upon his ear and entered into his spirit he felt the divine presence +and influence anew. We should use the musician more in our days of +battle. And God has wonderfully provided every one of us with a music-box +of sweet melodies. If we would only open the lid, and let frequent use +wear off the rust, and sing His praise more. In music God speaks to us +anew with great power. This is the second rule, <i>thankful for anything</i>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch07-7"> +<h3>Prayerful about Everything.</h3> + + +<p>The third rule helps to make both first and second effective. These three +are closely interwoven. They always work together. Each suggests the other +two. They are an interwoven trinity. The third is this, <i>prayerful about +everything</i>. There are some unusually fine bits from the old Book to help +here. Referring to the discipline which God's love makes Him use, David +says: "For His anger is but for a moment: His <i>favor</i> is for <i>a lifetime</i>. +Weeping <i>may</i> come in to lodge at even, but joy cometh in the +morning."<sup><a href="#fn19">19</a></sup> There <i>may</i> be weeping. There <i>shall</i> be joy. Weeping won't +stay long.</p> + +<p>There's a morning coming, always a morning coming, with the sunshine and +the chorus of the birds. Love's discipling touch that seems at the moment +like anger is only for a moment. (The printer wanted to change that word +discipling to disciplining; but God's tenderness comes to us anew when we +realize that <i>disciplining</i> with its sharp edge means the same as +<i>discipling</i> with its softer warmer touch.) The loving favor is for +always, a lifetime of eternal life.</p> + +<p>Again David says, "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall <i>sustain</i> +thee."<sup><a href="#fn20">20</a></sup> The margin explains that the thing that weighs as a burden is +something God has given us. He has sent it or allowed it to come. He has +strong purpose in all He does. Here the promise is not that the burden +will be removed, but that He will pick up both you and your burden into +His arms and carry both. Many a man has praised God for the burden that +made him know the tender touch of strong arms.</p> + +<p>The same thing is repeated in the Sixty-eighth Psalm<sup><a href="#fn21">21</a></sup> with tender +variations. "Blessed be the Lord who day by day beareth our burden." +Probably Peter knew a good bit about this subject. His temperament was of +the impulsive sort that knows quick squalls at sea. But he had learned how +to ride through them undisturbed to the calmer waters. He says, "Casting +all your anxiety upon Him because He careth for you."<sup><a href="#fn22">22</a></sup> The force of the +French version is said to be "<i>unloading</i> your anxiety upon Him." Back the +cart up, tilt it over, let down the tail-board, let it all slip out over +upon Him. The literal reading of that last half is, "<i>He has you on His +heart</i>."</p> + +<blockquote class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="line"> "Is not this enough alone</div> +<div class="line"> For the gladness of the day?"</div> +</div></blockquote> + +<p>But many of us have an inner feeling that some matters are too small, too +trivial to take to God. We will take the great things, the serious things +to Him and find the help needed. But it seems childish almost to be +bothering the great God about trifling details, we are apt to think. We +are even annoyed with ourselves to think that we have allowed such petty +things to make us lose our balance and control. We want to underscore and +italicize this fact: <i>if a thing is big enough to concern you, it is not +too small for Him "because He has you on His heart</i>." For <i>your</i> sake He +is eager to help in anything, however small in itself it may seem.</p> + +<p>Indeed it is the little things that fret and tease and nag so. The big +things are more easily handled. But the little insectivorous details that +will not down! Have you ever had this experience? You have retired on a +hot summer night, tired and heavy with sleep. You are almost off when a +mosquito that in some inexplicable way has eluded all screens and nettings +comes singing its way about your face. It is just one. It seems so small. +If it were only big enough to hit, something worthy of one's strength. But +the mean little nagging specimen seems to elude every effort of yours. +Maybe you take calm, deliberate measures to end its existence, but +meanwhile you are thoroughly aroused and lose quite a bit of the sleep you +need.</p> + +<p>Just such a mosquito warfare do the little cares make upon one's strength, +frittering it away. It cannot be too insistently repeated that whatever is +big enough to cause me any thought is not too small for my God. He is +concerned because I am concerned.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch07-8"> +<h3>A Steamer Chair for His Friend.</h3> + + +<p>It helps immensely here to recall the necessary qualities of a great +executive, one who is concerned about the conduct of large affairs. There +are two great qualities absolutely needful in any one occupying such a +position. There must be the ability to grasp the whole scheme involved, +and to keep one's finger upon every detail, as well. God is a great +executive, <i>the</i> great executive of the universe. He planned the vast +scheme of worlds making up the universe, and every detail. The whole +universe in its immensity, and the intricacy of its movements, is kept in +motion by Him. And every detail down to the smallest, the falling of one +of the smallest birds, is ever under His thoughtful eye and touch. And He +is our God. He has each of us on His heart.</p> + +<p>We may learn of God by looking at man, made in His image. A story is told +of a merchant well known on both sides of the water, illustrating this. +His business interests are very extensive, with great stores in three of +the world's great cities. He has displayed great genius for controlling +the details of his vast enterprise. It is said that at one time when his +business was developing its greatness, this was his habit. He would come +to a clerk's desk unexpectedly and, sitting down quietly, note the +transactions that came along. Here was a sales slip; three yards of +calico, seven cents per yard, twenty-one cents; a bolt of tape, three +cents, total twenty-four cents; cash fifty cents, twenty-six cents change. +He would very quietly note the calculations, and call attention to any +inaccuracies.</p> + +<p>He might stay there a half-hour. Then he was away again. It was never +known when he might come, nor where. He was always marked for his genial +courtesy toward all his employees. That was his habit for years, I am +told. His talent for details amounts to positive genius. And with this +goes the ability to originate and build up and keep ever growing his vast +business operations. And this man is but one of a very large class in our +day of specialized organization. This faculty of controlling both the +whole, and each detail, is a bit of the image of God in these men. Only +man is ever less than God. The best organization slips sometimes, +somewhere. But God never fails. Each of us is personal to Him. He can +think of each as though there were no other needing His thought, and He +does.</p> + +<p>A little incident is told of George Müller of Bristol, England. He is the +man who taught the whole world anew how to trust God. Poor in his own +holdings, he expended millions of dollars in caring for orphans, +supporting missionaries, and distributing printed truth. He never asked +any man for money nor made any needs known. He trusted God for all and for +each. The two thousand and more orphans, and the cutting of his quill pen +were alike subjects of prayer with him.</p> + +<p>At one time, in the course of his missionary travels around the world, he +was embarking on an ocean voyage. He was an old man at the time, and +accompanied by a young man who attended to the details of travel. After +they had boarded the steamer his companion came up hurriedly to say that +the steamer chair for Mr. Müller's use was not on board and he could not +get any trace of it. It would of course be a very necessary convenience +for the steamer trip. Mr. Müller inquired if the proper notice had been +sent to have it on board. Yes, all had been done that should have been +done. And now the time was very short.</p> + +<p>Mr. Müller breathed a quiet prayer, and then said to his companion not to +be disturbed, that he felt sure it would be on hand in time. The attendant +went off again to see what could be done, came back evidently annoyed at +the possibility of his elder distinguished companion being inconvenienced. +But Mr. Müller quieted him with the assurance that the chair would come. +They stood at the side rail above, overlooking the dock.</p> + +<p>At the very last moment, just as the hawsers were about to be thrown off, +and the gang plank pulled away, a truck of luggage was hurriedly run on +board, and on top of the pile the friends watching above could plainly see +a steamer chair with G. M. marked on it. Mr. Müller, standing in his group +of friends, looked up past them and quietly said, "Father, I thank Thee." +Was God in that simple occurrence? He surely was. He was concerned that +His faithful friend should have the chair for his bodily comfort. Man's +arrangements seemed in danger of slipping. His overruling touch was put in +for His friend's sake. A chair wasn't too small for God because it was for +His friend, Mr. Müller.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch07-9"> +<h3>He Has You on His Heart.</h3> + + +<p>I got a similar story from Dr. James H. Brookes of St. Louis, a number of +years ago while in his home over night. It was about J. Hudson Taylor, +founder of the China Inland Mission, who had learned through many years of +trusting how faithful God is. Mr. Taylor had been speaking in Dr. Brookes' +church, and was to go to a town in southern Illinois to speak at the +Sabbath services. Saturday morning they went down to the railroad station +to get the train, and stepped into the station just as the train was +pulling out at the other end. There was no possible chance of catching it. +It seemed all the more exasperating that they could see the train moving +away out of reach.</p> + +<p>Dr. Brookes of course felt much chagrined. Mr. Taylor being a stranger in +the country, and the guest of Dr. Brookes, had trusted his arrangements. +Inquiries were quickly made about other trains. But there would not be +another train out that way until night. And as they were questioning and +talking the station-master said, "There's that train over there; it runs +into Illinois and crosses another road down to where you want to go. They +are supposed to make connections, but they never do." Dr. Brookes said he +went off to make further inquiries, and coming back in a few moments was +surprised to find Mr. Taylor standing on the rear platform of the train +that never made the connection.</p> + +<p>He said, "Why, Mr. Taylor, that won't make the connection." And Mr. +Taylor smiled and in his very quiet way said, "Good-bye, Doctor, my Father +runneth the trains." That seemed to sound well for a sermon. But to Dr. +Brookes' misgivings there came again the quiet "Good-bye, Doctor, my +Father runneth the trains." After starting Mr. Taylor explained the +situation to the conductor, the importance of his engagement, and of +making the desired connection, hoping the trainman might be of some +service. The man hoped he would get the train, but said it was very +doubtful as they rarely did. Mr. Taylor thanked him, and sat quietly +praying.</p> + +<p>Was the connection made? As Mr. Taylor's train pulled in the other was +standing at the station. The conductor said, "Well, there it is, but I +didn't expect it." There was quite enough time to get across the platform +without hurrying and into the other train when it moved off. Was God in +that? I have no difficulty at all in understanding that He was. What +concerned His friend, in a strange land, on an errand for Himself surely +concerned Him. What concerns any trusting child of His concerns Him, for +He has us on His heart.</p> + +<p>I recall a personal experience in Boston one summer day. It was a very hot +day. I was to meet my mother and sister in the North Union station, where +we were to take a train out. I had their tickets. I reached the station +from my errands, hot and tired and with my head aching, ideal conditions +for worry. As I stepped into the station I realized at once that our +appointment to meet was not very definite. For the large station was +crowded. There was not much time before our train would go. And I +commenced to be agitated, which is a gentler way of saying worried. What +<i>would</i> I do? It would be extremely inconvenient, especially for my +mother, to miss the train. And the time was short, and--and--.</p> + +<p>You see I was not a <i>graduate</i> in this don't-worry school. I'm not yet; +still studying; expect to enter for post work when I do graduate. The +school is still open; open to all; instruction given <i>individually</i> only; +the Teacher has had long <i>experience</i> Himself on the earth, in the thick +of things.</p> + +<p>Well, I said as I stood a moment in the thick crowd, "Master, you know +where they are. Please take me to them. Maybe I should have been more +careful about the appointment, but I was tired at the start. Please--thank +you." And in less time than it takes to tell you I met them right in the +thick of the great crowd. And I felt sure that Peter got his putting of it +straight when he said of the Master, "<i>He has you on His heart</i>."</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch07-10"> +<h3>Paul's Prison Psalm.</h3> + + +<p>Did Paul follow his own rules? The best answer to that is this little +four-chaptered epistle where the rules are found. Philippians is a prison +psalm. The clanking of chains resounds throughout its brief pages. At one +end is Philippi; at the other Rome. Here is the Philippian end. In the +inner dungeon of a prison, dark, dirty, damp, is a man, Paul. His back is +bleeding and sore from the whipping-post. His feet are fast in the stocks. +His position is about as cramped and painful as it can be. It is midnight. +Paul would be asleep for weariness and exhaustion, but the position and +the pain hinder.</p> + +<p>Does no temptation come to him? He had been following a <i>vision</i> in coming +over to Philippi. This is a great ending to the vision he's been having. +Did no such temptation come? Very likely it did. But Paul is an old +campaigner. He knows best what to do. He begins singing. His music is +pitched in the major too. Most likely he is singing one of the old Hebrew +psalms that he knew by heart. It was a psalm of praise. That is one end of +this epistle.</p> + +<p>At the other end Paul is a prisoner at Rome. As he sits dictating his +letter, if he gets tired and would swing one limb over the other for a +change, a heavy chain at his ankle reminds him of his bonds. As he reaches +for a quill to put a loving touch to the end of the parchment, again the +forged steel pulls at his wrist. That is the setting of Philippians, the +prison psalm. What is its key word? Is it patience? That would seem +appropriate. Is it long-suffering? More appropriate yet. Some of us know +about short-suffering, but we are apt to be a bit short on long-suffering. +The keyword is <i>joy</i>, with its variations of rejoice, and rejoicing.</p> + +<p>And notice what joy is. It is the cataract in the stream of life. Peace is +the gentle even flowing of the river. Joy is where the waters go bubbling, +leaping with ecstatic bound, and forever after, as they go on, making the +channel deeper for the quiet flow of peace. Paul had put his no-worry +rules through the crucible of experience. He follows the Master in that. +These three rules really mean living ever in that Master's presence. When +we realize that He is ever alongside then it will be easier to be</p> + +<blockquote class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="line"> Anxious for nothing,</div> +<div class="line"> Thankful for anything,</div> +<div class="line"> Prayerful about everything.</div> +</div></blockquote> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch07-11"> +<h3>He Touched Her Hand.</h3> + + +<p>One morning on waking, a woman charged with the care of a home began +thinking of the day's simple duties. And as she thought they seemed to +magnify and pile up. There was her little daughter to get off to school +with her luncheon. Some of the church ladies were coming that morning for +a society meeting, and she had been planning a dainty luncheon for them. +The maid in the kitchen was not exactly ideal--yet. And as she thought +into the day her head began aching.</p> + +<p>After breakfast, as her husband was leaving for the day's business, he +took her hand and kissed her good-bye. "Why," he said, "my dear, your hand +is feverish. I'm afraid you've been doing too much. Better just take a day +off." And he was gone. And she said to herself, "A day off! The idea! Just +like a <i>man</i> to think that I could take a day off." But she had been +making a habit of getting a little time for reading and prayer after +breakfast. Pity she had not put it in earlier, at the day's very start. +Yet maybe she could not. Sometimes it is not possible. Yet <i>most times</i> it +is possible, by planning.</p> + +<p>Now she slipped to her room and, sitting down quietly, turned to the +chapter in her regular place of reading. It was the eighth of Matthew. As +she read she came to the words, "And <i>He touched her hand</i>, and the <i>fever +left her</i>; and she arose and ministered unto Him." And she knelt and +breathed out the soft prayer for a touch of the Master's hand upon her +own. And it came as she remained there a few moments. And then with much +quieter spirit she went on into the day.</p> + +<p>The luncheon for the church ladies was not quite so elaborate as she had +planned. There came to her an impulse to tell her morning's experience. +She shrank from doing it. It seemed a sacred thing. They might not +understand. But the impulse remained and she obeyed it, and quietly told +them. And as they listened there seemed to come a touch of the Spirit's +presence upon them all. And so the day was a blessed one. Its close found +her husband back again. And as he greeted her he said quietly, "My dear, +you did as I said, didn't you? The fever's gone."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch08"> +<h2>Gideon's Band: Sifted for Service.</h2> + + + +<ul> + <li><a href="#ch08-1">God Wants the Best.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch08-2">God's Use of Weak Things.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch08-3">Call for Volunteers.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch08-4">A Willing People.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch08-5">Courageous Volunteers.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch08-6">Irresistible Logic.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch08-7">Hot Hearts.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch08-8">God Still Sifting.</a></li> +</ul> + + + + +<h2>Gideon's Band: Sifted for Service.</h2> + +<h3>(1 Corinthians i:18-31; Judges vi and vii.)</h3> + + +<div class="sec" id="ch08-1"> +<h3>God Wants the Best.</h3> + + +<p>Salvation is for all. Service is for those chosen for it. All <i>may</i> serve. +That all do not is simply because service requires qualities which all do +not have. Yet, again, all may have them who will, for the required +qualities are <i>heart qualities</i>. And every one of us can cultivate the +heart qualities. There is special service, chiefly of leadership, +requiring brain qualities as well as heart. But the Master attends to the +choosing of men for such service.</p> + +<p>And where His spirit has touched human hearts there will be a glad doing +of just what service He appoints. It will be an honor to do just what He +asks because He asks. What it may happen to be will be a small matter in +itself. It is for Him, at His desire, and that is full enough to bring out +the best we have.</p> + +<p>Our old Tarsus and Antioch friend and leader has written a special word +about this matter of being chosen for service. It is in his first letter +to the recently organized church at Corinth. It is really his second +letter, for he seems to have written one before it that has not been +preserved.<sup><a href="#fn23">23</a></sup> There were some very serious matters in this new church +requiring strong treatment by its much-loved founder. Among them was one +about service.</p> + +<p>There were some who had gifts in service that seemed more attractive and +desirable than others had, it might be said more showy. And their +brethren, not free from the old worldly spirit, were envious and jealous. +And these who had such gifts were not free from a boasting spirit. +Factions or parties had arisen as a result. It was the bad world spirit of +competition and rivalry in among Christ's followers where it should never +come, yet where it still does come. In writing this letter Paul throughout +blends great plainness and common sense with great tenderness.</p> + +<p>In the beginning of his letter he calls attention to the fact that there +are not many among them of those who were reckoned by the world's +standards as wise or mighty or noble. On the contrary, in choosing His +leaders God had purposely chosen those reckoned by the world's standards +foolish that He might show plainly the shallowness of what they deem wise. +And so things reckoned weak had been chosen to give the conception of +what true strength is. And things even base, and despised, and not counted +at all had been used that so men might learn the God-standards of wisdom +and strength and honor and of what is worth while. The purpose being that +men should quit glorying in themselves and glorify Him from whom +everything had come, and was ever coming.</p> + +<p>The passage has oftentimes been quoted as though God prefers weakness; +never put so bluntly as that perhaps, but plainly meaning that. That of +course is not true. God wants the best we have. He needs the best. And for +leadership often His plans must wait till a man of the sort needed can be +gotten. And gotten frequently means broken, shattered, and then made over +wholly new, that the native strength may be used according to true +standards.</p> + +<p>Jacob was chosen rather than his elder brother Esau, not because of +Jacob's goodness but because of Esau's weakness. God was narrowed to these +two grandsons in carrying out the promise to Abraham. Jacob was +contemptible in his moral dealings, but he had qualities of leadership +wholly lacking in his brother. His moral character was a serious +hindrance. God had to handle him heroically before He could get the use of +his stronger mental equipment. Jacob had to get a bad throw-down before he +would be willing to let God have His way. His body must be weakened +before his mental power would yield. That was the weakness of his +stubbornness. Stubbornness is strength not strong enough to yield.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch08-2"> +<h3>God's Use of Weak Things.</h3> + + +<p>It is true that over and over again God has used men utterly weak and +foolish and despised in the light of life's common standards. He wants men +of the best mental strength, of the finest mental training, and He uses +such when they are willing to be used, and governed by the true +God-standards of life. But talent seems specially beset with temptation. +The very power to do great things seems often to bewilder the man +possessing it. Wrong ambition gets the saddle and the reins and whip too, +and rides hard.</p> + +<p>Frequently some man who had not guessed he had talent, born in some lonely +walk of life, without the training of the schools, is used for special +leadership. It takes longer time always. Early mental training is an +enormous advantage. Carey the cobbler had mental talents to grace a +Cambridge chair. It took a little longer time to get him into shape for +the pioneer work he did in India. Duff's training gave him a great +advantage.</p> + +<p>But God is never in a hurry. He can wait. What He asks is that we shall +bring the best we have natively, with the best possible training, and let +Him use us absolutely as He may wish. And always remember that every +mental power is a gift from Him; that actual power in life must be through +Him only; and that mental gifts are not serviceable save as they are ever +inbreathed by His own Spirit.</p> + +<p>This word of Paul's finds most graphic illustration in the book of Judges. +Judges should be put alongside of the first chapter of First Corinthians. +It is a series of pictorial illustrations of what Paul is saying there. +These two books, Joshua and Judges, side by side in the Old Testament +stand in sharpest contrast. The keynote of Joshua is victory; of Judges +defeat. There's music in both, but contrasted music. Joshua rings with +songs in the major key, triumphant, militant, joyous, victorious.</p> + +<p>The music of Judges is in the minor, sad and weeping, with the harps +hanging on the willows. Joshua is upon the mountain top with sun shining +and air bracing and outlook inspiring. Judges is down in the valley +bottoms, dark and gloomy, and depressing. Yet Judges has bright spots, and +has spurts of good music interspersed. It is a study in lights and +shadows, bright lights, and dark shadowings, but with the blacker tints +intensifying and overcoming the others.</p> + +<p>There are here seven striking illustrations of God's use of strange +unusual means, such as are reckoned weak and trivial. A <i>left-handed</i> man +uses that peculiarity to get a great victory and eighteen years of freedom +for the nation.<sup><a href="#fn24">24</a></sup> A farmer with as homely a weapon as an <i>ox-goad</i> +delivers his people from oppression.<sup><a href="#fn25">25</a></sup> Men came to be so scarce, that is +men that were men enough to take their true place as leaders, that a +<i>woman</i> had to step into the breach, and assume leadership. But the +student of history and of modern times is used to that. The result was +great victory, and a forty years' rest from the nation's enemies.<sup><a href="#fn26">26</a></sup></p> + +<p>A <i>nail</i> or <i>tent-pin</i>, only a wooden peg, in the hands of a woman with a +hammer helps to make the enemy's defeat more decisive.<sup><a href="#fn27">27</a></sup> <i>Three hundred</i> +young men with <i>pitchers and trumpets</i> completely rout the three armies of +three nations, and bring another deliverance.<sup><a href="#fn28">28</a></sup> Another time <i>a piece of +a millstone</i> shoved over the wall by a woman turns the tide of battle +favorably.<sup><a href="#fn29">29</a></sup> And as contemptible a thing as the <i>jawbone of an ass</i> in +the hands of one strong man is used to slay a thousand men.<sup><a href="#fn30">30</a></sup></p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch08-3"> +<h3>Call for Volunteers.</h3> + + +<p>It is of one of these, one of the most striking of these, that we are to +talk together awhile; the graphic story of Gideon and his band of three +hundred young fellows. Things were in bad shape in the nation; about as +bad in every way as they could be. This time it was the Midianites who +overran the land, and held the leaderless people in most abject slavery. +With them were joined two other nations, the Amalekites and the Children +of the East. When the crops were almost ready to harvest, these raiders +swooped in in great numbers and destroyed all the crops and drove away all +the stock.</p> + +<p>They harried the Israelites so that life was made very miserable for them. +They were forced to flee from their farms and take refuge in caves and +dens and the fastnesses among the hills. Then, as usual, when they got +into bad shape the people remembered God, and cried for help, and, as +usual with Him, He at once forgave them and planned another great +deliverance.</p> + +<p>First of all Gideon the leader is chosen out, and put through a bit of +schooling. That is a fascinating story of great helpfulness. Then this +trained young leader gathers his band of helpers. And we want to mark +keenly how these three hundred men were sifted out of the thousands for +service. They were sifted out. They sifted themselves out. In that army +of thousands were just three hundred who had the needed qualifications for +the bit of service God wanted done.</p> + +<p>Look over the gathered thousands: which are the chosen three hundred? No +man knew. They didn't know themselves until the tests came. They chose +themselves out by the way they stood the three tests applied. Even so is +God ever sifting out men for service. The more difficult the service, the +higher the grade of leadership needed, the severer the test. The testing +both reveals the qualities, and in part makes them.</p> + +<p>The first quality these men had was <i>willingness.</i> They were all +<i>volunteers</i>. When the call came they rallied to the leader's side. Gideon +sent runners, criers, out throughout that whole section. They went first +to his own family clan, then to his tribe, then to three neighboring +tribes. They said that God had called upon Gideon to lead a movement +against the Midianites and their allies and he wanted every man to come +and help. The messengers went swiftly through the whole territory of these +neighboring tribes, arousing the men to action and calling for volunteers.</p> + +<p>A good many did not respond to the summons. Some were simply indifferent. +They could not help hearing the call, but there was no response without or +within. No change of expression in the eye or face. They went right on in +their heavy, dull way as though they hadn't heard. They were utterly +indifferent to the call. Some were reluctant. They stopped and listened, +but with a heavy slant backwards to their bodies. Their heels bore most of +their weight. It was a good idea to get up such a movement, the enemy +ought to be driven back and out, but--but--and their eyes are half shut +already.</p> + +<p>Some criticised. Who was Gideon? A young upstart! trying to push himself +forward as a leader. He had no skill or experience. And the people had no +weapons. The enemy had stolen everything of the sort away. And they were +clear outnumbered. There wasn't a ghost of a show. It would only make bad +matters worse. This young upstart Gideon would soon be sorry enough when +he butted his head against the experienced Midianite leaders. +And--and--and--there they are talking, criticising, but not responding to +the call. Such critics seldom respond, and helpers criticise in a very +different way. It takes less brain to criticise unwisely, captiously, far +less than to help. Almost any hare-brain can tear a thing to pieces. And +nothing is commoner than just such criticism.</p> + +<p>Some ridiculed. "Ha! ha! ha! Gideon going to be national leader; ha! ha! +ha! And whip the enemy. Ridiculous! Absurd!" And some were outrightly +opposed. They objected. The people would be aroused, their hopes awakened +only to be dashed. The whole thing was wrong, for it was impossible. And +these men tried to keep others from going.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch08-4"> +<h3>A Willing People.</h3> + + +<p>But many came. A crowd of volunteers came hurrying from farms and caves, +bringing such weapons probably as they had been able to keep in hiding. +They were willing to respond. It was a motley crowd, no doubt. There were +thirty-two thousand of them. These four tribes had once numbered as many +as one hundred and eighty-four thousand five hundred fighting men. And at +another, later, enumeration they had two hundred and twelve thousand men +of war age. Their numbers may be smaller now, though possibly not. It +looks as though only a small minority of all had responded, maybe one in +six or so.</p> + +<p>These men had the first great qualification for service, they were +willing. They were actively willing. They willed to come down to the front +and help fight the enemy, and deliver their nation. It is a great quality +this of being willing. That prophetic One Hundred and Tenth Psalm mentions +this as the great characteristic of those who shall rally about God's King +in a coming day of power. God reckons our service not by our ability but +by our willingness.<sup><a href="#fn31">31</a></sup></p> + +<p>Whatever is given out of a warm, willing heart is eagerly accepted by +Him. The Hebrew tabernacle was constructed of free-will offerings. The +people came willingly with their offerings and left them for Moses' use. +Some brought gold and silver, some finely woven tapestries and silks. Here +was one poor woman who wanted to give but had very little. So she went out +to her little flock of goats whereby her living came to her, and cut off a +big bunch of goat's hair, and then with much pains dyed it red.</p> + +<p>And then one day she went up to where they were presenting their gifts and +timidly laid her bunch of goat's hair on the pile of offerings, and +quietly, quickly slipped away. It seemed very small on that pile of gold +and silver and richly-colored weavings. But it was the gift of her heart. +They had to have goat's hair as well as gold. And her offering was +acceptable because it came from a willing heart. Willingness is a heart +quality. It is the heart volunteering.</p> + +<blockquote class="poetry"> +<div class="line"> "Our wills are ours to make them Thine."</div> +</blockquote> + +<p>This was the first test. Thirty-two thousand out of four tribes stood this +test. Gideon's army had one great qualification at the start.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch08-5"> +<h3>Courageous Volunteers.</h3> + + +<p>Now these men are put to a second test. The next morning God surprised +Gideon by telling him that he had too many men. If a victory was given +them with so many men they would feel that they had done the thing +themselves. They would grow so large as to shut God out of their +landscape. There would be no getting along with them. Each man would feel +that he was the essential factor. They would go back to the homefolks to +tell of themselves. God seems to know us folk down on the earth fairly +well.</p> + +<p>Now He would lessen their numbers, but in doing it He will pick out the +best. The men are encamped on the hillsides overlooking a valley. Across +the valley to the north lay the encamped armies of three nations. They +were a vast host. They were spread out as thick as the grasshoppers of +Egypt had been years before. Everywhere you looked there they were +swarming.</p> + +<p>Gideon spoke to his men. He said, "Gentlemen, Fellow-Israelites, there is +the enemy. Take a good look at them." And his followers looked, and as +they looked some of them began to get scared. They had not realized just +what was involved. Their footwear seemed to grow too large. They were +shaking in their boots. And their eyes grew big and their faces white +under the tan.</p> + +<p>Then Gideon said, "Now, every man of you that thinks it can't be done--I +wish you would get right out of this, and go back home." And he watched. +And I imagine even Gideon shook a bit inside as he watched. They +commenced to move away in squads, in scores, in fifties. Great gaps were +left in the mob of men. Here is a fellow standing, looking. He thinks, "It +looks pretty bad, sure enough; but then, I suppose, if God is planning--" +hello, the fellow by his side has gone, and on this other side too--"I +guess I'd better go too." And off he goes. Fear is very contagious. There +is great power in feeling a man by your side. And two-thirds of them +disappear over the hills.</p> + +<p>The motto of these disappearing men was this: "It can't be done." They +must have organized themselves into a society to perpetuate their own +idea. If so the society has shown great vitality. Many of its members +abide with us until this day. No, probably they didn't organize. They +didn't have enough gumption to. And such a sentiment grows like a weed +without any cultivation.</p> + +<p>I recall a certain town in Ohio where I had gone to talk about an +enlargement and re-vitalizing of the Young Men's Christian Association. +Thousands of young men in the place needed just such help as that +organization is supposed to provide. I outlined the plan to a clergyman. +He said it was a good plan, there was great need, the thing should be +done, "but," he said, with an air of settling the thing, "it can't be done +in <i>this town</i>."</p> + +<p>Among others I talked with a business man. He listened attentively, +approved the plans, agreed upon the great need, and then settling back in +his chair with the same air of finality, used exactly the same words, with +the same emphasis, "It can't be done in <i>this town</i>." I got that same +reply from several men that day. And I said to myself, "They are right; it +can't be done <i>with them</i>; but it can be done without them." And it was.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch08-6"> +<h3>Irresistible Logic.</h3> + + +<p>But there remained ten thousand. These men by their staying said, "It +ought to be done. What ought to be done can be done. What can be done <i>we</i> +can do. What we can do we <i>will</i> do." Here is another man standing looking +at that vast host across the valley. He is thinking that it is a desperate +case, but he thinks of God's call through Gideon. Just then he notices +that his neighbor on the left has taken to his heels, and on his right +also. That shakes him for a moment. His heels say, "You go too." His heart +said, "No, stay." He obeyed his heart. He said, "I'll stay if I stay +alone."</p> + +<p>That was the stuff in these remaining ten thousand. They stood a double +test in remaining, the desperate situation seen in the presence of such an +enormous army, and the desertion of their fellows. They had <i>courage</i>; +not only willingness but courage. Courage is a heart quality. Courage is +the heart fighting. It faces fearful odds and keeps right straight ahead +regardless.</p> + +<p>A prize was offered once for the best definition of "pluck." The +definition that won the prize said, "Pluck is fighting with the scabbard +after the sword is broken." What a picture in a single sentence! The man +is fighting with might and main in the thick of the enemy, up and down, +parry and thrust, and just about holding his own, when suddenly, without a +moment's warning, the blade snaps close up to the hilt. The game's up now +surely. This accident decides the day. <i>Maybe</i>--for <i>some</i> men. But not +for this fellow. He simply sets his jaws a bit firmer as, quick as +lightning, he grabs the scabbard by his side and fights with it.</p> + +<p>Such a man can't be whipped. He doesn't know when he is whipped. And the +man who doesn't know when he is whipped, never <i>is</i> whipped. No man can be +whipped without his own consent. I said courage is a heart quality. These +ten thousand were not chicken-hearted nor downhearted. They were +lion-hearted, stout-hearted. They had hearts of oak.</p> + +<p>It was a keen stroke of generalship on Gideon's part that sent the timid, +discouraged ones back home. Nothing is more demoralizing than the presence +of such people. And there was no discipline much finer for those who +remained than to feel their fellows leaving them. It's hard to be left by +those who have been in touch. It is hard to stand alone.</p> + +<p>There is no harder test of character than that. And too there is no finer +thing to make character. Think how the fiber of those ten thousand +toughened and strengthened as they <i>stood</i> there, with men on every side +hurrying away. This was the second test. But the men who can stand testing +are growing fewer. Thirty-two thousand men were willing. Only a third of +them are both willing and courageous. These men are more than volunteers. +They have seen the foe. Their fiber has stood the test, and toughened in +the test. They are <i>courageous</i> volunteers.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch08-7"> +<h3>Hot Hearts.</h3> + + +<p>But there is a third test. God comes to Gideon and says, "You have too +many men yet, Gideon." And Gideon's eyes bulge out a bit. Too many! Yes, +this is to be a quality fight. No common fighting here. God works best +with the men who come nearest to having His own thought of things. Numbers +don't count. You can't count men for service. You must weigh them, and +feel the firmness of their fiber.</p> + +<p>There is a little running brook down the valley. Gideon gives an order to +his men to advance a bit. And he watches them. Most of them as they come +to the water stretch out leisurely on the ground and putting their mouths +to the water take a good long drink, and another, and again. They seem to +say by their action, "Well, there's some tough work ahead, but we must +take care of ourselves. A man must look out for number one. We must not +get unduly stirred up over the thing. We're not fighting yet."</p> + +<p>But one fellow comes along with a quick, nervous step, and his eye still +on the enemy. He is all on tenter-hooks. His eye flashes fire. He reaches +down with a quick movement and gathers up some water in his hand, up to +his mouth, and hurries on. Then a second fellow, and a third, and more. +Gideon is watching. As each of these comes along he calls him off to one +side. When the whole number of men have passed the brook there are just +three hundred of the hot-hearted, intense-spirited fellows.</p> + +<p>God said, "Gideon, keep these men; send the others back." These thousands +sent back were sturdy men. They would make good fighters in many a +campaign, but they would not do for this higher kind of campaigning +planned for that day. The little band remaining had stood a third test, +they were willing, and courageous, <i>and enthusiastic</i>.</p> + +<p>Enthusiasm is the heart <i>burning</i>. These fellows had spring and snap to +them. Yet it was a <i>tempered</i> spring and snap, the sort that would last. +By their action at the brook they said, "If there's fighting to be done, +let's do it quickly; let's go at the enemy with a vim and a rush. Oh! let +us at them."</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec" id="ch08-8"> +<h3>God Still Sifting.</h3> + + +<p>Yet, mark you, their enthusiasm was <i>seasoned</i>. It grew <i>under fire</i>, or +practically so, in the presence of the danger. There is always an +abundance of the green article of enthusiasm, but it's not worth much for +steady ditch-work. There is a sort of wood enthusiasm, apple-wood. You +know how apple-wood burns in a fire. It catches quickly, throws out a good +many sparks, makes a loud crackling noise, but doesn't last long.</p> + +<p>There is another sort, a soft-coal enthusiasm. It's better than wood. But +it needs a lot of attention continually to keep a steady fire. Then +there's the hard-coal enthusiasm that will burn steadily and faithfully by +the hour. Yet no kind, mark you, will run long without fresh fuel. We need +in our service more of the seasoned enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>It has been said of General Grant that one great reason for his success as +a soldier was in his coolness. While the fighting and firing were hottest +he sat on his horse quietly, coolly watching, listening, and giving his +orders. And much of his power has been attributed to that quality. Well, +if coolness is a qualification for success in Christian service there +seems to be a large number of persons splendidly qualified. They are cool +all the time; cool as icebergs at the North Pole; cool from the topmost +layer of hair to the bottommost cuticle--about certain things.</p> + +<p>We want coolness of head such as General Grant had and hotness of heart +such as he had, too. The ideal combination is a cool head and a hot heart. +The head should resemble a refrigerator, and the heart a flaming furnace. +There is one bother, however, among many people. Either the coolness of +the head works down too much and affects the heart, and that is bad, or, +else the heat of the heart gets up into the head, and a hot head is always +bad.</p> + +<p>Yet there is a sure key to preserving the poise between the two. It is in +the quiet time daily with Jesus, over the Book, with the knee bent, and +the ear keen, and the spirit quiet. In that time there comes, and comes +ever more, the calmness for the brain, and the fresh fuel for the heart, +and new steadiness for the will that holds all under its strong hand.</p> + +<p>Many difficulties will yield only to fire. When you cannot reason your way +through a problem, or a difficulty, or into a man's heart, <i>burn</i> your +way through. Nothing can withstand fire. It is very remarkable that the +symbol used most for God in the Bible is fire. A man never amounts to +anything until he catches fire.</p> + +<p>The proportions are worth noticing here. Thirty-two thousand were +<i>volunteers</i>. A third of that number are <i>courageous</i> volunteers. About a +thirty-third of these, less than a hundredth of the original, are +<i>hot-hearted, courageous</i> volunteers.</p> + +<p>This is Gideon's Band; three hundred young men fresh from the farm, who +were <i>willing</i>, and <i>courageous</i>, and <i>hot-hearted</i>, all heart qualities. +They stood every test. They had faced a foe that humanly they had no +chance to overcome, and because of God's call they were not only willing, +and stout-hearted, but intense in their desire to get at the fighting.</p> + +<p>Then under Gideon's leadership they were well fed, and organized; they +proved individually faithful in the thick of the fight, and they pushed +persistently on even when bodily tired out. And the nation knew a great +victory over its enemies, and a time of prosperity for years after.</p> + +<p>God is still sifting men for service. He will use gladly every man who is +willing to be used. When a man stands the first test well, there comes a +second. That, stood well, means others. These are our promotion tests. He +lets those who stand all testings into the thickest of the fight and up to +the highest heights of victory.</p> + +<p>Master, help us to endure every test as seeing Him who is invisible.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div id="footnotes"> +<h2>Footnotes</h2> + + + +<p id="fn1">1. 1 John i:1.</p> + +<p id="fn2">2. 2 Corinthians iii:18.</p> + +<p id="fn3">3. Frances Ridley Havergal.</p> + +<p id="fn4">4. Exodus xxi:2-6, Leviticus xxv:39-43; Deuteronomy xv:12-18.</p> + +<p id="fn5">5. Psalm xi:6-8; Hebrews x:5-7.</p> + +<p id="fn6">6. Isaiah 1:4-6.</p> + +<p id="fn7">7. John v:19, 30; vi:38, 57; vii:16-17, 28; viii:28, 29.</p> + +<p id="fn8">8. John Sullivan Dwight.</p> + +<p id="fn9">9. Mark i:41; Matthew ix:36; Mark vi:34 (with Matthew xiv:14); +Matthew xx:34; xv:32; Mark v:19; Luke vii:13; x:33; xv:20</p> + +<p id="fn10">10. Daniel xii:3.</p> + +<p id="fn11">11. James v:19.</p> + +<p id="fn12">12. Proverbs xi:30.</p> + +<p id="fn13">13. Luke v:10.</p> + +<p id="fn14">14. Acts xvii:6.</p> + +<p id="fn15">15. 1 Thessalonians iv:11; 2 Corinthians v. 9, Romans xv:20.</p> + +<p id="fn16">16. Attention is directed to a strong helpful address on "Money," by Rev. +A. F. Schauffler, D.D., in "The Student Missionary Appeal," published by +the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions.</p> + +<p id="fn17">17. Luke xvi:9.</p> + +<p id="fn18">18. Psalm cxix:54.</p> + +<p id="fn19">19. Psalm xxx:5.</p> + +<p id="fn20">20. Psalm lv:22.</p> + +<p id="fn21">21. Psalm lxviii:19.</p> + +<p id="fn22">22. I Peter v:7.</p> + +<p id="fn23">23. 1 Corinthians v:9-12.</p> + +<p id="fn24">24. Judges iii:15-30.</p> + +<p id="fn25">25. Judges iii:31.</p> + +<p id="fn26">26. Judges iv:4-16; v:1.</p> + +<p id="fn27">27. Judges iv:17-24.</p> + +<p id="fn28">28. Judges vi and vii.</p> + +<p id="fn29">29. Judges ix:50-57.</p> + +<p id="fn30">30. Judges xv:15-20.</p> + +<p id="fn31">31. 2 Corinthians viii:12.</p> +</div> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK QUIET TALKS ON SERVICE***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 12529-h.txt or 12529-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/5/2/12529">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/5/2/12529</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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Gordon + +Release Date: June 5, 2004 [eBook #12529] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK QUIET TALKS ON SERVICE*** + + +E-text prepared by Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders + + + +QUIET TALKS ON SERVICE + +by + +S. D. GORDON + +Author of "Quiet Talks on Power" and "Quiet Talks on Prayer" + +1906 + + + + + + + +Contents + + + +Personal Contact with Jesus: The Beginning of Service +The Triple Life: The Perspective of Service +Yokefellows: The Rhythm of Service +A Passion for Winning Men: The Motive-power of Service +Deep-Sea Fishing: The Ambition of Service +Money: The Golden Channel of Service +Worry: A Hindrance to Service +Gideon's Band: Sifted for Service + + + + +Personal Contact With Jesus: The Beginning of Service. + + + + The Beginning of an Endless Friendship. + An Ideal Biography. + The Eyes of the Heart. + We are Changed. + The Outlook Changed. + Talking with Jesus. + Getting Somebody Else. + The True Source of Strong Service. + + + + +Personal Contact With Jesus: The Beginning of Service. + +(John i:35-51.) + + + +The Beginning of an Endless Friendship. + + +About a quarter of four one afternoon, three young men were standing +together on a road leading down to a swift-running river. It was an old +road, beaten down hard by thousands of feet through hundreds of years. It +led down to the river, and then along its bank through a village +scatteringly nestled by the fords of the river. The young men were +intently absorbed in conversation. + +One of them was a man to attract attention anywhere. He was clearly the +leader of the three. His clothing was very plain, even to severeness. His +face was spare, suggesting a diet as severely plain as his garments. The +abundance of dark hair on head and face brought out sharply the spare, +thoughtful, earnest look of his face. His eyes glowed like coals of living +fire beneath the thick, bushy eyebrows. He talked quietly but intensely. +There was a subdued vigor and force about his very person. + +One of the others was a very different type of man. He was intense too, +like the leader, but there was a fineness and a far-looking depth about +his eye such as suggests a gray eye rather than a black. His hair was +softer and finer, and his skin too. In him intensity seemed to blend with +a fine grain in his whole make-up. The third man was a quiet, +matter-of-fact looking fellow. He did not talk much, except to ask an +occasional question. The three men were engaged in earnest conversation, +when a fourth man, a stranger, came down the road and, passing the three +by, went on ahead. + +The leader of the three called the attention of his companions to the +stranger. At once they leave his side and go after the stranger. As they +nearly catch up to him, he unexpectedly turns and in a kindly voice asks, +"Whom are you looking for?" Taken aback by the unexpected question, they +do not answer, but ask where he is going. Quickly noticing the point of +their question, he cordially says, "Come over and take tea with me." + +They gladly accepted the invitation, and spent the evening with him. And +the friendship begun that day continued to the end of their lives. Both +became his dear friends. And one, the fine-grained, intense man, became +his closest bosom friend. He never forgot that day. When he came years +after to write about his hospitable friend, found that afternoon, he could +remember every particular of their first meeting. We must always be +grateful to John for his simple, full account of his first meeting with +Jesus. + + + +An Ideal Biography. + + +His simple story of that afternoon contains in it the three steps that +begin all service. They looked at Jesus; they talked with Jesus; forever +to the end of their lives they talked about Him. Here are the two personal +contacts that underlie all service, that lead into all service. The close +personal contact with Jesus begun and continued. And then personal contact +with other men ever after. The first always leads to the second. The power +and helpfulness of the second grow out of the first. + +There is a little line in the story that may serve as a graphic biography +of John the Herald. There could be no finer biography of anybody of whom +it could be truly written. It is this: "Looking upon Jesus as He walked, +he said look." He himself was absorbed in looking. Jesus caught him from +the first. He was ever looking. And he asked others to look. His whole +ministry was summed up in pointing Jesus out to others. + +He was ever insisting that men look at Jesus. Looking, he said "look." +His lips said it, and life said it. John's presence was always spelling +out that word "look," with his whole life an index finger pointing to +Jesus. If we might be like that. Every man of us may be in his life, in +the great unconscious influence of his presence, a clearly lettered +signpost pointing men to the Master. All true service begins in personal +contact with Jesus. One cannot know Him personally without catching the +warm contagion of His spirit for others. And there is a fine fragrance, a +gentle, soft warmth, about the service that grows out of being with Him. + +The beginning of John's contact with Jesus that day, and Andrew's, was in +looking. Their friend the herald bid them look. They found him looking. +They did as he was doing. Following the line of his eyes, and of his +teaching too, and of his life, they looked at Jesus. And as they looked +the sight of their eyes began to control them. They left John and +quickened their pace to get nearer to this Man at whom they were looking. +There never was a finer tribute to a man's faithfulness to his Master than +is found in these men leaving John. They could not help going. They had +been led by John into the circle of Jesus' attractive power. And at once +they are irresistibly drawn toward its center. + +The basis of the truest devotion and deepest loyalty to Jesus is not in a +creed but in Himself. There must be creeds. Whatever a man believes is of +course his creed. Though as quickly as he puts it into words he narrows +it. Truth is always more than any statement of it. Faith is always greater +than our words about it. We do not see Jesus with our outer eyes as did +these men in the Gospel narrative. We cannot put out our hands in any such +way as Thomas did and know by the feel. We must listen first to somebody +telling about Him. + +We listen either with eyes on the Book, or ears open to some faithful +mutual friend of His and ours. What we hear either way is a creed, +somebody's belief about Jesus. So we come to Jesus first through a creed, +somebody's belief, somebody's telling: so we know there is a Jesus, and +are drawn to Himself. When we come to know Himself, always afterwards He +is more than anything anybody ever told us, and more than we can ever +tell. + + + +The Eyes of the Heart. + + +Looking at Jesus--what does it mean practically? It means hearing about +Him first, then actually appealing to Him, accepting His word as personal +to one's self, putting Him to the test in life, trusting His death to +square up one's sin score, trusting His power to clean the heart and +sweeten the spirit, and stiffen the will. It means holding the whole life +up to His ideals. Aye, it means more yet; something on His side, an +answering look from Him. There comes a consciousness within of His love +and winsomeness. That answering look of His holds us forever after His +willing slaves, love's slaves. Paul speaks of the eyes of the heart. It is +with these eyes we look at Him, and receive His answering look. + +There are different ways of looking at Jesus, degrees in looking. Our +experiences with Jesus affect the eyes of the heart. When this same John +as an old man was writing that first epistle, he seems to recall his +experience in looking that first day. He says "that which we have _seen_ +with our eyes, that which we _beheld_."[1] From seeing with the eyes he +had gone to earnest, thoughtful _gazing_, caught with the vision of what +he saw. That was John's own experience. It is everybody's experience that +gets a look at Jesus. When the first looking sees something that catches +fire within, then does the inner fire affect the eye and more is seen. + +You have been in a strange city walking down the street, looking with +interest at what is there. But all at once you are caught by a sign that +contains a familiar name, and at once a whole flood of memories is +awakened. + +The little Jericho Jew peering down from the low out-reaching sycamore +branch was full of curiosity to see the Man that had changed his old +friend Levi Matthew so strangely. But that curiosity quickly changes into +something far deeper and more tender as Jesus comes to abide in his own +home. + +That lonely-lifed, sore-hearted woman on the Nain road looked with +startled wonder out of those wet eyes of hers as Jesus begins talking to +her dead son. What love and faith must have been in her looking as Jesus +with fine touch brings her boy by the hand over to her warm embrace again! + + + +We are Changed. + + +Looking at Jesus _changes us._ Paul's famous bit in the second Corinthian +letter has a wondrous tingle of gladness in it. "We all with open face +beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are changed from glory to +glory."[2] The change comes through our looking. The changing power comes +in through the eyes. It is the glory of the Lord that is seen. The +glorious Jesus looking in through our looking eyes changes us. It is +gradual. It is ever more, and yet more, till by and by His own image comes +out fully in our faces. + +We become like those with whom we associate. A man's ideals mold him. +Living with Jesus makes us look like Himself. We are familiar with the +work that has been done in restoring old fine paintings. A painting by one +of the rare old master painters is found covered with the dust of decades. +Time has faded out much of the fine coloring and clearly marked outlines. +With great patience and skill it is worked over and over. And something of +the original beauty, coming to view again, fully repays the workman for +all his pains. + +The original image in which we were made has been badly obscured and faded +out. But if we give our great Master a chance He will restore it through +our eyes. It will take much patience and a skill nothing less than divine. +But the original will surely come out more and more till we shall again be +like the original, for we shall _see_ Him as He is. + +The old German artist Hoffmann is said to visit at intervals the royal +gallery in Dresden, where he lives, to touch up his paintings there. Even +so our Master, living in us, keeps touching us up that the full beauty of +His ideal may be brought out. + +How often a girl growing up into the fullness of her mature young +womanhood calls out the remark, "You are growing more and more like your +mother." And the similar remark is heard of a young man developing the +traits and features of his father. + +There is a law of unconscious assimilation. We become like those with whom +we go. Without being conscious of it we take on the characteristics of +those with whom we live. I remember one time my brother returned home for +a visit after a prolonged absence. As we were walking down the street +together he said to me, "You have been going with Denning a good deal"--a +mutual friend of ours. Surprised, I said, "How do you know I have?" He +said, "You walk just like him." What my brother had said was strictly +true, though he did not know it. Our friend had a very decided way of +walking. As a matter of fact, we had been walking home from the Young +Men's Christian Association three or four nights every week. And +unconsciously I had grown to imitate his way of walking. + +That sentence of Paul's has also this meaning, "We all with open face +_reflecting_ as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are changed." We stand +between Him and those who don't know Him. We are the mirror catching the +rays of His face and sending them down to those around. And not only do +those around see the light--His light--in us, but we are being changed all +the while. For others' sake as well as our own the mirror should be kept +clean, and well polished so the reflection will be distinct and true. + + + +The Outlook Changed. + + +Looking at Jesus _changes the world for us._ It is as though the light of +His eyes fills our eyes and we see things all around as He sees them. Have +you ever gone out, as a child, and looked intently at the sun, repressing +the flinching its strength caused and insisting on looking? You could do +it for a short time only. It made your eyes ache. But as you turned your +eyes away from its brilliance you found everything changed. You remember a +beautiful yellow glory-light was over everything, and every ugly jagged +thing was softened and beautified by that glow in your eyes. Looking at +the sun had changed the world for you for a little. + +It is something like that on this higher plane, in this finer sense. That +must have been something of Paul's thought in explaining the glory of +Jesus that he saw on the Damascus road. "When I could not see for the +glory of that light." The old ideals were blurred. The old ambitions faded +away. The jagged, sharp lines of sacrifice and suffering involved in his +new life were not clearly seen. A halo had come over them. + +I recall a bit of a poem I ran across in an old magazine somewhere. It was +one of those vagrant, orphan poems with fine family lineaments that find +their way unfathered into odd corners of papers. It told about a man +riding on horseback through a bit of timber land in one of the cotton +states of the South. + +It was a bright October day, and he was riding along enjoying the air and +view, when all at once he came across a bit of a clearing in the trees, +and in the clearing an old cabin almost fallen to pieces, and in the +doorway of the cabin an old negress standing. Her back was bent nearly +double with the years of hard work, her face dried up and deeply bitten +with wrinkles, and her hair white. But her eyes were as bright as two +stars out of the dark blue, it said. + +And the man called out cheerily, "Good-morning, auntie, living here all +alone?" And she looked up, with her eyes brighter yet with the thought in +her heart, and in a shrill keyed-up voice said, "Jes me 'n' Jesus, massa." +But he said a hush came over the whole place, there seemed a halo about +the old broken-down cabin, and he thought he could see Somebody standing +by her side looking over her shoulder at him, and His form was like that +of the Son of God. + +How poor and limited and mean her world looked to him as he rode up. But +how quickly everything changed as he saw it through her seeing of it. With +the keen insight into spirit things so often found in such simplicity +among her race, she had gotten the whole simple philosophy of life. Her +world was changed and beautiful in the loneliness of the woods by reason +of her Master's presence. + +This removes the commonplace at once clear out of one's life. There is no +drudgery nor humdrum nor hardship, because everything is for Jesus, and +seen through His eyes. Whatever comes in the pathway of his work is +gladdest joy, whether an obscure narrow round of home work or shop or +store, or leaving home for a strange land far across the sea with a +peculiarly uncongenial spirit atmosphere. Contact with Jesus, seeing Him, +changes all for us. + + + +Talking with Jesus. + + +These two men in the story went from their first looking into closer +contact. They looked at Jesus. Then they talked with Jesus. It was at His +own request. He wanted them. He wanted their friendship and their help. +Having started, it was easy for them to go. Having seen, they naturally +wanted more. At least two hours they talked, maybe longer. Judging by what +they did as soon as they got away, it was a most wonderful talk for them. + +This Jesus took them at once. His face, His presence, His talk, Himself +filled all their sky. Everything swung around into a new setting. He was +its center. All things began to adjust themselves for these men about +Jesus. He was irresistible to them. These two men went through some most +trying experiences as a result of the friendship formed that evening hour, +but these counted not in the scale with _Him_. They never got over the +talk with Him that twilight hour. + +That two hours' talk lengthened out into many another during the years +immediately after. They got into the habit of referring everything to Him, +and of judging everything by what He would think. It was so clear to the +end of their lives. For a little over three years did they keep Him by +their side actually, physically. But the habit of keeping Him there was +fixed for all the longer after years. The looking at Jesus and talking +with Jesus ever went side by side clear to the end of the years. + +It will be so. Getting a good look at this Master draws one off into the +quiet corner with the Book to listen and talk and learn more. And out of +this naturally grows (if one will give a little attention to good +gardening rules) the habit of talking with Him all the time. In the thick +of the crowd, in the solitude of one's duties, with hands full of work, +the heart talks with Him and listens, and sometimes the tongue talks out +too. Our common word for it is prayer. Prayer precedes true service, and +produces it, and sweetens it. Only the service that grows up naturally out +of this personal contact with Jesus counts and tells and weighs for the +most. + + + +Getting Somebody Else. + + +These two men went away from Jesus that evening only to come back with +some others. They went from talking with Him to talking with others for +Him. Their personal contact was the beginning of their service. This is +one of the famous personal work chapters. There are three "findeths" in +it. Andrew findeth his brother Peter. That was a great find. John in his +modesty doesn't speak of it, but in all likelihood he findeth James _his_ +brother. Jesus findeth Philip and Philip in turn findeth Nathaniel, the +guileless man. + +That word findeth is very suggestive, even to being picturesque. It tells +the absence of these other men. Their whereabouts might be guessed, but +were not known. There was in the searchers a purpose, and a warmth in the +heart under that purpose. As Andrew looked and listened he said to +himself, "Peter must hear this; Peter must see this Man." And perhaps he +asks to be excused and, reaching for his hat, hastens out to get his +brother and bring him back to the house. He wants more himself, but he'll +get it with Peter in too. And so it would be with John likely. + +Peter had to be searched for. Most men do. He was probably absorbed with +all his impulsive intensity in some matter on hand. May be Andrew had to +pull quite a bit to get him started. But he got him. Andrew was a good +sticker: hard to shake him off. His is a fine name for a brotherhood of +personal workers. And when Peter once got started he never quit going. He +stumbled some, but he got up, and got up only to go on. Most men need some +one to get them started. There's need of more starters, more of us +starting people moving Jesus' way. + +I think the memory of this evening's work with Peter must have come back +very vividly to Andrew one morning a few years afterwards. It's up on the +hills of Judea, in Jerusalem. There's a great crowd of people standing in +the streets, filling the space for a great distance. There are some +thousands of them. They are listening spellbound to a man talking. It is +Peter. And down there near by, maybe holding Peter's hat while he talks, +is Andrew. His eyes are glowing. And if you might listen to his heart +talking, I think you would hear it saying softly, "I'm so glad I brought +Peter that evening I met Jesus." Peter's talk that day swung three +thousand men and women over to Jesus. Somebody has said that if Peter were +their spiritual father, certainly Andrew was their spiritual grandfather. +And I think God reckons the thing that way, too. + +There is a great deal of good talk these days about regenerating society. +It used to be that men talked about "reaching the masses." Now the other +putting of it is commoner. It is helpful talk whichever way it is put. The +Gospel of Jesus is to affect all society. It _has_ affected all society, +and is to more and more. But the thing to mark keenly is this, the key to +the mass is the man. The way to regenerate society is to start on the +individual. + +The law of influence through personal contact is too tremendous to be +grasped. You influence one man and you have influenced a group of men, and +then a group around each man of the group, and so on endlessly. +Hand-picked fruit gets the first and best market. The keenest marksmen are +picked out for the sharpshooters' corps. + + + +The True Source of Strong Service. + + +One morning with a friend I walked out of the city of Geneva to where the +waters of the lake flow with swift rush into the Rhone. And we were both +greatly interested in the strange sight which has impressed so many +travellers. There are two rivers whose waters come together here, the +Rhone and the Arve, the Arve flowing into the Rhone. The waters of the +Rhone are beautifully clear and sparkling. The waters of the Arve come +through a clayey soil and are muddy, gray, and dull. And for a long +distance the two waters are wholly distinct. Two rivers of water are in +one river-bed, on one side the sparkling blue Rhone water, on the other +the dull gray Arve water, and the line between the two sharply defined. +And so it continues for a long distance. Then gradually they blend and the +gray begins to tinge all through the blue. + +I went to the guide-book and maps to find out something about this river +that kept on its way undefiled by its neighbor for so long. Its source is +in a glacier that is between ten thousand and eleven thousand feet high, +descending "from the gates of eternal night, at the foot of the pillar of +the sun." It is fed continually by the melting glacier which, in turn, is +being kept up by the snows and cold. Rising at this great height, ever +being renewed steadily by the glacier, it comes rushing down the swift +descent of the Swiss Alps through the lake of Geneva and on. There is the +secret of purity, side by side with its dirty neighbor. + +Our lives must have their source high up in the mountains of God, fed by a +ceaseless supply. Only so can there be the purity, and the momentum that +shall keep us pure, and keep us _moving_ down in contact with men of the +earth. And we must keep closer to the source than is the Rhone at Geneva, +else the streams flowing alongside will unduly influence us. Constant +personal contact with Jesus is the beginning ever new of service. + + + + +The Triple Life: The Perspective of Service. + + + + On An Errand for Jesus. + The Parting Message. + A Secret Life of Prayer. + An Open Life of Purity. + An Active Life of Service. + The Perspective of True Service. + A Long Time Coming. + + + + +The Triple Life: The Perspective of Service. + +(Luke ix:1-6; x:1-3, 17; John xx:19-23; Matthew xxviii:18-20.) + + + +On An Errand for Jesus. + + +You remember there were four times that Jesus picked out a group of men, +and sent them on a special errand. About the middle of the second year of +His public life, He chose out twelve men and commissioned them for a +special bit of work. Six months before the tragic end, He chose seventy +others and sent them out in twos into all the places He was planning to +visit Himself. It was a remarkable campaign for carrying the news which He +was preaching into all the villages of that whole country through which +His journey south lay. + +Then the evening of that never-to-be-forgotten resurrection day, under +wholly changed conditions, He again commissions ten men of that first +twelve. Things had radically changed with Jesus. And there had been a bad +break in the loyalty of these men. Two of their number are absent. Judas +has gone to his own place, and Thomas was not there that evening. His +absence cost him a week of doubting and mental distress. Ten of the old +inner circle are commissioned anew. And then do you remember the last time +they were together? It was about six weeks later, on the rounded top of +the old Olives Mount, the eleven men with the Master. Four times He +commissioned a group of men for some service He wanted done. + +There are two things in these four commissions that make them alike. The +same two things are in each. The first thing is this: they are bidden to +"go." That ringing word "go ye" is in, each time. "As the Father hath sent +Me even so send I you." It is a familiar word to every follower of Jesus +then, and now, and always. A true follower of His always is stirred by a +spirit of _"go."_ A going Christian is a growing Christian. A going church +has always been a growing church. Those ages when the church lost the +vision of her Master's face on Olives, and let other sounds crowd out of +her ears the sound of His voice, were stagnant ages. They are commonly +spoken of in history as the dark ages. "Go" is the ringing keynote of the +Christian life, whether in a man or in the church. + +The second thing found always in each of these commissions is this: they +were qualified, or empowered to go. Whom God calls He always qualifies. +Where His voice comes His Spirit breathes. If there has come to you some +bit of a call to service, to teach a class, or write a special letter, or +speak a word, or take up something needing to be done. And you hesitate. +You think that you cannot. You are not fit, you think, not qualified. The +thing to do is to do it. + +If the call is clear go ahead. Need is one of the strong calling voices of +God. It is always safe to respond. Put _out_ your foot in the answering +swing, even though you cannot see clearly the place to put it _down_. God +attends to that part. Power comes _as we go_. + + + +The Parting Message. + + +Just now I want to talk with you a bit about the last one of these +commissions, the Olivet commission. I do not know just what day it was +given or at what hour. But I have thought it was in the twilight of a +Sabbath evening. There's a yellow glow of light filling all the western +sky running along the broken line of those hills yonder, and through the +trees, and in upon this group of men standing. + +Here in full view lies little Bethany fragrant with memories of Jesus' +power. Over yonder, those tree tops down in a bit of valley with the +brook--that is _Gethsemane_. And farther over there is the fortress city +of _Jerusalem_. And just outside its wall is the bit of a knoll called +_Calvary_. Here under these trees every night that last week of the +tragedy Jesus had slept out in the open, with His seamless coat wrapped +about Him. This is the spot He chooses for the good-by word. It is full of +most precious, fragrant memories. + +Here is the man who has been Simon, but out of whom a new man was coming +these days, Peter, the man of rock. And here are John and James, sons of +fire and of thunder, sons of their mother. And there, little Scotch +Andrew. At least our Scotch friends seem to have adopted him as their very +own. And close by his side is his friend with the Greek name, Philip. And +here the man to whom Jesus paid the great tribute of naming him the +guileless man. + +And the others, not so well known to us, but very well known to Jesus, and +to be not a whit less faithful than their brothers these coming days. But +somehow as you look you are at once irresistibly drawn past these to +_Him_--the Man in the midst. The Man with the great face, torn with the +thorns, and cut with the thongs, but shining with a sweet, wondrous, +beauty light. + +It is the last time they are together. He is going away; coming back soon, +they understand. They do not know just how soon. But meanwhile in His +absence they are to be as He Himself would be if He remained among men. +They are to stand for Him. And so with eyes fixed on His face they look, +and listen, and wonder a bit, just what the last word will be. + +What would you expect it to be? It was the good-by word between men who +were lovers, dearest friends. The tenderest thing would be said and the +most important. The one going away would speak of that which lay closest +down in His own heart. And whatever He might say would sink deepest into +their hearts, and control their action in the after days. + +He had been talking to them very insistently, about an hour before, down +in the city, about _waiting there_ until the Holy Spirit came upon them. +And that word has fastened itself into their minds with newly sharpened +hooks of steel points. Now He talks about their being His witnesses, here +at home among their own folks, and out among their half-breed Samaritan +neighbors, whom they didn't like, and then--with eyes looking yearningly +out and finger pointing steadily out--to the farthest reach of the planet. +And now, as He is about to go, this is the word that comes from those +lips: + + "All power hath been given unto Me. + Therefore go ye, + And make disciples of all nations." + + + +A Secret Life of Prayer. + + +There are four things in that good-by word. Three are directly spoken, and +one is not spoken, but directly implied. First is this, your chief work is +to win men. That is directly said. The second is implied--it is the +toughest task you ever undertook. That is implied in this that it will +take more power than they have. A power that only He has. A supernatural +power. And we all know how true that is. Of all luggage man is the hardest +to move. He _won't_ move unless he _will_. Every man of us that has ever +tried to change somebody's else purpose knows how impossible it is unless +by the inward pull. You simply _cannot_ without the man's consent. The +third thing is this: I have all the power needed. The fourth this: _You_ +go. + +And the Master meant to tell them, and to tell us, this: that a man should +lead a triple life, three lives in one. We sometimes hear of a man leading +a double life in a bad sense. In a good sense, every one of us should be +living a triple life, three distinct lives in one. The first of these +three lives is this: _a secret life, lived with Jesus, hidden from the +eyes of men_. An inner life of closest contact with Him, that the outside +folks know nothing about. + +Notice again the four statements in that good-by word. Your chief concern +is to win men. It is the toughest task you ever undertook: it will take +supernatural power. I have all the power you need. Instinctively you feel +as though the fourth thing should be, "I will go." That would seem to be +the logical conclusion. "No," Jesus says, "_you go_." Plainly if we are to +do something taking supernatural power, and we haven't any such power of +ourselves, there must be the closest kind of contact with the source of +power. The man who is to go must be in the most intimate contact with the +Man who has the powers needed in the going. + +And this is simply a law of all life, given to us here by life's greatest +Philosopher. The seen depends upon the secret always. The outer keys upon +the inner. The life that men see depends wholly upon the life that only +the Master sees. David had power to slay the lion and bear in secret, away +from the gaze of men, before he had power to slay the giant before the +wondering eyes of two nations. The closet becomes the swivel of the +street. + +In crossing the ocean there are two great dangers to be dreaded and +guarded against, aside from the storms that may arise. The greater of +these is an abandoned ship. One that through some stress of storm has been +left by the sailors in the attempt to save their lives. It is most +dangerous because it sends no warning ahead of its presence. In crossing +the Atlantic by the more northern routes the other danger is from the +icebergs that may be met in the steamer's path. If a fog obscure the +lookout the boat is slowed down, and a man kept busy with line and +thermometer taking the temperature of the water. The iceberg is kindlier +than the derelict, in the chill it sends out. The presence of the danger +can so be detected, and measures taken to avoid it. + +But the great danger here is not simply in the huge mountain of ice that +you see looming up against the sky, great as that is. It is in the unseen +ice. Hidden away below is a mountain of ice twice as large and heavy as +that seen above the water's surface. The danger lies in the terrific force +of a blow from this hidden pile that would crush the strongest steel +steamer, as I might crush an egg-shell in my fingers. + +We all admire the beauty of the trees that rear their heads, and send out +their branches, and make the world so beautiful with their soft green +foliage. But have you thought of the twin tree, the unseen tree that +belongs to these we see? For every tree that grows up and out with its +beauty and fruit there is another. The twin tree goes down and out. + +Sometimes, as far as this we see goes _up_, the other goes _down_; as far +as the branches go out so far do the underneath branches go out, +sometimes farther. This unseen tree is ever busy drawing moisture, and +food from the soil and sending it, ceaselessly sending it, up to the upper +tree. The beauty and fruitfulness above are because of this secret life of +the tree. + +I remember as a boy going to the bathroom in our home one day to draw some +water. But none came. There were a few drops, and some sputtering--there's +very apt to be sputtering when there is nothing else--but no flow of +water. And I wondered why. Soon I found that the main pipe in the street +was being fixed, and the water had been cut off at the curb. There was +water in the pipe clear from the curbstone up to the spigot, but I could +not get it because the reservoir connection under the ground had been +turned off. + +I have met some people since then that made me think of that. There is a +reservoir of water, clear and sweet, with which they have had connection, +and are supposed still to have. But when some thirsty body comes up for a +bit of refreshment, there's some sputtering, some noise, may be a few +stray drops--but no more. And folks seem thirstier because they were +expecting a cool, satisfying drink that never came. + +I think I know why it is so. The secret connection with the reservoir has +been tampered with. There _must_ be the secret contact with Jesus +cultivated habitually if there is to be a sweet, strong outer life. And +not cultivated by hothouse methods. Such plants won't stand the chilly air +outside the glass-house. Cultivated by natural, simple contact with Jesus, +over His Word, habitually, until everything comes under the influence of +that secret life. + +One day a man was standing on a busy downtown thoroughfare in Cleveland +waiting for a car. There was a thick, dirty wire hanging down from the +cross arm high up of the wire pole. He happened to stop there. And +absorbed in thought, he mechanically put out his hand and took hold of the +wire. Instantly a look of intense agony came into his face. His arm, and +whole body began twisting and writhing. Then he fell to the ground +lifeless. The dirty-looking wire had direct connections with the +power-house. It was throbbing with a strong current. It was a "live" wire. + +Some men who have seemed quite unattractive in the light of some modern +standards have been found on touch to be charged with a life current of +tremendous power. And some others, outwardly more attractive, have been +found to be as powerless as a dead wire. And some there have been, and +are, very winsome and attractive in themselves, and charged with the life +current too. The great thing is the secret connections carefully +maintained with the source of power. + +There must be the closest kind of touch with God if His plan through us +for a planet is to carry out. We do not run on the storage battery plan, +but on the trolley plan, or the third rail. There must be constant full +touch with the feed wire or rail. And that "must" should be spelled in +capitals, and printed in red, and triply underscored. + +A man _must_ plan for the bit of quiet time daily, preferably in the early +morning, alone with Jesus; with the door shut, the Book open, the spirit +quiet, the mind alert, the knee bent, the will bent too. If it be +resolutely _planned_ for it can be gotten in every life. If not planned +for with a bit of red iron in the will, it will surely slip out. And the +man will surely slip down. + +Here is found the spirit in which a man may live all the day long, +wherever his feet may tread, in the fierce competition of trade, or in the +deadly enervation of some society circles. Out of such a man shall +breathe, all unconsciously to himself, an atmosphere fragrant as a +mountain breeze over a field of wild roses. This is the first life Jesus +bids us live. + + + +An Open Life of Purity. + + +The second life we are to live is the exact reverse of this. It is indeed +the outer side of this: _an open life of purity lived among men for +Jesus_. Note again the logic of that good-by word. Your chief business is +to be down there in the thick of the crowd, winning men out of the dust +and dirt up into a new life of purity. It is the hardest job any man ever +undertook. It is practically impossible unless you have a power quite more +than human. Jesus quietly says, "I have the power that will do it." + +Again you feel that He must say next, "_I_ will go." The thing must be +done. It is the one thing worth while. It will require a power we haven't. +_He_ has it. You feel as though _He_ must do the going. "No," He says, +with great emphasis. "_You_ go. You be I; you live my life over again, +down there among men." The "Ye" and "Me" in that sentence are meant to be +interchangeable words. + +He is asking us to live His life over again among men. No, it is more than +that. He is asking us to let Him live His life over again in each of us. +The Man with the power that men can't resist would reach out to them +_through us._ He would be touching them in us. Jesus said, "As the Father +hath sent Me, even so send I you." He said again, "He that hath seen Me +hath seen the Father." Jesus embodied the Father to men. He asks us to +take His place and embody Himself to men. + +Paul understood this thoroughly. In writing to the friends throughout +Galatia, whom he had won up to Jesus, he says, "I have been crucified +with Christ." There is an old dead "I." "Nevertheless I live." There is a +new living "I." "Yet not I--the old I--but Christ liveth in me." _He_ was +the new I. There was a new personality within Paul. I never weary of +recalling what Martin Luther said about that verse in the comment he made +on Galatians. You remember he said, "If somebody should knock at my +heart's door, and ask who lives here, I must not say 'Martin Luther lives +here.' I would say 'Martin Luther--is--dead--Jesus--Christ--lives--here.'" + +I wonder if any of us has ever been taken for Jesus. I wonder if anybody +has ever _mistaken_ any of us for Him. You remember, He used to move among +men after the resurrection, and while they would feel the gentle +winsomeness of His presence and talk, they did not recognize Him. Has +somebody run across you or me sometime, and been with us a little while, +and then gone away saying to himself, "I wonder if that was Jesus back +again in disguise. He seemed so much like what I think Jesus must have +been--I wonder." + +Well, if it were so, of course we would not be conscious of it. A +Jesus-man is never absorbed in thinking about himself. He is taken up with +Jesus, and with folks. A man is always least conscious of the power of his +own presence and life. Everybody else knows more about it than he does. +Plainly this is the Master's plan for each of us. And more, it is the +result when He is allowed free sway. + +The controlling principle of His life was to please His Father. The +pervading purpose and passion was to win men out and up. The +characteristics of His life were purity, unselfishness, sympathy, and +simplicity. We are to be as He. He was the Father to all the race of men. +Each of us is to be Jesus to his circle. + +Please notice I'm not talking about lips just now but about lives. The +life is the indorsement of the lips. It makes the words of the lips more +than they sound or seem. Or, it makes them less, sometimes pitiably less, +little more than a discount clerk ever busily at work. The words ever go +to the level of the life, up or down. Water seeks its level persistently. +So do one's words, and they find it more quickly than the water, for they +go _through_ all obstructions. And the life is the leveler of the words, +up or down. + +So far as this second life is concerned a man's lips might be sealed, and +his tongue dumb, but his life in its purity and simplicity, its +unselfishness and sympathetic warmness will ever be spelling out Jesus. +And He will be spelled out so big and plain that the man hurriedly +running, or lazily creeping, or half blind in a cloud of dust, will be +stopping and reading. If there were but more re-incarnations of Jesus how +folks would be coming a-running to Him. + +Do you remember that prayer in blank verse of the old Scottish preacher +and poet and saint, Horatius Bonar? He said: + + "Oh, turn me, mould me, mellow me for use. + Pervade my being with Thy vital force, + That this else inexpressive life of mine + May become eloquent and full of power, + Impregnated with life and strength divine. + Put the bright torch of heaven into my hand, + That I may carry it aloft + And win the eye of weary wanderers here below + To guide their feet into the paths of peace. + I cannot raise the dead, + Nor from this soil pluck precious dust, + Nor bid the sleeper wake, + Nor still the storm, nor bend the lightning back, + Nor muffle up the thunder, + Nor bid the chains fall from off creation's long enfettered limbs. + _But_ I can live a life that tells on other lives, + And makes this world less full of anguish and of pain; + A life that like the pebble dropped upon the sea + Sends its wide circles to a hundred shores. + May such a life be mine. + Creator of true life, Thyself the life Thou givest, + Give Thyself, that Thou mayst dwell in me, and I + in Thee." + + + +An Active Life of Service. + + +The third life is _a life of active service, of aggressive earnestness in +winning men._ I say aggressive. That word does not mean noise and dust, +shuffling of feet, and bustling confusion. It means rather the steady, +steady movement of the sun which noiselessly, dustlessly, moves onward, +hour after hour, day in and day out, regardless of any storms, or +disturbances. It means the quiet, peaceful, but resistless uninterrupted +movement of the moon rising night after night, and going through its +circle of action. Earnestness means the burning of the inner spirit. Its +fires dim not, for they are fed continually from secret sources. + +This third life is spoken of directly: "Go ye and make disciples." The +going is to be continued until folks farthest away have heard. Some people +are bounded by the horizon of the town where they live, some by the +particular church to which they belong, some the denomination, some the +state, or even the nation. Jesus fixes the horizon of His follower as that +of the world. Jesus was visionary. He talked about all nations, a race, a +world. + +All are to go. They are to go to all. Some may be made wholly free, by +arrangement with their fellow-followers, to give their full strength and +time to the direct going and telling. These are highly favored in +privilege. Some of these may go to deserted darkened places in the home +land. Some may go to the city slum, which in its dire need is of close kin +to the foreign-mission land. These are yet more highly favored in +privilege. + +Some may go to those far distant lands where Jesus is not known, where the +need of Him is so pathetically great. These are the most highly favored in +the privilege of service accorded them. Many others have been left free of +the necessity of earning bread and home and clothing and so have a rare +opportunity of devoting themselves to the going, as the Spirit of Jesus +guides. Many are given the talent to earn easily, and so, if they will, +may give much strength to service. + +The great majority everywhere and always are absorbed for most of the +waking hours of the day in earning something to eat, and something to +wear, and somewhere to sleep. Yet where there is the warm touch with Jesus +there will come the yearning for purity, and the life of service. With +these as with all there may be the service, strong and sweetly fragrant. +There is always some bit of spare time, with planning, that can be used in +direct service in church, or school, or mission. And the secret life of +prayer will give a steadiness that will guard against the over-use of +one's strength. + +There can be a personal going to some in words tactfully spoken. There is +the life of sweet purity and gentle patience always so winsome, that +speaks all the time in musical tones to one's circle. There is an +enormous, unconscious aggressiveness about such a life. Then there can be +the going through gold. And the entire planet can be brought under one's +thumb of influence through the strangely simple power of prayer. + +I have been running across some new versions of this last word of Jesus. A +sort of re-revisions they are. I have not found them in the common print, +but printed in lives, the lives of men. The print is large, chiefly +capitals, easily read. These lives are so noisy as to quite shut out what +the lips may be saying. There are variations in these translations. + +Sometime the message is made to read like this: "All power hath been given +unto Me, therefore go ye, and make--coins of gold--oh, belong to church of +course--that is proper and has many advantages--and give too. There are +advantages about that--give freely, or make it seem freely--give to +missions at home and abroad. That is regarded as a sure sign of a liberal +spirit. But be careful about the _proportion_ of your giving. For the real +thing that counts at the year's end is how much you have added to the +stock of dollars in your grasp. These other things are good, but--merely +incidental. This thing of getting gold is the main drive." + +Please understand me, I never heard any of these folks talk in this blunt +way with their _tongues_. So far as I can hear, they are saying something +quite different. But what their tongues are saying is made indistinct and +blurred by some noise near by. + +Other translations I have run across have this variation: "Make a place +for yourself, in your profession, in society. Make a comfortable +living;--with a wide margin of meaning to that word 'comfortable'--belong +to the church, become a pillar, or at least move in the pillar's circle, +give of course, even freely in appearance, but remember these are the dust +in the scale, the other is the thing that weighs. All of one's energies +must be centered on the main thing." + +May I ask you to listen very quietly, while I repeat the Master's own +words over very softly and clearly, so that they may get into the inner +cockles of our hearts anew? "All power hath been given unto Me; therefore +go ye, and _make disciples of all nations_." These other translations are +wrong. They are misleading. _The one main thing is influencing men for +Jesus_. + + + +The Perspective of True Service. + + +It is not the only thing by any means. There is a multitude of things +perfectly proper and that must be done and well done. But through all +their doing is to run this one strong purpose. These other things are +details, important details, indispensably important, yet details. The +other is the one main thing toward which the doing of all the others is to +bend and blend. + +Please mark keenly that there are three lives here; three in one. The +secret life of prayer, the open life of purity, the active life of service +Not one, nor the other, not any two, but all three, this is the true +ideal. This is the true rounded life. And note sharply that this gives the +true perspective of service. The service life grows up out of the other +two. Its roots lie down in prayer and purity. This explains why so much +service is fruitless. It isn't rooted. There is no rich subsoil. + +It seems to be a part of the hurt of sin that men do not keep the +proportion of things balanced, and never have. In former days men shut +themselves up behind great walls that they might be pleasing to God. They +shut out the noise that they might have quiet to pray. They thought to +shut out the sin that they might be pure, forgetting that they carried it +in with them. + +In our day things have swung clean over to the other extreme. Now all is +activity. The emphasis of the time is upon doing. There is a lot of +running around, and rushing around. There is a great deal of activity that +seems inseparable from dust. The wheels make such a lot of noise as they +go around. _Doing_ that does not root down in the secret touch with +Jesus, may be quite vigorous for a time, but soon leaves behind as its +only memory withered up branches. This is a _practical_ age, we are +constantly told. Things must be judged by the standard of usefulness. That +is surely true, and good, but there is very serious danger that the true +perspective of service be lost in the dust that is being raised. + +The imprint of this disproportion or lack of proportion can even be found +in the theological teaching of long ago and now. At one time religion was +defined as having to do with a man's relation to God. That was emphasized +to the utter hiding away of all else. In our own day the swing is clear +over to the other side. Definitions of religion that make everything of +helping one's brother and fellow, are the popular thing. There seems to be +a sort of astigmatism that keeps us from seeing things straight. Though +always there have been those that saw straight and lived truly. + +Mark keenly that true touch with God always brings the longing to be pure, +and the loving of one's fellow. The nearer one gets to God the nearer will +he find himself getting to men. Often we find ourselves getting new +wonderful glimpses of God as we are eagerly helping somebody. Up seems to +include out, as though the line that drew us up to God led through men. +Yet with that always goes the other fact that touch with God makes one +long to be alone with Him. + +There are always the three turnings of a true life, upward, inward, +outward. Upward to God, inward to self, outward to the world. The more one +knows God the keener is the longing to get off with Himself alone, the +deeper is the yearning to be pure, and the stronger is the passion to help +others regardless of any sacrifice involved. + + + +A Long Time Coming. + + +There is an old story that caught fire in my heart the first time it came +to me, and burns anew at each memory of it. It told of a time in the +southern part of our country when the sanitary regulations were not so +good as of late. A city was being scourged by a disease that seemed quite +beyond control. The city's carts were ever rolling over the cobble-stones, +helping carry away those whom the plague had slain. + +Into one very poor home, a laboring man's home, the plague had come. And +the father and children had been carried out until on the day of this +story there remained but two, the mother and her baby boy of perhaps five +years. The boy crept up into his mother's lap, put his arms about her +neck, and with his baby eyes so close, said, "Mother, father's dead, and +brothers and sister are dead;--if _you_ die, what'll I do?" + + +The poor mother had thought of it, of course, What could she say? Quieting +her voice as much as possible, she said, "If I die, Jesus will come for +you." That was quite satisfactory to the boy. He had been taught about +Jesus, and felt quite safe with Him, and so went about his play on the +floor. And the boy's question proved only too prophetic. And quick work +was done by the dread disease. And soon she was being laid away by strange +hands. + +It is not difficult to understand that in the sore distress of the time +the boy was forgotten. When night came, he crept into bed, but could not +sleep. Late in the night he got up, found his way out along the street, +down the road, in to where he had seen the men put her. And throwing +himself down on the freshly shoveled earth, sobbed and sobbed until nature +kindly stole consciousness away for a time. + +Very early the next morning a gentleman coming down the road from some +errand of mercy, looked over the fence, and saw the little fellow lying +there. Quickly suspecting some sad story, he called him, "My boy, what are +you doing there?--My boy, wake up, what are you doing there all alone?" +The boy waked up, rubbed his baby eyes, and said, "Father's dead, and +brothers and sister's dead, and now--_mother's_--dead--too. And she said, +if she did die, Jesus would come for me. And He hasn't come. And I'm so +tired waiting." And the man swallowed something in his throat, and in a +voice not very clear, said, "Well, my boy, I've come for you." And the +little fellow waking up, with his baby eyes so big, said "I think you've +been a long time coming." + +Whenever I read these last words of Jesus or think of them, there comes up +a vision that floods out every other thing. It is of Jesus Himself +standing on that hilltop. His face is all scarred and marred, thorn-torn +and thong-cut. But it is beautiful, passing all beauty of earth, with its +wondrous beauty light. Those great eyes are looking out so yearningly, +_out_ as though they were seeing men, the ones nearest and those farthest. +His arm is outstretched with the hand pointing out. And you cannot miss +the rough jagged hole in the palm. And He is saying, _"Go ye."_ The +attitude, the scars, the eyes looking, the hand pointing, the voice +speaking, all are saying so intently, _"Go ye."_ + +And as I follow the line of those eyes, and the hand, there comes up an +answering vision. A great sea of faces that no man ever yet has numbered, +with answering eyes and outstretching hands. From hoary old China, from +our blood-brothers in India, from Africa where sin's tar stick seems to +have blackened blackest, from Romanized South America, and the islands, +aye from the slums, and frontiers, and mountains in the homeland, and from +those near by, from over the alley next to your house maybe, they seem to +come. And they are rubbing their eyes, and speaking. With lives so +pitifully barren, with lips mutely eloquent, with the soreness of their +hunger, they are saying, "You're a long time coming." + +Shall we go? Shall we _not_ go? But how shall we best go? By keeping in +such close touch with Jesus that the warm throbbing of His heart is ever +against our own. Then will come a new purity into our lives as we go out +irresistibly attracted by the attraction of Jesus toward our fellows. And +then too shall go out of ourselves and out of our lives and service, a new +supernatural power touching men. It is Jesus within reaching men through +us. + + + + +Yokefellows: The Rhythm of Service. + + + + The Master's Invitation. + Surrender a Law of Life, + Free Surrender. + "Him." + Yoked Service. + In Step With Jesus. + The Scar-marks of Surrender. + Full Power Through Rhythm. + He Is Our Peace. + The Master's Touch. + + + + +Yokefellows: The Rhythm of Service. + +(Matthew xi. 25-30; Luke x:1, 17, 21-24.) + + + +The Master's Invitation. + + +It was about six months before the tragic end that Jesus sent out +thirty-five deputations of two each. He was beginning that slow memorable +journey south that ended finally at the cross. These men are sent ahead to +prepare the way. By and by they return and make a glad exultant report of +the good results attending their work. Even the demons had acknowledged +the power of Jesus' name on their lips. + +As He was listening Jesus looked up, and said, "Father, I thank Thee." And +then, as though He could see those great crowds to whom they had been +ministering in His name, He said, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are +heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of +Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your +souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." + +There are two invitations here, "come" and "take." There are two sorts of +people. Those who are tugging and straining at work, and carrying heavy +burdens, and then those who have received rest, and are now asked to go a +step farther. There are two kinds of rest, a given rest, and a found rest. +The given rest cannot be found. It comes as a sheer out gift, from Jesus' +own hand. The found rest cannot be given, may I say? It comes stealing its +gentle way in as one fits into Jesus' plan for his life. + +Many folks have accepted the first of these invitations. They have "come" +to Jesus, and received sweet rest from His hand. But they have gone no +farther. At the close of that first invitation there is a punctuation +period, a full stop. Some of the old schoolbooks used to say that one +should stop at a period and count four. Well, a great many people have +followed that old rule here, and more than followed. They have stopped at +that period, and never gotten past it. I want just now to ask you to come +with me as we talk together a bit about this second invitation, "Take My +yoke." + +Jesus used several different words in tying people up to Himself. There is +a growth in them, as He draws us nearer and nearer. First always is the +invitation "Come unto Me." That means salvation, life. Then He says, +"Follow Me," "Come after Me." That means discipleship. "Learn of Me" +means training in discipleship. "Yoke up with Me" means closest +fellowship. "Abide in Me" leads one out into abundant life. "As the Father +hath sent Me, even so send I you," means living Jesus' life over again. +And then the last "Go ye" is the outer reach of all, service for a world. + + + +Surrender a Law of Life. + + +Just now we want to talk together over this little three-worded sentence +from Jesus' lips, "Take My yoke." What does it mean? Well, that word yoke +is used in all literature outside of this book, as well as here, to mean +this: surrender by one and mastery by another one. Where two nations have +fought and the weaker has been forced to yield, it is quite commonly +spoken of as wearing the yoke of the stronger nation. The Romans required +their prisoners of war to pass under a yoke, sometimes a common cattle +yoke, sometimes an improvised yoke, to indicate their utter subjugation. +These Hebrews to whom Jesus is speaking are writhing with sore shoulders +under the galling yoke of the Romans. One can imagine an emphasis placed +on the "My." As though Jesus would say, "You have one yoke now; change +yokes. Take _My_ yoke." + +There is too a higher, finer meaning to this surrender when by mutual +arrangement and free consent there is a yielding of one to another for a +purpose. And so what Jesus means here is simply this--_surrender_. Bend +your head down, bend down your neck, even though it's a bit stiff going +your own way, and fit it into this yoke of mine. Surrender to Me as your +Master. + +And somebody says, "I don't like that. 'Surrender!' that sounds like +force. I thought salvation was _free_." Will you please remember that the +principle of surrender is a law of all life. It is the law of military +life, inside the army. Every man there has surrendered to the officers +above him. In some armies that surrender has amounted to absolute control +of a man's person and property by the head of the army. It is the law of +naval service. The moment a man steps on board a man-of-war to serve he +surrenders the control of his life and movements absolutely to the officer +in command. + +It is the law in public, political life. A man entering the President's +cabinet, as a secretary of some department, surrenders any divergent views +he may have to those of his chief. With the largest freedom of thought +that must always be where there are strong men, yet there must of +necessity be the one dominant will if the administration is to be a +powerful one. It is the law of commercial life. The man entering the +employ of a bank, a manufacturing concern, a corporation of any sort, in +whatever capacity, enters to do the will of somebody else. Always there +must be the one dominant will if there is to be power and success. + +And then may I hush my voice and speak of the more sacred things very +softly and remind you of this. Surrender is the law of the highest form of +life known to us men. I mean wedded life. Where the surrender is not by +one to the other, but by each to the other. Two wills, always two wills +where there is strong life, yet in effect but one. Two persons but only +one purpose. + +And so you see, Jesus, the Master, the greatest of earth's teachers and +philosophers, is striking the keynote of life when here He asks us to +surrender freely and wholly to Himself as the autocrat of our lives. He +asks us to bend our strong wills to His, to yield our lives, our plans, +our ambitions, our friendships, our gold, absolutely to His control. + + + +Free Surrender. + + +And if you still do not like the sound of that word surrender. It has a +harsh sound that grates upon your nerves. Will you please notice the first +word of that little sentence--"Take." Jesus does not say in sharp, hard +tones, "Come here; bend down; I'll _put_ this yoke on you." Never that. If +you will, of your own glad accord, freely, winsomely _take_ the yoke upon +you--that is what He asks. In military usage surrender is _forced_. Here +it must be _free_. Nothing else would be acceptable to Jesus. + +When our commissioners went a few years ago to Paris to treat with the +Spaniards, the latter are said to have desired certain changes in the +language of the protocol. With the polished suavity for which they are +noted the Spaniards urged that there be made slight changes in the +_words_: no real change in the meaning, they said, simply in the verbiage. +And our Judge Day at the head of the American Commissioners, listened +politely and patiently until the plea was presented. And then he quietly +said, "The article will be signed _as it reads_." And the Spaniards +protested, with much courtesy. The change asked for was trivial, merely in +the language, not in the force of the words. And our men listened +patiently and courteously. Then Mr. Day is said to have locked his little +square jaw and replied very quietly, "The article will be signed as it +reads." And the article was so signed. That is military usage. The +surrender was forced. The strength of the American fleets, the prestige of +great victory were back of the quiet man's demand. + +But that is not the law here. Jesus asks for only what we give freely and +spontaneously. He does not want anything except what is given with a +free, glad heart. This is to be a _voluntary_ surrender. Jesus is a +voluntary Saviour. He wants only voluntary followers. He would have us be +as Himself. The oneness of spirit leads the way into the intimacy of +closest friendship. And that is His thought for us. + +Do you remember those fine lines, "The quality of mercy is not +_strained_"--if the thing be forced through a strainer, there is no mercy +there--"it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place +beneath." Only what the warm current of His love draws out does Jesus +desire from us. It is to be a _free_ surrender. + + + +"Him." + + +And if you still knit your mental brows, and shrug your shoulder. The +thing hasn't yet shaken off the harshness you have been clothing it with. +Please notice the second word of that sentence--"My." "Take _My_ Yoke." +May I say gently but frankly that I would not surrender the control of my +life to any of you who are listening so kindly. And I surely would not ask +that I should be the autocrat of any of your lives. But--when--_Jesus_ +comes along. The Man with the marvelous face all torn and scarred, but +with that great, soft, shining light. I do not know just how all of you +feel. I can guess how some of you feel. But I know one man who cannot +respond too quickly and eagerly. The only thing to do is to make the will +as strong as it can be made, and then to use all of its strength in +surrendering eagerly to this matchless Man Jesus. Doubtless many of you +know fully that same eagerness, and maybe more. + +I remember a simple story that twined its clinging tendril lingers about +my heart. It was of a woman whose long years had ripened her hair, and +sapped her strength. She was a true saint in her long life of devotion to +God. She knew the Bible by heart, and would repeat long passages from +memory. But as the years came the strength went, and with it the memory +gradually went too, to her grief. She seemed to have lost almost wholly +the power to recall at will what had been stored away. + +But one precious bit still stayed. She would sit by the big sunny window +of the sitting room in her home, repeating over that one bit, as though +chewing a delicious titbit, "I know whom I have believed and am persuaded +that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that +day." By and by part of that seemed to slip its hold, and she would +quietly be repeating, "that which I have committed to Him." + +The last few weeks as the ripened old saint hovered about the border land +between this and the spirit world her feebleness increased. Her loved +ones would notice her lips moving. And thinking she might be needing some +creature comfort they would go over and bend down to listen for her +request. And time and again they found the old saint repeating over to +herself one word, over and over again, the same one word, +"Him--_Him_--Him." She had list the whole Bible but one word. But she had +the whole Bible in that one word. Did she not? This is a surrender to +_Him_, the Man of the Book. The Man of all life. + + + +Yoked Service. + + +They tell me that on a farm the yoke means service. Cattle are yoked to +serve, and to serve better, and to serve more easily. This is a surrender +for service, not for idleness. In military usage surrender often means +being kept in enforced idleness and under close guard. But this is not +like that. It is all up on a much higher plane. Jesus has every man's +life planned. It always awes me to recall that simple tremendous fact. +With loving strong thoughtfulness He has thought into each of our lives, +and planned it out, in whole, and in detail. He comes to a man and +says, "_I know_ you. I have been _thinking_ about you." Then very +softly--"I--_love_--you. I _need_ you, for a plan of Mine. _Please_ let +Me have the control of your life and all your power, for My plan." It is a +surrender for service. + +It is _yoked_ service. There are two bows or loops to a yoke. A yoke in +action has both sides occupied, and as surely as I bow down My head and +slip it into the bow on one side--I know there is _Somebody else_ on the +other side. It is yoked living now, yoked fellowship, yoked service. It is +not working _for_ God now. It is working _with_ Him. Jesus never sends +anybody ahead alone. He treads down the pathway through every thicket, +pushes aside the thorn-bushes, and clears the way, and then says with that +taking way of His, "Come along with Me. Let's go together, you and I." + +A man got up in a meeting to speak. It was down in Rhode Island, out a bit +from Providence. He was a farmer, an old man. He had become a Christian +late in life, and this evening was telling about his start. He had been a +rough, bad man. He said that when he became a Christian even the cat knew +that some change had taken place. That caught my ear. It had a genuine +ring. It seemed prophetic of the better day coming for all the lower +animal creation. So I listened. + +He said that the next morning after the change of purpose he was going +down to the village a little distance from his farm. He swung along the +road, happy in heart, singing softly to himself, and thinking about the +Saviour. All at once he could feel the fumes coming out of a saloon ahead. +He couldn't see the place yet, but his keen trained nose felt it. The +odors came out strong, and gripped him. + +He said he was frightened, and wondered how he would get by. He had never +gone by before, he said; always gone in; but he couldn't go in now. But +what to do, that was the rub. Then he smiled, and said, "I remembered, and +I said, 'Jesus, you'll have to come along and help me get by, I never can +by myself.'" And then in his simple, illiterate way he said, "_and He +come_--and _we_ went by, and we've been going by ever since." + +Ah, the old Rhode Island farmer had found the whole simple philosophy of +the true life. Our Yokefellow is always there alongside. Every temptation +that comes to us He has felt the sharp edge of, and can overcome. Every +problem, every difficulty, every opportunity He knows, and is right there, +swinging in rhythmic step alongside. It's yoked living and yoked service. + + + +In Step with Jesus. + + +Then please mark keenly that this surrender is for _surrendered_ service. +No free-lancing here. No guerrilla warfare, no bushwhacking. There seems +to be quite a lot of that, in this army. Some earnest folks are very busy +"helping God out," regardless of the general movement of the whole army. +And a great help they are too--they _think_. It would be difficult to see +how God would ever get along without them--they _seem_ to think. Poor +folks, they have gotten so covered with the dust made by their own feet +that they've completely lost track of things. There is a Lord to this +harvest. There is a great Commander-in-chief to this campaign. He has the +whole campaign for a _world_ carefully planned out. And each man's part in +it is planned too. He knows best what needs to be done. He sees keenly the +strategic points, and the emergencies. If only He could but depend on our +ears being trained to know His voice, and our wills trained to simple, +full obedience, how much difference it would make to Him. Simple, full +strong obedience seems to take the keenest intelligence, the strongest +will, and the most thorough discipline. + + "Just to ask Him what to do, + All the day. + And to make you quick and true + To obey."[3] + +This surrender is for glad, obedient surrendered service. + +And note too that it is for _training_ in service. They tell me that +where cattle are yoked for work it is usual to put a young restive beast +with an old, steady-going animal. The old worker sets the pace, and pulls +evenly, steadily ahead, and by and by the young undisciplined beast +gradually comes to learn the pace. That seems to fit in here with graphic +realness. So many of us seem to be full of an undisciplined unseasoned +strength. There are apt to be some hard drives ahead, and then pulling +back with a sudden jerk, and side lunges this way and that. There is +splendid strength, and eager willingness, but not much is accomplished for +lack of the steady, steady going regardless of rocks or ruts. + +Jesus says, "Yoke up with Me. Let's pull together, you and I." And if we +will pull steadily along, content to be by His side, and to be hearing His +quiet voice, and _always to keep His pace_, step by step with Him, without +regard to seeing results, all will be well, and by and by the best results +and the largest will be found to have come. And remember that as on the +farm, so here, the yoke is always carefully adjusted so that the young +learner may have the easier pulling. + +But it is well to put in this bit of a caution. If a man put his head into +the yoke, and then _pull back_--well, there'll be a man with a badly +chafed, sore neck in that neighborhood, and oil will be in demand. The +one safe rule is swinging straight ahead, steady, steady, without even +stopping to decide if the plow has cut properly, or if it is worth while. + + + +The Scar-marks of Surrender. + + +Then Jesus adds this: "Learn of Me." I used to wonder just what that +means. But I think I know a part of its meaning now. You remember the +Hebrews had a scheme of qualified slavery.[4] A man might sell his service +for six years but at the end of that time he was scot-free. On the New +Year's morning of the seventh year he was given his full liberty, and +given some grain and oil to begin life with anew. + +But if on that morning he found himself reluctant to leave, all his ties +binding him to his master's home, this was the custom among them. He would +say to his master, "I don't want to leave you. This is home to me. I love +you and the mistress. I love the place. All my ties and affections are +here. I want to stay with you always." His master would say, "Do you mean +this?" "Yes," the man would reply, "I want to belong to you forever." + +Then his master would call in the leading men of the village or +neighborhood to witness the occurrence. And he would take his servant out +to the door of the home, and standing him up against the door-jamb would +pierce the lobe of his ear through with an awl. I suppose like a +shoemaker's awl. Then the man became not his slave, but his bond-slave, +forever. It was a personal surrender of himself to his master; it was +voluntary; it was for love's sake; it was for service; it was after a +trial; it was for life. + +Now that was what Jesus did. If you will turn to that Fortieth Psalm,[5] +from which we read, you will find words that are plainly prophetic of +Jesus, and afterwards quoted as referring to Him. "Mine ears hast Thou +opened, or digged or pierced for me." And in the fiftieth chapter of +Isaiah,[6] revised version, are these words likewise prophetic of Jesus. +"The Lord God hath _opened_ mine ear, and _I was not rebellious, neither +turned away backward._ I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to +them that plucked off the hair; I hid not my face from shame and +spitting." + +And the truth is this. May the Spirit of God burn it deep into our hearts. +_Jesus was a surrendered Man._ Stop a bit and think into what that means. +Jesus is the giant Man of the human race, thought of just now as a man, +though He was so much more, too. In His wisdom as a teacher, His calm +poised judgment, the purity of His life, the tremendous power of His +personality in swaying man, He clear overtops the whole race of men. Now +that Master Man, that giant of the race, was a surrendered Man. For +instance run through John's Gospel, and pick out the negatives on His +lips, the "nots." Not His own will, nor His own words, nor His own +teaching, nor His own works.[7] Jesus came to earth to do Somebody's else +will. With all His giant powers He was utterly absorbed in doing what some +One else wished done. And now this giant Man, this surrendered Man, says, +"You do as I have done. Learn of Me: I am wholly given up to doing My +Father's will. You be wholly surrendered to Me, and so together we will +carry out the Father's will." + +Some one of a practical turn says, "That sounds very nice, but is it not a +bit fanciful? The lobe of Jesus' ear was not pierced through, was it?" No. +You are right. The scar-mark of Jesus' surrender was not in His ear, as +with the old Hebrew slave. You are quite right. It was in His cheek, and +brow, on His back, in His side and hands and feet. The scar-marks of His +surrender were--are--all over His face and form. Everybody who surrenders +bears some scar of it because of sin, his own or somebody's else. +Referring to the suffering endured in service Paul tenderly reckons it as +a mark of Jesus' ownership--"I bear the scars, the _stigmata_, of the Lord +Jesus." Even of the Master Himself is this so. + +And that scarred Jesus whose body told and tells of His surrender to His +Father comes to us. And with those hands eagerly outstretched, and eyes +beaming with the earnestness of His great passion for men, He says, "Yoke +up with Me, please. Let Me have the control of all your splendid powers, +in carrying out our Father's will for a world." + + + +Full Power through Rhythm. + + +Then Jesus, with a sweep, gathers up all the results in a single sentence, +"Ye shall find rest unto your souls." Some one may be thinking, "I do not +feel the need of rest or peace so much. I am hungry for power." Will you +please notice that Jesus is going to the very root of the thing here. +There must be peace before there can be power. _You_ shall find peace. +_Others_ shall find power. You will be conscious of the sweet sense of +peace within. Others will be conscious of the fragrant power breathing out +of your life, and service, and your very person. + +These things, peace and power, are the same. They are different movements +of the same river of God. The presence of God in fine harmony with you, +that it is that brings the sweet peace. And that too it is that brings the +gracious power into the life. The inward flow of the river is peace. The +outward flow of the same stream is power. There cannot be power save as +there is peace. There is nothing that hinders and holds back power as does +friction. That is true in mechanics: a bit of friction grit between the +wheels will check the full working of the machinery. A small nut fallen +down out of place will completely stop the machine and bring all of its +power to a standstill. + +This is _heart_ rest. The heart is the center, the citadel of the life. +When the heart rests all is at rest. If the citadel can be captured the +outworks are included. It is a _found_ rest. It comes quietly stealing its +soft way in as you go about your regular round of life. Just where you +are, in the thick of the old circumstances and conditions, there comes +breathing gently into your very being the great fragrant peace of God. You +find it coming in. There is all the zest of finding. + +It is rest _in service_. To many folks those two words "yoke" and "rest" +have seemed to jar, as though they did not get along well together. But +they do. The jarring is not in them but in our misunderstanding of them. A +yoke, we have thought, means work. Rest means quitting work; no more need +of work. But that is a bit of the hurt of sin that gets so many things +wrong end to. + + "Rest is not quitting + The busy career; + Rest is the fitting + Of self to its sphere."[8] + +True rest is in the unhurried rhythm of action. Have you thought of when +your heart rests? It does not stop, of course, while life lasts. But it +rests. It rests between beats. A beat and a rest. A throb of power and a +moment of perfect rest. A mighty motion that sends the warm red life +through all the intricate machinery of the body; then quiet composed rest. +The secret of the immeasurable power of this organ we call the heart lies +just here. There is enough power in a normal human heart to batter down +Bunker Hill Monument if it could be centered upon it. The secret of that +power is in the rhythm of action that combines motion with rest. We call +rhythm of color, beauty. Rhythm of sound is music. Rhythm of action is +power. + +I have often stood as a boy on the streets of old Philadelphia, and +watched a gang of foreign laborers at work. As a rule they could speak +only the language of their own fatherland. There would be a gang-boss to +direct their movements. Perhaps it was a huge stone to be moved, or a +piece of structural iron, or a heavy rail to be torn up. The ends of their +crowbars were fitted under the thing to be moved. Then they waited a +moment for the gang-boss to give the word. He would say, "heave ho!" + +Then all together they would sing "heave ho," and push. And a "heave ho," +and push; a "heave ho," and a push. They made perfect music. There was +always a small crowd gathered, watching and enjoying the simple music. +Their work was easier because done rhythmically. This, of course, is the +simple philosophy that provides music for soldiers on march. The men can +walk much longer, and farther, with less fatigue if they go to the sound +of music. + +The story is told of the contracts for some bridge-building in the Soudan +being carried off by American bidders. Their competitors in the bidding +specified a year's time or so, for the work. The Americans agreed to do it +in three months. They were awarded the contract, and to the others' +surprise had the work completed within the specified time. + +One of the contractors who had bid for the job on the basis of a year's +time said afterwards to the successful contractor, "I wish, if you +wouldn't mind doing so, you would tell me how you ever got that work done +in so short a time with those undisciplined Soudanese natives for +workmen. I have had them on other contracts and I know I couldn't have +done it. How did you ever do it?" + +And the American, whose blood was British a generation or two back, and +farther back yet Teutonic, smiled as he quietly said, "We had a band of +native musicians playing the liveliest music they knew within earshot of +every gang of laborers, while our gang-bosses kept them steadily at work." + +Rhythm is the secret of power. Full rhythm is possible only where there is +full obedience to nature. The man in full sweet harmony with God in all of +his life knows the stilling ecstasy of peace, and the marvelous outgoings +of real power. You shall find within your heart the great stilling calm of +God, as steadying as the rock of ages, as exhilarating as the subtle +fragrance of flowers, and as restful as a mother's bosom to her babe. + + + +He is Our Peace. + + +But there is something here finer yet by far than this. Everything God +provides for us is personal. There is always the personal touch and +presence. Do you remember that during the earlier days of the recent war +with Spain this occurrence frequently took place? In the Caribbean waters +a Spanish merchantman would be overtaken by an American warship. A few +shots were sent over the bows of the merchantman with a demand for +surrender. And then the Spanish flag was seen to drop from the +merchantman's masthead in token of surrender. + +Then this was the method of procedure. A prize crew, consisting of an +officer with a few ensigns, was lowered from the American boat, pulled +across, and taken aboard the captured boat. The moment the prize crew +stepped aboard they were masters of the boat in their government's name. +Their presence signified the surrender of the foreigner, and the forced +peace now between the two boats. + +On a much higher plane this is what takes place with us. There has been +flying at my masthead a flag with a big I upon it. As quickly as I drop it +in token of my surrender to Somebody else, a prize crew is sent aboard to +take possession, and assume control. Who is the prize crew? The Holy +Spirit, whom Jesus the Master sends to represent Himself. He steps aboard +at once. + +He paces the deck as the ship's Master. His presence is peace. "He is our +peace." "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, _peace_." And while He +occupies the captain's quarters, with full cheery obedience on board, +there is ever the fine aroma of peace everywhere, and the fullness of +power. + + + +The Master's Touch. + + +One morning a number of years ago in London a group of people had gathered +in a small auction shop for an advertised sale of fine old antiques and +curios. The auctioneer brought out an old blackened, dirty-looking violin. +He said, "Ladies and gentlemen, here is a remarkable old instrument I have +the great privilege of offering to you. It is a genuine Cremona, made by +the famous Antonius Stradivarius himself. It is very rare, and worth its +weight in gold. What am I bid?" The people present looked at it +critically. And some doubted the accuracy of the auctioneer's statements. +They saw that it did not have the Stradivarius name cut in. And he +explained that some of the earliest ones made did not have the name. And +that some that had the name cut in were not genuine. But he could assure +them that this was genuine. Still the buyers doubted and criticised, as +buyers have always done. Five guineas in gold were bid, but no more. The +auctioneer perspired and pleaded. "It was ridiculous to think of selling +such a rare violin for such a small sum," he said. But the bidding seemed +hopelessly stuck there. + +Meanwhile a man had entered the shop from the street. He was very tall and +very slender, with very black hair, middle-aged, wearing a velvet coat. He +walked up to the counter with a peculiar side-wise step, and without +noticing anybody in the shop picked up the violin, and was at once +absorbed in it. He dusted it tenderly with his handkerchief, changed the +tension of the strings, and held it up to his ear lingeringly as though +hearing something. Then putting the end of it up in position he reached +for the bow, while the murmur ran through the little audience, "Paganini." + +The bow seemed hardly to have touched the strings when such a soft +exquisite note came out filling the shop, and holding the people +spellbound. And as he played the listeners laughed for very delight, and +then wept for the fullness of their emotion. The men's hats were off, and +they all stood in rapt reverence, as though in a place of worship. He +played upon their emotions as he played upon the old soil-begrimed violin. + +By and by he stopped. And as they were released from the spell of the +music the people began clamoring for the violin. "Fifty guineas," "sixty," +"seventy," "eighty," they bid in hot haste. And at last it was knocked +down to the famous player himself for one hundred guineas in gold, and +that evening he held a vast audience of thousands breathless under the +spell of the music he drew from the old, dirty, blackened, despised +violin. + +It was despised till the master-player took possession. Its worth was not +known. The master's touch revealed the rare value, and brought out the +hidden harmonies. He gave the doubted little instrument its true place of +high honor before the multitude. May I say softly, some of us have been +despising the worth of the man within. We have been bidding five guineas +when the real value is immeasurably above that _because of the Maker_. Do +not let us be underbidding God's workmanship. + +The violin needed dusting, and readjustment of its strings before the +music came. Shall we not each of us yield this rarest instrument, his own +personality, to the Master's hand? There will be some changes needed, no +doubt, as the Master-player takes hold. And then will go singing out of +our persons and our lives, the rarest music of God, that shall enthrall +and bring all within earshot to the Master-musician. + + + + +A Passion for Winning Men: The Motive-power of Service. + + + + A Day off. + Moved with Compassion. + Counting on Us. + The Secret of Winsomeness. + "As the Stars." + The Finest Wisdom. + Three Essentials. + A Blessed Library Corner. + "Two Missing"--"Go Ye." + + + + +A Passion for Winning Men: The Motive-power of Service. + +(Mark vi:30-34.) + + + +A Day off. + + +One morning toward the end, in the midst of His busiest campaigning, Jesus +was very tired. It is one of the touches of His humanness. So He said to +His disciples, "Let us take a day _off_." And they could see the sense of +it. They were tired too. So they got a boat, and boarded her, and set +sail, and headed out across the lake. And meanwhile a crowd of people had +come down to the beach to be talked to, and healed, and helped in various +ways. + +And you can just see the look of disappointment in their faces as they +say, "Why, He's going away." And for a few moments they stand there +utterly dejected. Then somebody--for a long while I have thought it was a +woman--somebody with eyes keenly watching the direction of the boat, said, +"I believe He's going so and so"--naming a place across the lake--"let's +run around the head of the lake, and meet Him when He gets out." + +And the crowd was taken with that. And they ran--literally _ran_--around +the head of the lake. And as they went they spread the word, "The Master's +going so and so. Come along with us." And the people came eagerly out of +the villages and cross-roads. And the crowd thickened and the longer way +around in distance proved the shorter way there in time. For by and by +when Peter ran the nose of the boat into the sand on the other side, and +the Master got out for _a day off_, there were five thousand men, maybe +ten thousand people waiting to receive Him. + +Do you think that Peter scrooged down his eyebrows, and in a jerky voice +said, "They might have given Him _one_ day to Himself. Can't they see He's +tired?" Do you think that likely John chimed in, with that fire in his +voice which the after years mellowed and sweetened but never lost,--"Yes, +how inconsiderate a crowd is!" _Do_ you think so? _I_ do. Because they +were so much like us. But _He_--the most tired of them all--"_was moved +with compassion_," and spent the whole day in teaching, and talking +personally, and healing. And then when they had gone He went off to the +mountain for the quiet time at night He could not get in the daytime. + + + +Moved with Compassion. + + +There is a great word used of Jesus, and by Him, nine times[9] in these +brief records, the word _compassion_. The sight of a leprous man, or of a +demon-distressed man, _moved_ Him. The great multitudes huddling together +after Him, so pathetically, like leaderless sheep, eager, hungry, tired, +always stirred Him to the depths. The lone woman, bleeding her heart out +through her eyes, as she followed the body of her boy out--He couldn't +stand that at all. + +And when He was so moved, He always did something. He clean forgot His own +bodily needs so absorbed did He become in the folks around Him. The +healing touch was quickly given, the demonized man released from his sore +bonds, the disciples organized for a wider movement to help, the bread +multiplied so the crowds could find something comforting between their +hunger-cleaned teeth. + +The sight of suffering always stirred Him. The presence of a crowd seemed +always to touch and arouse Him peculiarly. He never learned that sort of +city culture that can look unmoved upon suffering or upon a leaderless, +helpless crowd. That word compassion, used of Him, is both deep and +tender in its meaning. The word, actually used under our English means to +have the bowels or heart, the seat of emotion, greatly stirred. + +The kindred word, sympathy, means to have the heart yearning, literally to +be suffering the same distress, to be so moved by somebody's pain or +suffering that you are suffering within yourself the same pain too. Our +plain English word, fellow-feeling, is the same in its force. Seeing the +suffering of some one else so moves you that the same suffering is going +on inside you as you see in them. This is the great word used so often of +Jesus, and by Him. + +There never lived a man who had such a passion for men as Jesus. He lived +to win them out of their distressed, sinful, needy lives up to a new +level. He _died_ to win them. His last act was dying to win men. His last +word was, "Go ye and win men." And His first act when He got back home, +all scarred and marred by His contact with earth, was to send down the +same Spirit as swayed Him those human years to live in us that we might +have the same passion for winning men as He. Aye, and the same exquisite +tact in doing it as He had. + +I said the last act was dying to win men. And you remember that even in +the act of dying, He forgot the keen pain of body, and the far keener pain +of spirit, to turn His head as far as He could turn it, and speak the +word to the fellow by His side that meant the difference of _a world_ to +him. Surely it was the ruling passion with Him to win men, strong in +death, aye, strongest in death, and finding its strongest expression in +His death. + + + +Counting on Us. + + +Somebody has supposed the scene that he thinks may have taken place after +Jesus went back. The last the earth sees of Him is the cloud--not a rain +cloud, a _glory_ cloud--that sweeps down and conceals Him from view. And +the earth has not seen Him since. Though the old Book does say that some +day He's coming back in just the same way as He went away, and some of us +are strongly inclined to think it will be as the Book says in that regard. + +But--have you ever tried to think of what took place on the other side of +that cloud? He has been gone down there on the earth thirty-odd years. +It's a long time. And they're fairly hungry in their eyes for a look again +at that blessed old face. And I have imagined them crowding down to where +they may get the first glimpse of His face again. And, do you know, lately +I have been wondering, with the softening of awe creeping into the +thought, whether--the Father--did not come the very first of them all +and--touch His lips up to where--the _scars_ were in Jesus' brow and +cheeks--yes, His hands--and His feet, too. Tell me, you fathers here +listening, would you not have done something like that with _your_ boy, +under such circumstances? + +You mothers, wouldn't you have been doing something like that with your +boy? And all the fatherhood of earth is named after the fatherhood of +heaven, we're told. And with God fatherhood means motherhood too, you +know. I do not _know_ if it were so. But I think it's likely. It would be +just like God. + +But this friend I speak of has supposed that, after the first flush of +feeling has spent itself--the way _we_ speak of such things done here, the +Master is walking down the golden street one day, arm in arm with Gabriel, +talking intently, earnestly. Gabriel is saying, + +"Master, you died for the whole world down there, did you not?" + +"Yes." + +"You must have suffered much," with an earnest look into that great face +with its unremovable marks. + +"Yes," again comes the answer in a wondrous voice, very quiet, but +strangely full of deepest feeling. + +"And do they all know about it?" + +"Oh, no! Only a few in Palestine know about it so far." + +"Well, Master, what's your plan? What have you done about telling the +world that you died for, that you _have_ died for them? What's your plan?" + +"Well," the Master is supposed to answer, "I asked Peter, and James and +John, and little Scotch Andrew, and some more of them down there just to +make it the business of their lives to tell others, and the others are to +tell others, and the others others, and yet others, and still others, +until the last man in the farthest circle has heard the story and has felt +the thrilling and the thralling power of it." + +And Gabriel knows us folk down here pretty well. He has had more than one +contact with the earth. He knows the kind of stuff in us. And he is +supposed to answer, with a sort of hesitating reluctance, as though he +could see difficulties in the working of the plan, "Yes--but--suppose +Peter fails. Suppose after a while John simply _does not_ tell others. +Suppose their descendants, their successors away off in the first edge of +the twentieth century, get _so busy about things_--some of them proper +enough, some may be not quite so proper--that _they do not_ tell +others--_what then?_" + +And his eyes are big with the intenseness of his thought, for he is +thinking of--the _suffering,_ and he is thinking too of the difference to +the man who hasn't been told--"what then?" + +And back comes that quiet wondrous voice of Jesus, "Gabriel, _I haven't +made any other plans--I'm counting on them_." + + + +The Secret of Winsomeness. + + +That's a bit of this friend's imagination, it's true. But--it's the whole +Gospel story, through and through. Jesus has made that plan. He has not +made any other plan. He's counting on us, each of us, each in his own +circle, in his own way, as comes best, most natural to him tactfully, +quietly, earnestly--simply that, but all of that. And--if--we +fail--Him--let me be saying it very softly so the seriousness of it may +get into the inner cockles of our hearts--if we _fail Him_, just that far +we make _Jesus' dying a failure_ so far as concerns those whom we touch. + +Yes, I know that sounds very serious. I'd rather not be saying it. I'm +_sure_, by the Book, it is so. And so, do you see the genius--may I use +that word very reverently of Him who was a man and far more than man--the +genius of His plan? He sent down the same Spirit that swayed Him those +human years to live in us, and control us, that we might have the same +fine passion for men as He, and the same exquisite tact in winning them as +He had. + +It must be a _passion_; a fire burning with the steady flame of anthracite +fed by a constant stream of oil. If it be less we will be swept off our +feet by the tides all around, or sucked under by their swift current. And +many a splendid man to-day is being swept off his feet and sucked under by +the tides and currents of life because no such passion as this is mooring +and steadying and driving his whole life. + +It must be a passion for _winning_ men; not driving nor dragging, +_drawing_. Not argument nor coercion but warm, winsome wooing. Today the +sun up yonder is drawing up toward itself thousands of tons' weight of +water. Nobody sees it going, except perhaps in very small part. There's no +noise or dust. But the water rises up irresistibly toward the sun because +of the winning power in the sun for the water. It must be something like +that in this higher sphere. A winsomeness in us that will win men to us +and through us to the Master. + +"Oh! well," some one says, "if you put the thing that way you'll have to +count me out. I'm not winsome that way." Well, maybe you need not have +bothered to say it. We could easily know that without your saying it. We +are not winsome this way, any of us, of ourselves. But when we allow this +Jesus Spirit to take possession of us He imparts His winsomeness. For the +real secret of a transfigured life is a _transmitted_ life. Somebody else +living in us, with a capital S for that Somebody, looking out of our +eyes, giving His beauty to our faces, and His winningness to our +personality. + + + +"As the Stars." + + +The language used in the Scriptures for this sort of thing is full of +intense interest. Some time ago I was reading in the old prophecy of +Daniel. I was not thinking of this matter of winning men but simply trying +to get a fresh grasp of that wonderfully fascinating old bit of prophecy. +And all at once I came across that gem in the last chapter. I knew it was +there. You know it is there. Yet it came to me with all the freshness of a +new delightful surprise. "They that are wise shall shine with the +brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as +the stars forever and ever."[10] + +Four times in those last two chapters of Daniel it refers to those that +are "wise"; literally, those that are _teachers_. Those who have +themselves learned the truth and are patiently, faithfully, winsomely +telling and teaching others. The word used for influencing the others is +full of practical picturesque meaning. "They that _turn_ many." As if a +man were going the wrong way on a dangerous road. And _I know_ it's the +wrong way. There's a sharp precipice ahead. But he is going steadily on, +head down, all absorbed, not noticing where the road leads. + +I might go up to him, and strike him sharply on the shoulder to get his +attention, and say, "See here, you're going the wrong way; can't you see +the danger ahead there? Come this way," with a vigorous pull. I have +sometimes seen that done, in just that way. And if the man is an American, +or an Englishman, or a German,--we're all very much alike,--he will say +coldly, "Excuse me. I think I can take care of myself. Thank you. I'll +look out for this individual." + +Or, I might slip gently up to the man, and get my arm in his, and begin to +turn, very gently at first, and turn, and turn, and then turn some more, +and then farther around still, and walk him off the other way. You will +have to get _close_ to a man to do that. Some folks never do. And you'll +have to be at least half-way decent in your life to get close. Some folks +never can. And you will need to be warm enough all the time inside, to +melt through the icy cloak of indifference beneath which his heart may be +wrapped up. But I can tell you this: the old world where you and I live is +fairly hungry at its heart, with an eating hunger for turners of that +sort. + +And the promise of that old prophetic bit is this: "They shall _shine_." +You know everybody wants to shine. It is right to be ambitious, with a +right ambition. But if any of you are ambitious to shine in some other sky +than this, in your profession, in social life or in some firmament lower +than this, may I gently make this suggestion to you? Do your best shining +_now_. Get on the brightest shining surface possible now. For this is your +shining time. This is the sky-time for that sort of thing. It won't last +long, I must tell you frankly. And at the end a bitter biting at your +heart. + +I am fond of watching a display of fireworks on a Fourth of July night. +Perhaps the night is clear, the sky full of stars, bright and sparkling. A +sky rocket is sent off. It goes up with a rush and a noise. There is a +dash of many colored beautiful fire-stars. And a murmur of admiration from +the crowd. For a few moments you can see nothing as you look up but this +handful of fire-stars. The clear quiet stars beyond are eclipsed for a +narrow circle of space, and for a few moments of time. + +It doesn't last long. A small fraction of a minute at the most. Then it's +all over. And all that is left is a charred stick that sticks in the mud, +nobody knows where, nor cares. But look up yonder, the stars you could not +see a moment ago for these momentary ones are shining more brightly than +ever by contrast, + + "... And singing as they shine. + The hand that made us is divine." + +You shine in the lower skies if you will. And of course you will if you +will. You will do as you will to do. But, at the end--a charred stick, a +bad taste in your mouth, a sharp tugging at your heart. And the story's +told. The last chapter's ended. The book is shut. But they whose one +absorbing ambition it is to turn others to righteousness may not shine +much here in earth's skies. And they may a bit, and it recks precious +little either way. But they _shall_ shine as the stars, as bright and as +long. + +It does not mean Atlantic coast stars. It means desert stars, Babylonian +stars, where one can see so many more than here. They shake their wondrous +fire-light down into your face, and fairly dazzle your eyes. You "shall +shine as the stars," as bright and as long. + + + +The Finest Wisdom. + + +James, the head of the Jerusalem Church, closes up his letter to the +dispersed Jews with this same word as Daniel uses. He would have all to +whom he is writing understand that he that _turns_ another from the wrong +way will save a soul from death and hide away out of sight and reach a +mass of sin.[11] The old world needs more saving societies and saving +individuals of this sort. + +We have gotten great skill in saving dollars. Men give their whole +strength and time to that. There is something much higher, infinitely +higher, saving souls, rescuing lives, treasuring up precious men and +women. These people, James says, are famous for their use of the fine +cloak of charity. They make the best use of it in hiding away beyond any +chance of being found a great mass of ugly, crooked, poisonous sins. + +The man with the reputation of being the wisest man gives a special +definition of wisdom. The old version runs, "he that winneth souls is +wise."[12] This is a great statement from Solomon's pen. He had searched +into all the avenues of men's pursuits. He was a great experimenter. +Everything was put to a personal test. He amassed wealth beyond all +others. He delved into the fascinations of intellectual delights, of deep +intricate philosophies and problems. + +He knew the subtle appeal to strong men that there is in deftly handling +and controlling men, personally and in large numbers. He had tasted the +rich wines of pleasure as had few. This is his conclusion: the wise man is +he that gives his strength with all of its fine-grained cunning to wooing +men back, through the old Eden gate, up to the tree of life. + +This is the finest fruitage any life can yield. This will be to the bearer +of it a tree of life giving twelve crops of fruits, a crop of every month, +a perennial, alike in heat and frost, in storm and drought, and with a +peculiar healing quality in its green leaves for all men. + +The revised version gives a fine turn to this old bit, exactly reversing +the first statement. "He that is wise winneth souls." The old philosopher +says that here is the real test of wisdom. He that is a wise man gives the +cream of his thought and wisdom to personal influence with men. He thinks +the thing best worth while is drawing a man through the inner reach upon +his thinking and affections and will away from the impure and ignoble and +deceptive up into touch with his first Friend. + +And he finds too that nothing he has ever undertaken calls for a finer +play of all his powers at their best. All the diplomacy and fineness and +tact and keen management at his command will be called upon. He must be a +wise man to do such work. It is no fool's errand this. It demands the best +in the best. + +There is no body of men more keen or skilled in the handling and +influencing of men, than the politicians. And I use the word in its fine +meaning, as well as in its cheaper meanings. As democracy has won its way +increasingly among the governments of earth these politicians have +increased in number and in influence. Great measures of government have +depended on their skill in manipulating men. Rarest subtlety and +adroitness and rugged honesty have blended in the strongest of these +leaders. + +The fishing simile so commonly used in the winning of men over to one's +side is a peculiarly attractive, a matchless simile. And all of this +handling of men has often been for personal ends, often for wholly selfish +ends, often for strong national ends. Almost never has it been for the +benefit of the man being won, save at times very remotely. + +But Jesus would have us become skilled diplomats in winning men for their +own sakes. Getting them to climb the hills for the sake of the air and +view they will get, and enjoy. We are to win strong men full of life and +vigor and manly force up into touch with their Friend, Himself. + +There is too a most attractive winsome phrase on the Master's lips at the +close of that fishing story in Luke's fifth chapter,[13] "From henceforth +thou shall _catch_ men" is the reading. But the revised margin gives this +added bit of color: "Thou shalt take men alive." They should get, not dead +fish, but living men. Men full of vigor and life--thou shalt have power +to sway these and induce them up to the highlands of a new life. + + + +Three Essentials. + + +There are three simple essentials here for the man who would be following +his Master fully. The first is that a man shall surrender himself wholly +to Jesus as a Master. That so Jesus may have the full control of all. +Maybe some one thinks, "There is that strong word surrender again. Cannot +I help a man be better without going so far as that word seems to imply?" + +Will you kindly notice that the Spirit of Jesus _fills_ the surrendered +man? And it is only as that Spirit does fill and sway that there can be +any such passion for men as Jesus had, and, too, the fine tact that He +always used. This is the first simple indispensable essential. + +The second is this: a bit of quiet time alone with Jesus daily over His +Word. The door should be shut. Outside things shut outside. And one's self +shut in alone with the Master. This is not a good thing--merely. I am not +recommending it to you. I am saying very much more. It is an _essential_ +thing with every one who would follow the Master simply and fully. It is +time spent in coaling up, taking out the dead ashes, and readjusting the +drafts, so the fires will be kept burning steadily and clearly. This is +the second great essential. + +The third essential is this: a purpose, deep-seated, rock-rooted, +underlying every other purpose, taking precedence of every other, of +trying to win others, one by one, bit by bit, over to knowing Jesus +personally. I say "trying." I like that word. There may be some blunders, +some bad steps, some untactful work. But these will not turn one aside +from this purpose but simply make him more determined to become skilled in +this finest art. + +I mean something like this. Here is a young woman moving in a social +circle, just as bright and winsome as God meant every young woman to be. +And as she moves about, she is thinking--no, it is thinking itself out, +underneath in her subtle sub-consciousness,--"How can I drop the word +here, and touch there, and leave the light impress here, that shall count +with these lives for my Master?" + +Here is a man transacting business with another. And even while he is +dealing with figures, and contract terms, he is thinking,--no, again,--it +is so deeply rooted in that the thought, like the fine trendils of a +plant, is ever weaving itself intangibly but surely into the web of his +passing mental operations, "How can I tactfully leave the impress here, +perhaps speak the direct word, that shall be a doorway for Jesus into +this life?" + + + +A Blessed Library Corner. + + +I think I might tell you best just what I mean by a bit from a real life. +The bit that has been such a real inspiration to myself. It is about a +friend of mine, a business man, with large responsible interests, keen and +shrewd in his business dealings, a very earnest Christian man, with a +delightful, winning personality, and I am grateful to say who was a warm +friend of mine. He is in the presence of his Master now. He was a man much +my senior in years, who helped me very greatly. Whenever we chanced to +meet in our travels I would drop my affairs as far as I could to spend all +the time possible with him, both for the delight of his presence, and for +the practical help he always was. The last time we were ever together was +in Columbus, Ohio. We met there to attend an anniversary meeting of the +Young Men's Christian Association, in Dr. Gladden's Church, on the Capitol +Square. And Monday morning before taking our trains away in different +directions we went for a drive, to get the air, and talk a bit. I made the +suggestion of driving, for I knew I would get something from him. And I +was right. I did get something that I never forgot, and never shall. + +As we were driving, and talking, by and by, in a little lull of the talk, +he said very quietly, "Gordon, do you know what I have been doing lately?" +And I said, "No." "Well," he said, "it's been the delight of my life," and +I could see the gleam of light in his eyes. And I said, "Tell me what it +is that has been such a pleasure to you." And he said, "Well, I will." +Then he went on in a very taking way he had to tell this simple story. And +he was speaking as to a friend, for he was very modest, and would not have +spoken of the thing; except to _help_; that would always bring anything he +had. + +He said when he was at home--he travelled much--he would think about the +young men whom he knew who were not Christians. Splendid men, some of +them; full of power; clubmen, some of them. But who did not know Jesus +personally. And he would think, "Now there's such a man. I wonder what's +his easy side of approach." And he would think about him, and pray some +about him. And then make an opportunity to ask him up to his home for +dinner some evening. His position in the city would make any young man +feel honored with such an invitation. + +He said to me, "We have a pleasant time at the dinner table with the +family, and afterwards, a bit of music and so on. Then," with a quiet +smile he said, "I ask him into my library corner, my little study den, +and by and by we come to close quarters. I tell him what I'm thinking +about. I tell him what a Friend Jesus is. And how it helps to have Him in +all of one's life as a Friend and Master. Then I ask him softly if he +won't let Jesus be his Friend." + +He said, "I try to be as tactful as though I were selling a contract of +cars. Though there's a fine reverence here that never gets into business +talk. And then if it seems good, without causing him any embarrassment, we +have a bit of prayer together. Not always, but often." And he said to me, +with a tender eagerness in his voice, "Gordon, it's been the _delight_ of +my life to have man after man accept Jesus in my library corner." + +And I looked at him. We were driving along the busiest block of the +busiest street in Columbus. The Capitol building on this side. And the old +Neil Hotel on this. And all around us were the electrics, and wagons and +carriages; so much noise and dust. And there that man sat by my side so +quiet, with his eyes dancing as they looked off at something I could not +see. And if ever Moses' face shined or Stephen's, his did that morning. + +I was caught as I looked. That was the _delight_ of his life. Not his +money, nor his business, nor his social relations, though he took keen +interest in all of these, but this. And the sound of his voice, and the +sight of his face that morning, seemed to kindle the fires in my heart +that I might, in my own way, as came best to me, be doing something of +that same sort. That is what I mean by a deep-seated purpose, under every +other, to try to win men. + +I was telling this story one night to some people in his state, not +thinking that I was within maybe two hundred miles of his home. And as the +audience was dismissed I saw a man coming up the aisle toward the pulpit, +apparently to meet me. So I went down his way. He looked like a business +fellow, with a clean-cut way about him, and a strong manly face. Before we +met I noticed something glistening in his eye, and yet a smile across his +lips. + +And he _gripped_ my hand. I can feel that grip now. And he half-blurted +out, "_I'm_ one of those fellows! And there are a lot of us that are +thanking God with full hearts for that man's library room." And the grip +of that hand seemed to make the fires within burn just a bit stiffer. + +In an after conversation this friend told me how he had wanted to be a +Christian, but didn't seem to know just how. And nobody had ever spoken to +him about it, he said, though so often he had wished somebody would. There +are a great many just like him in that. + + + +"Two Missing"--"Go Ye." + + +Same years ago I was a guest at a small wedding dinner party in New York +City. A Scotch-Irish gentleman, well known in that city, an old friend, +spoke across the table to me. He said he had heard recently a story of the +Scottish hills that he wanted to tell. And we all listened as he told this +simple tale. I have heard it since from other lips, variously told. But +good gold shines better by the friction of use. And I want to tell it to +you as my old friend from the Scotch end of Ireland told it that evening. + +It was of a shepherd in the Scottish hills who had brought his sheep back +to the fold for the night, and as he was arranging matters for the night +he was surprised to find that two of the sheep were missing. He looked +again. Yes, two were missing. And he knew which two. These shepherds are +keen to know their sheep. He was much surprised, and went to the out-house +of his dwelling to call his collie. + +There she lay after the day's work suckling her own little ones. He called +her. She looked up at him. He said, "Two are missing"--holding up two +fingers--"Away by, Collie, and get them." Without moving she looked up +into his face, as though she would say, "You wouldn't send me out again +to-night?--it's been a long day--I'm so tired--not again to-night." So her +eyes seemed to say. And again as many a time doubtless, "Away by, and get +the sheep," he said. And out she went. + +About midnight a scratching at the door aroused him. He found one of the +sheep back. He cared for it. A bit of warm food, and the like. Then out +again to the out-house. There the dog lay with her little ones. Again +he called her. She looked up. "Get the other sheep," he said. I do not +know if you men listening are as fond of a good collie as I am. Their +eyes seem human to me, almost, sometimes. And hers seemed so as she +looked up and seemed to be saying out of their great depths--"Not +_again_--to-night?--haven't I been faithful?--I'm so tired--not again!" + +And again as I suppose many a time before, "Away by, and get the sheep." +And out she went. About two or three, again the scratching. And he found +the last sheep back; badly torn; been down some ravine or gully. And the +dog was plainly played. And yet she seemed to give a bit of a wag to her +tired tail as though she would say, "There it is--I've done as you bade +me--it's back." + +And he cared for its needs, and then before lying down again to his own +rest, thought he would go and praise the dog for her faithful work. You +know how sensitive collies are to praise or criticism. He went out and +stooped over with a pat and a kindly word, and was startled to find that +the life-tether had slipped its hold. She lay there lifeless, with her +little ones tugging at her body. + +That was only a dog. We are men. Shall I apologize for using a _dog_ for +an illustration? No. I will not. One of God's creatures, having a part in +His redemption. That was to save sheep. You and I are sent, not to save +sheep, but to save _men_. And how much then is a _man_ better than a +sheep, or anything else! + +And our Master stands here to-day. Would that you and I might see His face +with the thorn marks of His trip to this earth. He points out with His +hand. And you can't miss a peculiar hole in its palm. He says, "There are +_two missing_--aye, more than two--that you know--that you touch--that you +can touch--that I died for--go _ye_." + +Shall we go? For Jesus' sake? Yes, for men's sake; splendid men, befooled +about Jesus, who can get Him only through us in touch with Him--for men's +sake, in Jesus' great Name. + + + + +Deep-Sea Fishing: The Ambition of Service. + + + + A Water Haul. + Living up in the Spirit Realm. + Saved to Serve. + Ambition in Service. + Use What You Have. + Expectancy in Service. + Jesus Went into the Deeps. + + + + +Deep-Sea Fishing: The Ambition of Service. + +(Luke v:1-11.) + + + +A Water Haul. + + +Jesus was very fond of the outdoors. The Gospels have a woodsy smell. He +taught in the synagogues, but He seemed to prefer the open air. He would +go out on a country road, or down by the beach of the Galilean lake, and +the people would eagerly gather around Him, and He would talk to them. One +morning He had gone down to the lake shore. The people crowded in about +Him and He commenced as usual to talk to them. + +But so eager were they not to miss a word that they pressed in about Him +very close. He was standing with His back to the water likely, and the +people seemed likely to crowd Him over into the water. So He looked around +for something to do. He was ever practical to the point of being +matter-of-fact. A practical idealist was Jesus, _the_ practical Idealist. +Peter was down there, just a short distance off, with his partners and +crew in their fishing boats, cleaning up after the night's haul. Lifting +His voice a little, Jesus called out, "Peter, will you pull around here, +please." + +And Peter did. And Jesus, stepping into the boat, sat down, and went on +talking to the people. Interruptions never seemed to disturb Him. He +seemed to regard them in the light of possible index fingers pointing out +the next thing to be done. Every missionary, foreign and home, has to get +practised in just that, while holding steady to his underlying purpose. + +When He had finished talking, He turned to Peter and said quietly, "Launch +out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught." And Peter smiled +at the very idea, as he said, "Master, we've been out the whole night, and +haven't caught a thing, nothing but a water haul, but"--with a thoughtful +earnestness taking the place of the critical smile--"if you say so, of +course we will." And the Master said so. And now they can't handle the +haul. + +I want to bring to you anew this old word of command from Jesus' lips: +"Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught." These +men in the story had failed. They had gone out the evening before +intending and expecting to bring home a fine haul of fish for the +Capernaum or the Bethsaida market. They came back with nothing for the +night's work but tired muscles and torn nets. This message is for men who +have failed, or who have seemed to fail. There is no failure to an earnest +man. A man cannot fail without his own consent. Every seeming failure is +the seed of a coming success to earnest men. + +If any of us have seemed to fail, our boots have lead in them, and our +hearts are heavy too, for lack of success--this message is for us, "Launch +out, and let down." Failure is very apt to breed discouragement. Your +clothing seems damp and heavy with the dew of a fruitless night. +Oftentimes the best thing for that is action. Mix yourself with the action +of boats and nets and men. That's the Master's word here. + + + +Living up in the Spirit Realm. + + +There are three facts that group about the message of Jesus in this story. +And those same three facts need to group themselves in bold outline about +our using of it, too. The first is this: there was _contact with Jesus as +a Master_. That must come in, and come in strong, before there can be any +right using of this word of command. + +There needs to be the first contact when a man turns over the control of +his life to Jesus as Master. There needs to be close contact that the +Master's plan of service may be clearly seen and faithfully started upon. +There must be continual contact that so His mastery may control and guide +at every step. + +The second fact is this: obedience to the Master's word. Obedience, mind +you, whether the thing you are told to do seems a likely thing to do or +not. Here with the fishermen there were some things that pulled the other +way. They had been out all night and failed. The very sense of failure +strong within them was against obedience. Discouraged men seldom succeed +at anything. And there was a very unlikely chance ahead. The time for +fishing with them was in the night. Failure behind, and a poor chance +ahead! Yet they obeyed. + +If Peter had acted the way some modern folks do he would have said +something like this: "You'll excuse me, Master, for saying it; but--this +is no time to fish in these waters. Pardon me, sir, I have no doubt you +know about carpentering. But _I'm a fisherman_. When it comes to yokes and +plows I'll gladly yield to you. But fishing--you see, I've been fishing +ever since I was a boy. Maybe up around Nazareth, in the brooks and ponds +up there, you can catch something in daylight, but not down here." + +I have heard many people talking that way. But Peter didn't. Aren't you +glad he didn't? He stumbled often. He talked foolishly to Jesus more than +once, but not this time. He obeyed. It was against his habit, against his +ideas of what was best, but the message was clear and he obeyed it. Happy +is the man who listens to the inner Voice, learns keenly how to hear +distinctly and accurately, and obeys. Faith is never contrary to reason, +but it is frequently _higher up_. The spirit realm is the highest. + +A man should reach up _through_ his bodily life, _through_ a keen, strong +intellectual perception and grasp, up into the spirit realm and abide +there. Many a man of splendid ability and earnestness never shakes off his +intellectual scaffolding in the upward building. It remains to hamper and +mar. Through a mastered body, and a disciplined mind, up to the spirit +level is the full swing. Obedience to the clearly discerned voice of +command from the Master is the one pathway of full power. + +The third fact was sure to follow these two. It came last. There were +unexpectedly large results. There always will be where the first two facts +are faithfully gotten in. + + + +Saved to Serve. + + +There is a growth in this message of Jesus. There are four steps up and +out. First comes the plain call to _service: "Launch out_." This is the +ringing service call. It is a familiar word to a follower of Jesus. He was +always saying, "Go ye." To every man He said first of all, "Come." Then, +as quickly as a man came, the word was changed to "go." + +I like greatly the motto of the Salvation Army. It must have been born for +those workers in the warm heart of the mother of the Army, Catharine +Booth. That mother explains much of the marvelous power of that +organization. Their motto is, "_Saved to Serve_." Some seem to put the +period in after the first word. That's bad punctuation and worse +Christianity. We are saved to be savers. There is needed the divine Savior +and the human saver. Only he who has been saved can help save somebody +else. The tingle of experience in the blood attracts men. + +The Master says, "Launch out." Get down into the thick of the fight. One +should not unwisely wear out his strength. But on the other hand, it's +better to wear out than to rust out. You'll last longer, and any loss of +strength is to be preferred to the loss through yellow, eating rust. A +minister noted for his striking way of putting truth was preaching upon +the words that were spoken of Paul and his companions: "These that have +turned the world upside down are come hither also."[14] He said there were +three points to his sermon: first, the world was wrong side up; second, it +had to be gotten right side up; third, _we're the fellows to do it_. That +is the first note of this message, _we_ are the fellows to do it. + + + +Ambition in Service. + + +The second step in this ringing call to service is this: _ambition_ in +service. "Launch out _into the deep_." The shore waters are largely +over-fished. Out in the deeps are fish that have never had smell or sight +of bait or net. Here, near shore, the lines get badly tangled sometimes, +and committees have to be appointed to try to untangle the lines and +sweeten up the fishermen. + +And the fish get very particular about the sort and shape of the bait. +Some men have taken to fishing wholly with pickles, but with very +unsatisfactory results. The fish nibble, but are seldom landed apparently. +And just a little bit out are fish that never have gotten a suggestion of +a good bite. + +There are deeps all around. One might fairly give an inward personal turn +to the word. There are _personal deeps_ that have not yet been sounded. +There are untouched deeps in prayer, in Bible study, and in the winning of +others. There are deeps in acquaintance with Jesus, in purity of life, in +sacrifice and in giving whose bottom no greasy lead has yet touched. "Out +into the deep," comes that quiet intense inner voice of Jesus spoken into +one's innermost heart. + +There are the great _deeps in service_ waiting our coming. Roundabout +every church is a fringe of deep, sometimes a deep fringe and broad, of +those practically untouched by the warm message of Jesus; and around every +Christian Association of men and of women. In the heart and on the edges +of every village and town and city unfathomed deeps lie; deeps in a man's +own state, deeps in our land, great untouched deeps in the world. + +Wherever there is a man who has not felt the warm side of the story of +Jesus' dying there is a deep. Wherever a group of such can be found is a +deep increased in depth by the number in the group. Wherever the great +crowds are gathered together to whom no word at all has come, neither by +personal touch nor printed page nor any other wise, there is the deepest +deep. With a deep glow in His eyes as He speaks the word, and the +tenderness and softness of deep emotion, and the earnestness of one who +has Himself been in the deep Jesus says anew to us to-day, "out into the +_deep_." + +We are to be ambitious in service. Jesus was ambitious. He reached out for +all, those nearest, those farthest. He talked of all nations, of a world. +His follower must have a long reach to keep up. That word ambition has +been much abused. It has been used much in connection with selfish +self-seeking, until that meaning has become almost its whole meaning in +the thinking of many people. But with the purpose dominant in Jesus we can +properly use it in its old literal meaning. Originally it simply meant +going around, being used in the sense of going out among people soliciting +their favor or their votes. + +It has the fine vitality of that word "go" in it. That for which a man is +ambitious decides the quality of the word. A pure, holy purpose makes the +intense reaching for it pure and holy too. An intense reaching out to the +farthest reach of the Master's word, that finds expression in the dominant +spirit of the life, in the service, in the giving, the sacrificing, the +praying--this is the true ambition. + +Paul uses three times a word that has the force of our word ambition.[15] +The American Revision uses ambition in the margin for it. In advising the +group of followers in Thessalonica he says, "_Study_ to be quiet." The +practical force of the phrase there is this: be ambitious to be +unambitious in the world's abused meaning of ambitious. In writing the +second time to the friends at Corinth where his motives had been much +criticised he said, "I make it my aim (or ambition) to be well-pleasing +unto Him." + +And later, in writing to the Christians at Rome, whom he had never seen, +he said that he had made it his aim or had been ambitious to preach the +Gospel where nobody had yet gone. The literal meaning of the word he uses +is something like this, striving from a love of honor. And we may find a +fine meaning in that which was doubtless used otherwise. + +It was a matter of honor with Paul to do as he was doing. And he would +have the honor of having fully carried out his Master's wish. He coveted +earnestly the honor of being always pleasing to his Master both in life +and in the sort and reach of his service. Here are Paul's three ambitions: +to be wholly free of the fires of worldly ambitions; to be well-pleasing +to Jesus, his Lord; to reach out beyond, where nobody had yet gone with +the story of Jesus' dying and living again. + +Paul was obeying Jesus. Jesus said to those fishermen on Galilee's waters, +"Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught." Paul +said, "I have steadily made it the one thing I drove hard at in service, +to get out beyond all other lines and nets to where nobody has yet gone." + + + +Use What You Have. + + +The third step in this service-call is this: _practicality in service_: +"Let down your nets." I can imagine Peter saying, "Master, if we had known +your plans for this morning, I would have sent up to Tyre for the newest +patented nets, or down to Cairo. These nets of ours have been patched and +patched. They are so old." The Master says, "Let down _your_ nets." + +There is a very common delusion that holds us back from doing something +because we are not skilled in doing it. "Let the pastor speak to that +young man; I can't do it very well." "I can't teach very well; let some +one else take that class." The Master says, "Use what you have." Do your +best. Your best may not be _the_ best, but if it be your best, it will be +God-blest, and always bring a harvest. + +Use what you have. Do not despise the stuff God put into you. Train and +discipline it the best you can, and use it. And in using it you will be +training it. The best training is in _use_. Brains and pains and prayer +are an irresistible trinity. When the gray matter and the finger tips and +the knees get into a combination great results always come. + +The old Hebrew farmer Shamgar had only a long ox-goad with which to prod +his beasts in the field. The traditional enemy, the Philistine, comes up +over the hill. Shamgar's neighbors have taken to their heels. But Shamgar +is made of different stuff. He asks a man hurrying by, "How many do you +think there are?" And the man calls out, "About six hundred, I should +say." + +Shamgar sets his jaws together hard, gets a fresh grip on his ox-goad, +digs his heels into the ground for a good hold, and mutters to himself, "I +guess they are about four hundred short." And he smites, left and right, +up and down, hip and thigh, with his strange weapon. And a great victory +comes to the nation under its new leader. + +David had only a leather sling, home-made likely, and a few smooth stones +out of the running brook. He had skill in slinging stones, a keen trained +eye, a steady nerve, a practiced arm, and well-knit muscles. But what were +these against a giant almost twice his height and years, and armed to the +teeth? Yet the ruddy-faced stripling had something better yet along with +his sling and stones and skill. He had a simple trust in God. He had a hot +protest in his heart against the slandering of God's people by this +heathen giant. He _combined_ all he had, sling, stones, skill, and faith, +and the laughing, sneering giant is soon under his feet, and feeling the +edge of his own sword. "Let down your nets." Use what you have. + +There was a woman living down by the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea a +good while ago. Her heart had been touched by God, and ever after beat +warm for others. But what could _she_ do? She couldn't make speeches, nor +write papers for the missionary society, nor preside over its meetings. +She seemed to have one special gift. She could sew. She could do plain +sewing and overcast, cross-stitch and hem-stitch. I suppose she knew the +herring-bone-stitch and feather-stitch, and other sorts too. + +And so she just busied herself finding out poor folks who needed clothing, +some women too hard-worked to care for their children's clothing. And she +sewed for them. She was a seamstress for Jesus' sake to all the needy +folks she could find. I expect she stuck pretty closely to the plain +stitching, though likely as not she would put in some of the fancy too to +please the people she was winning to her Master. + +And she sewed the story of Jesus, and the heart of Jesus, into coats and +skirts and such. All through Joppa her message went into homes not +otherwise open perhaps. And the women read the story of her heart in the +stitches and they found Jesus through her needle. She used what she had. +And the women of the church have rightly honored her name in their +societies. + +But mark keenly this: while using to the full, and faithfully, just what +you have, there must needs be utter dependence upon God. Not what you +have, nor what you can do, but Somebody _in_ what you have, and _through_ +what you do. Notice, "Their nets were _breaking_." They were to use their +nets, but the power was somewhere else. As we are made up, there +frequently needs to be a breaking before the glory of God is revealed. It +need not be so, necessarily. + +Yet as a matter of fact most people have to stub their toes and then go +stumbling down with a clash, measuring their length on the earth, and +getting some scars that stay before they can be mightily used. So many +strong wills are strong enough to be stubborn, but not strong enough to +yield. Gideon's pitchers had to be broken before the lights flashed out +and brought panic to the enemy. + +It was when the alabaster box was broken that its fine fragrance filled +the house, and spread out into all the world. Somebody prayed, "O Lord, +take me, and break me, and make me." That is the usual order as a matter +of fact. Yet if the strength of stubbornness that must be broken down to +change its direction, were but swung God's way at once--But most folks +that have been greatly used have some of this sort of scars. Utter +dependence upon God's strength in doing God's service is the lesson of the +breaking nets. + + + +Expectancy in Service. + + +The climax of this message of Jesus is in its end: "Let down your nets +_for a draught_." There is to be _expectancy in service_. Ideas of +draughts changed that day. "Peter, what would you call a good draught?" +"Well," the old fisherman says, as he sits stitching up the holes in his +nets, "after last night I think if we got a boat half full it wouldn't be +a bad haul." "Andrew, what's a draught?" And Andrew says, "I think after +this water haul we've had, a haul of holes, Peter hits it pretty close." + +"Master, how much is _a draught_?" And His answer comes back over the +water, "Twice as much as you are able to take care of, and then more." +They filled that boat, sent for another, filled that, and then didn't land +all they had caught. + +How much do you reckon a draught in your life, in your church, in your +mission, your field, _how much_ are you _saying_?--"Master, what is your +reckoning of a draught here in this man's life, out here in this field of +service?" And from this Galilean story there comes back anew to our hearts +the Master's reply, "Twice as much as you have planned for, and then +more." + +Expectancy is the eye of faith. Faith always has a watch-tower. When +Elijah went to the tiptop of Carmel to pray, he was careful to send his +servant to watch the sea. Prayer is faith looking up. Expectancy is faith +looking out. + + + +Jesus Went into the Deeps. + + +And so to every one of us to-day comes afresh that ringing command, +"Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draught." + + "'Launch out into the deep;' + The awful depth of a world's despair; + Hearts that are breaking and eyes that weep; + Sorrow and ruin and death are there. + And the sea is wide; + And its pitiless tide + Bears on its bosom away. + Beauty and youth, + In relentless ruth, + To its dark abyss for aye. + But the Master's voice comes over the sea, + 'Let down your nets for a draught for Me.' + And He stands in our midst, + On our wreck-strewn strand. + And sweet and loving is His command. + His loving word is to each, to all. + And wherever that loving word is heard, + There hang the nets of the royal Word. + Trust to the nets, and not to your skill; + Trust to the royal Master's will. + Let down the nets this day, this hour; + For the word of a king is a word of power, + And the King's own word comes over the sea, + Let down your nets for a draught for Me.'" + +There is a last word that comes up insisting to be said. It is this: Jesus +went down into the deeps for us. Deeper deeps than we know or ever shall +He sounded with the line of His own life on our behalf. He got badly +scarred that night of darkness. It is this scarred Jesus who earnestly +asks us to come along after Him so far as we can. His voice with a +tenderness of love wrought into it on the cross says to us, "Launch out +into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught." + + + + +Money: The Golden Channel of Service. + + + + Touching a Limitless Circle. + Peculiar Effects of Money. + Jesus' Law for the Use of Money. + Foreign Exchange. + Gold-Exchanged Lives. + Spirit Alchemy. + The Fragrance of the Life in the Gift. + Sacrifice Hallows and Increases the Gift. + A Living Sacrifice. + + + + +Money: The Golden Channel of Service.[16] + +(Luke xvi:1-18.) + + + +Touching a Limitless Circle. + + +There is an inky shadow over the home of God. There is a sharp pain +tugging at the heart of God. It's a family matter; a family disgrace. One +of God's family has gone off from the home circle and made a bad mess of +things. Such an affair is always a source of great grief, especially where +the family is an old one, with fine blood. And here the family is of the +oldest, and the blood the best. The Father feels the sharp edge of the +knife of disgrace very keenly. The hearth fire of God is lonely for the +one gone away. + +All of that Father's great love and rare wisdom have centered and blended +on a plan for winning the estranged member of His family back home, of his +own free glad accord. The other members of His family have gazed with +awe-touched faces upon the marvels of that plan. Its tenderness, its +depth, its wondrous love-wisdom have excited their deepest admiration +while they watch breathlessly to see the outcome. + +That prodigal is our own splendid planet. Some of us down here have gladly +welcomed the Father's plan and the Father's Son. His Son is His plan. But +most of us don't seem to understand the Father. And that is hard on Him. +And the greater number of us, by far the greater number, haven't even +heard of the Father's plan or of His Son, and have lost the memory of His +loving voice calling. He is always calling. And everyone hears that +calling voice. But very many do not recognize it as the Father's. + +In great tenderness the Father's plan for winning all includes the help of +those already won. Through His Son first, and then through His sons, +newborn, reborn, He is reaching out His warm, eager hand to all. He +breathed His own Spirit upon His Son. He breathes that same Spirit upon +each of us who will, that so we may, each of us, touch all the others with +the touch of God. + +Five great touches of God there are, each charged with a mighty current of +power. The fragrant life-touch, the musical voice-touch, the warm +service-touch, the potent golden-touch, the secret, subtle prayer-touch. +The first three of these are limited to a narrow circle, the circle of the +immediate personality. The last two are limitless. They are like our own +spirits. They reach directly, resistlessly, clear out through the personal +circle as far as the spirit reaches, even around the whole circle of the +planet. + +Just now for a little while we want to talk together about one of these, +the potent yellow golden-touch. The word service has been thought of quite +commonly as referring to certain restricted things that one may do for +another. It has a broader meaning too. Whatever we do to help another is +service. Not merely the direct activities, but praying and giving are +service of most potent influence. Money supplies a channel through which +one may reach most intimately to others, near by and around the world. It +is the golden channel of service. + + + +Peculiar Effects of Money. + + +Money is queer stuff. The opposites meet in it so strikingly. It may be +the most cruel, exacting tyrant. It may be the most faithful, intelligent +servant. If it come into a man's life unaccompanied by a high, controlling +motive power, it has most peculiar effects upon him. It often wrinkles up +his face, and ties hard knots in the wrinkled lines. It can dwarf a warm +hand into a cold, hard, muscle-bound fist. It drains the warm blood from +the heart, and dries all the sweet, fragrant dew out of the spirit. The +hand suffers much. It is often stricken with a sort of palsy while in the +pocket, and cannot be withdrawn. Sometimes there is a violent cramp, or a +sort of pen paralysis that prevents the signing of the name--to certain +sorts of checks. + +But if, on the other hand, it come into a man's possession accompanied by +a pure unselfish motive that _controls_, it comes the nearest to +omnipotence of anything we handle. Gold of itself seems to have the +puckering quality of a green persimmon. The green fruit will contract the +mouth to its smallest proportions. And unmellowed gold acts in the same +way upon the mouth of the pocket. + +This is true of all gold and of all pockets. There are no exceptions. The +only possible way of effecting a change is to let a stronger power come in +and counteract the contracting power. Gold has the greatest contracting +power of any earthly substance. Its only sufficient counteractant is God. +God has the greatest expanding power known to angels or men. Gold +contracts. God expands. If God be the dominating motive power in a man's +life, then does gold come the nearest to omnipotence of any tangible +thing. It takes on the quality of Him who breathes upon it. + + + +Jesus' Law for the Use of Money. + + +Jesus gives us the simple law for the right use of money. It is in that +sixteenth chapter of Luke. He is talking about the dishonest overseer of a +wealthy man's estate. His dishonest practices have been discovered, and he +is required to make a final settlement preliminary to his being +discharged. He has evidently been living extravagantly, for the loss of +position threatens him with beggary. Distressed to know what to do he hits +upon a farther extension of his dishonest practices, and uses the position +he is about to lose to buy up friends for his coming days of want. + +As he tells the story Jesus adds this comment: "for the sons of this world +are for their own generation wiser than the sons of light." Practically +they go on the supposition that the present generation is the only one. +For the short space of years making up their own generation they are wiser +than the sons of light. But for the long space of all coming generations +they are the rankest fools. That is included by contrast in Jesus' words. +The man who in his use of money thinks only or chiefly of the years making +up his own present life is--a fool. The man who takes into his reckoning +not only the present generation, but all coming generations, in disposing +of his money is the shrewd financier. + +Then occurs the sentence[17] that contains a wonderfully simple statement +for the keen, wise use of gold. The old version runs like this: "Make to +yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness that when ye fail they +may receive you into everlasting habitations." The revised version, both +English and American, reads this way: "Make to yourselves friends by means +of the mammon of unrighteousness that when _it_ shall fail they may +receive you into the eternal tabernacles." + +I have ventured to make a rather free translation that I feel sure is true +to the words here in their connection and that gives in simple English +just what Jesus means. "Make to yourselves friends by means of money, +which the unrighteous world reckons riches, that when it fails they may +receive you," and so on. Money is not riches. The world commonly has been +befooled into thinking that it is. Perhaps we have not all quite escaped +that delusion. And money is not unrighteous. It is neither righteous, nor +unrighteous. It gets its moral quality from the man owning it for the time +being. It is as he is. It takes on the color of its ownership. + +Make to yourselves friends by means of the money that comes into your +control that when it fails they may receive you. That is to say, exchange +your money into the kind of coin that is current in the kingdom of God. +Exchange your gold into _lives_. That is the sort of coin current in the +homeland. This yellow stuff we call riches they use for paving stones up +in the homeland. Would that we might get it under our feet down here, +instead of being ruled by it. + +The current coin of heaven is lives of men. And that too will be reckoned +the precious metal when the Kingdom of God comes to the earth. Exchange +your money into _men_; purified, uplifted, redeemed men. Buy letters of +credit that will be good in the homeland, and in the coming Kingdom days +on the earth, if you would be wealthy. + +"That when it fails," Jesus says with fine discernment. Money will fail. +There is an end to the power of gold in itself. Money will be bankrupt +some day. It has enormous buying power now. Some day its buying power will +be all gone. Then it will take the place of cobble-stones. Yet it would +seem to be a failure there unless some new hardening process had been +found for it. Better use it while it has power of purchase. Better not be +caught with much of the yellow stuff sticking to you when the true values +are being settled. It'll all be dead loss then; dead stock, not worth the +space it occupies. + +You remember the very old story of the wealthy man who died. And in a +group of people talking together somebody asked the usual question, "How +much did he _leave_?" And a wise man in the company replied tersely, +"Every cent; didn't take a copper along." That story is apt to provoke a +smile. But, do you know, it is sadder than it is witty. The man had gained +great wealth. He must have been endowed with some force and talent to do +that. His whole life and strength and talent had been devoted to making +money and hoarding it. That money was the whole output of the man's life. +Then he died and the whole output of his life was left behind. He passed +out of this life stripped to the skin. Into the other world, where wealth +is reckoned otherwise than in gold, he entered a sheer pauper. The +purchasing power of his wealth stopped at the line of departure out of +this world. _It failed_. + + + +Foreign Exchange. + + +Exchange your gold into men. Buy up some of the kind of coin they use in +the homeland, so that you may have some wealth when you get there. Suppose +you should be over on the continent of Europe, shopping in Berlin. You buy +some goods in a store and lay down upon the counter a twenty-dollar gold +piece in payment. The salesman would say, "What sort of money is this?" +and you would likely say, "That is good American gold, sir." And he would +probably reply, "I have no doubt that is true, and that it is good money. +But it is not the sort we receive here. You will have to go to the bankers +and get it changed into German marks and then I'll be pleased to complete +this sale." And so you would be obliged to do if you had not thought to +provide yourself with German money. + +There are some people that will have an experience like that after a +while, I'm thinking. Some one thinks that that is not a very likely +illustration. A man going to Europe would provide himself with proper +money to use. Maybe it is not a very good illustration for _Europe_. But +how about some other strange lands to which folks go? There seem to be +several people who expect to go to a strange country, and yet do not +provide any of its recognized coinage before going. + +Here is a man who gets through his life down on the earth, and goes out +into the other life. Judging by the whole tenor of his life he will +attempt to take some of his belongings with him. Indeed so much are these +belongings a part of his very life that they seem inseparable from him. +Here he comes up to the gateway of the upper world. He is lugging along a +farm or two, some town lots, and houses, and a lot of beautifully engraved +paper, bank stock and railroad bonds and other bonds. They are absorbing +him completely as he puffs slowly along. + +And as he gets up to the gateway, the gateman will say, "What's all that +stuff?" "_Stuff!_" he will say, astonished; "this is the most precious +wealth of earth, sir. I have spent my whole life, the cream of my strength +in accumulating this." "Oh, well," the reply will be, "I have no doubt +that is so. I am not disputing your word at all. But that sort of thing +does not pass current up in this land. That has to be exchanged at the +bankers' offices for the sort of coinage we use here." + +The man looks a little relieved at this last remark. The other talk has +sounded strange, and given him a queer misgiving in his heart, as he +listened. But "banker" and "exchange"--that sounds familiar. The ground +feels a bit steadier. He picks up new spirit. "Where are the bankers' +offices, please?" he asks eagerly. "They are all down on the earth," comes +the quiet answer. "You must do your exchanging before you get as far up as +this. That stuff is all dead loss now. You can't take it back to the +bankers' now, and it is of no value here. Just leave it over on that dump +heap there outside the gate, and come in yourself." And the man comes in +with a strangely stripped and bare feeling. + +What we get and keep for the sake of having, we lose, for we leave it +behind. What we give away freely for _Jesus'_ sake, for men's sake, we +will find by and by we have kept, for we have sent it ahead in a changed +form. + +There will be a strange readjustment of values on the other side. Some +men of splendid strength have spent it in accumulating earth's wealth. +They give, even freely it seems to be, in very large amounts. Yet be it +keenly marked the sum given by these men always bears a small proportion +to what is kept. + +Others there are of equally splendid strength, and fine powers, who have +been spending that strength in influencing men. Their passion seems to +have been for _men_, for men's _selves_, for men's _lives_. The great bulk +of their strength and time has been deliberately given to this. And some +that have not understood have thought such conduct strange, a sort of fad +with these men. But when values are readjusted by the standards of the +final clearing house, some who have been very wealthy down here will be +reckoned among the very poor. And some who have been reckoned poor will be +found to be the shrewdest of investors. They will be the millionaires of +the Kingdom time and in the homeland. I do not mean _dollar_-millionaires, +but _life-millionaires._ The standard of wealth in the homeland is +_lives_, not dollars. + +And some too there will be, and not few in numbers, who have given of +their strength in business pursuits to the making of money, as the Spirit +has guided them, or to whom it has been left in trust by others, and who +have been steadily investing the wealth that has come in the _lives of +men_. Some folks ought to be getting better acquainted at the foreign +exchange desk in the banks where this sort of business is done. + +There are a good many banks that make a specialty of this sort of foreign +exchange. The great Church Boards, the International Committee of the +Young Men's Christian Associations, the American Committee of the Young +Women's Christian Associations, the individual churches and associations, +and the Bible Societies are a few of the better known of the banks having +a large exchange business of this sort. + +Their methods of business have been very thoroughly systematized for the +convenience of investors. In almost every pew of a church may be found +little deposit envelopes, mediums of exchange. There are weekly +opportunities for making deposits. And the handling of the money has been +so thoroughly systematized, too, that, as a rule, a very small proportion +is taken up in keeping the banks running, the great bulk passing directly +out to the designated place of use. + + + +Gold-Exchanged Lives. + + +Jesus says that our money in its new form will be waiting our arrival on +the other side. The men and women into whose lives we have been +exchanging it will be eagerly looking for us as the ship pulls into port. +When you get through with your life down here--it will be a long life, I +hope--you will go up and into the homeland. And--I suppose--at the first +you will have eyes and heart for nobody but _Jesus_. My mother used to say +to me, "I have thought that I would like to have a talk with Moses, and +with Elijah, and with John and Paul, but"--with the quick tears of deepest +emotion filling her dark eyes--"I have never been able in my thinking of +it, _to get past Jesus yet_." Even so it will be, no doubt, with all of +us. + +But this word of Jesus' own suggests that as you go in you will find some +one coming eagerly up with outstretched hands and such a glad face to meet +you. And he will say, "Oh! I have been looking forward so eagerly to +meeting you; welcome." And you will say, "Well, this is very kind of you. +But, pardon me, I can't just recall your face. Where was it I knew you? in +New York?" + +And he will say, with a flush of earnest feeling, "Oh, no! I never saw New +York. And I never saw you before. My home was over in the heart of China. +Our lives were very miserable there. There was a great tugging at my heart +that nothing seemed ever to ease. But one day a stranger came into our +village, with some little books, and as we gathered about him he talked +to us about _Jesus_, and you can never know how that story of Jesus came +to me, and how much it meant. My whole life was changed, and my home and +our village were changed. And since coming up here I have learned that it +was _through you_ that that man came, and I want to thank you. Next to +Jesus I think you're the best friend I have." + +And you will be thinking, "I'm so glad I gave that money. I had to pinch +quite a bit, but that's nothing compared to the joy of this." And as that +is flashing swiftly through your thought, here is somebody else eagerly +pressing up, with the same word of welcome, and a face with such a glad +light the sight of which is alone quite enough to even up any sacrifice. +And you will say maybe, "And where did I meet you? are you from China, +too?" + +No, this one is from a western frontier settlement where the home +missionary had gone, and now this one elbowing by her with the same +lightened face is from the mountain section of the South. And so they come +eagerly up from many places where you have never been in person but where +you have gone potentially through your money. That is what Jesus means. +Make to yourselves friends by means of money which the unrighteous world +reckons riches, that when it fails they may welcome you eagerly into the +homeland. Exchange your gold into lives. + + + +Spirit Alchemy. + + +There is a divine alchemy whereby money may be transmuted into redeemed, +purified, uplifted lives. There is another alchemy whereby men, made of +finest gold in the image of God, may be transmuted into the basest metals. +When Moses coming down from the presence of God saw the shocking sight of +the people worshiping a calf made of gold, he reproached Aaron for +permitting it. Do you remember Aaron's answer? He had the gift of speech, +you remember, an easy, smooth way of explaining things. Yet in the light +of the recited facts the answer seems rather lame. It needs a crutch to +steady it up. He said, that he had put in the gold and--"_there came out +this calf_." + +A great many men might fairly make use of Aaron's explanation. They have +put into the crucible of life their gold, themselves, God's finest gold +intrusted to their hands. And under their manipulation what has come out +is as a vealy, callow calf, a bull calf at that too, scrub stock, fit only +for the ax. + +There is the other, the divine alchemy whereby a man may put in the gold +intrusted to his handling and there shall come out _lives_, sweet, strong, +fragrant lives, made anew in the image of their Maker. + + + +The Fragrance of the Life in the Gift. + + +It is a part of the peculiar potent value of money that there can be a +practical transfer of personality through its use. For instance I have a +friend whose heart burned to go to a foreign mission field for service +there. But the physician said it would not be wise for her to go. Yielding +to his expert judgment, she still yearned to be of service there. In the +providence of God she became intrusted with large wealth. And so she +arranged to have a man go in her stead to China, she caring for all the +expense involved, while he was so left wholly free for the service. + +Tell me, was that not a practical transfer of her personality to the point +of service where he is engaged? Then she arranged for another, and +another, and yet others. It is not only a transfer of personality in +practical results, but a duplication of personality, and a triplication, +and more. For she is busy in her home circle, while her representatives +are busy elsewhere through the influence of her action. + +A young woman, graduate of a western college, developed much talent in +speaking to other young women of the Christian life. Her public service +was much blessed in the lives of large numbers of women. She had no +wealth, but was dependent upon her efforts for a livelihood. Another young +woman, in the East, came under the warm spell of her personality and +speech. And her life was blessedly revolutionized by that spell. Her own +heart burned to be doing something of the sort for her sisters out over +the land. + +But she seemed not to have gifts of that kind. Yet she had been intrusted +with large means. And so she said to her new friend whom God had so +graciously blessed to her own life, "Let us be partners together. I will +so gladly give what I have, that you may be wholly free to give to others +what you have brought to me." And so it was arranged. And the one woman +gives of the gold of her inheritance while the other gives her life and +her special gift. The one in her home pays and prays. The other goes +constantly here and there, and lives are ever transformed through the +Spirit of God resting upon her. + +Is not that a practical transfer of personality? and duplication of +personality, too? Is not this young woman whose own actual personality +remains, in the gracious providence of God, in her home, is she not going +potentially about from place to place winning her sisters up to the +highlands of the best living? It surely is so. + +And these two are but illustrations of the many who have come to +understand Jesus' law for the right use of money. And there are to be many +more as the days go by, doing just that sort of thing. And let those of us +who have not been intrusted either with the large amount of money, or +with the large power to earn, remember that the _amount_ involved does not +affect the law of results. All who have felt the blessed contagion of the +Master's example will give freely of what is in store, whether much or +little. + +Those whose giving is in smaller amounts by our bulky way of reckoning +values, may still be making that same blessed transfer and doubling their +own capacity for service through the agency of their gold. For the gold +given represents the life that gives. And the gift takes on the quality +and power and fragrance of the life that gives it. I have sometimes +thought that there seems to be a peculiar potency in the smaller gifts, +that represent as they so often do the greatest, most devoted sacrifice. +Could we trace the intricate crossings of the lines of influence in the +web of life, we would be awed many times at the potency of the giving that +is small in amount but tinted red with the life-blood of sacrifice. + +It should be remembered that through this strange stuff called money there +is a double transfer of personality going on all the time. Men are +constantly transferring themselves into gold, in a perfectly proper way. A +man gives his labor, and at the end of a specified period he gets a +certain amount of money. That money represents himself. It is himself for +that length of time. That is the first transfer of manhood in money. It is +going on all the time. It is necessarily so, for so we get our food, and +clothing, and home. + +Then there is the re-transfer of this money into some other form. As we +choose to use this money, so we are re-transferring ourselves into what +forms we will. The money is the transition state of ourselves. We pass +through it out into the exchange of life. We reveal ourselves in the way +we pass it out. In no way does a man reveal the true inner self more. And +if perchance we let it, or some of it, lie and gather rust, there we are, +some part of us being covered with rust. + + + +Sacrifice Hallows and Increases the Gift. + + +But there is more yet to be said here. The great blending of the spirit +forces with gold comes out wondrously in this: that _sacrifice hallows +what it touches_. And under its hallowing touch values increase by long +leaps and big bounds. Here is a fine opportunity for those who would +increase the value of gifts that seem small in amount. Without stopping +now for the philosophy of it, this is the tremendous fact. + +Perhaps the annual foreign missionary offering is being taken up in your +church. The pastor has preached a special sermon, and it has caught fire +within you. You find yourself thinking as he preaches, and during the +prayer following, "I believe I can easily make it fifty dollars this year. +I gave thirty-five last time." You want to be careful _not_ to make it +fifty dollars, because you can do that _easily_. If you are shrewd to have +your money count the most, you will pinch a bit somewhere and make it +sixty-two fifty. For the extra amount that you pinch to give will hallow +the original sum and increase its practical value enormously. Sacrifice +hallows what it touches, and the hallowing touch acts in geometrical +proportion upon the value of the gift. + +Better turn your gown, and readjust your hat, for the sacrifice involved +will give a new beauty to the spirit looking out through your face. And +real folks will not be able to get past the beauty of face to the +incidentals of your apparel. Wear your derby another season, and get your +shoes half-soled, and some deft mending done. Let that extra horse go to +other buyers, and the automobile be picked up by somebody who has not yet +mined any of the fine gold of sacrifice. The coming rainy day will never +be able to use up all that some folks are salting down for it. + +And yet some folks, many folks, should be spending more on their bodies +and giving less. The giving should never intrench upon the strength of +one's personality. That is a treasure to be sacredly guarded. All the +power of one's life, in serving, in giving, in praying, in speaking, and +in personal contact, the power of all roots down in the personality. The +safe rule, and the only safe rule, is to decide such questions with the +knee-joint bent, and the door shut, and the spirit willing. A strong will +played upon by the Holy Spirit, mellowed by emotions that have been moved +by the need, and held steady by a disciplined judgment must attend to +loosening the purse-strings. + +But the one fact being emphasized here just now is that the element of +sacrifice must be in the giving if it is to be effective. Sacrifice was +the dominant factor in _God's_ giving of His Son, real sacrifice. It was +dominant in _Jesus'_ giving of His own self and His life, keen cutting +sacrifice. Who will follow in _their_ train? Whoever will, will be getting +a post-graduate course in financiering and in multiplying of values. He +will be astonished at the results working out, and most astonished at the +final disclosures. + +Keeping out of circulation more than one's wants, properly adjusted, call +for is poor financiering. For that which is held back is not earning +anything. All beyond one's needs should be out in circulation for the +Master in His campaign for a world. Yet nowhere is there finer chance or +greater need for the play of keen judgment than in deciding that question +of need. Mistakes are made on both sides. It looks very much as though the +most serious mistakes are being made on the side of too little sacrifice +or none. Yet clearly some serious mistakes are made on the other side +too. But no one may criticise another. Each must decide for himself. In +the judgment of charity we are to presume that each is doing what he +thinks right and best. We are, none of us, the keeper of our brother's +purse. + + + +A Living Sacrifice. + + +There is a simple story told that contains its truth in its very +naturalness and simplicity. It reveals a bit of the real life ever going +on all around us unnoticed. A minister in a certain small town in an +eastern state received from the home mission board of his church a letter +asking for a special offering for a needy field in the West. With the +letter was literature setting forth the need. The call appealed to him and +with good heart he prepared a special sermon, calling the attention of his +people to the great need. + +Sabbath morning came and he preached the sermon. But somehow it did not +just seem to hook in. That banker down there on the left looked listless, +and yawned a couple of times behind his hand. And the merchant over on the +right, who could give freely, examined his watch secretly more than once. +And so it was with a little tinge of discouragement insistently creeping +into his spirit that he finished, and sat down. And he remained with head +bowed in prayer that the results might prove better than seemed likely, +while the church officers passed down the aisles with the collection +plates. + +Meanwhile something unseen by human eye was going on in the very last pew. +Back there, sitting alone, was a little girl of a poor family. She had met +with a misfortune which left her crippled. And her whole life seemed so +dark and hopeless. But some kind friends in the church, pitying her +condition, had made up a small fund and bought her a pair of crutches. And +these had seemed to transform her completely. She went about her rounds +always as cheery and bright as a bit of sunshine. + +She had listened to the sermon, and her heart had been strangely warmed by +the preacher's story of need. And as he was finishing she was thinking, +"How I wish I might give something. But I haven't anything to give, not +even a copper left." And a very soft voice within seemed to say very +softly, but very distinctly, "There are your crutches." "Oh," she gasped +to herself as though it took away her very breath, "my crutches? I +couldn't give my _crutches_; they're my _life_." And that strangely clear +voice went on, so quietly, "Yes--you _could_--and then some one would know +of Jesus--if you did--and that would mean so much to them--He's meant so +much to you--give your crutches." And her breath seemed to fail her at the +thought. And so the little woman had her fight all unseen and unknown by +those in the church. And by and by the victory came. And she sat with a +beautiful light in her tearful eyes, and a smile coming to her lips, +waiting for the plate to get to her pew. + +And the man with the plate came down the aisle to the end. It seemed +hardly worth while reaching it into the last pew. Just little Maggie +sitting there alone, with her one foot dangling above the floor. But with +fine courtesy he stopped and passed the plate in. And Maggie in her +childlike simplicity lifted her crutches, and tried rather awkwardly to +put them on the collection plate. Quick as a flash the man caught her +thought, and with a queer lump in his throat reached out and steadied her +strange gift on the plate. + +And then he turned back and walked slowly up the aisle toward the pulpit, +carrying the plate in one hand and steadying the crutches on it with the +other. And people commenced to look. And eyes quickly dimmed. Everybody +knew the crutches. _Maggie_--giving her _crutches_! And the banker over +here blew his nose suddenly and reached for his pencil, and the merchant +reached out to stop the man returning up his aisle. + +As the pastor stood with his eyesight not very clear to receive the +morning's offering, he said, "Surely our little crippled friend is giving +us a wonderful example." Then the plates were called back toward the +pews. And somebody paid fifty dollars for the crutches, and sent them back +to that end pew. When the offering was counted up it contained several +hundred dollars. And the little girl, crippled in body but not in any +other way, hobbled out of church the happiest little woman in the world. + +She had recognized and obeyed the inner voice. That was the simple +explanation of her giving. And her gift, small in itself, _touched with +sacrifice_, became worth several hundred dollars in its earning power. And +the original investment was returned for its usual service. And her gift +has been increasing in its earning power as its recital has reached other +hearts, and the end is not yet. I do not know just where Maggie is now. +But I do know that she will be a greatly surprised woman some day when she +finds out what God has done with her sacrifice-hallowed gift. She +recognized and obeyed the inner Voice. That is the one law of giving, as +of all living. + + + + +Worry: A Hindrance to Service. + + + + Fear Not. + A Fence of Trust. + A Lord of the Harvest. + Do Your Best--Leave the Rest. + Anxious for Nothing. + Thankful for Anything. + Prayerful about Everything. + A Steamer Chair for His Friend. + He Has You on His Heart. + Paul's Prison Psalm. + He Touched Her Hand. + + + + +Worry: A Hindrance to Service. + +(Psalm xxxvii:1-11; Matthew vi:19-34, Philippians iv:6-7. American +Revision.) + + + +Fear Not. + + +There is nothing commoner than worry. Everybody seems to worry. Men worry. +Women worry. It is commonly supposed that women worry more than men. I +doubt it. After watching both pretty closely under all sorts of +circumstances I doubt it. Yet if it be true that woman does worry the +more, I think it is because, being more sensitively organized, she is more +keenly alive to the issues involved and to the responsibilities of life. +Poor people worry. Those with enough money to be easy worry. And those +with the largest wealth seem to worry too. Busy folks worry. And so do the +idle. The cultured and scholarly touch elbows with the ignorant here. + +Americans are supposed to be specialists in worrying. The name +Americanitis has been given to a certain run-down condition of the nerves. +Well, we may possibly have set the pace, and may be making new records. +But certainly there are plenty of pushing followers. Our Canadian +neighbors seem not to be wholly strangers to worry. Nor our British and +Dutch forbears. The European continentals, and those of the East nearer +and farther off seem to be good or bad at worrying. It is a characteristic +of the race everywhere, the difference being merely in the degree. It +seems inbred in man. + +There are two "don't-worry" chapters in this old Bible, one in the Old +Testament and one in the New. In the Old Testament is the Thirty-seventh +Psalm with its oft-repeated "fret not." The word under that English phrase +"fret not" is significant. It is so blunt as to sound almost like a bit of +American slang. Literally it means "don't get hot." The New Testament has +the sixth chapter of Matthew with Jesus' own words. One should be careful +here to note the better reading of the revision. The old version says +"take no thought," and that has been misunderstood by many who have not +thought about its meaning. The newer translations are truer to the meaning +on Jesus' lips. Do not take _anxious_ thought, "be not anxious." But apart +from these two chapters there is a phrase running through these pages +clear through the whole Book, a phrase shot through, piercing everywhere, +even as the glorious sunlight pierces through the thick cloud and fog. I +mean the phrase "fear not." All worry roots down its tenacious tendrils +in fear. + + + +A Fence of Trust. + + +It will help to understand just what worry is. It is always an advantage +to get an enemy clearly defined and keep it so, so you can hit it harder, +and make every blow tell on a vital part of its anatomy. + +Worry is not concern, but distress of mind. Some one said to me at the +close of a talk on worry, "some folks ought to worry more." Of course he +meant that some people should bear their share of the responsibilities of +life, instead of selfishly and lazily shirking them. There is a proper +concern about matters for which we are responsible. A man never makes a +good speech unless there is a feeling of concern, of apprehension lest +there be failure in that for which he is pleading. A strong sensitive +spirit feels the responsibility and does the best to meet it. Worry is +mental distress. It is sinking under the sense of responsibility. It is +_yielding_ to the fear that there may be failure, instead of gripping the +lines and whip and determining to ride down the chance of its coming. + +Sometimes worry is carrying to-morrow's load with to-day's strength; +carrying two days in one. It is moving into to-morrow ahead of time. +There is just one day in the calendar of action; that's to-day. Planning +should include a wide swing of days; wise planning must. But action +belongs to one day only, to-day. + + "Build a little fence of trust + Around to-day; + Fill the space with living work + And therein stay; + Look not through the sheltering bars + Upon to-morrow; + God will help thee bear what comes + Of joy or sorrow." + + "Live for to-day, to-morrow's sun + To-morrow's cares will bring to light, + Go like the infant to thy sleep + And heaven thy morn shall bless." + + + +A Lord of the Harvest. + + +Sometimes worry is carrying a load that one should not carry at all. I +think it was Lyman Beecher who said that he got along very comfortably +after he gave up running the universe. Some good earnest people are +greatly concerned about the way things in the world are going, I'm obliged +to confess to some pretty serious blunders there. It seemed to me that +there was so much to be done, so many people needing help, so much of +wrong and sin to fight that I must be ever pushing and never sleeping. I +had to sleep of course; but all my burden, which meant the burden of the +world's need as I saw it, was lugged faithfully to bed every night. There +was a lot of pillow-planning. But I found that the wrinkles grew thick, +and the physical strength gave out, and yet at the end of vigorous +campaigning there _seemed_ about as much left to do as ever. + +Then one day my tired eyes lit upon that wondrous phrase, "the lord of the +harvest." It caught fire in my heart at once. "Oh! there is a _Lord_ of +the harvest," I said to myself. I had been forgetting that. He is a Lord, +a masterful one. He has the whole campaign mapped out, and each one's part +in helping mapped out too. And I let the responsibility of the campaign +lie over where it belonged. When night time came I went to bed to sleep. +My pillow was this, "There is a _Lord_ of the harvest." + +My keynote came to be _obedience_ to Him. That meant keen ears to hear, +keen judgment to understand, keeping quiet so the sound of His voice would +always be distinctly heard. It meant trusting Him when things didn't seem +to go with a swing. It meant sweet sleep at night, and new strength at the +day's beginning. It did not mean any less work. It did seem to mean less +friction, less dust. Aye, it meant better work, for there was a swing to +it, and a joyous abandon in it, and a rhythm of music with it. And the +undercurrent of thought came to be like this: There is a _Lord_ to the +harvest. He is taking care of things. My part is full, faithful, +intelligent obedience to Him. He is a Master, a masterful One. He is +organizing victory. And the fine tingle of victory was ever in the air. + + + +Do Your Best--Leave the Rest. + + +I knew a mother one of whose sons was not a Christian man, and not of good +habits. She was a devoted true Christian woman, bearing her part in life's +service with fine faith and a keen sweet spirit. The children were all +Christians but this one, her first-born, the beginning of her strength. +The thought of him troubled her much. She prayed fervently, and used her +best endeavor, and the years grew on without change. And her face showed +the burden upon her fine spirit. We would talk together about her son, and +pray together, but her brow remained clouded. + +Then I marked a change. The lines of tension in her face relaxed. A new +quiet light came into her eye. There seemed a gentle intangible, but very +sure, peace breathing about her. And I knew there was no change in him. So +one day in conversation I ventured to ask about the change. And I shall +always remember the gentle voice and the quiet strength with which she +said, "I have given him over to my Father. And I know He will not fail +me. I am still praying, of course, as ever, and I am _trusting_ for him." +She had been carrying a load that she should not have been carrying. And +now while the mother-heart was still concerned as much as ever, the sense +of assured victory brought the change in her spirit. + +Sometimes worry is fretting over past mistakes; it is chafing about what +we do not understand, or about plans of _ours_ that have failed. A good +deal of worry comes from pride and over-sensitiveness. The roots here, it +will be noticed, of all alike are down in our own failures, our own +selves. And there would be cause for more worry if we had only ourselves. +But we have _a Father_. + +A very great deal of worry is wholly due to physical causes. Overworked +nerves always see things distorted. Huge phantom shapes loom up before us. +Overwork always makes a sensitive spirit worry, and worry usually makes us +overwork until we drop from exhaustion. When the cause is here, there are +some simple _human_ helps. Some--a good bit--of _God's_ fresh air will +work wonders. Even good people seem unchangeably opposed to _God's_ air, +and insist on breathing old, worn-out, used-up second-hand air. God would +be greatly glorified if housekeepers and church sextons were given a +practical course in the use of fresh air, God's air. With that should be +simple food, and simple dress, and abundant sleep, and simple standards of +life. + +Worry is utterly _useless_. It never serves a good purpose. It brings no +good results. "Which of you can by being anxious add a single span to the +measure of his life?" Jesus asks in that sixth of Matthew. But much more +can be said. _It brings bad results_. The revision brings out the clear, +simple meaning of the Thirty-seventh Psalm, eighth verse. The old version +seems a bit puzzling, "Fret not thyself in anywise to do evil." The +revision reads, "Fret not thyself, it tendeth only to evil doing." The +results of worrying are always bad. The judgment is impaired. One cannot +think so clearly nor see so clearly. The temper is ruffled. The door is +quickly opened to worse things. + +It is _sinful_ to worry. For the Master repeatedly commands us, "Be _not_ +anxious." It helps to get a habit labeled correctly. Here to tack on +"sinful" in block letters, black ink, white paper, so as to get greatest +contrast is a decided help. And worrying is a reproach upon Jesus. Let the +Gentiles, the outsiders, the people who have not taken Jesus into their +lives, let them worry if they _will_. But _we_ must not. For we have +_Jesus_. Let these who leave Him out grow crow-toes, and deeply-bitten +wrinkles, and turkey-foot markings. Without Him how can they help +themselves? But we folk who have _Jesus_ should have smoothly rounded +faces, the lines all filled up and ironed out. It reproaches Jesus before +folks for us to be as they are in this regard. + +Out of the midst of a great pressure of work, with a body tired out, Dr. +Charles F. Deems, the busy pastor of The Church of The Strangers in New +York City, wrote these lines years ago: + + "The world is wide, + In time and tide, + And God is quick; + Then _do not hurry_. + + "That man is blest, + Who _does his best_, + And _leaves_ the rest; + Then _do not worry_." + +A man should do his _best_. There should be no _shirking_. Yet I need +hardly say that here, because shirking people, lazy people do not worry. +They haven't enough snap about them to worry. But it steadies one to put +the thing just as Dr. Deems put it. "_Do your best, and_, then _leave_ all +the rest to God." And when sleep time comes, sleep. + + + +Anxious for Nothing. + + +Likely as not some one will say, "We knew all that before. But how are we +going to quit worrying? That's what we need to be told." Well, I can tell +you. Sometimes a man speaks cautiously, but here one can speak with great +positiveness. There are three simple rules how not to worry. They are +infallible. I heard of a society whose purpose it was to cure worry. There +were _thirty-seven_ rules, I think. It would worry some of us a good bit +to memorize any such length of instruction as that. The remedy seems to be +on a high shelf. And in standing up on a chair and reaching there is some +danger that the chair may tip over and the last state not be an +improvement on the first. + +But here are three very simple rules, easy to follow, and they will never +fail. They are not my rules, that is, not of my making, or I might not be +speaking so positively. They are given by the blessed Holy Spirit, through +our dear old friend Paul. In Philippians, chapter four, verses six and +seven, are the words that contain the rules: "In nothing be anxious; but +in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your +requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all +understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus." + +The first rule is this, _anxious for nothing._ In other words, _don't_ +worry. Deliberately refuse to think about annoying things. Set yourself +against being disturbed by disturbing things. Say to yourself, it is +useless, it has bad results, it is sinful, it is reproaching my Master, I +_won't._ That is the first simple rule. + + + +Thankful for Anything. + + +The second helps to carry out the first. It is this, _thankful for +anything._ Thanksgiving and praise are always associated with singing. +When you feel the worry mood creeping on--it is a mood that attacks +you--when it comes sing something, especially something with Jesus' name +in it. These temptations to worry are from the Evil One. He can come in +only through an _open_ door. Remember that. Yet the open doors seem +plenty. Even when we trustingly and resolutely keep every door of evil +shut the circle in which we move will open doors upon us. Singing +something with Jesus' name in it sends him or any of his brood off +quickly. They hate that Name of their Conqueror. They get away from the +sound of it as fast as they can. + +A friend was calling upon another and began pouring out a stream of +personal woes. This had gone wrong, and this, and this other would go +wrong. Everything was wrong. And her friend, who knew her quite well, had +her get a pencil and paper and asked her if possibly there was _one_ thing +for which she could be thankful. Reluctantly from her lips came the +mention of some particular thing for which she felt indeed grateful. Then +a second was gradually recalled, and then more. And as the train of +thought grew on her she suddenly asked, "Why was I so despondent when I +came in? Everything seems so changed." + +It's a fine thing to go about one's work singing some hymn with praise in +it, and with Jesus' name in it. And if singing may not always be allowable +under all circumstances, you can _hum_ a tune. And that brings up to the +memory the words connected with it. I know of a woman who was much given +to worrying. She made it a rule to sing the long-meter doxology whenever +things seemed not right. Ofttimes she could hardly get her lips shaped up +to begin the first words. But she would persist. And by the time the +fourth line came it was ringing out and her atmosphere had changed without +and within. + +This was David's rule. He said: "Thy statutes have been my songs in the +house of my pilgrimage."[18] He is not speaking of the time when he was +acknowledged king over both Judah and all Israel, when the fortress of +Jerusalem was his own capital. No, he is talking of the earlier days of +his _pilgrimage_. When he was being hunted over the Judean fastnesses by +King Saul. When with his band of faithful men he was ever fleeing for his +life. He slept in caves and dens or out in the open, and always with one +eye open. There he used to sing God's praises. A messenger would come +breathlessly in some morning with the news that Saul was just over yonder +ravine with a thousand men. And as David planned what best to do, and +arranged his men, he would be singing. + +Maybe he would sing that Twenty-third Psalm: + + "For Thou art with me; and Thy rod + And staff me comfort still." + +Or, maybe sometimes, + + "To Thee I lift my soul; + O Lord, I trust in Thee: + My God, let me not be ashamed + Nor foes triumph o'er me." + +Or, likely, he often sang: + + "The Lord's my light and saving health; + Who shall make me dismayed? + My life's strength is the Lord; of whom + Then shall I be afraid?" + +Or if perhaps Ezra wrote this psalm it takes one back to his weary, +dangerous journey over from Babylon to Jerusalem and the very difficult +work he was undertaking in Jerusalem in reorganizing the life of the +people again. He used to sing on the way, and through all his +difficulties. + +It is a great rule. + + "When the day is gloomy + Sing some happy song; + Meet the world's repining + With a courage strong." + +Some one asked me if whistling would do. She was a busy housewife and said +that was her rule. I have gone to singing myself. But maybe whistling is +just as good. I'm inclined to favor giving it a place within the range of +this rule. + +There's a bit of deep, simple philosophy here. Music is divine. There is +no music in the headquarters of the enemy. He has used it a great deal on +the earth. That's a bit of his cunning. But he always has to steal it from +God's sphere, and work it over to suit his own crafty purposes. Music, +singing, is an open doorway for the Spirit of God to come in, and come in +anew and move freely. Its sweet harmonies found their birth in the +presence of God where sweetest harmonies reign. Lovers of music should be +lovers of God, for He is the one great Master-musician. + +When Elisha was asked to prophesy victory for Israel over the enemy at one +time, he refused. He was not in harmony with this king nor his associates. +His spirit refused to respond to their request. But at their urgent +request he yielded, and called for a musician. And as the strains of music +fell upon his ear and entered into his spirit he felt the divine presence +and influence anew. We should use the musician more in our days of +battle. And God has wonderfully provided every one of us with a music-box +of sweet melodies. If we would only open the lid, and let frequent use +wear off the rust, and sing His praise more. In music God speaks to us +anew with great power. This is the second rule, _thankful for anything_. + + + +Prayerful about Everything. + + +The third rule helps to make both first and second effective. These three +are closely interwoven. They always work together. Each suggests the other +two. They are an interwoven trinity. The third is this, _prayerful about +everything_. There are some unusually fine bits from the old Book to help +here. Referring to the discipline which God's love makes Him use, David +says: "For His anger is but for a moment: His _favor_ is for _a lifetime_. +Weeping _may_ come in to lodge at even, but joy cometh in the +morning."[19] There _may_ be weeping. There _shall_ be joy. Weeping won't +stay long. + +There's a morning coming, always a morning coming, with the sunshine and +the chorus of the birds. Love's discipling touch that seems at the moment +like anger is only for a moment. (The printer wanted to change that word +discipling to disciplining; but God's tenderness comes to us anew when we +realize that _disciplining_ with its sharp edge means the same as +_discipling_ with its softer warmer touch.) The loving favor is for +always, a lifetime of eternal life. + +Again David says, "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall _sustain_ +thee."[20] The margin explains that the thing that weighs as a burden is +something God has given us. He has sent it or allowed it to come. He has +strong purpose in all He does. Here the promise is not that the burden +will be removed, but that He will pick up both you and your burden into +His arms and carry both. Many a man has praised God for the burden that +made him know the tender touch of strong arms. + +The same thing is repeated in the Sixty-eighth Psalm[21] with tender +variations. "Blessed be the Lord who day by day beareth our burden." +Probably Peter knew a good bit about this subject. His temperament was of +the impulsive sort that knows quick squalls at sea. But he had learned how +to ride through them undisturbed to the calmer waters. He says, "Casting +all your anxiety upon Him because He careth for you."[22] The force of the +French version is said to be "_unloading_ your anxiety upon Him." Back the +cart up, tilt it over, let down the tail-board, let it all slip out over +upon Him. The literal reading of that last half is, "_He has you on His +heart_." + + "Is not this enough alone + For the gladness of the day?" + +But many of us have an inner feeling that some matters are too small, too +trivial to take to God. We will take the great things, the serious things +to Him and find the help needed. But it seems childish almost to be +bothering the great God about trifling details, we are apt to think. We +are even annoyed with ourselves to think that we have allowed such petty +things to make us lose our balance and control. We want to underscore and +italicize this fact: _if a thing is big enough to concern you, it is not +too small for Him "because He has you on His heart_." For _your_ sake He +is eager to help in anything, however small in itself it may seem. + +Indeed it is the little things that fret and tease and nag so. The big +things are more easily handled. But the little insectivorous details that +will not down! Have you ever had this experience? You have retired on a +hot summer night, tired and heavy with sleep. You are almost off when a +mosquito that in some inexplicable way has eluded all screens and nettings +comes singing its way about your face. It is just one. It seems so small. +If it were only big enough to hit, something worthy of one's strength. But +the mean little nagging specimen seems to elude every effort of yours. +Maybe you take calm, deliberate measures to end its existence, but +meanwhile you are thoroughly aroused and lose quite a bit of the sleep you +need. + +Just such a mosquito warfare do the little cares make upon one's strength, +frittering it away. It cannot be too insistently repeated that whatever is +big enough to cause me any thought is not too small for my God. He is +concerned because I am concerned. + + + +A Steamer Chair for His Friend. + + +It helps immensely here to recall the necessary qualities of a great +executive, one who is concerned about the conduct of large affairs. There +are two great qualities absolutely needful in any one occupying such a +position. There must be the ability to grasp the whole scheme involved, +and to keep one's finger upon every detail, as well. God is a great +executive, _the_ great executive of the universe. He planned the vast +scheme of worlds making up the universe, and every detail. The whole +universe in its immensity, and the intricacy of its movements, is kept in +motion by Him. And every detail down to the smallest, the falling of one +of the smallest birds, is ever under His thoughtful eye and touch. And He +is our God. He has each of us on His heart. + +We may learn of God by looking at man, made in His image. A story is told +of a merchant well known on both sides of the water, illustrating this. +His business interests are very extensive, with great stores in three of +the world's great cities. He has displayed great genius for controlling +the details of his vast enterprise. It is said that at one time when his +business was developing its greatness, this was his habit. He would come +to a clerk's desk unexpectedly and, sitting down quietly, note the +transactions that came along. Here was a sales slip; three yards of +calico, seven cents per yard, twenty-one cents; a bolt of tape, three +cents, total twenty-four cents; cash fifty cents, twenty-six cents change. +He would very quietly note the calculations, and call attention to any +inaccuracies. + +He might stay there a half-hour. Then he was away again. It was never +known when he might come, nor where. He was always marked for his genial +courtesy toward all his employees. That was his habit for years, I am +told. His talent for details amounts to positive genius. And with this +goes the ability to originate and build up and keep ever growing his vast +business operations. And this man is but one of a very large class in our +day of specialized organization. This faculty of controlling both the +whole, and each detail, is a bit of the image of God in these men. Only +man is ever less than God. The best organization slips sometimes, +somewhere. But God never fails. Each of us is personal to Him. He can +think of each as though there were no other needing His thought, and He +does. + +A little incident is told of George Mueller of Bristol, England. He is the +man who taught the whole world anew how to trust God. Poor in his own +holdings, he expended millions of dollars in caring for orphans, +supporting missionaries, and distributing printed truth. He never asked +any man for money nor made any needs known. He trusted God for all and for +each. The two thousand and more orphans, and the cutting of his quill pen +were alike subjects of prayer with him. + +At one time, in the course of his missionary travels around the world, he +was embarking on an ocean voyage. He was an old man at the time, and +accompanied by a young man who attended to the details of travel. After +they had boarded the steamer his companion came up hurriedly to say that +the steamer chair for Mr. Mueller's use was not on board and he could not +get any trace of it. It would of course be a very necessary convenience +for the steamer trip. Mr. Mueller inquired if the proper notice had been +sent to have it on board. Yes, all had been done that should have been +done. And now the time was very short. + +Mr. Mueller breathed a quiet prayer, and then said to his companion not to +be disturbed, that he felt sure it would be on hand in time. The attendant +went off again to see what could be done, came back evidently annoyed at +the possibility of his elder distinguished companion being inconvenienced. +But Mr. Mueller quieted him with the assurance that the chair would come. +They stood at the side rail above, overlooking the dock. + +At the very last moment, just as the hawsers were about to be thrown off, +and the gang plank pulled away, a truck of luggage was hurriedly run on +board, and on top of the pile the friends watching above could plainly see +a steamer chair with G. M. marked on it. Mr. Mueller, standing in his group +of friends, looked up past them and quietly said, "Father, I thank Thee." +Was God in that simple occurrence? He surely was. He was concerned that +His faithful friend should have the chair for his bodily comfort. Man's +arrangements seemed in danger of slipping. His overruling touch was put in +for His friend's sake. A chair wasn't too small for God because it was for +His friend, Mr. Mueller. + + + +He Has You on His Heart. + + +I got a similar story from Dr. James H. Brookes of St. Louis, a number of +years ago while in his home over night. It was about J. Hudson Taylor, +founder of the China Inland Mission, who had learned through many years of +trusting how faithful God is. Mr. Taylor had been speaking in Dr. Brookes' +church, and was to go to a town in southern Illinois to speak at the +Sabbath services. Saturday morning they went down to the railroad station +to get the train, and stepped into the station just as the train was +pulling out at the other end. There was no possible chance of catching it. +It seemed all the more exasperating that they could see the train moving +away out of reach. + +Dr. Brookes of course felt much chagrined. Mr. Taylor being a stranger in +the country, and the guest of Dr. Brookes, had trusted his arrangements. +Inquiries were quickly made about other trains. But there would not be +another train out that way until night. And as they were questioning and +talking the station-master said, "There's that train over there; it runs +into Illinois and crosses another road down to where you want to go. They +are supposed to make connections, but they never do." Dr. Brookes said he +went off to make further inquiries, and coming back in a few moments was +surprised to find Mr. Taylor standing on the rear platform of the train +that never made the connection. + +He said, "Why, Mr. Taylor, that won't make the connection." And Mr. +Taylor smiled and in his very quiet way said, "Good-bye, Doctor, my Father +runneth the trains." That seemed to sound well for a sermon. But to Dr. +Brookes' misgivings there came again the quiet "Good-bye, Doctor, my +Father runneth the trains." After starting Mr. Taylor explained the +situation to the conductor, the importance of his engagement, and of +making the desired connection, hoping the trainman might be of some +service. The man hoped he would get the train, but said it was very +doubtful as they rarely did. Mr. Taylor thanked him, and sat quietly +praying. + +Was the connection made? As Mr. Taylor's train pulled in the other was +standing at the station. The conductor said, "Well, there it is, but I +didn't expect it." There was quite enough time to get across the platform +without hurrying and into the other train when it moved off. Was God in +that? I have no difficulty at all in understanding that He was. What +concerned His friend, in a strange land, on an errand for Himself surely +concerned Him. What concerns any trusting child of His concerns Him, for +He has us on His heart. + +I recall a personal experience in Boston one summer day. It was a very hot +day. I was to meet my mother and sister in the North Union station, where +we were to take a train out. I had their tickets. I reached the station +from my errands, hot and tired and with my head aching, ideal conditions +for worry. As I stepped into the station I realized at once that our +appointment to meet was not very definite. For the large station was +crowded. There was not much time before our train would go. And I +commenced to be agitated, which is a gentler way of saying worried. What +_would_ I do? It would be extremely inconvenient, especially for my +mother, to miss the train. And the time was short, and--and--. + +You see I was not a _graduate_ in this don't-worry school. I'm not yet; +still studying; expect to enter for post work when I do graduate. The +school is still open; open to all; instruction given _individually_ only; +the Teacher has had long _experience_ Himself on the earth, in the thick +of things. + +Well, I said as I stood a moment in the thick crowd, "Master, you know +where they are. Please take me to them. Maybe I should have been more +careful about the appointment, but I was tired at the start. Please--thank +you." And in less time than it takes to tell you I met them right in the +thick of the great crowd. And I felt sure that Peter got his putting of it +straight when he said of the Master, "_He has you on His heart_." + + + +Paul's Prison Psalm. + + +Did Paul follow his own rules? The best answer to that is this little +four-chaptered epistle where the rules are found. Philippians is a prison +psalm. The clanking of chains resounds throughout its brief pages. At one +end is Philippi; at the other Rome. Here is the Philippian end. In the +inner dungeon of a prison, dark, dirty, damp, is a man, Paul. His back is +bleeding and sore from the whipping-post. His feet are fast in the stocks. +His position is about as cramped and painful as it can be. It is midnight. +Paul would be asleep for weariness and exhaustion, but the position and +the pain hinder. + +Does no temptation come to him? He had been following a _vision_ in coming +over to Philippi. This is a great ending to the vision he's been having. +Did no such temptation come? Very likely it did. But Paul is an old +campaigner. He knows best what to do. He begins singing. His music is +pitched in the major too. Most likely he is singing one of the old Hebrew +psalms that he knew by heart. It was a psalm of praise. That is one end of +this epistle. + +At the other end Paul is a prisoner at Rome. As he sits dictating his +letter, if he gets tired and would swing one limb over the other for a +change, a heavy chain at his ankle reminds him of his bonds. As he reaches +for a quill to put a loving touch to the end of the parchment, again the +forged steel pulls at his wrist. That is the setting of Philippians, the +prison psalm. What is its key word? Is it patience? That would seem +appropriate. Is it long-suffering? More appropriate yet. Some of us know +about short-suffering, but we are apt to be a bit short on long-suffering. +The keyword is _joy_, with its variations of rejoice, and rejoicing. + +And notice what joy is. It is the cataract in the stream of life. Peace is +the gentle even flowing of the river. Joy is where the waters go bubbling, +leaping with ecstatic bound, and forever after, as they go on, making the +channel deeper for the quiet flow of peace. Paul had put his no-worry +rules through the crucible of experience. He follows the Master in that. +These three rules really mean living ever in that Master's presence. When +we realize that He is ever alongside then it will be easier to be + + Anxious for nothing, + Thankful for anything, + Prayerful about everything. + + + +He Touched Her Hand. + + +One morning on waking, a woman charged with the care of a home began +thinking of the day's simple duties. And as she thought they seemed to +magnify and pile up. There was her little daughter to get off to school +with her luncheon. Some of the church ladies were coming that morning for +a society meeting, and she had been planning a dainty luncheon for them. +The maid in the kitchen was not exactly ideal--yet. And as she thought +into the day her head began aching. + +After breakfast, as her husband was leaving for the day's business, he +took her hand and kissed her good-bye. "Why," he said, "my dear, your hand +is feverish. I'm afraid you've been doing too much. Better just take a day +off." And he was gone. And she said to herself, "A day off! The idea! Just +like a _man_ to think that I could take a day off." But she had been +making a habit of getting a little time for reading and prayer after +breakfast. Pity she had not put it in earlier, at the day's very start. +Yet maybe she could not. Sometimes it is not possible. Yet _most times_ it +is possible, by planning. + +Now she slipped to her room and, sitting down quietly, turned to the +chapter in her regular place of reading. It was the eighth of Matthew. As +she read she came to the words, "And _He touched her hand_, and the _fever +left her_; and she arose and ministered unto Him." And she knelt and +breathed out the soft prayer for a touch of the Master's hand upon her +own. And it came as she remained there a few moments. And then with much +quieter spirit she went on into the day. + +The luncheon for the church ladies was not quite so elaborate as she had +planned. There came to her an impulse to tell her morning's experience. +She shrank from doing it. It seemed a sacred thing. They might not +understand. But the impulse remained and she obeyed it, and quietly told +them. And as they listened there seemed to come a touch of the Spirit's +presence upon them all. And so the day was a blessed one. Its close found +her husband back again. And as he greeted her he said quietly, "My dear, +you did as I said, didn't you? The fever's gone." + + + + +Gideon's Band: Sifted for Service. + + + + God Wants the Best. + God's Use of Weak Things. + Call for Volunteers. + A Willing People. + Courageous Volunteers. + Irresistible Logic. + Hot Hearts. + God Still Sifting. + + + + +Gideon's Band: Sifted for Service. + +(1 Corinthians i:18-31; Judges vi and vii.) + + + +God Wants the Best. + + +Salvation is for all. Service is for those chosen for it. All _may_ serve. +That all do not is simply because service requires qualities which all do +not have. Yet, again, all may have them who will, for the required +qualities are _heart qualities_. And every one of us can cultivate the +heart qualities. There is special service, chiefly of leadership, +requiring brain qualities as well as heart. But the Master attends to the +choosing of men for such service. + +And where His spirit has touched human hearts there will be a glad doing +of just what service He appoints. It will be an honor to do just what He +asks because He asks. What it may happen to be will be a small matter in +itself. It is for Him, at His desire, and that is full enough to bring out +the best we have. + +Our old Tarsus and Antioch friend and leader has written a special word +about this matter of being chosen for service. It is in his first letter +to the recently organized church at Corinth. It is really his second +letter, for he seems to have written one before it that has not been +preserved.[23] There were some very serious matters in this new church +requiring strong treatment by its much-loved founder. Among them was one +about service. + +There were some who had gifts in service that seemed more attractive and +desirable than others had, it might be said more showy. And their +brethren, not free from the old worldly spirit, were envious and jealous. +And these who had such gifts were not free from a boasting spirit. +Factions or parties had arisen as a result. It was the bad world spirit of +competition and rivalry in among Christ's followers where it should never +come, yet where it still does come. In writing this letter Paul throughout +blends great plainness and common sense with great tenderness. + +In the beginning of his letter he calls attention to the fact that there +are not many among them of those who were reckoned by the world's +standards as wise or mighty or noble. On the contrary, in choosing His +leaders God had purposely chosen those reckoned by the world's standards +foolish that He might show plainly the shallowness of what they deem wise. +And so things reckoned weak had been chosen to give the conception of +what true strength is. And things even base, and despised, and not counted +at all had been used that so men might learn the God-standards of wisdom +and strength and honor and of what is worth while. The purpose being that +men should quit glorying in themselves and glorify Him from whom +everything had come, and was ever coming. + +The passage has oftentimes been quoted as though God prefers weakness; +never put so bluntly as that perhaps, but plainly meaning that. That of +course is not true. God wants the best we have. He needs the best. And for +leadership often His plans must wait till a man of the sort needed can be +gotten. And gotten frequently means broken, shattered, and then made over +wholly new, that the native strength may be used according to true +standards. + +Jacob was chosen rather than his elder brother Esau, not because of +Jacob's goodness but because of Esau's weakness. God was narrowed to these +two grandsons in carrying out the promise to Abraham. Jacob was +contemptible in his moral dealings, but he had qualities of leadership +wholly lacking in his brother. His moral character was a serious +hindrance. God had to handle him heroically before He could get the use of +his stronger mental equipment. Jacob had to get a bad throw-down before he +would be willing to let God have His way. His body must be weakened +before his mental power would yield. That was the weakness of his +stubbornness. Stubbornness is strength not strong enough to yield. + + + +God's Use of Weak Things. + + +It is true that over and over again God has used men utterly weak and +foolish and despised in the light of life's common standards. He wants men +of the best mental strength, of the finest mental training, and He uses +such when they are willing to be used, and governed by the true +God-standards of life. But talent seems specially beset with temptation. +The very power to do great things seems often to bewilder the man +possessing it. Wrong ambition gets the saddle and the reins and whip too, +and rides hard. + +Frequently some man who had not guessed he had talent, born in some lonely +walk of life, without the training of the schools, is used for special +leadership. It takes longer time always. Early mental training is an +enormous advantage. Carey the cobbler had mental talents to grace a +Cambridge chair. It took a little longer time to get him into shape for +the pioneer work he did in India. Duff's training gave him a great +advantage. + +But God is never in a hurry. He can wait. What He asks is that we shall +bring the best we have natively, with the best possible training, and let +Him use us absolutely as He may wish. And always remember that every +mental power is a gift from Him; that actual power in life must be through +Him only; and that mental gifts are not serviceable save as they are ever +inbreathed by His own Spirit. + +This word of Paul's finds most graphic illustration in the book of Judges. +Judges should be put alongside of the first chapter of First Corinthians. +It is a series of pictorial illustrations of what Paul is saying there. +These two books, Joshua and Judges, side by side in the Old Testament +stand in sharpest contrast. The keynote of Joshua is victory; of Judges +defeat. There's music in both, but contrasted music. Joshua rings with +songs in the major key, triumphant, militant, joyous, victorious. + +The music of Judges is in the minor, sad and weeping, with the harps +hanging on the willows. Joshua is upon the mountain top with sun shining +and air bracing and outlook inspiring. Judges is down in the valley +bottoms, dark and gloomy, and depressing. Yet Judges has bright spots, and +has spurts of good music interspersed. It is a study in lights and +shadows, bright lights, and dark shadowings, but with the blacker tints +intensifying and overcoming the others. + +There are here seven striking illustrations of God's use of strange +unusual means, such as are reckoned weak and trivial. A _left-handed_ man +uses that peculiarity to get a great victory and eighteen years of freedom +for the nation.[24] A farmer with as homely a weapon as an _ox-goad_ +delivers his people from oppression.[25] Men came to be so scarce, that is +men that were men enough to take their true place as leaders, that a +_woman_ had to step into the breach, and assume leadership. But the +student of history and of modern times is used to that. The result was +great victory, and a forty years' rest from the nation's enemies.[26] + +A _nail_ or _tent-pin_, only a wooden peg, in the hands of a woman with a +hammer helps to make the enemy's defeat more decisive.[27] _Three hundred_ +young men with _pitchers and trumpets_ completely rout the three armies of +three nations, and bring another deliverance.[28] Another time _a piece of +a millstone_ shoved over the wall by a woman turns the tide of battle +favorably.[29] And as contemptible a thing as the _jawbone of an ass_ in +the hands of one strong man is used to slay a thousand men.[30] + + + +Call for Volunteers. + + +It is of one of these, one of the most striking of these, that we are to +talk together awhile; the graphic story of Gideon and his band of three +hundred young fellows. Things were in bad shape in the nation; about as +bad in every way as they could be. This time it was the Midianites who +overran the land, and held the leaderless people in most abject slavery. +With them were joined two other nations, the Amalekites and the Children +of the East. When the crops were almost ready to harvest, these raiders +swooped in in great numbers and destroyed all the crops and drove away all +the stock. + +They harried the Israelites so that life was made very miserable for them. +They were forced to flee from their farms and take refuge in caves and +dens and the fastnesses among the hills. Then, as usual, when they got +into bad shape the people remembered God, and cried for help, and, as +usual with Him, He at once forgave them and planned another great +deliverance. + +First of all Gideon the leader is chosen out, and put through a bit of +schooling. That is a fascinating story of great helpfulness. Then this +trained young leader gathers his band of helpers. And we want to mark +keenly how these three hundred men were sifted out of the thousands for +service. They were sifted out. They sifted themselves out. In that army +of thousands were just three hundred who had the needed qualifications for +the bit of service God wanted done. + +Look over the gathered thousands: which are the chosen three hundred? No +man knew. They didn't know themselves until the tests came. They chose +themselves out by the way they stood the three tests applied. Even so is +God ever sifting out men for service. The more difficult the service, the +higher the grade of leadership needed, the severer the test. The testing +both reveals the qualities, and in part makes them. + +The first quality these men had was _willingness._ They were all +_volunteers_. When the call came they rallied to the leader's side. Gideon +sent runners, criers, out throughout that whole section. They went first +to his own family clan, then to his tribe, then to three neighboring +tribes. They said that God had called upon Gideon to lead a movement +against the Midianites and their allies and he wanted every man to come +and help. The messengers went swiftly through the whole territory of these +neighboring tribes, arousing the men to action and calling for volunteers. + +A good many did not respond to the summons. Some were simply indifferent. +They could not help hearing the call, but there was no response without or +within. No change of expression in the eye or face. They went right on in +their heavy, dull way as though they hadn't heard. They were utterly +indifferent to the call. Some were reluctant. They stopped and listened, +but with a heavy slant backwards to their bodies. Their heels bore most of +their weight. It was a good idea to get up such a movement, the enemy +ought to be driven back and out, but--but--and their eyes are half shut +already. + +Some criticised. Who was Gideon? A young upstart! trying to push himself +forward as a leader. He had no skill or experience. And the people had no +weapons. The enemy had stolen everything of the sort away. And they were +clear outnumbered. There wasn't a ghost of a show. It would only make bad +matters worse. This young upstart Gideon would soon be sorry enough when +he butted his head against the experienced Midianite leaders. +And--and--and--there they are talking, criticising, but not responding to +the call. Such critics seldom respond, and helpers criticise in a very +different way. It takes less brain to criticise unwisely, captiously, far +less than to help. Almost any hare-brain can tear a thing to pieces. And +nothing is commoner than just such criticism. + +Some ridiculed. "Ha! ha! ha! Gideon going to be national leader; ha! ha! +ha! And whip the enemy. Ridiculous! Absurd!" And some were outrightly +opposed. They objected. The people would be aroused, their hopes awakened +only to be dashed. The whole thing was wrong, for it was impossible. And +these men tried to keep others from going. + + + +A Willing People. + + +But many came. A crowd of volunteers came hurrying from farms and caves, +bringing such weapons probably as they had been able to keep in hiding. +They were willing to respond. It was a motley crowd, no doubt. There were +thirty-two thousand of them. These four tribes had once numbered as many +as one hundred and eighty-four thousand five hundred fighting men. And at +another, later, enumeration they had two hundred and twelve thousand men +of war age. Their numbers may be smaller now, though possibly not. It +looks as though only a small minority of all had responded, maybe one in +six or so. + +These men had the first great qualification for service, they were +willing. They were actively willing. They willed to come down to the front +and help fight the enemy, and deliver their nation. It is a great quality +this of being willing. That prophetic One Hundred and Tenth Psalm mentions +this as the great characteristic of those who shall rally about God's King +in a coming day of power. God reckons our service not by our ability but +by our willingness.[31] + +Whatever is given out of a warm, willing heart is eagerly accepted by +Him. The Hebrew tabernacle was constructed of free-will offerings. The +people came willingly with their offerings and left them for Moses' use. +Some brought gold and silver, some finely woven tapestries and silks. Here +was one poor woman who wanted to give but had very little. So she went out +to her little flock of goats whereby her living came to her, and cut off a +big bunch of goat's hair, and then with much pains dyed it red. + +And then one day she went up to where they were presenting their gifts and +timidly laid her bunch of goat's hair on the pile of offerings, and +quietly, quickly slipped away. It seemed very small on that pile of gold +and silver and richly-colored weavings. But it was the gift of her heart. +They had to have goat's hair as well as gold. And her offering was +acceptable because it came from a willing heart. Willingness is a heart +quality. It is the heart volunteering. + + "Our wills are ours to make them Thine." + +This was the first test. Thirty-two thousand out of four tribes stood this +test. Gideon's army had one great qualification at the start. + + + +Courageous Volunteers. + + +Now these men are put to a second test. The next morning God surprised +Gideon by telling him that he had too many men. If a victory was given +them with so many men they would feel that they had done the thing +themselves. They would grow so large as to shut God out of their +landscape. There would be no getting along with them. Each man would feel +that he was the essential factor. They would go back to the homefolks to +tell of themselves. God seems to know us folk down on the earth fairly +well. + +Now He would lessen their numbers, but in doing it He will pick out the +best. The men are encamped on the hillsides overlooking a valley. Across +the valley to the north lay the encamped armies of three nations. They +were a vast host. They were spread out as thick as the grasshoppers of +Egypt had been years before. Everywhere you looked there they were +swarming. + +Gideon spoke to his men. He said, "Gentlemen, Fellow-Israelites, there is +the enemy. Take a good look at them." And his followers looked, and as +they looked some of them began to get scared. They had not realized just +what was involved. Their footwear seemed to grow too large. They were +shaking in their boots. And their eyes grew big and their faces white +under the tan. + +Then Gideon said, "Now, every man of you that thinks it can't be done--I +wish you would get right out of this, and go back home." And he watched. +And I imagine even Gideon shook a bit inside as he watched. They +commenced to move away in squads, in scores, in fifties. Great gaps were +left in the mob of men. Here is a fellow standing, looking. He thinks, "It +looks pretty bad, sure enough; but then, I suppose, if God is planning--" +hello, the fellow by his side has gone, and on this other side too--"I +guess I'd better go too." And off he goes. Fear is very contagious. There +is great power in feeling a man by your side. And two-thirds of them +disappear over the hills. + +The motto of these disappearing men was this: "It can't be done." They +must have organized themselves into a society to perpetuate their own +idea. If so the society has shown great vitality. Many of its members +abide with us until this day. No, probably they didn't organize. They +didn't have enough gumption to. And such a sentiment grows like a weed +without any cultivation. + +I recall a certain town in Ohio where I had gone to talk about an +enlargement and re-vitalizing of the Young Men's Christian Association. +Thousands of young men in the place needed just such help as that +organization is supposed to provide. I outlined the plan to a clergyman. +He said it was a good plan, there was great need, the thing should be +done, "but," he said, with an air of settling the thing, "it can't be done +in _this town_." + +Among others I talked with a business man. He listened attentively, +approved the plans, agreed upon the great need, and then settling back in +his chair with the same air of finality, used exactly the same words, with +the same emphasis, "It can't be done in _this town_." I got that same +reply from several men that day. And I said to myself, "They are right; it +can't be done _with them_; but it can be done without them." And it was. + + + +Irresistible Logic. + + +But there remained ten thousand. These men by their staying said, "It +ought to be done. What ought to be done can be done. What can be done _we_ +can do. What we can do we _will_ do." Here is another man standing looking +at that vast host across the valley. He is thinking that it is a desperate +case, but he thinks of God's call through Gideon. Just then he notices +that his neighbor on the left has taken to his heels, and on his right +also. That shakes him for a moment. His heels say, "You go too." His heart +said, "No, stay." He obeyed his heart. He said, "I'll stay if I stay +alone." + +That was the stuff in these remaining ten thousand. They stood a double +test in remaining, the desperate situation seen in the presence of such an +enormous army, and the desertion of their fellows. They had _courage_; +not only willingness but courage. Courage is a heart quality. Courage is +the heart fighting. It faces fearful odds and keeps right straight ahead +regardless. + +A prize was offered once for the best definition of "pluck." The +definition that won the prize said, "Pluck is fighting with the scabbard +after the sword is broken." What a picture in a single sentence! The man +is fighting with might and main in the thick of the enemy, up and down, +parry and thrust, and just about holding his own, when suddenly, without a +moment's warning, the blade snaps close up to the hilt. The game's up now +surely. This accident decides the day. _Maybe_--for _some_ men. But not +for this fellow. He simply sets his jaws a bit firmer as, quick as +lightning, he grabs the scabbard by his side and fights with it. + +Such a man can't be whipped. He doesn't know when he is whipped. And the +man who doesn't know when he is whipped, never _is_ whipped. No man can be +whipped without his own consent. I said courage is a heart quality. These +ten thousand were not chicken-hearted nor downhearted. They were +lion-hearted, stout-hearted. They had hearts of oak. + +It was a keen stroke of generalship on Gideon's part that sent the timid, +discouraged ones back home. Nothing is more demoralizing than the presence +of such people. And there was no discipline much finer for those who +remained than to feel their fellows leaving them. It's hard to be left by +those who have been in touch. It is hard to stand alone. + +There is no harder test of character than that. And too there is no finer +thing to make character. Think how the fiber of those ten thousand +toughened and strengthened as they _stood_ there, with men on every side +hurrying away. This was the second test. But the men who can stand testing +are growing fewer. Thirty-two thousand men were willing. Only a third of +them are both willing and courageous. These men are more than volunteers. +They have seen the foe. Their fiber has stood the test, and toughened in +the test. They are _courageous_ volunteers. + + + +Hot Hearts. + + +But there is a third test. God comes to Gideon and says, "You have too +many men yet, Gideon." And Gideon's eyes bulge out a bit. Too many! Yes, +this is to be a quality fight. No common fighting here. God works best +with the men who come nearest to having His own thought of things. Numbers +don't count. You can't count men for service. You must weigh them, and +feel the firmness of their fiber. + +There is a little running brook down the valley. Gideon gives an order to +his men to advance a bit. And he watches them. Most of them as they come +to the water stretch out leisurely on the ground and putting their mouths +to the water take a good long drink, and another, and again. They seem to +say by their action, "Well, there's some tough work ahead, but we must +take care of ourselves. A man must look out for number one. We must not +get unduly stirred up over the thing. We're not fighting yet." + +But one fellow comes along with a quick, nervous step, and his eye still +on the enemy. He is all on tenter-hooks. His eye flashes fire. He reaches +down with a quick movement and gathers up some water in his hand, up to +his mouth, and hurries on. Then a second fellow, and a third, and more. +Gideon is watching. As each of these comes along he calls him off to one +side. When the whole number of men have passed the brook there are just +three hundred of the hot-hearted, intense-spirited fellows. + +God said, "Gideon, keep these men; send the others back." These thousands +sent back were sturdy men. They would make good fighters in many a +campaign, but they would not do for this higher kind of campaigning +planned for that day. The little band remaining had stood a third test, +they were willing, and courageous, _and enthusiastic_. + +Enthusiasm is the heart _burning_. These fellows had spring and snap to +them. Yet it was a _tempered_ spring and snap, the sort that would last. +By their action at the brook they said, "If there's fighting to be done, +let's do it quickly; let's go at the enemy with a vim and a rush. Oh! let +us at them." + + + +God Still Sifting. + + +Yet, mark you, their enthusiasm was _seasoned_. It grew _under fire_, or +practically so, in the presence of the danger. There is always an +abundance of the green article of enthusiasm, but it's not worth much for +steady ditch-work. There is a sort of wood enthusiasm, apple-wood. You +know how apple-wood burns in a fire. It catches quickly, throws out a good +many sparks, makes a loud crackling noise, but doesn't last long. + +There is another sort, a soft-coal enthusiasm. It's better than wood. But +it needs a lot of attention continually to keep a steady fire. Then +there's the hard-coal enthusiasm that will burn steadily and faithfully by +the hour. Yet no kind, mark you, will run long without fresh fuel. We need +in our service more of the seasoned enthusiasm. + +It has been said of General Grant that one great reason for his success as +a soldier was in his coolness. While the fighting and firing were hottest +he sat on his horse quietly, coolly watching, listening, and giving his +orders. And much of his power has been attributed to that quality. Well, +if coolness is a qualification for success in Christian service there +seems to be a large number of persons splendidly qualified. They are cool +all the time; cool as icebergs at the North Pole; cool from the topmost +layer of hair to the bottommost cuticle--about certain things. + +We want coolness of head such as General Grant had and hotness of heart +such as he had, too. The ideal combination is a cool head and a hot heart. +The head should resemble a refrigerator, and the heart a flaming furnace. +There is one bother, however, among many people. Either the coolness of +the head works down too much and affects the heart, and that is bad, or, +else the heat of the heart gets up into the head, and a hot head is always +bad. + +Yet there is a sure key to preserving the poise between the two. It is in +the quiet time daily with Jesus, over the Book, with the knee bent, and +the ear keen, and the spirit quiet. In that time there comes, and comes +ever more, the calmness for the brain, and the fresh fuel for the heart, +and new steadiness for the will that holds all under its strong hand. + +Many difficulties will yield only to fire. When you cannot reason your way +through a problem, or a difficulty, or into a man's heart, _burn_ your +way through. Nothing can withstand fire. It is very remarkable that the +symbol used most for God in the Bible is fire. A man never amounts to +anything until he catches fire. + +The proportions are worth noticing here. Thirty-two thousand were +_volunteers_. A third of that number are _courageous_ volunteers. About a +thirty-third of these, less than a hundredth of the original, are +_hot-hearted, courageous_ volunteers. + +This is Gideon's Band; three hundred young men fresh from the farm, who +were _willing_, and _courageous_, and _hot-hearted_, all heart qualities. +They stood every test. They had faced a foe that humanly they had no +chance to overcome, and because of God's call they were not only willing, +and stout-hearted, but intense in their desire to get at the fighting. + +Then under Gideon's leadership they were well fed, and organized; they +proved individually faithful in the thick of the fight, and they pushed +persistently on even when bodily tired out. And the nation knew a great +victory over its enemies, and a time of prosperity for years after. + +God is still sifting men for service. He will use gladly every man who is +willing to be used. When a man stands the first test well, there comes a +second. That, stood well, means others. These are our promotion tests. He +lets those who stand all testings into the thickest of the fight and up to +the highest heights of victory. + +Master, help us to endure every test as seeing Him who is invisible. + + + + +Footnotes + + + +[1] 1 John i:1. + +[2] 2 Corinthians iii:18. + +[3] Frances Ridley Havergal. + +[4] Exodus xxi:2-6, Leviticus xxv:39-43; Deuteronomy xv:12-18. + +[5] Psalm xi:6-8; Hebrews x:5-7. + +[6] Isaiah 1:4-6. + +[7] John v:19, 30; vi:38, 57; vii:16-17, 28; viii:28, 29. + +[8] John Sullivan Dwight. + +[9] Mark i:41; Matthew ix:36; Mark vi:34 (with Matthew xiv:14); +Matthew xx:34; xv:32; Mark v:19; Luke vii:13; x:33; xv:20 + +[10] Daniel xii:3. + +[11] James v:19. + +[12] Proverbs xi:30. + +[13] Luke v:10. + +[14] Acts xvii:6. + +[15] 1 Thessalonians iv:11; 2 Corinthians v. 9, Romans xv:20. + +[16] Attention is directed to a strong helpful address on "Money," by Rev. +A. F. Schauffler, D.D., in "The Student Missionary Appeal," published by +the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions. + +[17] Luke xvi:9. + +[18] Psalm cxix:54. + +[19] Psalm xxx:5. + +[20] Psalm lv:22. + +[21] Psalm lxviii:19. + +[22] I Peter v:7. + +[23] 1 Corinthians v:9-12. + +[24] Judges iii:15-30. + +[25] Judges iii:31. + +[26] Judges iv:4-16; v:1. + +[27] Judges iv:17-24. + +[28] Judges vi and vii. + +[29] Judges ix:50-57. + +[30] Judges xv:15-20. + +[31] 2 Corinthians viii:12. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK QUIET TALKS ON SERVICE*** + + +******* This file should be named 12529.txt or 12529.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/5/2/12529 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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