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diff --git a/30657-h/30657-h.htm b/30657-h/30657-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7301731 --- /dev/null +++ b/30657-h/30657-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3841 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content= +"text/html; charset=utf-8"> +<title>Sovereign Grace, Its Source, Its Nature and Its +Effects</title> + +<style type="text/css"> + body {font-family:'Bookman Old Style', 'Book Antiqua', 'Garamond'; text-align:justify; margin-left:3em; margin-right:3em} + p.pnn {margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0} + p.ps {margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em} + p.pn {text-indent:1.5em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0} + p.pns {text-indent:1.5em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em} + p.pc {text-align:center;font-size:88%;margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em} + p.p1 {padding-left:3.5em; text-indent:-2em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0} + p.p1s {padding-left:3.5em; text-indent:-2em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em} + p.p2 {padding-left:7em; text-indent:-2em; font-size:92%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0} + p.p3 {padding-left:8em; text-indent:-2em; font-size:92%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0} + p.p3s {padding-left:8em; text-indent:-2em; font-size:92%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em} + p.p4 {padding-left:9em; text-indent:-2em; font-size:92%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0} + p.p4s {padding-left:9em; text-indent:-2em; font-size:92%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em} + p.p5s {padding-left:18em; text-indent:-2em; font-size:92%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em} + p.p6 {padding-left:14em; text-indent:-2em; font-size:92%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0} + p.p6s {padding-left:14em; text-indent:-2em; font-size:92%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em} + + .sc {font-variant:small-caps} + .ls1 {letter-spacing:0.08em} + + h1 {text-align:center;margin-top:1.0em;margin-bottom:0.9em;font-size:142%;font-weight:normal} + h2 {text-align:center;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:104%;font-weight:normal} + h3 {text-align:center;margin-top:1.5em;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:92%;font-weight:normal} +</style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Sovereign Grace, by Dwight Moody + +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: Sovereign Grace + Its Source, Its Nature and Its Effects + +Author: Dwight Moody + +Release Date: December 12, 2009 [EBook #30657] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOVEREIGN GRACE *** + + + + +Produced by Keith G. Richardson + + + + + +</pre> + +<p class="pnn"><a href="#Preface">Prefatory Note</a></p> +<p class="pnn"><a href="#Contents">Contents</a></p> +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:350%;font-style:italic;margin-top:0.6em;margin-bottom:0.8em"> +Sovereign Grace</p> +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:121%;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:4.6em"> +Its Source, Its Nature and Its Effects</p> +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:142%;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:3.5em"> +By D. L. Moody</p> +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:88%;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:6.5em"> +<i>“By Grace are ye saved.”—Ephesians ii. 8</i></p> +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:146%;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:3.8em"> +<span class="ls1">With Three Gospel Dialogues</span></p> +<hr style="width:6em;margin-top:1.7em;margin-bottom:5.0em"> +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:88%;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0.3em"> +C<span class="sc">hicago</span> N<span class= +"sc">ew</span> Y<span class="sc">ork</span> +T<span class="sc">oronto</span></p> +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:113%;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0.3em"> +FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY</p> +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:92%;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:1.5em"> +L<span class="sc">ondon and</span> E<span class= +"sc">dinburgh</span></p> +<hr style="margin-top:7.5em;margin-bottom:25em"> +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:79%;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:1.5em"> +<i>Copyrighted 1891 by Fleming H. Revell Company.</i></p> +<hr style="margin-top:28em;margin-bottom:11em"> +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:133%;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:1.5em"> +<a name="Preface" id="Preface">PREFATORY NOTE.</a></p> +<div style="text-align:center"><img alt="Illustration: Line" src= +"images/line.jpg" style= +"width: 7.5em; height: 0.65em;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:1.7em"></div> +<div style="line-height:1.5em"> +<p class="pnn"><img style= +"float:left;margin-top:0.5em; margin-right:0.3em;height:2.4em;padding-right:0.2em" +src="images/i2.jpg" alt="I">N the exercise of his high calling, +the faithful ambassador of Christ must not scruple to declare the +whole counsel of God—“rightly dividing the word of truth,” to all +classes of hearers. He must warn the openly wicked man that if he +persists in his evil courses, the just judgments of God will +inevitably overtake him; he must unmask the hypocrite; he must +utter no uncertain protest against the crooked and devious ways +of the self-seeker and the time-server. But if he enters into the +Spirit of his Master, no part of his public work will be more +congenial or delightful than the proclamation of the full, free, +and <span class="sc">sovereign grace</span> of God, manifested +towards sinful men in the gift of His Eternal Son, to be the +Saviour of the world. It has been my happy privilege in years +past to tell out, as best I could, this wonderful story of +redeeming grace. The following pages record the addresses I have +given on the various aspects of this great subject. I pray God +that in their printed form they may serve to deepen in the mind +of the reader the appreciation of this grace, at once so infinite +and so undeserved.</p> +<p class="pn">The chapter entitled “A Chime of Gospel Bells,” +though not strictly flowing out of the general subject, is in +perfect harmony with it; every note in the chime is intended to +ring out the gracious invitation to “Come” to the God of all +grace and be blessed. The Dialogues which form the latter part of +the book were heard with much interest and profit at some of the +London meetings; I think the perusal of them will be helpful in +removing many of the hindrances that prevent anxious inquirers +from accepting without delay the salvation that God in His grace +has provided for the sinful children of men.</p> +</div> +<div style="text-align:right"><img alt="Illustration: Signature" +src="images/signature.jpg" style= +"width: 18em; height: 6.7em;margin-top:2.0em;margin-bottom:0"></div> +<hr style="margin-top:17em;margin-bottom:7em"> +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:142%;letter-spacing:0.2em;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:1.4em"> +<a name="Contents" id="Contents">CONTENTS.</a></p> +<div style="text-align:center"><img alt="Illustration: Line" src= +"images/line.jpg" style= +"width:8.7em; margin-top:0;margin-bottom:2.3em"></div> +<div style= +"font-size:88%; line-height:1.1em; letter-spacing:0.04em"> +<p class="ps"><a href="#I">T<span class="sc">he</span> +F<span class="sc">ountain of</span> G<span class= +"sc">race</span></a></p> +<p class="ps"><a href="#II">S<span class="sc">aved by</span> +G<span class="sc">race</span> A<span class= +"sc">lone</span></a></p> +<p class="ps"><a href="#III">P<span class="sc">ossessing, +and</span> “W<span class="sc">orking</span> O<span class= +"sc">ut</span>”</a></p> +<p class="ps"><a href="#IV">G<span class="sc">race Abounding to +the Chief of Sinners</span></a></p> +<p class="ps"><a href="#V">L<span class="sc">aw and +Grace</span></a></p> +<p class="ps"><a href="#VI">G<span class="sc">race for +Living</span></a></p> +<p class="ps"><a href="#VII">G<span class="sc">race for +Service</span></a></p> +<p class="ps"><a href="#VIII">“A C<span class="sc">hime of Gospel +Bells</span>”</a></p> +</div> +<hr style="width:10em;margin-top:1.9em;margin-bottom:1.5em"> +<p style="text-align:left;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:1.5em"> +GOSPEL DIALOGUES:</p> +<div style= +"font-size:88%; line-height:1.1em; letter-spacing:0.04em"> +<p class="ps"> I. <a href="#GDI">W<span class="sc">hat It Is to +be a Child of God</span></a></p> +<p class="ps"> II. <a href="#GDII">H<span class="sc">ow to Become +a Christian</span></a></p> +<p class="ps">III. <a href="#GDIII">W<span class="sc">hat It Is +to be Converted</span></a></p> +</div> +<hr style="margin-top:15em;margin-bottom:11em"> +<div style="line-height:1.6em"> +<p class="p3">“G<span class="sc">race</span>! ’tis a charming +sound,</p> +<p class="p4">Harmonious to the ear;</p> +<p class="p3">Heaven with the echo shall resound,</p> +<p class="p4s">And all the earth shall hear.</p> +<p class="p3">’Twas grace that wrote my name</p> +<p class="p4">In life’s eternal book;</p> +<p class="p3">’Twas grace that gave me to the Lamb,</p> +<p class="p4s">Who all my sorrows took.</p> +<p class="p3">Grace taught my wandering feet</p> +<p class="p4">To tread the heavenly road;</p> +<p class="p3">And new supplies each hour I meet,</p> +<p class="p4s">While pressing on to God.</p> +<p class="p3">Oh let that grace inspire</p> +<p class="p4">My soul with strength divine.</p> +<p class="p3">May all my prayers to Thee aspire,</p> +<p class="p4">And all my days be Thine.”</p> +<p style= +"text-align:left;text-indent:19.0em;font-size:88%;font-style:italic;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:1.5em"> +<i>Dr. Doddridge.</i></p> +</div> +<hr style="margin-top:13em;margin-bottom:9em"> +<h1 style= +"text-align:center;font-size:183%;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0.5em"> +<a name="I" id="I">SOVEREIGN GRACE</a></h1> +<div style="text-align:center"><img alt="Illustration: Line" src= +"images/line2.jpg" style="width: 3.0em;"></div> +<p style= +"text-align:center;margin-top:1.0em;margin-bottom:0.9em;font-size:142%"> +CHAPTER I.</p> +<h2>THE FOUNTAIN OF GRACE.</h2> +<p class="pnn"><img style= +"float:left;margin-top:0.2em; margin-right:0.3em;height:3.5em" +src="images/t.jpg" alt="T"> HERE are some words with which we +have been familiar from our infancy up, and probably there are +few words in the English language that are so often used as this +word “GRACE.” Many of you at your table “say grace” three times a +day. You seldom go into a church without hearing the word +mentioned. You seldom read any part of the New Testament, +especially the Epistles, without meeting the word.</p> +<p class="pn">There is probably not a word in the language so +little understood. There are a great many who have received the +grace of God into their heart, but who, if they should be asked +what the word means would be troubled, and confused, and unable +to tell. I experienced the grace of God a good many years before +I really knew the true meaning of the word.</p> +<p class="pn">Now, grace means unmerited mercy—undeserved favor. +If men were to wake up to the fact, they would not be talking +about their own worthiness when we ask them to come to Christ. +When the truth dawns upon them that Christ came to save the +unworthy, then they will accept salvation. Peter calls God “the +God of all grace.”</p> +<p class="pn">Men talk about grace, but, as a rule, they know +very little about it. Let a business man go to one of your +bankers to borrow a few hundred dollars for sixty or ninety days; +if he is well able to pay, the banker will perhaps lend him the +money if he can get another responsible man to sign the note with +him. They give what they call three days’ grace after the sixty +or ninety days have expired; but they will make the borrower pay +interest on the money during these three days, and if he does not +return principal and interest at the appointed time, they will +sell his goods; they will perhaps turn him out of his house, and +take the last piece of furniture in his possession. That is not +grace at all; but that fairly illustrates man’s idea of it. Grace +not only frees you from payment of the interest, but of the +principal also.</p> +<h3>ITS SOURCE.</h3> +<p class="pn">In the Gospel by John we read, “The Word was made +flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as +of the Only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth . . . +For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus +Christ.” Now you know that for many years men were constantly +trying to find the source of the Nile. The river of grace has +been flowing through this dark earth for six thousand years, and +we certainly ought to be more anxious to find out its source than +to discover the source of the Nile. I think if you will read your +Bible carefully you will find that this wonderful river of grace +comes right from the very heart of God.</p> +<p class="pn">I remember being in Texas a few years ago, in a +place where the country was very dry and parched. In that dry +country there is a beautiful river that springs right out of the +ground. It flows along; and on both sides of the river you find +life and vegetation. Grace flows like that river; and you can +trace its source right up to the very heart of God. You may say +that its highest manifestation was seen when God gave the Son of +His bosom to save this lost world. “Not as the offense, so also +is the free gift. For if through the offense of one many be dead, +much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by +one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.”</p> +<h3>A FREE GIFT.</h3> +<p class="pn">Notice, it is the free gift of God. “Grace be unto +you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus +Christ. I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of +God which is given you by Jesus Christ.” Paul wrote fourteen +Epistles; and every one of them is closed with a prayer for +grace. Paul calls it “The free gift of God.” Thousands have been +kept out of the kingdom of God because they do not realize what +this free gift is. They think they must do something to merit +salvation.</p> +<p class="pn">The first promise given to fallen man was a promise +of grace. God never promised Adam anything when He put him in +Eden. God never entered into a covenant with him as He did with +Abraham. God told him “of the tree of the knowledge of good and +evil thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest +thereof thou shalt surely die;” but when this came to pass then +God came and gave him a gracious promise. He dealt in grace with +him. As he left the Garden of Eden he could say to Eve, “Well, +God does love us, though He has driven us out.” There was no sign +that Adam recognized his lost condition. As far as we know there +was no cry for mercy or pardon, no confession of sin. Yet we find +that God dealt in grace with him. God sought Adam out that he +might bestow His grace upon him. He met Adam in his lost and +ruined condition, and the first thing He did was to proclaim the +promise of a coming Saviour.</p> +<p class="pn">For six thousand years, God has been trying to +teach the world this great and glorious truth—that He wants to +deal with man in love and in grace. It runs right through the +Bible; all along you find this stream of grace flowing. The very +last promise in the closing chapter of Revelation, like the first +promise in Eden, is a promise of grace: “Whosoever will, let him +take the water of life freely.” So the whole revelation, and the +whole history of man is encircled with grace, the free favor of +God.</p> +<p class="pn">Some years ago when I was speaking on this subject, +a friend sent me the following: “By the grace of God I am what I +am!” This is the believer’s eternal confession. Grace found him a +rebel—it leaves him a son. Grace found him wandering at the gates +of hell—it leads him through the gates of heaven. Grace devised +the scheme of Redemption: Justice never would; Reason never +could. And it is grace which carries out that scheme. No sinner +would ever have sought his God but ‘by grace.’ The thickets of +Eden would have proved Adam’s grave, had not grace called him +out. Saul would have lived and died the haughty self-righteous +persecutor had not grace laid him low. The thief would have +continued breathing out his blasphemies, had not grace arrested +his tongue and tuned it for glory.</p> +<p class="pn">“‘Out of the knottiest timber,’ says Rutherford, +‘He can make vessels of mercy for service in the high palace of +glory.’”</p> +<p class="pn">“‘I came, I saw, I conquered,’ says Toplady, ‘may +be inscribed by the Saviour on every monument of grace.’ ‘I came +to the sinner; I looked upon him; and with a look of omnipotent +love, I conquered.’”</p> +<p class="pn">My friend, we would have been this day wandering +stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of +darkness—Christless—hopeless—portionless—had not grace invited +us, and grace constrained us.</p> +<h3>RESTRAINING GRACE.</h3> +<p class="pn">It is grace which, at this moment, keeps us. We +have often been a Peter—forsaking our Lord, but brought back to +him again. Why not a Demas or a Judas? ‘I have prayed for thee +that thy faith fail not.’ Is not this our own comment and +reflection on life’s retrospect? ‘Yet not I, but the grace of God +which was with me.’</p> +<p class="pn">Oh, let us seek to realize our continual dependence +on this grace every moment! ‘More grace! more grace!’ should be +our continual cry. But the infinite supply is commensurate with +the infinite need. The treasury of grace, though always emptying +is always full: the key of prayer which opens it is always at +hand: and the almighty Almoner of the blessings of grace is +always waiting to the gracious. The recorded promise never can be +canceled or reversed—’My grace is sufficient for thee.’</p> +<p class="pn">Let us seek to dwell much on this inexhaustible +theme. The grace of God is the source of minor temporal as well +as of higher spiritual blessings.</p> +<p class="pn">It accounts for the crumb of daily bread as well as +for the crown of eternal glory. But even in regard to earthly +mercies, never forget the channel of grace through Christ Jesus. +It is sweet thus to connect every (even the smallest and +humblest) token of providential bounty with Calvary’s Cross—to +have the common blessings of life stamped with the print of the +nails; it makes them doubly precious to think this flows from +Jesus. Let others be contented with the uncovenanted mercies of +God. Be it ours to say as the children of grace and heirs of +glory—’Our Father which art in heaven, give us this day our daily +bread.’ Nay, reposing in the all-sufficiency in all things, +promised by ‘the God of all grace.’</p> +<hr style="margin-top:6em;margin-bottom:6em"> +<h1><a name="II" id="II">CHAPTER II.</a></h1> +<h2>SAVED BY GRACE ALONE.</h2> +<p class="pnn"><img style= +"float:left;margin-top:0.2em; margin-right:0.3em;height:3.5em;padding-right:0.3em" +src="images/i2.jpg" alt="I"> WANT to call your special attention +to the fact that we are saved by grace alone, not by works +<i>and</i> grace. A great many people think that they can be +saved by works. Others think that salvation may be attained by +works and grace together. They need to have their eyes opened to +see that the gift of God is free and apart from works. “For by +grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it +is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast.” +Many people would put it thus: “For by your works are ye +saved,—or by your tears, or your prayers, or your fastings, or +your trials, or your good resolutions, or your money!” But Paul +tells us plainly that it is “not of works, lest any man should +boast.” If we could be saved by works, then of course Christ’s +mission to this world was a mistake. There was no need for Him to +come.</p> +<p class="pn">What had Paul ever done that could merit salvation? +Up to the time that Christ called him he had done everything he +could against Christ and against Christianity. He was in the very +act of going to Damascus to cast into prison every Christian he +could find. If he had not been stopped, many of them would +probably have been put to death. It was Paul, you remember, who +cheered on the mob that stoned Stephen. Yet we find that when +Christ met him He dealt in grace with him. No apostle says so +much against salvation by works <i>before</i> the cross, as Paul; +and none says so much about works <i>after</i> the cross. He put +works in their right place. I have very little sympathy with any +man who has been redeemed by the precious blood of the Son of +God, and who has not got the spirit of work. If we are children +of God we ought not to have a lazy drop of blood in our veins. If +a man tells me that he has been saved, and does not desire to +work for the honor of God, I doubt his salvation. Laziness +belongs to the old creation, not to the new. In all my experience +I never knew a lazy man to be converted—never. I have more hope +of the salvation of drunkards, and thieves, and harlots, than of +a lazy man.</p> +<h3>WHAT THE THIRTY-NINE ARTICLES SAY.</h3> +<p class="pn">I find some people have accused me of teaching +heresy, because I say salvation is all of grace. I remember once, +a clergyman said I was teaching false doctrine because I said +salvation was all of grace. He said that works had as much to do +with our salvation as grace. At that time I had never read the +Thirty-Nine Articles; if I had I should have been ready to meet +him. I got the Prayer Book, and looked through the Thirty-Nine +Articles; and I found, to my amazement, that they put it a good +deal stronger than I had done.</p> +<p class="pn">Let us hear what they say—</p> +<p class="pn">“XI. <i>Of the Justification of Man</i>. We are +accounted righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord +and Saviour Jesus Christ by Faith, and not for our own works or +deservings: Wherefore, that we are justified by Faith only, is a +most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort.”</p> +<p class="pn">“XII. <i>Of Good Works</i>. Albeit that Good Works, +which are the fruits of Faith, and follow after Justification, +cannot put away our sins, and endure the severity of God’s +judgment; yet are they pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ, +and do spring out necessarily of a true and lively Faith; +insomuch that by them a lively Faith may be as evidently known as +a tree discerned by the fruit.”</p> +<p class="pn">“XIII. <i>Of Works Before Justification</i>. Works +done before the grace of Christ, and the inspiration of His +Spirit, are not pleasant to God; forasmuch as they spring not of +faith in Jesus Christ, neither do they make men meet to receive +grace, or (as the school-authors say) deserve grace of congruity: +yea rather, for that they are not done as God hath willed and +commanded them to be done, we doubt not but they have the nature +of sin.”</p> +<p class="pn">That is stronger than I ever put it. These Articles +say of works before justification that “they have the nature of +sin.” I never called them sin! So you see this is not any new +doctrine that we are preaching. When the church and the world +wake up to the fact that works before salvation go for nought, +<i>then</i>—and not till then, I believe—men will come flocking +into the kingdom of God by hundreds. W<span class="sc">e work +from the cross, not to it</span>. W<span class="sc">E work +because we are saved, not in order to be saved</span>. +W<span class="sc">e work from salvation, not up to it</span>. +S<span class="sc">alvation is the gift of God</span>.</p> +<p class="pn">You have heard the Prayer Book: <span class= +"sc">now hear paul</span>; “Abraham believed God; and it was +counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is +the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that +worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, +his faith is counted for righteousness.” Notice what the Apostle +says: “To him that worketh not.” That is plain language, is it +not? I may perhaps startle some of you by saying that many of you +have been kept out of the kingdom of God by your good works. +Nevertheless it is true. If you put works in the place of faith, +they become a snare to you. It is “to him that worketh not, but +believeth.”</p> +<p class="pn">I freely admit salvation is worth working for; it +is worth a man’s going round the world on his hands and knees, +climbing its mountains, crossing its valleys, swimming its +rivers, going through all manner of hardship in order to attain +it. But we do not get it in that way. Paul went through all the +trials and hardships he had to endure, because by the grace of +God resting on him he was enabled to do so.</p> +<h3>PENANCE FOR SIN.</h3> +<p class="pn">Would you insult the Almighty by offering Him the +fruits of this frail body to atone for sin? Supposing your Queen +were to send me a magnificent present, and I said to the royal +messenger: “I certainly should not like to accept this from Her +Majesty without giving her something in return.” Suppose I should +send her a penny! How would the Queen feel, if I were to insult +her in that way? And what have we that we can offer to God in +return for His free gift of salvation? Less than nothing. We must +come and take salvation in God’s way.</p> +<p class="pn">There is no merit in taking a gift. If a beggar +comes to my house, and asks for bread to eat, and I give him a +loaf of bread, there is no merit in his taking the bread. So if +you experience the favor of God, you have to take it as a beggar. +Some one has said: “If you come to God as a prince, you go away +as a beggar: if you come as a beggar, you go away as a prince.” +It is to the needy that God opens the wardrobe of heaven, and +brings out the robe of righteousness.</p> +<p class="pn">Paul says again: “If by grace, then is it no more +of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of +works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.” +Paul is reasoning in this way: that if I work for a gift or +attempt to give money for it, it ceases to be a gift. The only +way to get a gift is to take it as a gift.</p> +<p class="pn">An old man got up in one of our meetings and said, +“I have been forty-two years learning three things.” I pricked up +my ears at that; I thought that if I could find out in about +three minutes what a man had taken forty-two years to learn, I +should like to do it. The first thing he said he had learned was +that he could do nothing towards his own salvation. “Well,” said +I to myself, “that is worth learning.” The second thing he had +found out was that God did not require him to do anything. Well, +that was worth finding out too. And the third thing was that the +Lord Jesus Christ had done it all, that salvation was finished, +and that all he had to do was to <i>take</i> it. Dear friends, +let us learn this lesson; let us give up our struggling and +striving, and accept salvation at once.</p> +<h3>A FREE PARDON.</h3> +<p class="pn">I was preaching in the Southern States a few years +ago; and the minister called my attention to one of the elders in +his Church. He said: When the civil war broke out, that man was +in one of the far Southern States, and he enlisted into the +Southern army. He was selected by the Southern General as a spy, +and sent to spy out the Northern army. As you know, armies have +no mercy on spies, if they can catch them. This man was caught. +He was tried by court-martial, and ordered to be shot. While he +was in the guard-room, previous to the time of execution, the +Northern soldiers used to bring him his rations. Every time they +came to his cell he would call Abraham Lincoln by every vile +epithet he could think of. It seemed as though he “lay awake +nights” trying to study such names. At last the soldiers got so +angry that they said they would be glad when the bullet went +through his heart. Some of them even said they would like to put +a bullet through him; and if they were not obliged by military +order to feed him, they would let him starve in the prison. They +thought that was what he deserved for talking so unjustly of +Lincoln.</p> +<p class="pn">One day while he was in the prison, waiting to be +led out to execution, a Northern officer came to the cell. The +prisoner, full of rage, thought his time was come to be shot. The +officer opened the prison door, and handed him a free pardon from +Abraham Lincoln! He told him he was at liberty; he could go to +his wife and children! The man who had before been so full of +bitterness, and malice, and rage, suddenly quieted down, and +said, “What! has Abraham Lincoln pardoned me? For what? I never +said a good word about him.” The officer said, “If you had what +you deserved you would be shot. But some one interceded for you +at Washington and obtained your pardon; you are now at liberty.” +The minister, as he told me, said that this act of undeserved +kindness quite broke the man’s heart and led to his conversion. +Said the minister, “You let any man speak one word against +Abraham Lincoln now in the hearing of that man, and see what will +happen. There is not a man in all the Republic of America, I +believe, who has a kinder feeling towards our late President than +he.”</p> +<p class="pn">Now that is grace. The man did not <i>deserve</i> a +pardon. But this is exactly what grace is: <i>undeserved +mercy</i>. You may have been a rebel against God up to this very +hour; but if you acknowledge your rebellion, and are willing to +take the mercy that God offers, you can have it freely. It is +there for every soul on the face of the earth. “The grace of God +that bringeth salvation to all men hath appeared.” Thank God for +that! Salvation by grace is for all men. If we are lost, it will +not be because God has not provided a Saviour, but because we +spurn the gift of God—because we dash the cup of salvation from +us.</p> +<p class="pn">What says Christ? You remember that when He was on +earth, they came to Him and asked what they should do to work the +works of God. He had been telling them to labor not for the bread +that perisheth, but for the meat that endureth unto everlasting +life. Then they asked Him, “What shall we do that we may work the +works of God?” What did Jesus tell them to do? Did He tell them +to go and feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to visit the +widow and the fatherless in their affliction? Perhaps you may say +that, according to Scripture, is “pure and undefiled religion.” +Granted; but something comes before that. That is all right and +necessary in its place. But when these men wanted to know what +they had to do to inherit eternal life, Jesus said: “<span class= +"sc">This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath +sent</span>.”</p> +<h3>YOU CAN BELIEVE.</h3> +<p class="pn">A friend lately called my attention to the fact +that God has put the offer of salvation in such a way that the +whole world can lay hold of it. All men can believe. A lame man +might not perhaps be able to visit the sick; but he can believe. +A blind man by reason of his infirmity cannot do many things; but +he can believe. A deaf man can believe. A dying man can believe. +God has put salvation so simply that the young and the old, the +wise and the foolish, the rich and the poor, can all believe if +they will.</p> +<p class="pns">Do you think that Christ would have come down from +heaven, would have gone to Gethsemane and to Golgotha, would have +suffered as He did, if man could have worked his way up to +heaven?—if he could have merited salvation by his own efforts? I +think if you give five minutes’ consideration to this question +you will see, that if man could have saved himself Christ need +not have suffered at all. Remember, too, what Christ says: “He +that climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a +robber.” He has marked out the way to God. He has opened up a new +and shining way, and He wants us to take <i>His</i> way. +Certainly the attempt to work our way up to heaven is “climbing +up some other way,” is it not? If ever a man did succeed in +working his way into heaven we should never hear the last of it! +I have got so terribly sick of these so-called “self-made men.” +There are some men whom you cannot approach without hearing them +blow their trumpet, saying, “I am a self-made man. I came here a +poor man ten years ago; and now I am rich.” It is all I—I—I! They +go on boasting, and telling what wonderful beings they are! There +is one thing that is excluded from the kingdom of heaven; and +that is—boasting. If you and I ever get there it will be by the +sovereign grace of God. There will be no credit due to +ourselves.</p> +<p class="p3">“Saved by grace alone!</p> +<p class="p4">This is all my plea:</p> +<p class="p3">Jesus died for all mankind,</p> +<p class="p4">And Jesus died for me.”</p> +<hr style="margin-top:6em;margin-bottom:6em"> +<h1><a name="III" id="III">CHAPTER III.</a></h1> +<h2>POSSESSING, AND “WORKING OUT.”</h2> +<p class="pnn"><img style= +"float:left;margin-top:0.2em; margin-right:0.3em;height:3.5em;padding-right:0.3em" +src="images/i.jpg" alt="I">CAN imagine some one asking: What does +that passage mean—“Work out your own salvation with fear and +trembling?” Well, I want you to emphasize the word <i>your:</i> +“Work out <i>your</i> salvation.” That is most important. You +hear people talk of working out salvation, when all the time they +have not got it. How can you work out what you do not possess? +Paul is here writing to the Christians at Philippi. They were +already saved by the grace of God. Now that they had got this +wonderful gift, he says: “Go, work it out.” When you see a person +working for salvation, you may know that he has got a false idea +of the teaching of the Scripture. We have salvation as a gift; +and of course we cannot get it by working for it. It is our +appreciation of this gift that makes us work.</p> +<p class="pn">Many people are working and working, as Rowland +Hill says, like children on a rocking horse—it is a beautiful +motion, but there is no progress. Those who are working for +salvation are like men on a treadmill, going round, and round, +and round; toiling, and toiling, and toiling; but nothing comes +of it all. There is no progress, and there cannot be until you +have the motive power within, till the breath of life comes from +God, which can alone give you power to work for others.</p> +<p class="pn">Suppose I say to my son: “You are going away from +home; and I want you to be very careful how you spend that $500.” +“Well,” he says, “if you will give me $500, I will be careful +about it; but how can I be careful in spending what I have not +got?” And so, unless you have salvation, you cannot work it +out.</p> +<p class="pn">Take another illustration. One summer my boy asked +me to give him a piece of ground that he might have a garden all +to himself. I said I would give it to him; but that I expected he +would keep it clear of weeds, and use it in some way that would +make it pleasant and profitable to him. He was to work out the +piece of land; but he could not do that until I had given it to +him. Neither was it his working it out that secured him the +garden. I gave it to him freely, apart from any merit of his own; +but I did so on the understanding that he should employ it to the +best advantage. I think that is a fair illustration of our +working out the salvation that God has given us.</p> +<p class="pn">Of course these illustrations fail in some points. +I could not impart to my son the willingness to work out the +piece of land, though I could provide him with all the necessary +implements. God not only gives us salvation freely, but he gives +us the power to work it out.</p> +<p class="pn">A writer says on this point: “Paul does not command +the Philippians <i>to save themselves</i>. There was no thought +in his mind of any meritorious self-righteousness. Man can by no +work of his own either procure salvation or merit salvation. God +worketh the salvation <i>within</i> the soul—man only worketh +that salvation <i>out</i> in the Christian life. To break off +from known sin; to renounce all self-righteousness; to cast +ourselves in loving faith on the merits of Christ crucified; to +commence at once a life of self-denial, of prayer, of obedience; +to turn from all that God forbids, resolutely and earnestly, unto +all that God requires—this is what the text implies. But then +this is not salvation. Salvation is of God—of grace—of free +grace. From the germ to the fruit, from foundation to +top-stone—it is of grace, free grace, altogether and only. But +the ‘<i>working out of salvation</i>’—is <i>man’s part</i> in the +work of salvation. God will not repent for the man; nor believe +for the man; nor lead a holy life for the man. God worketh +inwardly—man worketh outwardly. And this outward human work is as +necessary as the inward Divine work.”</p> +<p class="pn">G<span class="sc">od works in us</span>; and then +we work <i>for</i> Him. If He has done a work in us, we certainly +ought to go and work for others. A man must have this salvation, +and must know it, before he can work for the salvation of +others.</p> +<p class="pn">Many of you have tried hard to save yourselves; but +what has been the end of it all? I remember a lady in the North +of England who became quite angry when I made this remark +publicly: “No one in this congregation will be saved till they +stop trying to save themselves.” Down she came from the gallery, +and said to me: “You have made me perfectly miserable.” “Indeed,” +I said, “how is that?” “Why, I always thought that if I kept on +trying, God would save me at some time; and now you tell me to +stop trying: what, then, am I to do?” “Why, let the Lord save +you.” She went off in something like a rage. It is not always a +bad sign when you see a man or a woman wake up cross, if it is +the Word of God that wakes them up. A day or two afterwards she +came and thanked me. She said she had been turning over in her +mind what I had said; and at last the truth dawned upon her, that +though she had worked long, though she had formed a good many +resolutions, she had made no progress. So she gave up the +struggle; and then it was that the Lord Jesus saved her.</p> +<p class="pn">I want to ask you this question: If sin needs +forgiveness—and all sin is against God—how can you work out your +own forgiveness? If I stole $100 from a friend, I could not +forgive myself, could I? No act of mine would bring about +forgiveness, unless my friend forgave me. And so, if I want +forgiveness of sin, it must be the work of God. If we look at +salvation as a new life, it must be the work of God. God is the +author of life: you cannot give yourself life. If we consider it +as a gift, it must come from some one outside of ourselves. That +is what I read in the Bible—Salvation as a gift. While I am +speaking, you can make up your mind that you will stop trying, +and take this gift.</p> +<p class="pn">I wish I could get this whole audience to drop the +word <i>try</i>, and put the word <i>trust</i> in its place. The +forgiving grace of God is wonderful. He will save you this very +minute, if you are willing to be saved. He delights in mercy. He +wants to show that mercy to every soul. The religion of Christ is +not man working his way up to God; it is God coming down to man. +It is Christ coming down to the pit of sin and woe where we are, +bringing us out of the pit, putting our feet upon a rock, and a +new song in our mouth. He will do it this minute, while I am +speaking, if you will let Him. Will you let Him? That is the +question.</p> +<p class="pn">I do not believe much in dreams; but they sometimes +illustrate a point. I heard about a woman who had been trying for +a long time, just like many of you, to be better and better. She +tried to save herself, but made no progress. One night she fell +asleep in a very troubled state of mind, and she had a dream. She +thought that she was in a pit striving to get out—climbing and +slipping, climbing and slipping, climbing and slipping; at last +she gave up the struggle, and laid herself down at the bottom of +the pit to die. She happened to look up, and she saw through the +mouth of the pit a beautiful star. She fixed her eye on it; and +it seemed as if the star lifted her up till she was almost out. +But the thought of herself came to her mind; she looked off at +the sides of the pit: immediately she lost sight of the star, and +down to the bottom of the pit she went. Again she fixed her eye +on the star; and again it seemed to lift her almost out. But once +again she took her eye off the star, and looked at herself; down +into the pit she fell again! The third time she fixed her eye on +the star and was lifted higher and higher, until all at once her +feet struck the ground above, and she awoke from her sleep.</p> +<p class="pn">God taught her a lesson by the dream. She learned +that if ever she was to be saved, she must give up the struggle, +and let Jesus Christ save her. My friends, give up the struggle +today! You have tried long and hard. It has been a hard battle, +has it not? Give it up; and repose in the arms of Jesus Christ. +Say “Lord, I come to thee as a poor sinner; wilt Thou not save me +and help me?” “The gift of God is eternal life.” It is offered to +all: who will have it?</p> +<p class="pn">I see some children here: let me tell you a story. +If you have not heard it before, please do not forget it. A +Sunday school teacher wished to show his class how free the gift +of God is. He took a silver watch from his pocket one day, and +offered it to the eldest boy in the class. “It is yours, if you +will take it.” The little fellow sat and grinned at the teacher. +He thought he was joking. The teacher offered it to the next boy, +and said: “Take that watch: it is yours.” The little fellow +thought he would be laughed at if he held out his hand, and +therefore he sat still. In the same way the teacher went nearly +round the class: but not one of them would accept the proffered +gift. At length he came to the smallest boy. When the watch was +offered to the little fellow, he took it and put it into his +pocket. All the class laughed at him. “I am thankful, my boy,” +said the teacher, “that you believe my word. The watch is yours. +Take good care of it. Wind it up every night.” The rest of the +class looked on in amazement; and one of them said: “Teacher, you +don’t mean that the watch is his? You don’t mean that he hasn’t +to give it back to you?” “No,” said the teacher, “he hasn’t to +give it back to me. It is his own now.” “Oh—h—h! if I had only +known that, wouldn’t I have taken it!”</p> +<p class="pn">I see you laugh; but my friends you are laughing at +yourselves. You need not go far away to find these boys. +Salvation is freely offered to all, but the trouble is that men +do not believe God’s Word, and do not accept the gift. Who will +accept it now?</p> +<p class="pns">I found a few lines the other day on this point +that I thought very good. I will close with them:</p> +<p class="p3">“I would not work my soul to save,</p> +<p class="p4">For that my Lord hath done;</p> +<p class="p3">But I would work like any slave,</p> +<p class="p4">For love of God’s dear Son.”</p> +<hr style="margin-top:6em;margin-bottom:6em"> +<h1><a name="IV" id="IV">CHAPTER IV.</a></h1> +<h2>GRACE ABOUNDING TO THE CHIEF OF SINNERS.</h2> +<p class="pnn"><img style= +"float:left;margin-top:0.2em; margin-right:0.3em;height:3.5em;padding-right:0.3em" +src="images/i.jpg" alt="I">WANT to lay emphasis on the fact that +God desires to show mercy to all. Christ’s last command to His +disciples was, “Go ye into <i>all</i> the world and preach the +Gospel to <i>every</i> creature.” There may be some hearing me +who have not received this grace, though it has often been +pressed on their acceptance. One reason why many do not become +partakers of this grace is that they think they can do better +without it. The Jews said they were the seed of Abraham. They had +Moses and the Law: therefore they had no need of the pardoning +grace of God that Christ had come to bring. We read in the book +of Revelation of a church that said it was “rich, and increased +in goods, and had need of nothing.” That was the trouble when +Christ was down here. Instead of coming to Him to be blessed, the +people too often went away thinking and saying they had no need +of His favor and blessing.</p> +<h3>THE TWO PRAYERS.</h3> +<p class="pn">In the Gospel by Luke Christ brings two men before +us. I do not know that we can get any two cases in Scripture that +will give us more light on this subject than those of the +Pharisee and the Publican, who went into the temple to pray. One +went away as empty as he came. He was like the church described +in Revelation, to which I have referred. He went into the temple +desiring nothing; and he got nothing. The other man asked for +something; he asked for pardon and mercy. And he went down to his +house justified.</p> +<p class="pn">Take the prayer of the Pharisee. There is no +confession in it, no adoration, no contrition, no petition. As I +have said, he asked for nothing and he got nothing. Some one has +said that he went into the temple not to pray but to boast. The +sun and the moon were as far apart as these two men. One was +altogether of a different spirit to the other. The one prayed +with his head, and the other with his heart. The one told God +what a wonderfully great and good man he was: “I am not as other +men or even as this publican.” His prayer was not a long one; it +consisted of thirty-four words; yet there were five capital “I’s” +in it. It was self in the beginning, self in the middle, self in +the end—self all through. “‘I fast twice a week;’ ‘I give tithes +of all I possess;’ I am a wonderfully good man, am I not, Lord?” +He struck a balance twice a week, and God was his debtor every +time. He paraded his good deeds before God and man. Such a one +was not in a condition to receive the favor of God.</p> +<p class="pn">You can divide the human family to-day into two +classes—<span class="sc">pharisees and publicans</span>. There +are those who are poor in spirit: the dew of God’s grace will +fall upon them. There are others who are drawing around them the +rags of their self-righteousness: they will always go away +without the blessing of God. There were but seven words in the +prayer of the Publican: “God be merciful to me a sinner!” He came +to God confessing his sins, and asking for mercy; and he received +it.</p> +<p class="pn">If you were to run through Scripture, you would +find that where men have gone to God in the spirit of the +Publican, He has dealt with them in mercy and grace.</p> +<p class="pn">A young man came to one of our meetings in New York +a few years ago. He was convicted of sin; and he made up his mind +he would go home and pray. He lived a number of miles away, and +he started for home. On the way, as he was meditating about his +sins and wondering what he was going to do when he got home, the +thought occurred to him: “Why should I not pray right here in the +street?” But he found he did not know just how to begin. Then he +remembered that when he was a child, his mother had taught him +this prayer of the Publican: “God be merciful to me a sinner!” So +he began just where he stood. He said afterwards, that before he +got to the little word “me,” God met him in grace, and blessed +him. And so the moment we open our lips to ask God for pardon, if +the request comes from the heart, God will meet us in mercy.</p> +<p class="pn">Let our cry be that of the Publican: “Be merciful +<i>to me!</i>”—not to some one else. A mother was telling me some +time ago that she had trouble with one of her sons, because he +had not treated his brother rightly. She sent him upstairs; and +after awhile she asked him what he had been doing. He replied +that he had been <i>praying for his brother!</i> Although he had +been the naughty one, he was acting as if the fault lay with his +brother instead of himself. So many of us can see the failings of +others readily enough but when we get a good look at ourselves, +we will get down before God as the Publican did and cry for +mercy: and that cry will bring an immediate answer. God delights +to deal in grace with the poor in spirit. He wants to see in us a +broken and contrite heart. If we take the place of a sinner, +confessing our sins and asking for mercy, the grace of God will +meet us right then and there; and we shall have the assurance of +His forgiveness.</p> +<p class="pn">In Matthew we see how God deals in grace with those +who come in the right spirit. “Then came she and worshipped Him, +saying, Lord, help me!” But he answered and said, “It is not meet +to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs.” And she +said, “Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall +from their master’s table.” Then Jesus answered and said unto +her, “O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou +wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.”</p> +<p class="pn">The disciples did not understand how full of grace +was the heart of Christ. This poor woman belonged to the far-off +coasts of Tyre and Sidon. She was a poor Gentile, and they wanted +to send her away. They thought she was not one of the elect; she +did not belong to the house of Israel. So they said to the +Master, “Send her away, for she crieth after us.” Can you +conceive of the loving Saviour sending away a poor troubled one +who comes to Him? I challenge you to find a single instance of +His doing such a thing, from the beginning to the end of His +ministry. Send her away! I believe He would rather send an angel +away than a poor suppliant for His mercy; He delighted to have +such as she come to Him. But He was going to test her, as well as +to give an object-lesson to those who should come after. “It is +not meet,” He said, “to take the children’s bread, and to cast it +to dogs.”</p> +<h3>A HUMBLE SPIRIT.</h3> +<p class="pn">I am afraid if some of us had been in her place we +would have answered somewhat in this fashion: “You call me a +Gentile dog, do you? I would not take anything from you now if +you were to give it to me. Why, I know a Jewish woman who lives +in my town. Though she is a daughter of Abraham she is the +meanest woman in the whole street. I would not let my dogs +associate with her.” If this poor woman had replied to the Master +in such a fashion, she would not have got anything. Yet you will +find a good many men who respond to the Saviour in that way when +He wants to deal in grace with them.</p> +<p class="pn">What does this Gentile woman say? “Truth Lord; yet +the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” +She took her right place down at the feet of the blessed Master. +There was humility for you! She was willing to take any place if +the Lord would but meet her need; the Lord blessed her. See asked +for a crumb, and He gave her a whole loaf!</p> +<p class="pn">I once heard Rev. William Arnot say that he was the +guest of a friend who had a favorite dog. The animal would come +into the room where the family were sitting at the dinner table +and would stand looking at his master. If the master threw him a +crumb, the dog would seize it before it got to the floor. But if +he put the joint of meat down on the floor the dog would look at +it and leave it alone, as if it were too good for him. “So,” said +Mr. Arnot, “there are many Christians who are satisfied to live +on crumbs, when God wants to give them the whole joint.”</p> +<h3>A FULL BLESSING.</h3> +<p class="pn">This poor woman got all she wanted; and if we will +come in the right spirit—if we are humble and poor in spirit—and +call upon God for what we want, He will not disappoint us. She +went right to the Son of God, and appealed to His great loving +heart with the cry, “Lord help me!” and he helped her. Let that +cry go up to him today, and see how quickly the answer will come. +I never knew a case where God did not answer right on the spot, +where there was the spirit of meekness. If on the other hand we +are conceited, and think we have a right to come, putting +ourselves on an equality with God, we shall get nothing.</p> +<h3>“WORTHINESS.”</h3> +<p class="pn">In the Gospel by Luke we read of the centurion who +had a sick servant. He felt as though he were not worthy to go +himself and ask Christ to come to his house; so he asked some of +his friends to beseech the Master to come and heal his servant. +They went and delivered the centurion’s message, saying, “He is +worthy for whom Thou shouldst do this: for he loveth our nation, +and he hath built us a synagogue.” The Jews could not understand +grace; so they thought Christ would grant the request of this +man, because he was worthy. “Why,” they said, “he hath built us a +synagogue!” It is the same old story that we hear to-day. Let a +man give a few thousand dollars to build a church and he must +have the best pew; “he is worthy.” Perhaps he made his money by +selling or making strong drink; but he has put the Church under +an obligation by this gift of money, and he is considered +“worthy.” The same spirit was at work in the days of Christ.</p> +<p class="pn">The Master immediately started for the centurion’s +house; and it looked as though He were going because of his +personal worthiness. But if He had done so, it would have upset +the whole story as an illustration of grace. As the Saviour was +on the way, out came the Roman officer himself and told Jesus +that he was not worthy to receive Him under his roof. He had a +very different opinion of himself to that of his Jewish friends. +Suppose he had said, “Lord, you will be my guest; come and heal +my servant because I am worthy: I have built a synagogue.” Do you +think Christ would have gone? I do not think he would. But he +said, “I am not worthy that Thou shouldst enter under my roof. +Neither thought I myself worthy to come unto Thee; but say in a +word, and my servant shall be healed.”</p> +<p class="pn">Jesus marveled at the man’s faith. It pleased Him +wonderfully to find such faith and humility. Like the +Syro-Phenician woman, he had low thoughts of himself, and high +thoughts of God: therefore he was in a condition to receive the +grace of God. His servant, we are told, was healed that very +hour. His petition was granted at once. Let us learn a lesson +from this man, and take a humble position before God, crying to +him for mercy; then help will come.</p> +<h3>GREAT FORGIVENESS.</h3> +<p class="pn">I never noticed till lately an interesting fact +about the story of the poor sinful woman mentioned in Luke’s +Gospel, who went into Simon’s house. If you have not observed it +before, it will be quite interesting for you to know it. The +incident occurred immediately after Christ had uttered those +memorable words we read in Matthew: “Come unto Me, all ye that +labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” Matthew +closes the narrative there; but in the seventh chapter of Luke +you will find what the result of that invitation was. A poor +fallen woman came into the house where He was, and obtained the +blessing of rest to her soul. I think that many ministers will +bear me out in this statement, that when one has preached to a +large congregation, and has given an invitation to those who +would like to remain and talk about salvation, probably the only +one to do so is a poor fallen one, who will thus become a +partaker of the grace of God.</p> +<p class="pn">We find that the Saviour was invited to the house +of Simon, a Pharisee. While he was there, this poor sinful woman +crept into the house. Perhaps she watched for a chance when the +servants were away from the door, and then slipped into the room +where the Master was. She got down on her knees, and began to +wash his feet with her tears, wiping them with the hairs of her +head. While the feast was going on the Pharisee saw this; and he +said to himself: “Jesus must be a bad man, if He knows who this +poor woman is. Even if He did not know, He would be unclean +according to the Mosaic law”—because he had allowed the woman to +touch Him. But the Master knew what Simon was thinking about. He +put some questions to him: “And Jesus answering said unto him, +Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, +say on. There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the +one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they +had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me +therefore, which of them will love him most? Simon answered and +said, I suppose that he to whom he forgave most. And He said unto +him, Thou hast rightly judged.”</p> +<p class="pn">Then He makes the application, “I came to your +house,” He says, “and you gave me no water for my feet; you gave +me no kiss; and no oil for my head. You refused me the common +hospitalities of life.” In those days when one went into a +gentleman’s house, a servant would be at the door with a basin of +water; the guest would slip off his sandals, and the servant +would wash his feet. Then the master of the house would salute +him with a kiss instead of shaking hands as we do. There would +also be oil for his head. Christ had been invited to Simon’s +house; but the Pharisee had got Him there in a patronizing +spirit. “You gave me no water, no kiss, no oil; but this woman +hath washed my feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hairs +of her head: she hath not ceased to kiss my feet, and she hath +anointed them with ointment. She was forgiven much: and so she +loves much.” To the poor woman herself Jesus said, “Thy sins are +forgiven.” They may have risen up like a dark mountain before +her; but one word from the Saviour and they were all gone!</p> +<p class="pn">The spirit shown by Simon was altogether different +from that of the poor woman. Christ said that the publicans and +harlots would go into the kingdom of God before the +self-righteous Pharisees! Simon, the Pharisee, got nothing; and +so there are many who go away from religious meetings without one +drop of heaven’s dew, because they do not seek for it. From the +morning of the creation down to the present time no man or woman +ever went to God with a broken heart without experiencing the +forgiving love and grace of God, if they believed His Word. It +was so with this poor woman. Notice, the Master did not extract +any pledge or promise from her. He did not ask her to join some +synagogue; all He said was, “Thy sins are forgiven thee.” She +found grace. So it was with the Syro-Phenician woman. Christ did +not ask any pledge from her; He met her in grace, and blessed her +according to her soul’s desire.</p> +<p class="pn">You know what touched the heart of the father of +the prodigal; it was the broken and contrite spirit of his +returning son. Would not the same thing move the heart of any +parent here? Suppose you had a son who had gone astray: the boy +comes home; and when you meet him he begins to confess his sin. +Would you not take him to your bosom and forgive him? Nothing in +the wide world would you more readily do than forgive him. So if +we come to God with this contrite spirit, He will deal in grace +with us and receive us freely, When Saul left Jerusalem, there +was nothing he wished for less than to receive the grace of God. +Yet the moment he said, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” the +forgiving grace of the Master flowed out towards him. We are told +by Matthew and Mark that the thief on the cross, who was +converted, railed on the Saviour at first like the other: but the +moment his heart was broken down and he said, “Lord, remember +me!” that very moment Christ heard and answered his prayer. God +is waiting to cover all your sins today; He has a long and a +strong arm that can reach down to the darkest, vilest, deepest +depths of sin. He will lift you up on a rock, and put a new song +into your mouth. Will you let him do it?</p> +<p class="pn">A man was telling me some time ago that he had +prayed for over ten years that God would have mercy upon him. +“Has not God answered your prayer?” “No.” “Indeed! Let me ask you +one question: suppose I offered you that Bible as a gift, and you +were afterwards to come and ask me for it; what would I think of +you?” “I do not know what you would think.” “Well, but what do +you suppose I would think?” “You would perhaps think I had gone a +little wrong in my head.” “What is the use of your asking that +God would deal in grace with you, if you are not willing to +receive it; or if you do not believe that He gives it to +you?”</p> +<p class="pn">When I was on the Pacific coast some years ago, I +stayed with a friend who had a large garden, with a great many +orange trees. He said to me: “Make yourself perfectly at home; if +you see anything you want just help yourself.” When I wanted some +oranges, I did not go into the garden and pray to the oranges to +tumble into my mouth; I just put out my hand and took all I +required. So it is with us. Why should we go on asking and +beseeching God to have mercy upon us, when He has already given +His Son, and given His Holy Spirit? What we need is to have a +broken and a contrite heart, and to be willing to receive Him. +The trouble with us is that we have locked the doors of our +hearts against Him.</p> +<p class="pn">There is a story that Dr. Arnot was accustomed to +tell of a poor woman who was in great distress because she could +not pay her landlord his rent. The Doctor put some money in his +pocket and went round to her house intending to help her. When he +got there he knocked at the door. He thought he heard some +movement inside; but no one came to open the door. He knocked +louder and louder still; but yet no one came. Finally he kicked +at the door, causing some of neighbors to look out and see what +was going on. But he could get no entrance; and at last he went +away thinking his ears must have deceived him, and that there was +really no one there. A day or two afterwards he met the woman in +the street, and told her what had happened. She held up her hands +and exclaimed, “Was that you? I was in the house all the while; +but I thought it was the landlord, and I had the door +locked!”</p> +<p class="pn">Many people are keeping the door of their heart +locked against the Saviour in just the same way. They say “I am +afraid I shall have to give up so much.” That is something like a +ragged beggar being unwilling to give up his rags, in order to +get a new suit of good clothes. I pity those people who are all +the time looking to see what they will have to give up. God wants +to bestow His marvelous grace on His people; and there is not a +soul who has believed on Jesus, for whom God has not abundance of +grace in store. What would you say of a man dying of thirst on +the banks of a beautiful river, with the stream flowing past his +feet? You would think he was mad! The river of God’s grace flows +on without ceasing; why should we not partake of it, and go on +our way rejoicing?</p> +<p class="pn">Do you say you are sinners? It is just to such as +you that God’s grace is given. There was a sailor whose mother +had long been praying for him. I do think mothers’ prayers are +sure to be answered some day. One night the memory of his mother +came home to this man; he thought of the days of his childhood, +and made up his mind he would try and lead a different life. When +he got to New York he thought he would join the Odd-fellows; he +imagined that would be a good way to begin. What miserable +mistakes men make when they get trying to save themselves! This +man applied to a lodge of Odd-fellows for admission; but the +committee found that he was a drinking man, and so they +black-balled him. Then he thought he would try the Freemasons; +they discovered what sort of a man he was, and they black-balled +him too. One day he was walking along Fulton Street, when he +received an invitation to come to the daily prayer-meeting held +there. He went in, and heard about the Saviour; he received +Christ into his heart, and found the peace and power he wanted. +Some days after he stood up in the meeting and told the story how +the Odd-fellows had black-balled him; how the Freemasons had +black-balled him; and how he came to the Lord Jesus Christ, who +had not black-balled him, but took him right in. That is what +Christ will do to every poor penitent sinner. “This Man receiveth +sinners.” Come to Him to-day, and He will receive you: His +marvelous, sovereign grace will cover and put away all your +sins.</p> +<p class="pn">I am so glad that we have a Saviour who can save +unto the very uttermost. He can save the drunkard, the man who +for years has been the slave of his passions. I was talking to a +friend not long ago, who said that if a man had a father and a +mother who were drunkards, he would inherit the taste for drink, +and that there was not much chance of saving him. I want to say +that there is a grand chance for such men, if they will call upon +Jesus Christ to save them. He is able to destroy the very +appetite for drink. He came to destroy the works of the devil; +and if this appetite for gin and whiskey is not the work of the +devil, I want to know what is. I do not know any more terrible +agency that the devil has got than this intoxicating liquor.</p> +<p class="pn">An Englishman went out from England to Chicago, and +became one of the greatest drunkards in that city. His father and +his mother were drunkards before him. He said that when he was +four years old, his father took him into a public-house, and put +the liquor to his lips. By and by he got a taste for it; and for +several years he was a confirmed drunkard. He became what in +America we call a “tramp.” He slept out of doors. One night, on +the shore of a lake, he awoke from his slumber, and began to call +upon God to save him. There, at the midnight hour, this poor, +wretched, forlorn object got victory over his sin. The last time +I met him he had been nine-and-a-half years a sober man. From +that memorable midnight hour, he said, he had never had any +desire to touch or taste strong drink. God had kept him all those +years. I am so thankful we have a Gospel that we can carry into +the home of the drunkard, and tell him that Christ will save him. +That is the very thing He came to do.</p> +<p class="pn">Bunyan represents the power of grace, as shown by +its first offer to the Jerusalem sinners, the murderers of +Christ, thus: “Repent, every one of you: be baptized, every one +of you, in His name, for the remission of sins; and you shall, +every one of you, receive the Holy Ghost.”</p> +<p class="pn">“But I was one of those who plotted to take away +His life. May I be saved by Him?”</p> +<p class="pn">“E<span class="sc">very one of you</span>.”</p> +<p class="pn">“But I was one of those who bore false witness +against Him. Is there grace for me?”</p> +<p class="pn">“F<span class="sc">or every one of you</span>.”</p> +<p class="pn">“But I was one of those who cried out, Crucify Him! +crucify Him! and who desired that Barrabas, the murderer, might +live, rather than He. What will become of me, think you?”</p> +<p class="pn">“I am to preach repentance and remission of sins +<span class="sc">to every one of you</span>.”</p> +<p class="pn">“But I was one of those who did spit in His face +when He stood before His accusers; I also was one that mocked Him +when, in anguish, He hung bleeding on the tree. Is there room for +me?”</p> +<p class="pn">“F<span class="sc">or every one of you</span>.”</p> +<p class="pn">“But I was one of those who, in His extremity, +said, Give Him gall and vinegar to drink! Why may I not expect +the same when pain and anguish are upon me?”</p> +<p class="pn">“Repent of these thy wickednesses; and here is +remission of sins <span class="sc">for every one of +you</span>.”</p> +<p class="pn">“But I railed on Him; I reviled Him; I hated Him; I +rejoiced to see Him mocked at by others. Can there be hope for +me?”</p> +<p class="pn">“There is; <span class="sc">for every one of +you</span>.”</p> +<p class="pn">Oh, what a blessed “E<span class= +"sc">very-one-of-you</span>” is here! How willing was Peter and +the Lord Jesus by the ministry of Peter—to catch these murderers +with the word of the Gospel, that they might be monuments of the +grace of God!</p> +<p class="pns">Now it is a solemn fact that every one who +receives the offer of the Gospel can lock and bolt the door of +his heart, and say to the Lord Jesus Christ he refuses to let Him +in. But it is also a blessed truth that you can unlock that door +and say to Him, “Welcome! thrice welcome, Son of God, into this +heart of mine!” The question is: Will you let Christ come in and +save you? It is not a question of whether He is able. Who will +open their hearts, and let the Saviour come in?</p> +<p class="p2">“There’s a stranger at the door:</p> +<p class="p6">Let Him in!</p> +<p class="p2">He has been there oft before:</p> +<p class="p6">Let Him in!</p> +<p class="p2">Let Him in, ere He is gone;</p> +<p class="p2">Let Him in, the Holy One,</p> +<p class="p2">Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son:</p> +<p class="p6s">Let Him in!</p> +<p class="p2">Open now to Him your heart:</p> +<p class="p6">Let Him in!</p> +<p class="p2">If you wait He will depart:</p> +<p class="p6">Let Him in!</p> +<p class="p2">Let Him in, He is your Friend;</p> +<p class="p2">He your soul will sure defend;</p> +<p class="p2">He will keep you to the end:</p> +<p class="p6s">Let Him in!</p> +<p class="p2">Hear you now His loving voice?</p> +<p class="p6">Let Him in!</p> +<p class="p2">Now, oh now, make Him your choice:</p> +<p class="p6">Let Him in!</p> +<p class="p2">He is standing at the door;</p> +<p class="p2">Joy to you He will restore,</p> +<p class="p2">And His name you will adore:</p> +<p class="p6s">Let Him in!</p> +<p class="p2">Now admit the heavenly Guest.</p> +<p class="p6">Let Him in!</p> +<p class="p2">He will make for you a feast:</p> +<p class="p6">Let Him in!</p> +<p class="p2">He will speak your sins forgiven,</p> +<p class="p2">And when earth-ties all are riven,</p> +<p class="p2">He will take you home to heaven,</p> +<p class="p6">Let Him in!”</p> +<p style= +"text-align:left;text-indent:19.0em;font-size:88%;font-style:italic;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:1.5em"> +Rev. J. B Atchinson</p> +<hr style="margin-top:6em;margin-bottom:6em"> +<h1><a name="V" id="V">CHAPTER V.</a></h1> +<h2>LAW AND GRACE.</h2> +<p class="pnn"><img style= +"float:left;margin-top:0.2em; margin-right:0.3em;height:3.5em;padding-right:0.3em" +src="images/i.jpg" alt="I"> N his Epistle to the Romans, Paul +writes “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, +so by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous. +Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound. But +where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: that as sin hath +reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through +righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.”</p> +<p class="pn">Moses was the representative of the law. You +remember that he led the children of Israel through the +wilderness, and brought them to Jordan; but there he left them. +He could take them up to the river, which is a type of death and +judgment; but Joshua (which means Jesus—Saviour) led them right +through death and judgment—through the Jordan into the Promised +Land. Here we have the difference between Law and Grace; between +the Law and the Gospel.</p> +<p class="pn">Take another illustration. John the Baptist was the +last prophet of the old dispensation—the last prophet under the +law. You remember that before Christ made His appearance at the +Jordan, the cry of John, day by day was, “Repent: for the kingdom +of God is at hand!” He thundered out the law. He took his hearers +down to the Jordan and baptized them. He put them in the place of +death; and that was as far as he could take them. But there was +One coming after him who could take them into the Promised Land. +As Joshua led the people through the Jordan into Canaan,—so +Christ went down into the Jordan of death, through death and +judgment, on to resurrection ground.</p> +<p class="pn">If you run all through Scripture you will find that +the law brings to death. “Sin reigned unto death.” A friend was +telling me lately that an acquaintance of his, a minister, was +once called upon to officiate at a funeral, in the place of a +chaplain of one of Her Majesty’s prisons, who was absent. He +noticed that only one solitary man followed the body of the +criminal to the grave. When the grave had been covered, this man +told the minister that he was an officer of the law whose duty it +was to watch the body of the culprit until it was buried out of +sight; that was “the end” of the British law.</p> +<p class="pn">And that is what the law of God does to the sinner; +it brings him right to death, and leaves him there. I pity deep +down in my heart those who are trying to save themselves by the +law. It never has; it never will; and it never can—save the soul. +When people say they are going to try and do their best, and so +save themselves by the law, I like to take them on their own +ground. Have they, ever done their very best? granting that there +<i>might</i> be a chance for them if they had, was there ever a +time when they could not have done a little better? If a man +wants to do his best, let him accept the grace of God; that is +the best thing that any man or woman can possibly do.</p> +<p class="pn">But you will ask, What is the law given for? It may +sound rather strange, but it is given that it may stop every +man’s mouth. “We know that what things soever the law saith, it +saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be +stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. +Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be +justified in His sight; for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” +The law shuts my mouth; grace opens it. The law locks up my +heart; grace opens it—and then the fountain of love begins to +flow out. When men get their eyes opened to see this glorious +truth, they will cease their constant struggle. They will give up +trying to work their way into the kingdom of God by the deeds of +the law. They will give themselves up for lost, and take +salvation as a free gift.</p> +<p class="pn">Life never came through the law. As some one has +observed: When the law was given, three thousand men lost life; +but when grace and truth came at Pentecost, three thousand +obtained life. Under the law, if a man became a drunkard the +magistrates would take him out and stone him to death. When the +prodigal came home, grace met him and embraced him. Law says, +Stone him!—grace says, Embrace him! Law says, Smite him!—grace +says, Kiss him! Law went after him, and bound him; grace said, +loose him and let him go! Law tells me how crooked I am; grace +comes and makes me straight.</p> +<p class="pn">I pity those who are always hanging around Sinai, +hoping to get life there. I have an old friend in Chicago who is +always lingering at Sinai. He is a very good man; but I think he +will have a different story to tell when he gets home to heaven. +He thinks I preach free grace too much; and I must confess I do +like to speak of the free grace of God. This friend of mine feels +as though he has a kind of mission to follow me; and whenever he +gets a chance he comes in with the thunders of Sinai. I never yet +met him but he was thundering away from Horeb. The last time I +was in Chicago, I said to him, “Are you still lingering around +Sinai?” “Yes,” said he, “I believe in the law.” I have made +inquiries, and I never heard of any one being converted under his +preaching: the effects have always dwindled and died out. If the +law is the door to heaven, there is no hope for any of us. A +perfect God can only have a perfect standard. He that offends in +one point is guilty of all: so “all have sinned and come short of +the glory of God.”</p> +<p class="pn">Paul says to the Galatians: “Is the law then +against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a +law given which could have given life, verily righteousness +should have been by the law. But the Scripture hath concluded all +under sin that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be +given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were kept +under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be +revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto +Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith +is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For ye are all +the children of God by faith in Jesus Christ.”</p> +<h3>THE SOFTENING POWER OF GRACE.</h3> +<p class="pn">So we see that the law cannot give life; all it can +do is to bring us to Him who is the life. The law is said to be +“a schoolmaster.” Perhaps some of you do not know what a +schoolmaster is. If you had been under the same schoolmaster as I +was when a boy you would have known. He had a good cane and it +was frequently in use. In the little country district where I +went to school, there were two parties: for the sake of +illustration we may call the one the “law” party and the other +the “grace” party. The law party said that boys could not +possibly be controlled without the cane: and they kept a +schoolmaster there who acted on their plan. The struggle went on, +and at last, on one election day, the law party was put out, and +the grace party ruled in their stead. I happened to be at the +school at that time; and I remember we said to each other that we +were going to have a grand time that winter. There would be no +more corporal punishment, and we were going to be ruled by +love.</p> +<p class="pn">I was one of the first to break the rules of the +school. We had a lady teacher, and she asked me to stay behind. I +thought the cane was coming out again; and I was going to protest +against it. I was quite in a fighting mood. She took me alone. +She sat down and began to talk to me kindly. I thought that was +worse than the cane; I did not like it. I saw that she had not +got any cane. She said: “I have made up my mind that if I cannot +control the school by love, I will give it up. I will have no +punishment; and if you love me, try and keep the rules of the +school.” I felt something right here in my throat. I was not one +to shed many tears; but they would come—I could not keep them +back. I said to her, “You will have no more trouble with me;” and +she did not. I learned more that winter than in the other three +put together.</p> +<p class="pn">That was the difference between law and grace. +Christ says, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” He takes us +out from under the law, and puts us under grace. Grace will break +the hardest heart. It was the love of God that prompted Him to +send His only-begotten Son into the world that He might save it. +I suppose the thief had gone through his trial unsoftened. +Probably the law had hardened his heart. But on the cross no +doubt that touching prayer of the Saviour, “Father, forgive +them!” broke his heart, so that he cried, “Lord, remember me!” He +was brought to ask for mercy. I believe there is no man so far +gone but the grace of God will melt his heart.</p> +<p class="pn">It is told of Isaac T. Hopper, the Quaker, that he +once encountered a profane colored man, named Cain, in +Philadelphia, and took him before a magistrate, who fined him for +blasphemy. Twenty years after, Hopper met Cain, whose appearance +was much changed for the worse. This touched the Friend’s heart. +He stepped up, spoke kindly, and shook hands with the forlorn +being. “Dost thou remember me,” said the Quaker, “how I had thee +fined for swearing?”</p> +<p class="pn">“Yes, indeed, I do: I remember what I paid as well +as if it was yesterday.”</p> +<p class="pn">“Well, did it do thee any good?”</p> +<p class="pn">“No, never a bit: it made me mad to have my money +taken from me.”</p> +<p class="pn">Hopper invited Cain to reckon up the interest on +the fine, and paid him principal and interest too. “I meant it +for thy good, Cain; and I am sorry I did thee any harm.”</p> +<p class="pn">Cain’s countenance changed; the tears rolled down +his cheeks. He took the money with many thanks, became a quiet +man, and was not heard to swear again.</p> +<h3>PEACE, GRACE AND GLORY.</h3> +<p class="pn">So there is a great deal of difference between law +and grace. “Being justified by faith we have peace with God +through our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom also we have access by +faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of +the glory of God.” There are three precious things here: peace +for the past; grace for the present; and glory for the future. +There is no <span class="sc">peace</span> until we see the +finished work of Jesus Christ—until we can look back and see the +Cross of Christ between us and our sins. When we see that Jesus +was “the end of the law for righteousness;” that He “tasted death +for every man;” that He “suffered the Just for the unjust”—then +comes peace. Then there is “the <span class="sc">grace</span> +wherein we now stand.” There is plenty of grace for us as we need +it day by day, and hour by hour.</p> +<p class="pn">Then there is <span class="sc">glory</span> for the +time to come. A great many people seem to forget that the best is +before us. Dr. Bonar says that everything before the true +believer is “glorious.” This thought took hold of my soul; and I +began to look the matter up, and see what I could find in +Scripture that was glorious hereafter. I found that the kingdom +we are going to inherit is glorious: our crown is to be a “crown +of glory;” the city we are going to inhabit is the city of the +glorified; the songs we are to sing are the songs of the +glorified; we are to wear garments of “glory and beauty;” our +society will be the society of the glorified; our rest is to be +“glorious;” the country to which we are going is to be full of +“the glory of God and of the Lamb.” There are many who are always +looking on the backward path, and mourning over the troubles +through which they have passed; they keep lugging up the cares +and anxieties they have been called on to bear, and are forever +looking at them. Why should we go reeling and staggering under +the burdens and cares of life when we have such prospects before +us?</p> +<p class="pn">If there is nothing but glory beyond, our faces +ought to shine brightly all the time. If a skeptic were to come +up here and watch the countenances of the audience he would find +many of you looking as though there was anything but glory before +you. Many a time it seems to me as if I were at a funeral, people +look so sad and downcast. They do not appear to know much of the +joy of the Lord. Surely if we were looking right on to the glory +that awaits us, our faces would be continually lit up with the +light of the upper world. We can preach by our countenances if we +will. The nearer we draw to that glory-land, where we shall be +with Christ—the more peace, and joy, and rest we ought to have. +If we will but come to the throne of grace, we shall have +strength to bear all our troubles and trials. If you were to take +all the afflictions that flesh is heir to and put them right on +any one of us, God has grace enough to carry us right through +without faltering.</p> +<p class="pns">Some one has compiled the following, which +beautifully describes the contrast between law and grace:</p> +<p class="p1">T<span class="sc">he Law</span> was given by +Moses.</p> +<p class="p1s">G<span class="sc">race</span> and truth came by +Jesus Christ.</p> +<p class="p1">T<span class="sc">he Law</span> says—This do, and +thou shalt live.</p> +<p class="p1s">G<span class="sc">race</span> says—Live, and then +thou shalt do.</p> +<p class="p1">T<span class="sc">he Law</span> says—Pay me that +thou owest.</p> +<p class="p1s">G<span class="sc">race</span> says—I frankly +forgive thee all.</p> +<p class="p1">T<span class="sc">he Law</span> says—The wages of +sin is death.</p> +<p class="p1s">GRACE says—The gift of God is eternal life.</p> +<p class="p1">T<span class="sc">he Law</span> says—The soul that +sinneth, it shall die.</p> +<p class="p1s">G<span class="sc">race</span> says—Whosoever +believeth in Jesus, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and +whosoever liveth and believeth in Him shall never die.</p> +<p class="p1">T<span class="sc">he Law</span> +pronounces—Condemnation and death.</p> +<p class="p1s">G<span class="sc">race</span> +proclaims—Justification and life.</p> +<p class="p1">T<span class="sc">he Law</span> says—Make you a new +heart and a new spirit.</p> +<p class="p1s">G<span class="sc">race</span> says—A new heart +will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you.</p> +<p class="p1">T<span class="sc">he Law</span> says—Cursed is +every one that continueth not in all things which are written in +the book of the law to do them.</p> +<p class="p1s">G<span class="sc">race</span> says—Blessed is the +man whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sin is covered; blessed +is the man to whom the Lord will not impute iniquity.</p> +<p class="p1">T<span class="sc">he Law</span> says—Thou shalt +love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy mind, +and with all thy strength.</p> +<p class="p1s">G<span class="sc">race</span> says—Herein is love: +not that we love God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to +be the propitiation for our sins.</p> +<p class="p1">T<span class="sc">he Law</span> speaks of what man +must do for God.</p> +<p class="p1s">G<span class="sc">race</span> tells of what Christ +has done for man.</p> +<p class="p1">T<span class="sc">he Law</span> addresses man as +part of the old creation.</p> +<p class="p1s">G<span class="sc">race</span> makes a man a member +of the new creation.</p> +<p class="p1">T<span class="sc">he Law</span> bears on a nature +prone to disobedience.</p> +<p class="p1s">G<span class="sc">race</span> creates a nature +inclined to obedience.</p> +<p class="p1">T<span class="sc">he Law</span> demands obedience +by the terror of the Lord.</p> +<p class="p1s">G<span class="sc">race</span> beseeches men by the +mercies of God.</p> +<p class="p1">T<span class="sc">he Law</span> demands +holiness.</p> +<p class="p1s">G<span class="sc">race</span> gives holiness.</p> +<p class="p1">T<span class="sc">he Law</span> says—Condemn +him.</p> +<p class="p1s">G<span class="sc">race</span> says—Embrace +him.</p> +<p class="p1">T<span class="sc">he Law</span> speaks of priestly +sacrifices offered year by year continually, which could never +make the comers thereunto perfect.</p> +<p class="p1s">G<span class="sc">race</span> says—But this +<i>Man</i>, after he had offered <i>one</i> sacrifice for sins +forever . . . by one offering hath perfected forever them that +are sanctified.</p> +<p class="p1">T<span class="sc">he Law</span> declares—That as +many as have sinned in the Law, shall be judged by the Law.</p> +<p class="p1s">G<span class="sc">race</span> brings eternal peace +to the troubled soul of every child of God, and proclaims +<i>God’s</i> salvation in defiance of the accusations of the +adversary. “He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that +sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment +(condemnation), but is passed from death unto life.”</p> +<p class="p3">“Whence to me this tranquil spirit—</p> +<p class="p4">Me all sinful as I am?</p> +<p class="p3">Is it thus descends the merit</p> +<p class="p4">Of the sin-atoning Lamb?</p> +<p class="p3">Grace, all power to deliver,</p> +<p class="p3">Gift of a Creative Giver,</p> +<p class="p3">Like a full, refreshing river,</p> +<p class="p5s">Ever flowing.</p> +<p class="p3">Over all my course of sinning</p> +<p class="p4">Spread its waters without bound,</p> +<p class="p3">Cleansing, fertilizing, winning</p> +<p class="p4">For the Lord the barren ground.</p> +<p class="p3">Lavish from the heavenly treasure,</p> +<p class="p3">Fountains of a Father’s pleasure,</p> +<p class="p3">All the marks of human measure</p> +<p class="p5s">Overflowing.</p> +<p class="p3">Not my virtue or repenting</p> +<p class="p4">Earned the precious boon for me.</p> +<p class="p3">Thine, my Saviour, the relenting,</p> +<p class="p4">Thine the pangs which set me free—</p> +<p class="p3">Gift of grace beyond all knowing,</p> +<p class="p3">From the heart of Jesus flowing,</p> +<p class="p3">Ever flowing, overflowing,</p> +<p class="p5s">Flowing freely.”</p> +<hr style="margin-top:6em;margin-bottom:6em"> +<h1><a name="VI" id="VI">CHAPTER VI.</a></h1> +<h2>GRACE FOR LIVING.</h2> +<p class="pnn"><img style= +"float:left;margin-top:0.2em; margin-right:0.3em;height:4.7em;padding-right:0.3em" +src="images/n.jpg" alt="N">OW we come to a very important part of +our subject—Grace for living. One of the saddest things in the +present day is the fact that so many professed Christians have no +spiritual power. They bear no testimony for Christ. There are so +few who can go to the homes of the sick and read the Bible to +them, pray with them, and minister comfort to their souls. How +few can go to the abode of the drunkard, and tell him of Christ’s +power to save! How few there are who are wise in winning souls to +Christ!</p> +<p class="pn">It is the low spiritual state of so many in the +Church of Christ that is the trouble. We are not living up to our +privileges. As you go through the streets of London you will see +here and there the words, “Limited Company.” There are many +Christians who practically limit the grace of God. It is like a +river flowing by; and we can have all we need: but if we do not +come and get a continual supply, we cannot give it out to +others.</p> +<p class="pn">Mother! father! are you not longing to see your +children won to Christ? What is the trouble? Is it the fault of +the minister? I believe that though ministers were to preach like +angels, if there is a low standard of Christian life in the home, +there will be little accomplished. What we want, more than +anything else, is more grace in our lives, in our business +affairs, in our homes, in our daily walk and conversation. I +cannot but believe that the reason of the standard of Christian +life being so low, is that we are living on stale manna. You know +what I mean by that. So many people are living on their past +experience—thinking of the grand times they had twenty years ago, +perhaps when they were converted. It is a sure sign that we are +out of communion with God if we are talking more of the joy, and +peace, and power, we had in the past, than of what we have +to-day. We are told to “grow in grace;” but a great many are +growing the wrong way.</p> +<p class="pn">You remember the Israelites used to gather the +manna fresh every day: they were not allowed to store it up. +There is a lesson here for us Christians. If we would be strong +and vigorous, we must go to God daily and get grace. A man can no +more take in a supply of grace for the future than he can eat +enough to-day to last him for the next six months; or take +sufficient air into his lungs at once to sustain life for a week +to come. We must draw upon God’s boundless stores of grace from +day to day, as we need it.</p> +<p class="pn">I knew a man who lived on the banks of Lake Erie. +He had pipes laid to his house from the lake; and when he wanted +water, all he had to do was to turn the tap and the water flowed +in. If the Government had presented him with the lake, he would +not have known what to do with it. So we may say that if God were +to give us grace enough for a lifetime, we should not know how to +use it. He has given us the privilege of drawing on Him day by +day—not “forty days after sight.” There is plenty of grace in the +bank of heaven; we need not be afraid of its becoming +exhausted.</p> +<p class="pn">We are asked to come <i>boldly</i> to the throne of +grace—as sons to a father—that we may find grace. You have +noticed that a son is very much more bold in his father’s house +than if he were simply a servant. A good many Christians are like +servants. If you go into a house, you can soon tell the +difference between the family and the servants. A son comes home +in the evening; he goes all over the house—perhaps talks about +the letters that have come in, and wants to know all that has +been going on in the family during his absence. It is very +different with a servant, who perhaps does not leave the kitchen +or the servants’ hall all day except when duty requires it.</p> +<p class="pn">Suppose some one had paid a million dollars into +the bank in your name, and had given you a check-book so that you +could draw out just as you wanted: would you go to work and try +to live on ten dollars a month? Yet that is exactly what many of +us are doing as Christians. I believe this low standard of +Christian life in the Church is doing more to manufacture +infidels than all the skeptical books that were ever written.</p> +<p class="pn">Hear what the Apostle says: “My God shall supply +<i>all</i> your need.” Look at these words carefully. It does not +say He will supply all your <i>wants</i>. There are many things +we want that God has not promised to give. It is “your +<i>need</i>” and “<i>all</i> your need.” My children often want +many things they do not get; but I supply all they need, if it is +in my power to give it to them. I do not supply all their wants +by any means. My boy would probably want to have me give him a +horse; when I know that what he really needs, perhaps, is grace +to control his temper. Our children might want many things that +it would be injurious for them to have. And so, though God may +withhold from us many things that we desire, He will supply all +our need. There can come upon us no trouble or trial in this +life, but God has grace enough to carry us right through it, if +we will only go to Him and get it. But we must ask for it day by +day. “As thy days, so shall thy strength be.”</p> +<p class="pn">I met a man once in Scotland who taught me a lesson +that I shall never forget. A Christian friend wanted me to go and +have a talk with him. He had been bedridden for many years. This +afflicted saint comforted me and told me some wonderful things. +He had fallen and broken his back when he was about fifteen years +of age, and had lain there on his bed for some forty years. He +could not be moved without a good deal of pain, and probably not +a day has passed all those years without suffering. If any one +had told him he was going to lie there and suffer for forty +years, probably he would have said he could not do it. But day +after day the grace of God has been granted to him; and I declare +to you it seemed to me as if I were in the presence of one of +God’s most highly-favored children. It seemed that when I was in +that man’s chamber, I was about as near heaven as I could get on +this earth. Talk about a man’s face shining with the glory of the +upper world! I very seldom see a face that shines as did his. I +can imagine that the very angels when they are passing over the +city on some mission of mercy, come down into that man’s chamber +to get refreshed. There he has been lying all these years, not +only without a murmur, but rejoicing all the while.</p> +<p class="pn">I said to him: “My friend, does the devil never +tempt you to doubt God, and to think He is a hard master?” “Well +now,” he said, “that is just what he tries to do. Sometimes, as I +look out of the window and see people walking along in health, +Satan whispers: ‘If God is so good, why does He keep you here all +these weary years? Why, if He loved you, instead of lying here +and being dependent on others, you might now have been a rich +man, and riding in your own carriage.’” “What do you do when the +devil tempts you?” “Oh, I just take him up to the Cross; and he +had such a fright there eighteen hundred years ago, that he +cannot stand it; and he leaves me.” I do not think that bedridden +saint has much trouble with doubts; he is so full of grace.</p> +<p class="pn">And so if we will only come boldly to God, we shall +get all the help and strength we need. There is not a man or +woman alive but may be kept from falling, if they will let God +hold them up in His almighty arms.</p> +<p class="pn">There is a story in the history of Elisha the +prophet that I am very fond of; most of you are familiar with it. +Sometimes we meet with people who hesitate to accept Christ, +because they are so afraid they will not hold out. You remember +there was a young prophet who died and left a widow with two +little boys. It has been said that misfortunes do not come +singly, but in battalions. This woman had not only lost her +husband, but a creditor was going to take her boys and sell them +into slavery. That was a common thing in those days. The widow +went and told Elisha all about it. He asked her what she had in +the house. Nothing, she said, but a pot of oil. It was a very +hard case.</p> +<p class="pn">Elisha told her to go home and borrow all the +vessels she could. His command was: “Borrow not a few.” I like +that. She took him at his word, and borrowed all the vessels her +neighbors would lend to her. I can imagine I see the woman and +her two sons going from house to house asking the loan of their +vessels. No doubt there were a good many of the neighbors who +were stretching their necks, and wondering what it all meant; +just as we sometimes find people coming into the inquiry-room to +see what is going on. If this woman had been like some modern +skeptics, she would have thought it very absurd for the prophet +to bid her do such a thing; she would have asked what good could +come of it. But faith asks no questions: so she went and did what +the man of God told her to do. I can see her going up one side of +the street knocking at every door and asking for empty vessels. +“How many do you want?” “All you can spare.” There are the two +sons carrying the great vessels; some of them perhaps nearly as +large as the boys themselves. It was hard work. When they had +finished one side of the street, they went down the other. +“Borrow not a few,” she had been told; so she went on asking for +as many as she could get. If there were as much gossip in those +days as there is now, all the people in the street would have +been talking about her. Why, this woman and her boys have been +carrying vessels into the house all day; what can be the +matter?</p> +<p class="pn">But now they have all the vessels the neighbors +would lend. She locks the door; and she says to one of the boys, +“James, you are the younger; bring me the empty vessels. John, +you are the stronger; when, I have filled them you take them +away.” So she began to pour. Perhaps the first vessel was twice +as big as the one she poured from; but it was soon filled: and +she kept on pouring into vessel after vessel. At last her son +says, “Mother, this is the last one;” and we are told that the +oil was not stayed till the last vessel was full.</p> +<p class="pn">Dear friends, bring your empty vessels; and God +will fill them. I venture to say that the eyes of those boys +sparkled as they saw this beautiful oil, fresh from the hand of +the Creator. The woman went and told the man of God what had +happened; he said to her, “Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt; +and live thou and thy children off the rest.” That is grace for +the present, and for the future. “As thy days so shall thy +strength be.” You will have grace not only to cover all your +sins, but to carry you right into glory. Let the grace of God +into your heart; and He will bring you safely through.</p> +<p class="pns">Let me close by quoting the words of an old +prayer: “God give us grace to see our need of grace; give us +grace to ask for grace; give us grace to receive grace; give us +grace to use the grace we have received.”</p> +<p class="p3">“Grace taught my soul to pray,</p> +<p class="p4">And pardoning love to know;</p> +<p class="p3">’Twas grace that kept me to this day,</p> +<p class="p4s">And will not let me go.</p> +<p class="p3">Grace all the work shall crown,</p> +<p class="p4">Through everlasting days;</p> +<p class="p3">It lays in heaven the topmost stone,</p> +<p class="p4s">And well deserves the praise!”</p> +<hr style="margin-top:6em;margin-bottom:6em"> +<h1><a name="VII" id="VII">CHAPTER VII.</a></h1> +<h2>GRACE FOR SERVICE.</h2> +<p class="pnn"><img style= +"float:left;margin-top:0.1em; margin-right:0.3em;height:4.8em;padding-right:0.3em" +src="images/f.jpg" alt="F">OR the grace of God that bringeth +salvation to all men hath appeared; teaching us that, denying +ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, +righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that +blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our +Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might +redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar +people, zealous of good works.”</p> +<p class="pn">In this wonderful passage we see grace in a +threefold aspect: grace that bringeth salvation; grace for holy +living; and grace for service. I have had three red-letter days +in my experience: the first was, when I was converted; the next +was when I got my lips opened, and I began to confess Christ; the +third was, when I began to work for the salvation of others.</p> +<p class="pn">I think there are a great many who have got to the +first stage; some have got to the second; very few have got to +the third. This is the reason, I believe, why the world is not +reached.</p> +<p class="pn">Many say they are anxious to “grow in grace.” I do +not think they ever will, until they go out into the harvest +field and begin to work for others. We are not going to have the +grace we need to qualify us for work until we launch out into the +deep, and begin to use the abilities and the opportunities we +already possess. Many fold their arms, and wait for the grace of +God to come to them; but we do not get it in that way. When we +“go forward,” then it is that God meets us with His Grace.</p> +<p class="pn">If Moses had stayed in Horeb until he got the grace +he needed, he never would have started for Egypt at all. But when +he had set out, God met him in the way and blessed him day by day +as he needed. Many grow discouraged because there is a little +opposition; but if we are going to work for God we must expect +opposition. No real work was ever done for God without +opposition. If you think that you are going to have the approval +of a godless world, and of cold Christians, as you launch out +into the deep with your net, you are greatly mistaken. A man said +to me some time ago, that when he was converted he commenced to +do some work in connection with the Church; he was greatly +discouraged because some of the older Christians threw cold water +on him, so he gave up the whole thing.</p> +<p class="pn">I pity a man who cannot take a little cold water +without being any the worse for it. Why, many of the Christians +in old times had to go through the fire, and did not shrink from +it. A little cold water never hurts any one.</p> +<p class="pn">Others say they have so many cares and troubles, +they have as much as they can carry. Well, a good way to forget +your trouble is—to go and help some one else who is carrying a +heavier burden than yourself. It was when Job began to pray for +his friends that he forgot his own troubles. Paul gloried in his +infirmity, and in the tribulations he had to undergo, so that the +power of Christ might all the more rest upon him. He gloried in +the Cross: and you must bear in mind that the Cross was not so +easy to bear in his day as it is in ours. Every one was speaking +against it. “I glory in the Cross of Christ,” he said. When a man +gets to that point, do you tell me that God cannot use him to +build up His kingdom? In his second letter to the Corinthians, +Paul speaks of “the thorn in the flesh;” he prayed the Lord to +take it away. The Lord said He was not going to take it away: but +He would give His servant grace to bear it. So the apostle +learned to thank God for the thorn, because he got more grace. It +is when the days are dark that people are brought nearer to God. +I suppose that is what Paul meant.</p> +<p class="pn">If there is any child of God who has a “thorn in +the flesh,” God has grace enough to help you to bear it if you +will but go to Him for it. The difficulty is that so many are +looking at their troubles and sorrows, instead of looking toward +the glorious reward, and pressing on their way by God’s help.</p> +<p class="pn">In ii Corinthians 9:8, we read: “God is able to +make all grace abound towards you; that ye, always having all +sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.” There +are three thoughts here—God makes <i>all grace</i> to abound, +that we may have <i>all sufficiency</i> in <i>all things</i>. I +think this is one of the most wonderful verses in the Bible.</p> +<p class="pn">There is plenty of grace. Many Christians, if they +have grace enough to keep them from outward sin, seem to be +perfectly satisfied; they do not press on to get <i>fullness of +grace</i>, so as to be ready for God’s work. Many are satisfied +to go into the stream of grace ankle deep, when God wants them to +swim in it.</p> +<p class="pn">If we always came to meetings desiring to get +strength, then we should be able to go out to work and speak for +Christ. There are a great many who would be used of God, if they +would only come boldly to His throne of grace, and “find grace to +help in time of need.” Is it not a time of need now? God has +said, “I will pour water on him that is thirsty.” Do we thirst +for a deeper work of grace in our hearts?—for the anointing of +the Spirit? Here is the promise: “I will pour water on him that +is thirsty.” Let all who are hungering and thirsting for blessing +come and receive it.</p> +<p class="pn">Another reason why many Christians do not get +anything is—because they do not give out to others. They are +satisfied with present attainments, instead of growing in grace. +We are not the fountain; we are only a channel for the grace of +God to flow through. There is not one of us but God wants to use +in building up His kingdom. That little boy, that grey-haired +man, these young men and maidens; all are needed: and there is a +work for all. We want to believe that God has grace enough to +qualify us to go out and work for Him.</p> +<p class="pn">If we have known Jesus Christ for twenty years or +more, and if we have not been able to introduce an anxious soul +to Him, there has been something wrong somewhere. If we were full +of grace, we should be ready for any call that comes to us. Paul +said, when he had that famous interview with Christ on the way to +Damascus, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” Isaiah said, +“Here am I, send me.” Oh that God would fill all His people with +grace, so that we may see more wonderful things than He has ever +permitted us to see! No man can tell what he can do, until he +moves forward. If we do that in the name of God, instead of there +being a few scores or hundreds converted, there will be thousands +flocking into the Kingdom of God. Remember, that we honor God +when we ask for great things. It is a humiliating thing to think +that we are satisfied with very small results.</p> +<p class="pn">It is said that Alexander the Great had a favorite +General to whom he had given permission to draw upon the royal +treasury for any amount. On one occasion this General had made a +draft for such an enormous sum that the Treasurer refused to +honor it until he consulted the Emperor. So he went into his +presence and told him what the General had done. “Did you not +honor the draft?” said the Emperor. “No; I refused till I had +seen your Majesty; because the amount was so great.” The Emperor +was indignant. His Treasurer said that he was afraid of offending +him if he had paid the amount. “Do you not know,” replied the +Emperor, “that he honors me and my kingdom by making a large +draft?” Whether the story be authentic or not, it is true that we +honor God when we ask for great things.</p> +<p class="pn">It is said that on one occasion when Cæsar gave a +very valuable present, the receiver replied that it was too +costly a gift. The Emperor answered that it was not too great for +Cæsar to give. Our God is a great King; and He delights to use +us: so let us delight to ask Him for great grace, that we may go +out and work for him.</p> +<p class="pn">I find that many Christians are in trouble about +the future; they think they will not have grace enough to die by. +It is much more important that we should have grace enough to +live by. It seems to me that death is of very little importance +in the meantime. When the dying hour comes there will be dying +grace; but you do not require dying grace to live by. If I am +going to live perhaps for fifteen or twenty years, what do I want +with dying grace? I am far more anxious about having grace enough +for my present work.</p> +<p class="pn">I have sometimes been asked if I had grace enough +to enable me to go to the stake and die as a martyr. No; what do +I want with martyr’s grace? I do not like suffering; but if God +should call on me to die a martyr’s death, He would give me +martyr’s grace. If I have to pass through some great affliction, +I know God will give me grace when the time comes; but I do not +want it till it comes.</p> +<p class="pn">There is a story of a martyr in the second century. +He was brought before the king, and told that if he did not +recant they would banish him. Said he, “O king, you cannot banish +me from Christ; for He has said, I will never leave thee nor +forsake thee!” The apostle John was banished to the island of +Patmos; but it was the best thing that could have happened: for +if John had not been sent there, probably we should never have +had that grand Book of Revelation. John could not be separated +from his Master.</p> +<p class="pn">So it was with this brave martyr, of whom I was +speaking. The king said to him, “Then I will take away your +property from you.” “You cannot do that: for my treasure is laid +up on high, where you cannot get at it?” “Then I will kill you.” +“You can not do that; for I have been dead these forty years: my +life is hid with Christ in God.” The king said, “What are you +going to do with such a fanatic as that?”</p> +<p class="pn">Let us remember that if we have not grace enough +for service, we have no one to blame but ourselves. We are not +straitened in God: He has abundance of grace to qualify us to +work for Him.</p> +<h3>MORE TO FOLLOW.</h3> +<p class="pn">I heard a story about two members of a Church: one +was a wealthy man, and the other was one of those who cannot take +care of their finances—he was always in debt. The rich brother +had compassion on his poor brother. He wanted to give him some +money; but he would not give it to the man all at once: he knew +he would not use it properly. So he sent the amount to the +minister, and asked him to supply the needs of this poor brother. +The minister used to send him a five-dollar bill, and put on the +envelope “More to follow.” I can imagine how welcome the gift +would be; but the best of all was the promise—“More to follow.” +So it is with God: there is always “more to follow.” It is such a +pity that we are not ready to be used by God when He wants to use +us.</p> +<p class="pn">Dear friends, let me put this question to you: Are +you full of grace? You shake your head. Well, it is our privilege +to be <i>full</i>. What is the best way to get full of grace? It +is to be emptied of self. How can we be emptied? Suppose you wish +to get the air out of this tumbler; how can you do it? I will +tell you: by pouring water into the tumbler till it is full to +overflowing. That is the way the Lord empties us of self. He +fills us with His grace. “I will pour water on him that is +thirsty.” Are you hungering to get rid of your sinful selves? +Then let the Spirit of God come in and fill you. God is able to +do it.</p> +<p class="pn">See what He did for John Bunyan—how He made one of +the mightiest instruments for good the world ever saw, out of +that swearing Bedford tinker. If we had a telescope which would +enable us to look into heaven as Stephen did, I can imagine we +should see the thief, who believed in Jesus while on the cross, +very near the throne. Ask him how he got there; and he would tell +you it was through the grace of God. See how the grace of God +could save a Mary Magdalene possessed of seven devils! Ask her +what it was that melted her heart: and she would tell you that it +was the grace of God. Look again at that woman whom Christ met at +the well at Sychar. The Saviour offered her a cup of the living +water: she drank, and now she walks the chrystal pavement of +heaven. See how the grace of God could change Zaccheus, the hated +publican of Jericho! Now he is in yonder world of light; he was +brought there by the sovereign grace of God.</p> +<p class="pns">You will have noticed that many of those who were +about the most unlikely, have, by the power of God’s grace, +become very eminent in His service. Look at the twelve apostles +of Christ; they were all unlettered men. This ought to encourage +all whose education is limited to give themselves to God’s work. +When our earthly work is ended, then, like our Master, we shall +enter into glory. It has been well remarked: “Grace is glory +militant; and glory is grace triumphant. Grace is glory begun; +glory is grace made perfect. Grace is the first degree of glory: +glory is the highest degree of grace.”</p> +<p class="p2">“Oh, to grace how great a debtor</p> +<p class="p3">Daily I’m constrained to be!</p> +<p class="p2">Let Thy grace, Lord, like a fetter,</p> +<p class="p3">Bind my wandering heart to thee.</p> +<p class="p2">Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it—</p> +<p class="p3">Prone to leave the God I love—</p> +<p class="p2">Here’s my heart, oh take and seal it,</p> +<p class="p3s">Seal it for Thy courts above.”</p> +<hr style="margin-top:6em;margin-bottom:6em"> +<h1><a name="VIII" id="VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a></h1> +<h2>A CHIME OF GOSPEL BELLS.</h2> +<p class="ps"><img style= +"float:left;margin-top:0.2em; margin-right:0.3em;height:4.7em;padding-right:0.3em" +src="images/i.jpg" alt="I">N Baltimore, a few years ago, we held +a number of meetings for men. I am very fond of this hymn; and we +used to let the choir sing the chorus over and over again, till +all could sing it.</p> +<p class="p2">“Oh, word of words the sweetest,</p> +<p class="p3">Oh, word in which there lie</p> +<p class="p2">All promise, all fulfillment,</p> +<p class="p3">And end of mystery!</p> +<p class="p2">Lamenting or rejoicing,</p> +<p class="p3">With doubt or terror nigh,</p> +<p class="p2">I hear the ‘Come!’ of Jesus,</p> +<p class="p3s">And to His cross I fly.</p> +<p class="p4">Come! oh, come to me!</p> +<p class="p4">Come! oh, come to me!</p> +<p class="p4">Weary heavy-laden,</p> +<p class="p4s">Come! oh, come to Me!</p> +<p class="p2">O soul! why shouldst thou wander</p> +<p class="p3">From such a loving Friend?</p> +<p class="p2">Cling closer, closer to Him,</p> +<p class="p3">Stay with Him to the end</p> +<p class="p2">Alas! I am so helpless,</p> +<p class="p3">So very full of sin;</p> +<p class="p2">For I am ever wandering,</p> +<p class="p3s">And coming back again.</p> +<p class="p2">Oh, each time draw me nearer,</p> +<p class="p3">That soon the ‘Come!’ may be</p> +<p class="p2">Nought but a gentle whisper</p> +<p class="p3">To one close, close to Thee;</p> +<p class="p2">Then, over sea and mountain,</p> +<p class="p3">Far from, or near, my home,</p> +<p class="p2">I’ll take Thy hand and follow,</p> +<p class="p3s">At that sweet whisper, ‘Come!’”</p> +<p class="pn">There was a man in one of the meetings who had been +brought there against his will; he had come through some personal +influence brought to bear upon him. When he got to the meeting, +they were singing the chorus of this hymn—</p> +<p class="pc">“Come! come! come!”</p> +<p class="pnn">He said afterwards he thought he never saw so many +fools together in his life before. The idea of a number of men +standing there singing, “Come! come! come!” When he started home +he could not get this little word out of his head; it kept coming +back all the time. He went into a saloon, and ordered some +whiskey, thinking to drown it. But he could not; it still kept +coming back. He went into another saloon, and drank some more +whiskey; but the words kept ringing in his ears: “Come! come! +come!” He said to himself, “What a fool I am for allowing myself +to be troubled in this way!” He went to a third saloon; had +another glass, and finally got home.</p> +<p class="pn">He went off to bed, but could not sleep; it seemed +as if the very pillow kept whispering the word, “Come! Come!” He +began to be angry with himself: “What a fool I was for ever going +to that meeting at all!” When he got up he took the little hymn +book, found the hymn, and read it over. “What nonsense!” he said +to himself; “the idea of a rational man being disturbed by that +hymn.” He set fire to the hymn book; but he could not burn up the +little word “Come!” “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but My +word shall not pass away.”</p> +<p class="pn">He declared he would never go to another of the +meetings; but the next night he came again. When he got there, +strange to say, they were singing the same hymn. “There is that +miserable old hymn again,” he said; “what a fool I am for +coming!” I tell you, when the Spirit of God lays hold of a man, +he does a good many things he did not intend to do. To make a +long story short, that man rose in a meeting of young converts, +and told the story that I have now told you. Pulling out the +little hymn book for he had bought another copy and opening it at +this hymn, he said: “I think this hymn is the sweetest and the +best in the English language. God blessed it to the saving of my +soul.” And yet this was the very hymn he had despised.</p> +<p class="pn">I want to take up this little word “Come!” +Sometimes people forget the text of a sermon; but this text will +be short enough for any one to remember. Let me ring out a chime +of Gospel bells, every one of which says, “Come!” The first bell +I will ring is,</p> +<h3><b>COME AND HEAR!</b></h3> +<p class="pn">“Incline your ear, and <span class="sc">come</span> +unto me; <span class="sc">hear</span>, and your soul shall live; +and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure +mercies of David.” “Incline your ear,” God says. You have +sometimes seen a man who is a little deaf, and cannot catch every +word, put his hand up to his ear and lean forward. I have seen a +man sometimes put up both hands to his ears, as if he were +determined to catch every word. I like to see that. This is the +figure that the prophet uses when he says on God’s behalf, +“Incline your ear.”</p> +<p class="pn">Man lost spiritual life and communion with his +Maker by listening to the voice of the tempter, instead of the +voice of God. We get life again by listening to the voice of God. +The Word of God gives life. “The words that I speak unto you,” +says Christ, “they are spirit, and they are life.” So, what +people need is—to incline their ear, and <span class= +"sc">hear</span>. It is a great thing when the Gospel preacher +gets the ear of a congregation—I mean the inner ear. For a man +has not only two ears in his head; he has also what we may call +the outer ear, and the inner ear—the ear of the soul. You may +speak to the outward ear, and not reach the ear of the soul at +all. Many in these days are like the “foolish people” to whom the +prophet Jeremiah spoke: “Which have eyes, and see not; which have +ears, and hear not.” There are many in every congregation whose +attention I am not able to secure for five minutes together. +Almost any little thing will divert their minds. We need to give +heed to the words of the Lord: “He that hath ears to hear, let +him hear.”</p> +<p class="pn">You remember when Peter was sent to Cornelius, he +was to speak to him words whereby he and his house were to be +saved. If you are to be saved, it must be by listening to the +Word of God. Here is the promise: “Hear; and your soul shall +live.”</p> +<p class="pn">There was an architect in Chicago who was +converted. In giving his testimony, he said he had been in the +habit of attending church for a great many years, but he could +not say that he had really heard a sermon all the time. He said +that when the minister gave out the text and began to preach, he +used to settle himself in the corner of the pew and work out the +plans of some building. He could not tell how many plans he had +prepared while the minister was preaching. He was the architect +for one or two companies; and he used to do all his planning in +that way. You see, Satan came in between him and the preacher, +and caught away the good seed of the Word. I have often preached +to people, and have been perfectly amazed to find they could +hardly tell one solitary word of the sermon; even the text had +completely gone from them.</p> +<p class="pn">A colored man once said that a good many of his +congregation would be lost because they were too generous. He saw +that the people looked rather surprised; so he said, “Perhaps you +think I have made a mistake; and that I ought to have said you +will be lost because you are not generous enough. That is not so; +I meant just what I said. You give away too many sermons. You +hear them, as it were, for other people.” So there are a good +many now hearing me who are listening for those behind them: they +say the message is a very good one for neighbor So-and-so; and +they pass it over their shoulders, till it gets clear out at the +door. You laugh; but you know it is so. Listen! “Verily, verily, +I say unto you, he that heareth My word, and believeth on Him +that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into +condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”</p> +<p class="pn">The next note in this peal of bells I wish to ring +out is—</p> +<h3><b>COME AND SEE!</b></h3> +<p class="pn">Scripture not only uses the ear, but the eye, in +illustrating the way of salvation. When a man both hears and sees +a thing, he remembers it twice as long as if he only heard it. +You remember what Philip said to Nathanael: “Philip findeth +Nathanael, and saith unto him, we have found Him of whom Moses in +the Law, and the Prophets, did write—Jesus of Nazareth, the son +of Joseph. And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing +come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.” +Philip was a wise winner of souls. He brought his friend to +Christ. Nathanael had one interview with the son of God; he +became His disciple and never left Him. If Philip had gone on +discussing the matter with him, and had tried to prove that some +good thing could come out of Nazareth, he might have never been a +disciple at all.</p> +<p class="pn">After all, we do not gain much by discussion. Let +objectors or inquirers only get one personal interview with the +Son of God; that will scatter all their darkness, all their +prejudice, and all their unbelief. The moment that Philip +succeeded in getting Nathanael to Christ, the work was done.</p> +<p class="pn">So we say to you, “Come and see!” I thought, when I +was converted, that my friends had been very unfaithful to me, +because they had not told me about Christ. I thought I would have +all my friends converted inside of twenty-four hours; and I was +quite disappointed when they did not at once see Christ to be the +Lily of the Valley, and the Rose of Sharon, and the Bright and +Morning Star. I wondered why it was. No doubt many of those who +hear me now have had that experience; you thought when you saw +Christ in all His beauty that you could soon make your friends +see Him in the same light.</p> +<p class="pn">But we need to learn that God alone can do it. If +there is a skeptic now hearing me, I want to say that one +personal interview with the Son of God will scatter all your +infidelity and atheism. One night, in the inquiry-room, I met the +wife of an atheist, who had been brought to God at one of our +meetings. She was converted at the same time. She had brought two +of her daughters to the meeting, desiring that they too should +know Christ. I said to the mother: “How is it with your +skepticism now?” “Oh,” said she, “it is all gone.” When Christ +gets into the heart, atheism must go out; if a man will only come +and take one trustful, loving look at the Saviour, there will be +no desire to leave Him again.</p> +<p class="pn">A gentleman was walking down the street in +Baltimore, a few years ago. It was near Christmas-time, and many +of the shop-windows were filled with Christmas presents, toys, +etc. As this gentleman passed along, he saw three little girls +standing before a shop window, and he heard two of them trying to +describe to the third the things that were in the window. It +aroused his attention, and he wondered what it could mean. He +went back, and found that the middle one was blind—she had never +been able to see—and her two sisters were endeavoring to tell her +how the things looked. The gentleman stood beside them for some +time, and listened; he said it was most interesting to hear them +trying to describe the different articles to the blind child—they +found it a difficult task. As he told me, I said to myself, “That +is just my position in trying to tell other men about Christ: I +may talk about Him; and yet they see no beauty in Him that they +should desire Him. But if they will only come to Him, He will +open their eyes and reveal Himself to them in all His loveliness +and grace.”</p> +<p class="pn">Looking at it from the outside, there was not much +beauty in the Tabernacle that Moses erected in the desert. It was +covered on the outside with badgers’ skins—and there was not much +beauty in them. If you were to pass into the inside, then you +would find out the beauty of the coverings. So the sinner sees no +beauty in Christ till he comes to Him—then he can see it.</p> +<p class="pn">You have looked at the windows of a grand church +erected at the cost of many thousands of dollars. From the +outside they did not seem very beautiful; but get inside, when +the rays of the sun are striking upon the stained glass, and you +begin to understand what others have told you of their +magnificence. So it is when you have come into personal contact +with Christ; you find Him to be the very Friend you need. +Therefore we extend to all the sweet Gospel invitation “Come and +see!”</p> +<p class="pn">Let me now ring out the third bell—</p> +<h3><b>COME AND DRINK!</b></h3> +<p class="pn">“Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the +waters: and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat: yea, +come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” If you +will come and drink at this fountain, Christ says you shall never +thirst again. He has promised to quench your thirst. “If any man +thirst,” He says, “let him come unto Me and drink.”</p> +<p class="pn">I thank God for those words: “<i>If any man</i>.” +That does not mean merely a select few respectable people; it +takes in all—every drunkard, every harlot, every thief, every +self-righteous Pharisee.</p> +<p class="pn">“If any man <i>thirst</i>.” How this world is +thirsting for something that will satisfy! What fills the places +of amusement—the dance houses, the music halls, and the theaters, +night after night? Men and women are thirsting for something they +have not got. The moment a man turns his back upon God, he begins +to thirst; and that thirst will never be quenched until he +returns to “the fountain of living waters.” As the prophet +Jeremiah tells us, we have forsaken the fountain of living +waters, and hewn out for ourselves cisterns, broken cisterns, +that can hold no water. There is a thirst this world can never +quench: the more we drink of its pleasures, the thirstier we +become. We cry out for more and more; and we are all the while +being dragged down lower and lower. But there is “a fountain +opened to the House of David . . . for sin and for uncleanness.” +Let us press up to it, and drink and live.</p> +<p class="pn">I remember after one of the great battles in the +War we were coming down the Tennessee River with a company of +wounded men. It was in the spring of the year, and the water was +not clear. You know that the cry of a wounded man is: “Water! +water!” especially in a hot country. I remember taking a glass of +the muddy water to one of these men. Although he was very +thirsty, he only drank a little of it. He handed the glass back +to me, and as he did so, he said, “Oh for a draught of water from +my father’s well!” Are there any thirsty ones here? Come and +drink of the fountain opened in Christ; your longing will be +satisfied, and you will never thirst again. It will be in you “a +well of water springing up into everlasting life.” Water rises to +its own level; and as this water has come down from the throne of +God, it will carry us back to the presence of God. Come, O ye +thirsty ones, stoop down and drink, and live! You are all +invited: come along! When Moses took his rod and struck the +flinty rock in the wilderness, out of it there came a pure +crystal stream of water, which flowed or through that dry and +barren land. All that the poor thirsty Israelites had to do was +to stoop and drink. It was free to all. So the grace of God is +free to all. God invites you to come and take it: will you +come?</p> +<p class="pn">I remember being in a large city where I noticed +that the people resorted to a favorite well in one of the parks. +I said to a man one day, “Does the well never run dry?” The man +was drinking of the water out of the well; and as he stopped +drinking, he smacked his lips, and said: “They have never been +able to pump it dry yet. They tried it a few years ago. They put +the fire engines to work, and tried all they could to pump the +well dry; but they found there was a river flowing right under +the city.” Thank God, the well of salvation never gets dry, +though the saints of God have been drinking from it for six +thousand years! Abel, Enoch Noah, Abraham. Moses, Elijah, the +Apostles all have drunk from it; and they are now up yonder, +where they are drinking of the stream that flows from the throne +of God. “They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; +neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb +which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall +lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe +away all tears from their eyes.”</p> +<p class="pn">Let me ring another Gospel bell:</p> +<h3><b>COME AND DINE!</b></h3> +<p class="pn">My brother, my sister—are you hungry? Then come +along and dine. Some people are afraid of being converted, +because they think they will not hold out. Mr. Rainsford once +said, “If the Lord gives us eternal life, He will surely give us +all that is needful to preserve it.” He not only gives life; but +He gives us our daily bread to feed that life.</p> +<p class="pn">After the Saviour had risen from the dead, He had +not appeared to His disciples for some days. Peter said to the +others, “I go a fishing.” Seven of them started off in their +boats. They toiled all night but caught nothing. In the grey of +the morning, they saw a Stranger on the shore. He addressed them +and said “Children, have ye any meat?” They told Him they had +not. “Cast the net on the right side of the ship; and ye shall +find.” I can imagine they said to each other, “What good is that +going to do? We have been fishing here all night, and have got +nothing? The idea that there should be fish on one side of the +boat, and not on the other!” However, they obeyed the command; +and they had such a haul that there was no room for the fish in +the boat. Then one of them said, “It is the Lord.” When he heard +that, Peter sprang right into the sea, and swam to the shore; and +the others pulled the boat to land.</p> +<p class="pn">When they reached the shore the Master said, “Come +and dine.” What a meal that must have been. There was the Lord of +Glory feeding His disciples. If He could set a table for His +people in the wilderness, and feed three millions of Israelites +for forty years, can He not give us our daily bread? I do not +mean only the bread that perisheth; but the Bread that cometh +from above. If He feeds the birds of the air, surely He will feed +His children made in His own image! If He numbers the very hairs +of our head, He will take care to supply all our temporal +wants.</p> +<p class="pn">Not only so: He will give us the Bread of Life for +the nourishment of the soul—the life that the world knows nothing +of—if we will but go to Him. “I am the Bread of Life,” He says. +As we feed on Him by faith, we get strength. Let our thoughts +rest upon Him; and He will lift us above ourselves, and above the +world, and satisfy our utmost desires.</p> +<p class="pn">Another Gospel bell is—</p> +<h3><b>COME AND REST!</b></h3> +<p class="pn">Dear friend, do you not need rest? There is a +restlessness all over the world to-day. Men are sighing and +struggling after rest. The cry of the world is, “Where can rest +be found?” The rich man that we read of in the parable pulled +down his barns, that he might build greater; and said to his +soul, “Take thine ease.” He thought he was going to find rest in +wealth; but he was disappointed. That night his soul was summoned +away. No; there is no rest in wealth or pleasure.</p> +<p class="pn">Others think they will succeed in drowning their +sorrows and troubles by indulging in drink; but that will only +increase them. “There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked:” +they are like the troubled sea that cannot rest. We sometimes +talk of the ocean as being as calm as a sea of glass; but it is +never at rest: and here we have a faithful picture of the wicked +man and woman.</p> +<p class="pn">O weary soul, hear the sweet voice that comes +ringing down through the ages: “Come unto me, all ye that labor, +and are heavy-laden; and I will <i>give</i> you <span class= +"sc">rest</span>.” Thank God, He does not <i>sell</i> it! If He +did, some of us are so poor we could not buy; but we can all take +a gift. That little boy there knows how to take a gift; that old +man, living on borrowed time, and almost on the verge of another +world, knows how to take a gift. The gift Jesus wants to bestow +is rest: Rest for time, and rest for eternity. Every weary soul +may have this rest if he will. But you must come to Christ and +get it. Nowhere else can this rest be found. If you go to the +world with your cares, your troubles, and your anxieties, all it +can do is to put a few more on the top of them. The world is a +poor place to go to for sympathy. As some one has said: “If you +roll your burdens anywhere but on Christ, they will roll back on +you with more weight than ever. Cast them on Christ; and He will +carry them for you.”</p> +<p class="pn">Here is another bell—</p> +<h3><b>COME AND REASON!</b></h3> +<p class="pn">Perhaps there are some infidels reading this. They +are fond of saying to us, “Come and reason.” But I want to draw +their attention to the verses that go before this one in the +first chapter of Isaiah. The trouble with a good many skeptics is +this—they take a sentence here and there from Scripture without +reference to the context. Let us see what this passage says: +“When ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: +yea, when ye make many prayers I will not hear: your hands are +full of blood. Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of +your doings from before Mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do +well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, +plead for the widow.”</p> +<p class="pn"><i>Then</i> we have the gracious invitation, “Come +now, and let us reason together.” Do you think God is going to +reason with a man whose hands are dripping with blood, and before +he asks forgiveness and mercy? Will God reason with a man living +in rebellion against Him? Nay. But if we turn from and confess +our sin, then He will reason with us, and pardon us. “Though your +sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow: though they +be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”</p> +<p class="pn">But if a man persists in his rebellion against God, +there is no invitation to him to come and reason, and receive +pardon. If I have been justly condemned to death by the law of +the State, and am waiting the execution of my sentence, I am not +in a position to reason with the governor. If he chooses to send +me a free pardon, the first thing I have to do is to accept it; +then he may allow me to come into his presence. But we must bear +in mind that God is above our reason. When man fell, his reason +became perverted; and he was not in a position to reason with +God. “If any man willeth to do His will he shall know of the +teaching.” We must be willing to forsake our sins. “Let the +wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and +let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; +and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon,” The moment a man +is willing to part with his sins, God meets him in grace and +offers him peace and pardon.</p> +<p class="pn">The next bell I would like to sound out is—</p> +<h3><b>COME TO THE MARRIAGE!</b></h3> +<p class="pn">“Behold, I have prepared my dinner: . . . all +things are ready; come unto the marriage.” Who would not feel +highly honored if they were invited to some fine residence, to +the wedding of one of the members of the President’s family? I +can imagine you would feel rather proud of having received such +an invitation. You would want all your friends to know it.</p> +<p class="pn">Probably you may never get such an invitation. But +I have a far grander invitation for you here than that. I cannot +speak for others; but if I know my own heart, I would rather be +torn to pieces to-night, limb from limb, and die in the glorious +hope of being at the marriage-supper of the Lamb, than live in +this world a thousand years and miss that appointment at the +last. “Blessed is he that is called to the marriage-supper of the +Lamb.” It will be a fearful thing for any of us to see Abraham, +Isaac, and Jacob taking their place in the kingdom of God, and be +ourselves thrust out.</p> +<p class="pn">This is no myth, my friends; it is a real +invitation. Every man and woman is invited. All things are now +ready. The feast has been prepared at great expense. You may +spurn the grace, and the gift of God; but you must bear in mind +that it cost God a good deal before He could provide this feast. +When He gave Christ He gave the richest jewel that heaven had. +And now He sends out the invitation. He commands His servants to +go into the highways, and hedges, and lanes, and compel them to +come in, that His house may be full. Who will come? You say you +are not fit to come? If the President invited you to the White +House, and the invitation said you were to come just as you were; +and if the sentinel at the gate stopped you because you did not +wear a dress suit, what would you do? Would you not show him the +document signed in the name of the President? Then he would stand +aside and let you pass. So, my friend, if you can prove to me +that you are a sinner, I can prove to you that you are invited to +this Gospel feast—to this marriage supper of the Lamb.</p> +<p class="pn">Let me ring out another bell in this Gospel +chime—</p> +<h3><b>“COME, INHERIT THE KINGDOM!”</b></h3> +<p class="pn">“Then shall the King say unto them on His right +hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared +for you from the foundation of the world.” A kingdom!—think of +that! Think of a poor man in this world, struggling with poverty +and want, invited to become possessor of a kingdom! It is no +fiction; it is described as “an inheritance incorruptible and +undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, +who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, +ready to be revealed in the last time.” We are called to be kings +and priests: that is a high calling. Surely no one who hears me +intends to miss that kingdom! Christ said, “<i>Seek ye first</i> +the Kingdom of God.” Those who inherit it shall go no more +out.</p> +<p class="pn">Yet another bell—</p> +<h3><b>“COME UP HITHER!”</b></h3> +<p class="pn">In the Revelation we find that the two witnesses +were called up to heaven when their testimony was ended. So if we +are faithful in the service of our King, we shall by and by hear +a voice saying, “Come up hither!” There is going to be a +separation one day. The man who has been persecuting his godly +wife will some day find her missing. That drunkard who beats his +children because they have been taught the way into the Kingdom +of God, will miss them some day. They will be taken up out of the +darkness, and away from the persecution, up into the presence of +God. When the voice of God saying, “Come up hither” is heard, +calling His children home, there will be a grand jubilee. That +glorious day will soon dawn. “Lift up your heads, for the time of +your redemption draweth nigh.”</p> +<p class="pn">One more bell to complete the chime—</p> +<h3><b>“WHOSOEVER WILL, LET HIM COME!”</b></h3> +<p class="pn">It is the last time that the word “Come” appears in +the Bible; and it occurs there over one thousand nine hundred +times. We find it away back in Genesis, “Come, thou and all thy +house, into the ark”; and it goes right along through Scripture. +Prophets, apostles, and preachers, have been ringing it out all +through the ages. Now the record is about to be closed, and +Christ tells John to put in one more invitation. After the Lord +had been in glory for about sixty years, perhaps He saw some poor +man stumbling over one of the apostles’ letters about the +doctrine of election. So He came to John in Patmos, and John was +in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day. Christ said to His disciple, +“Write these things to the Churches.” I can imagine John’s pen +moved very easily and very swiftly that day; for the hand of his +Lord was upon him. The Master said to him, “Before you close up +the Book, put in one more invitation; and make it so broad that +the whole world shall know they are included, and not a single +one may feel that he is left out.” John began to write “The +Spirit and the Bride say, Come,” that is, the Spirit and the +Church; “and let him that heareth say, Come!” If you have heard +and received the message yourself, pass it on to those near you; +your religion is not a very real thing if it does not affect some +one else. We have to get rid of this idea that the world is going +to be reached by ministers alone. All those who have drunk of the +cup of salvation must pass it around.</p> +<p class="pn">“Let him that is athirst, come.” But there are some +so deaf that they cannot hear; others are not thirsty enough or +they think they are not. I have seen men in our after-meetings +with two streams of tears running down their cheeks; and yet they +said the trouble with them was that they were not anxious enough. +They were anxious to be anxious. Probably Christ saw that men +would say they did not feel thirsty; so He told the apostle to +make the invitation still broader. So the last invitation let +down into a thirsty world is this: “W<span class="sc">hosoever +will, let him take the water of life freely</span>.”</p> +<p class="pn">Thank God for those words “Whosoever will!” Who +will come and take it? That is the question. You have the power +to accept or to reject the invitation. A man in one meeting once +was honest enough to say “I won’t.” If I had it in my power I +would bring this whole audience to a decision now, either for or +against. I hope many now reading these words will say, “I will!” +If God says we can, all the devils in hell cannot stop us. All +the infidels in the world cannot prevent us. That little boy, +that little girl, can say, “I will!” If it were necessary, God +would send down a legion of angels to help you; but He has given +you the power, and you can accept Christ this very minute if you +are really in earnest.</p> +<p class="pn">Let me say that it is the easiest thing in the +world to become a Christian, and it is also the most difficult. +You will say: “That is a contradiction, a paradox.” I will +illustrate what I mean. A little nephew of mine in Chicago, a few +years ago, took my Bible and threw it down on the floor. His +mother said, “Charlie, pick up Uncle’s Bible.” The little fellow +said he would not, “Charlie, do you know what that word means?” +She soon found out that he did, and that he was not going to pick +up the Book. His will had come right up against his mother’s +will. I began to be quite interested in the struggle; I knew if +she did not break his will, he would some day break her heart. +She repeated, “Charlie, go and pick up Uncle’s Bible, and put it +on the table.” The little fellow said he could not do it. “I will +punish you if you do not.” He saw a strange look in her eye, and +the matter began to get serious. He did not want to be punished, +and he knew his mother would punish him if he did not lift the +Bible. So he straightened every bone and muscle in him, and he +said <i>he could not do it</i>. I really believe the little +fellow had reasoned himself into the belief that he could not do +it.</p> +<p class="pns">His mother knew he was only deceiving himself; so +she kept him right to the point. At last he went down, put both +his arms around the Book, and tugged away at it; but he still +said he could not do it. The truth was he did not want to. He got +up again without lifting it. The mother said, “Charlie, I am not +going to talk to you any more. This matter has to be settled; +pick up that Book, or I will punish you.” At last she broke his +will, and then he found it as easy as it is for me to turn my +hand. He picked up the Bible, and laid it on the table. So it is +with the sinner; if you are really willing to take the Water of +Life, <span class="sc">you can do it</span>.</p> +<p class="p2">“I heard the voice of Jesus say,</p> +<p class="p3">‘Come unto Me, and rest;</p> +<p class="p2">Lay down, thou weary one, lay down,</p> +<p class="p3">Thy head upon My breast.’</p> +<p class="p2">I came to Jesus as I was—</p> +<p class="p3">Weary, and worn, and sad,</p> +<p class="p2">I found in Him a resting-place,</p> +<p class="p3s">And He has made me glad.</p> +<p class="p2">I heard the voice of Jesus say,</p> +<p class="p3">‘Behold, I freely give</p> +<p class="p2">The living water—thirsty one,</p> +<p class="p3">Stoop down, and drink, and live.’</p> +<p class="p2">I came to Jesus, and I drank</p> +<p class="p3">Of that life-giving stream;</p> +<p class="p2">My thirst was quenched, my soul revived,</p> +<p class="p3s">And now I live in Him.</p> +<p class="p2">I heard the voice of Jesus say,</p> +<p class="p3">‘I am this dark world’s Light:</p> +<p class="p2">Look unto Me, thy morn shall rise,</p> +<p class="p3">And all thy day be bright.’</p> +<p class="p2">I looked to Jesus, and I found</p> +<p class="p3">In Him my Star, my Sun;</p> +<p class="p2">And in that Light of life I’ll walk</p> +<p class="p3s">Till traveling days are done.”</p> +<p style= +"text-align:left;text-indent:19.0em;font-size:88%;font-style:italic;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:1.5em"> +Dr. H. Bonar</p> +<hr style="margin-top:6em;margin-bottom:6em"> +<h1 style= +"text-align:center;font-size:200%;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0.5em"> +<a name="GDI" id="GDI">GOSPEL DIALOGUES.</a></h1> +<div style="text-align:center"><img alt="Illustration: Line" src= +"images/line3.jpg" style="width: 4em"></div> +<h1 style= +"text-align:center;margin-top:0.8em;margin-bottom:0.9em;font-size:117%"> +I.—MR. MOODY AND REV. MARCUS RAINSFORD.</h1> +<h2>WHAT IT IS TO BE A CHILD OF GOD.</h2> +<p class="pnn"><img style= +"float:left;margin-top:0.2em; margin-right:0.3em;height:4.7em;padding-right:0.3em" +src="images/m.jpg" alt="M">R. MOODY—What is it to be a child of +God? What is the first step?</p> +<p class="pn">Rev. M. Rainsford—Well, sir, I am a child of God +when I become united to the Son of God. The Son of God prayed +that all who believed upon Him should be one with Him, as He was +one with the Father. Believing on Jesus, I receive Him, and +become united to Him; I become, as it were, a member of his Body. +I am an heir of God, a joint-heir with Christ.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—What is the best definition of Faith?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—Trust in the Son of God, as the Saviour He +has given to us. Simple trust, not only in a creed, but in a +Person. I trust my soul to Him. I trust the keeping of my soul to +Him. God has promised that whosoever trusts Him, mercy shall +compass him on every side.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—Does not the Scripture say that the devils +believe?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—They believe the truth, do they not? They +believe that Jesus was manifested to destroy them; and they +“tremble.” I wish we believed as truly and as fully that God sent +His Son into the world to save us.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—What is it to “trust?”</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—I take it to mean four things:</p> +<p class="pn">(1) Believing on Christ: that is, taking Him at His +Word.</p> +<p class="pn">(2) Hoping in Christ: that is, expecting help from +Him, according to His Word.</p> +<p class="pn">(3) Relying on Christ: That is, resting on Him for +the times, and ways, and circumstances in which He may be pleased +to fulfill His promises according to His Word.</p> +<p class="pn">(4) Waiting on Christ: that is, <i>continuing</i> +to do so, notwithstanding delay, darkness, barrenness, perplexing +experiences, and the sentence of death in myself. He may keep me +waiting awhile (I have kept Him a long time waiting); but He will +not keep me waiting always. Believing in Him, hoping in Him, +relying upon Him, and waiting for Him—I understand to be trusting +in Him.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—Can all these friends here believe the +promises?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—The promises are true, whether we believe +them or not. We do not make them true by believing them. God +could not charge me with being an unbeliever, or condemn me for +unbelief, if the promises were not true for me. I could in that +case turn round and say: “Great God, why did you expect me to +believe a promise that was not true for me?” And yet the +Scriptures set forth unbelief as the greatest sin I can continue +to commit.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—How are we “cleansed by <i>the +Blood?</i>”</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—“The blood is the life.” The sentence upon +sinners for their sin was, “The soul that sinneth it shall die.” +That we might not die, the Son of God died. The blood is <i>the +poured-out life of the Son of God</i>, given as the price, the +atonement, the substitute, for the forfeited life of the believer +in Jesus Christ. Any poor sinner who receives Christ as God’s +gift is cleansed from all sin by His Blood.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—Was the blood shed for us all?</p> +<p class="pns">Mr. R.—</p> +<p class="p2">“There is a fountain filled with blood,</p> +<p class="p3">Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;</p> +<p class="p2">And sinners plunged beneath that flood,</p> +<p class="p3s">Lose all their guilty stains.</p> +<p class="p2">The dying thief rejoiced to see</p> +<p class="p3">That fountain in his day;</p> +<p class="p2">And there may we, though vile as he,</p> +<p class="p3s">Wash all our sins away.”</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—Some may think that this is only a hymn, and +that it is not Scripture. Did the Lord ever say anything similar +to what the hymn says?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—He said: “I have given you the blood upon +the altar to make an atonement for your souls.” That was said of +the picture of the blood of Christ. And at the Last Supper our +Lord said His blood was “the blood of the new testament which is +shed for you and for many for the remission of sins.”</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—What is “the gift of God?”</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—There are three great gifts that God has +given to us—</p> +<p class="pn">(1) His blessed Son.</p> +<p class="pn">(2) The Holy Ghost, “the promise of the Father,” +that we might understand the unspeakable gift bestowed on us when +He gave His Son.</p> +<p class="pn">(3) He has given us His Holy Word.</p> +<p class="pn">The Holy Ghost has inspired the writers of it that +we may read, and hear, and know the love that God has to us, “in +that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” We could not +have the Son for our Saviour, unless God gave Him. We could not +understand the gift of God, unless the Holy Ghost had come to +quicken us and teach us; and this He does through the Word.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—How much is there in Christ for us who +believe?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—In Him dwelt “all the fullness of the +Godhead bodily”—fullness of life, of righteousness, of +sanctification, of redemption, title to heaven, and meetness for +it; all that God wants from us, and all that we want from God, He +gave in the person of Christ.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—How long does it take God to justify a +sinner?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—How long? The moment we receive Him we +receive authority to enroll ourselves among the children of God, +and are then and there justified from all things. The sentence of +complete justification does not take long to pronounce. Some +persons profess to see a difficulty in the variety of ways in +which a sinner is said to be justified before God: (1) Justified +by God; (2) Justified by Christ; (3) Justified by His Blood; (4) +Justified by grace; (5) Justified by faith; (6) Justified by +works.</p> +<p class="pn">Justification has reference to a court of justice. +Suppose a sinner standing at the bar of God, the bar of +conscience, and the bar of his fellow-men, charged with a +thousand crimes.</p> +<p class="pn">(1) There is the Judge: that is God, who alone can +condemn or justify: “It is God that justifieth.” That is +justification by God.</p> +<p class="pn">(2) There is the Advocate, who appears at court for +the sinner; the counselor, the intercessor: that is Christ. +“Justified by Christ.”</p> +<p class="pn">(3) There is next to be considered the ground and +reason on account of which the Advocate pleads before the Judge. +That is the merit of His own precious Blood. That is +justification by His Blood.</p> +<p class="pn">(4) Next we must remember the law which the Judge +is dispensing. The law of works? Nay, but the law of grace and +faith. That is justification by His grace.</p> +<p class="pn">(5) And now the judge himself pronounces the +result. “Be it known unto you that through this Man is preached +unto you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him all that believe are +justified from all things.” Now, for the first time, the sinner +at the bar knows the fact. This is justification by faith.</p> +<p class="pn">(6) But now the justified man leaves the criminal’s +dock. He does not return to his prison, or to his chains. He +walks forth from the court-house a justified man; and all men, +friends or foes, are made aware that he is free. That is +“justification by works.”</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—A man says: “I have not found peace.” How +would you deal with him?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—He is really looking for the wrong thing. I +do not look for peace. I look for <i>Christ;</i> and I get peace +with Him. Some people put peace in the place of Christ. Others +put their repentance or prayers in the place of Christ. +<i>Anything</i> put in the place of Christ, or between the sinner +and Christ, is in the <i>wrong place</i>. When I get Christ, I +possess in Him everything that belongs to Him, as my Saviour.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—Some think they cannot be Christians until +they are sanctified.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—Christ is my Sanctification, as much as my +Justification. I cannot be sanctified but by His blood. There is +a wonderful passage in Exodus. The high priest there represented +in picture the Lord Jesus Christ. There was to be placed on the +forefront of the miter of the high priest, when he stood before +God, a plate of pure gold, and graven upon it as with a signet, +the words: “Holiness to the Lord.” My faith sees it on the +forefront of the miter on the brow of my High Priest in heaven. +“And it shall be upon Aaron’s forehead, that Aaron may bear the +iniquity of the holy things, which the children of Israel shall +hallow in all their holy gifts; and it shall be <i>always</i> +upon his forehead, that <span class="sc">they</span> may be +accepted before the Lord.” That was for Israel of old! +<i>That</i> on the brow of Jesus Christ is for me. Yes—for me, +“that I may be accepted before the Lord.” As I believe this truth +it purifies my heart, it operates on my affections and my +desires; and I seek to walk with Him, because He is my +Sanctification before God, just as I trust in Him as my +Justification—because He shed His blood for me.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—What is it to believe on His name?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—His name is His revealed self. We are +informed what it is in Exodus. Moses was in the mount with God, +and He had shown him wonderful things of kindness and of love. +And Moses said, “O God, show me thy <i>glory!</i>” And He said, +“I will make all my <i>goodness</i> pass before thee.” So He put +Moses in the cleft of the rock, and proclaimed the name of the +Lord: “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, +longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth; keeping mercy +for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin”—there +it is, root and branch “and that will by no means clear the +guilty.” That is His name; and His glory He will not give unto +another: and to believe in the name of the Lord is just to +shelter under His promises.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—What is it to “receive the Kingdom of God +like a little child?”</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—Well, I do not believe in a little child +being an innocent thing. I think it means that we are to receive +it in all our need and helplessness. A little child is the most +dependent thing on earth. All its resources are in its parents’ +love: all it can do is to cry; and its necessities explain the +meaning to the mother’s heart. If we interpret its language, it +means: “Mother, wash me; I cannot wash myself. Mother, clothe me; +I am naked, and cannot clothe myself. Mother, feed me; I cannot +feed myself. Mother, carry me; I cannot walk.” It is written, “A +mother may forget her sucking child; yet will not I forget thee.” +This it is to receive the Kingdom of God as a little child—to +come to Jesus in our helplessness and say: “Lord Jesus, wash me!” +“Clothe me!” “Feed me!” “Carry me!” “Save me, Lord, or I +perish.”</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—A good many say they are going to +<i>try</i>. What would you say to such?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—God wants no man to “try.” Jesus has already +tried. He has not only tried, but He has succeeded. “It is +finished.” Believe in Him who has “made an end of sins, making +reconciliation for iniquity, finishing transgression, and +bringing in everlasting righteousness.”</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—If people say they are “going to try,” what +would you say to them?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—I should say, Put <i>trusting</i> in the +place of trying; <i>believing</i> in the place of doubting; and I +should urge them to come to Christ as they are, instead of +waiting to be better. There is nothing now between God the Father +and the poor sinner, but the Lord Jesus Christ; and Christ has +put away sin that I may be joined to the Lord. “And he that is +joined unto the Lord is one spirit;” “And where the spirit of the +Lord is, there is liberty.”</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—About the last thing an anxious inquirer has +to contend with is his feelings. There are hundreds here very +anxious to know they are safe in the Kingdom; but they think they +have not the right kind of feeling. What kind of feeling should +they have?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—I think there are several of those present +who can say that they found a blessing in the after-meetings +through one verse of Scripture. I will quote it as an answer to +Mr. Moody’s question. “Who is among you that feareth the Lord, +that obeyeth the voice of His servant, that walketh in darkness, +and hath no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and +stay upon his God.” Some of you may be walking in darkness; that +is how you feel. What is God’s command? “Let him trust in the +name of the Lord, and stay upon his God.” If I am to trust God in +the darkness, I am to trust Him anywhere.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—You would advise them, then, to trust in the +Lord, whether they have the right kind of feeling or not?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—If I were to think of my feelings for a +moment, I should be one of the most miserable men in this hall +to-night. My feelings are those of a sinful corrupt nature. I am +just to believe what God tells me in spite of my feelings. Faith +is “the evidence of things not seen:” I might add, “the evidence +of things not felt.”</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—Some may say that faith is the gift of God: +and that they must wait till God imparts it to them.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—“Faith cometh by hearing.” The word of God +is the medium through which faith comes to us. God has given us +Christ; and He has given us His Spirit, and His Word: what need +is there to wait? God will give faith to the man who reads His +Word and seeks for His Spirit.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—What, then, should they wait for?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—I do not know of anything they have to wait +for. God says: “Come now; Believe now.” No, no; there is nothing +to wait for. He has given us all He has to give: and the sooner +we take it the better.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—Perhaps some of them think they have too +many sins to allow their coming.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—The Lord Jesus has put away sin by the +sacrifice of Himself. “As far as the east is from the west, so +far hath He removed our transgressions from us.” Why do we not +believe him? He says He has “made an end of sins.” Why do we not +believe Him? Is He a liar?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—Is unbelief a sin?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—It is the root of all sin.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—Has a man the power to believe these things, +if he will?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—When God gives a command, it means that we +are able by His grace to do it.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—What do you mean by “coming” to Christ?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—Believing in Him. If I were to prepare a +great feast in this hall to-morrow night, and say that any man +that comes to it would have a grand feast and a five-pound note +besides, there would not be any question as to what “coming” +meant. God has prepared a great feast. He has sent His messengers +to invite all to come; and there is nothing to pay.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—What is the first step.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—To believe.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—Believe what?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—God’s invitation; God’s promise; God’s +provision. Let us believe the faithfulness of Him who calls us. +Does God intend to mock us, and make game of us? If He did so to +one man, it would hush all the harps in heaven.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—Suppose the people do “come,” and that they +fall into sin tomorrow?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—Let them come back again. God says we are to +forgive till seventy times seven. Do you think the great God will +do less than He commands us to do?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—If they truly come, will they have the +desire to do the things they used to do before?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—When a man really receives Christ into his +heart, he experiences “the expulsive power of a new affection.” +The devil may tempt him to sin; but sin has lost its attraction. +A man finds out that it does not pay to grieve God’s Holy +Spirit.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—What would you advise your converts to +do?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—When you were little babes, if you had had +no milk, no clothing, and no rest, you would not have lived very +long. You are now the result of your fathers’ and mothers’ care. +When a man is born in the family of God he has life; but he needs +food. “Man doth not live by bread alone.” If you do not feed upon +God’s promises you will be of no use in God’s service: it will be +well for you if your life does not die out altogether before +long. Then you need exercise. If you only take food, and do no +work, you will soon suffer from what I may call spiritual +apoplexy. When you get hold of a promise, go and tell it to +others. The best way for me to get help for myself is by trying +to help others. There is one great promise that young disciples +should never forget: “He that watereth shall be watered also +himself.”</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—How are they to begin?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—I believe there are some rich ladies and +rich gentlemen on the platform. When such persons are brought to +the Lord, they are apt to be ashamed to speak about salvation to +their old companions. If our Christian ladies would go amongst +other ladies; Christian gentlemen amongst gentlemen of their own +class; and so on we should see a grand work for Christ. Each of +you have some friends or relations whom you can influence better +than anybody else can. Begin with them; and God will give you +such a taste for work that you will not be content to stay at +home: you will go and work outside as well.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—A good place to start in would be the +kitchen, would it not? Begin with some little kitchen meetings. +Let some of you get fifteen or twenty mothers together; and ask +them to bring their young children with them. Sing some of these +sweet hymns; read a few verses of Scripture; get your lips +opened; and you will find that streams of salvation will be +breaking out all around. I always think that every convert ought +to be good for a dozen others right away.</p> +<p class="pns">Mr. R.—Let me tell a little incident in my own +experience. I was once asked to go and see a great man and tell +him about Christ. He did not expect me; and if I had known that, +perhaps I should not have had the faith to go at all. When I went +he was very angry and very nearly turned me out of the house. He +was an old man, and had one little daughter. A few weeks +afterwards he went to the Continent, and his daughter went with +him. One day when he was very ill he saw his daughter looking at +him, while the tears rolled down her cheeks. “My child,” he said, +“what are you crying about?” “Oh, papa, you do not love the Lord +Jesus Christ; I am afraid you are going to hell!” “Why do you say +that?” “Do you not remember when Mr. Rainsford called to see you, +you were very rude to him? I never saw you so angry. And he only +wished to speak to you about Jesus.” “Well, my child, you shall +read to me about Jesus.” If that man has gone to heaven—I do not +say whether he has or not—the only light he had he got from his +little daughter. You set to work; and you cannot tell what may be +the result, by the blessing of God.</p> +<p class="p2">“Sons of God, beloved in Jesus</p> +<p class="p3">Oh, the wondrous word of grace!</p> +<p class="p2">In His Son the Father sees us,</p> +<p class="p3s">And as sons He gives us place.</p> +<p class="p2">Blessed power now brightly beaming—</p> +<p class="p3">On our God we soon shall gaze;</p> +<p class="p2">And in light celestial gleaming</p> +<p class="p3s">We shall see our Saviour’s face.</p> +<p class="p2">By the power of grace transforming</p> +<p class="p3">We shall then His image bear;</p> +<p class="p2">Christ His promised word performing,</p> +<p class="p3s">We shall then His glory share.”</p> +<p style= +"text-align:left;text-indent:19.0em;font-size:88%;font-style:italic;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:1.5em"> +El Nathan</p> +<hr style="margin-top:6em;margin-bottom:6em"> +<h1 style= +"text-align:center;margin-top:0.8em;margin-bottom:0.9em;font-size:117%"> +<a name="GDII" id="GDII">II.—MR. MOODY AND REV. MARCUS +RAINSFORD.</a></h1> +<h2>HOW TO BECOME A CHRISTIAN.</h2> +<p class="pnn"><img style= +"float:left;margin-top:0.2em; margin-right:0.3em;height:4.7em;padding-right:0.1em" +src="images/m.jpg" alt="M">R. MOODY.—Mr. Rainsford, how can one +make room in their heart for Christ?</p> +<p class="pn">Rev. M. Rainsford.—First, do we really want Christ +to be in our hearts? If we do, the best thing will be to ask Him +to come and make room for Himself. He will surely come and do so. +“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” +“Without Me ye can do nothing.”</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—Will Christ crowd out the world if He comes +in?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—He spake a parable to that effect. “When a +strong man armed keepeth his palace [the poor sinner’s heart], +his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than he shall come +upon him and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour +wherein he trusted [unbelief, false views of God, worldliness, +and love of sin], and divideth his spoils.” The devil keeps the +heart, because Christ desires it for His throne—until Christ +drives Him out.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—What is the meaning of the promise?—“Him +that <i>cometh</i> unto Me I will in no wise cast out.”</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—I think we often put the emphasis upon the +wrong word. People are troubled about how they are going to +<span class="sc">come</span>, when they should put the emphasis +on H<span class="sc">im</span> to whom they are coming. “Him that +cometh unto M<span class="sc">e</span> I will in no wise cast +out:” no matter how he may come. I remember hearing this incident +at an after-meeting. A gentleman was speaking to an anxious +inquirer, telling him to <i>come</i> to Christ, to <i>trust</i> +in Christ; but the man seemed to get no comfort. He said that was +just where he found his difficulty. By and by, another friend +came and spoke to the anxious one. All he said was: “Come to +CHRIST; trust in CHRIST.” The man saw it in a minute. He went and +told the other gentleman, “I see the way of salvation now.” “Tell +me,” said he, “what did that man say to you?” “Well, he told me +to trust in Christ.” “That is what I told you.” “Nay, you bade me +<i>trust</i> in Christ, and <i>come</i> to Christ; he bade me +trust in <i>Christ</i>, and come to <i>Christ</i>.” That made all +the difference.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—What does Christ mean by the words “<i>in no +wise?</i>”</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—It means that if the sins of all sinners on +earth and all the devils in hell were upon your soul, He will not +refuse you. Not even in the range of God’s omniscience is there a +reason why Christ will refuse any poor sinner who comes to Him +for pardon.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—What is the salvation He comes to proclaim +and to bestow?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—To deliver us from the power of darkness and +the bottomless pit, and set us upon the throne of glory. It is +salvation from death and hell, and curse and ruin. But that is +only the half of it. It is salvation to God, and light, and +glory, and honor, and immortality; and from earth to heaven.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—If the friends here do not come and get this +salvation, what will be the true reason?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—Either they are fond of some sin which they +do not intend to give up, or they do <i>not</i> believe they are +in a lost condition, and under the curse of God, and therefore do +not feel their need of Him who “came to seek and to save that +which was lost.” Or they do not believe God’s promises. I have +sometimes asked a man, “Good friend, are you saved!” “Well, no, I +am not saved.” “Are you lost?” “Oh, God forbid! I am not lost.” +“Where are you, then, if you are neither saved nor lost?” May God +wake us up to the fact that we are all in one state or the +other!</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—What if any of them should fall into sin +after they have come to Christ?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—God has provided for the sins of His people, +committed after they come to Christ, as surely as for their sins +committed before they came to Him. Christ “ever liveth to make +intercession for all that come unto God by Him.” “If we say that +we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. +If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our +sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” . . . . For, +“if any man sin, we have an A<span class="sc">dvocate</span> with +the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He is the +propitiation for our sins.” He will take care of our sinful, +tried and tempted selves, if we trust ourselves to Him.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—Is it not said that if we sin willfully +after we have received the knowledge of the truth, “there +remaineth <i>no more</i> sacrifice for sins?”</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—Yes. Paul wrote it in his Epistle to the +Hebrews. Some of them were trifling with the blood of Christ, +reverting to the types and shadows of the Levitical Law, and +trusting to a fulfilled ritual for salvation. He is not referring +to <i>ordinary acts of sin</i>. By sinning willfully he means, as +he explains it, a “<i>treading under foot the Son of God</i>,” +and a total and final apostatizing from Christ. Those who reject +or neglect Him will find no other sacrifice for sin remaining. +Before Christ came the Jewish ceremonies were shadows of the good +things to come; but Christ was the substance of them. But now +that he has come to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, +there is no other sacrifice for sin remaining for those who +reject Him. God will send no other Saviour, and no further +atonement; no second “fountain shall be opened for sin and +uncleanness.” There remains, therefore, nothing for the rejector +of salvation by Christ, but “a fearful looking-for of +judgment.”</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—There are some who say they do not know that +they have the right kind of faith.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—God does not ask us if we have the right +kind of faith. He tells us the right thing to believe, and the +right faith is to believe the <i>right thing</i>, even what God +has told us and promised us. If I told you, Mr. Moody, that I had +found a hymn-book last night you would believe me, would you not? +(Mr. Moody: Yes.) Suppose I said it was the valuable one +<i>you</i> lost the other night, you would believe me also just +the same. There is no difference in the <i>kind</i> of faith; the +difference is in the <i>thing believed</i>. When the Son of God +tells me that He died for sinners, that is a fact for my faith to +lay hold of: the faith itself is not some thing to be considered. +I do not look at my hand, when I take a gift, and wonder what +sort of a hand it is. I look at the gift.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—What about those people who say their hearts +are so hard, and they have no love to Christ?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—Of course they are hard and cold. No man +loves Christ till he believes that Christ loves him. “We love +Him, because He first loved us.” It is the love of God shed +abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost that makes the change.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—Paul said he was “crucified with Christ.” +what did he mean?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—Oh, that is a grand text! Thank God I have +been “crucified with Christ.” The Cross of Christ represents the +death due to the sinner who had broken God’s laws. When Christ +was crucified every member of His body was crucified: but every +believer that was, or is, or shall be, is a member of Christ’s +body, of His flesh, and of His bones. Again, we read: “Whether +one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member +be honored, all the members rejoice with it: now ye are the body +of Christ, and members in particular.” So when Christ was +crucified for sin, I was also crucified in Him; and now I am dead +and gone as far as my old self is concerned. I have already +suffered for sin in Him. Yes; I am dead and buried with Christ. +That is the grand truth that Paul laid hold upon. I am stone dead +as a sinner in the sight of God. As it is written, I am “become +dead to the law by the body of Christ, that I might be married to +another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, that I should +bring forth fruit unto God.” “I am crucified with Christ; +nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me;” and God +Himself commands me so to regard my standing before Him as His +believing child. “In that Christ died, He died, unto sin once: +but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. <i>Likewise reckon ye +also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin</i>, but <i>alive unto +God</i> through Jesus Christ our Lord.”</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—Should not a man repent a good deal before +he comes to Christ?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—“Repent a good deal!” I do not think any man +repents in the true sense of the word till he loves Christ and +hates sin. There are many false repentances in the Bible. We are +told that Pharaoh repented when the judgment of God came upon +him, and he said, “I have sinned;” but as soon as the judgment +passed away, he went back to his sin. We read that Balaam said: +“I have sinned.” Yet “he loved the wages of unrighteousness.” +When Saul lost his kingdom he repented; “I have sinned,” he said. +When Judas Iscariot found that he had made a great mistake, he +said: “I have sinned, in that I have betrayed innocent blood;” +yet he went “to his own place.” I would not give much for these +repentances; I would rather have Peter’s repentance: when Christ +looked upon His fallen saint it broke His heart, and he went out +and wept bitterly. Or the repentance of the Prodigal, when his +father’s arms were around his neck, and his kisses on his cheek, +and he said, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before +thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.”</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—What is your title to heaven?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—The Person, the Life, Death, and +Righteousness, of the God-man, the Son of God, my Substitute, and +my Saviour.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—How do you obtain that?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—By receiving Him. “As many as received Him, +to them gave He authority to become the sons of God, even to them +that believed on His name.”</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—What is your meetness for heaven?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—The Holy Ghost dwelling in my heart is my +fitness for heaven. I have only to get there; and I have, by this +great gift, all tastes, desires, and faculties, for it: I have +the eyes to contemplate it: I have the ears for heaven’s music: +and I can speak the language of the country. The Holy Ghost in me +is my fitness and qualification for the splendid inheritance for +which the Son of God has redeemed me.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—Would you make a distinction between +Christ’s work for us and the Spirit’s work in us?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—Christ’s work for me is the payment of my +debt; the giving me a place in my Father’s home, the place of +sonship in my Father’s family. The Holy Spirit’s work in me is to +make me fit for His company.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—You distinguish, then, between the work of +the Father, the work of the Son, and the work of the Holy +Ghost.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—Thanks be to God, I have them all, and I +want them all—Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. I read that my +Heavenly Father took my sins and laid them on Christ; “The Lord +hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” No one else had a right +to touch them. Then I want the Son, who “His own self bare my +sins in His own body on a tree.” And I want the Holy Ghost. I +should know nothing about this great salvation, and care nothing +for it, if the Holy Ghost had not come and told me the story, and +given me grace to believe it.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—What is meant when we are told that Christ +saves “to the uttermost?”</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—That is another grand truth. Some people are +troubled by the thought that they will not be able to hold out if +they come to Christ. There are so many crooked ways, and +pitfalls, and snares in the world; there is the power of the +flesh, and the snare of the devil. So they fear they will never +get home. The idea of the passage is this. Suppose you are on the +top of some splendid mountain, very high up. You look away to +where the sun sets, and you see many a river, and many a country, +and many a barren waste between. Christ is able to save you +through and over them all, out and out, and beyond to the +uttermost.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—Suppose a man came in here just out of +prison: all his life he has been falling, falling, till he has +become discouraged. Can Christ save him all at once?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—It is just as easy for Christ to save a man +with the weight of ten thousand sins upon him and all his chains +around him, as to save a man with one sin. If a man has offended +in one point, the Scripture says he is guilty of all.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—If a man is forgiven, will he go out and do +the same thing to-morrow?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—Well, I hope not. All I can say is that if +we do, we shall smart for it. I have done many a thing since the +Lord revealed Himself to my soul that I should not have done—I +have gone backward and downward; but I have always found that it +does not pay when I do anything that grieves my Heavenly Father. +I think He sometimes allows us to taste the bitterness of what it +is to depart from Him. And this is one of the many ways by which +He keeps us from falling.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—What do you consider to be the great sin of +sins?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—The Word of God tells us that there is only +one sin of which God alone can convince us. If I cut a man’s +throat or if I steal, it does not need God to convince me that +that is a sin. But it takes the power of the Holy Ghost to +convince me that not to receive Christ, not to love Christ, not +to believe in Christ, is the sin of sins, the root of sins. +Christ says, “When the Spirit is come, He will convince the world +of sin, <i>because they believe not on Me</i>.”</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—What do you mean by the Word of God?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—The Son of God is the Word of God incarnate: +the Bible is the Word of God written. The one is the Word of God +in my nature: the other is the Word of God in my language.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—If a man receives the word of God into his +heart, what benefit is it to him, right here to-night?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—The Father and the Son will make their abode +with him; and he will be the temple of the Holy Ghost. Where He +goes the whole Trinity goes; and all the promises are his. “Man +doth not live by bread alone; but by every word that proceedeth +out of the mouth of God.”</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—Who is it that judges a man to be unworthy +of eternal life?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—<i>Himself!!</i> There is a verse in Acts +xiii that is worth remembering: “Seeing ye put it [the Word of +God] from you, and judge <i>yourselves</i> unworthy of +everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.” God does not +judge us unworthy. He has given His Son for our salvation. When a +man puts away the Word of God from him and refuses to receive +Christ into his heart, he judges <i>himself</i> unworthy of +salvation.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—I understand, then, that if a man rejects +Christ to-night, he passes judgment on himself as unworthy of +eternal life?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—He is judging himself unworthy, while God +does not so consider him. God says you are welcome to eternal +life.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—If any one here wants to please God +to-night, how can he do it?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—God delights in mercy. Come to God and claim +His mercy in Christ; and you will delight His heart.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—Suppose a man say he is not “elected?”</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—Do you remember the story of the woman of +Canaan? Poor soul; she had come a long journey. She asked the +Lord to have mercy on her afflicted child. He wanted to try her +faith, and He said: “I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the +house of Israel.” That looked as if He Himself told her that she +was not one of the elect. But she came and worshipped Him, +saying, “Lord, help me!” and He helped her there and then. No; +there is no election separating between the sinner and +Christ.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—Say that again.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—T<span class="sc">here is no election +separating between the sinner and christ</span>.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—What is there between the sinner and +Christ?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—Mercy!! Mercy!!</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—That brings me near to Christ.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—So near that we cannot be nearer. But we +must claim it. In John we get God’s teaching about election. +“This is the Father’s will which hath sent Me, that of all which +He hath given Me I should lose <i>nothing</i>; but should raise +it up again at the last day.” He will do his work, you may depend +upon it. Then in the next verse we read: “And this is the will of +Him that sent Me, that <i>every one</i> which seeth the Son, and +<i>believeth</i> on Him, may have everlasting life: and I will +raise him up at the last day.” That is the part I am to take: and +when I have done so I shall know the Father’s will concerning +me.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—What do you mean by the N<span class="sc">ew +Birth</span>?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—I judge it by what I know of the +O<span class="sc">ld Birth</span>. I was born of human parents +into the human family; so I belong to Adam’s race by nature and +by generation, and I inherit Adam’s sin and curse accordingly. +The new birth is from my union by faith with the second Adam; but +this is by <i>grace</i>, not nature: and when I receive the Lord +Jesus Christ I am born of God—not by generation, but by +regeneration. As I am united to the first Adam by nature and +generation, so I am united by faith through grace and +regeneration to the second Adam, and inherit all His fullness +accordingly.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—What is the meaning of being “saved by the +Blood?”</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—A gentleman asked me that in the +inquiry-room; “What do you mean by the shed Blood?” It is the +poured-out life of the Son of God forfeited as the atonement for +sinners’ sins.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—Is it available now?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—Yes; as much as ever it was.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—You mean it is just as powerful to-day as it +was eighteen hundred years ago when He shed it?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—If the blood of Abel cried out for vengeance +against his slayer, how much more does the blood of Christ cry +out for pardon for all who plead it! “It cleanseth (present +tense) from all sin.”</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—How do you get faith?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—By hearing God’s Word. “Faith cometh by +hearing; and hearing by the Word of God.”</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—How do you get the Holy Ghost?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—In the same way as you get faith. The Holy +Ghost uses the Word as the chariot by which He enters the +believer’s soul. The Gospel is called “the ministration of the +Spirit.”</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—Is the Word of God addressed to all +here?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the +Spirit saith to the Churches” (Rev. iii 22).</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—What is the Gospel?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—“Good tidings of great joy, which shall be +to all people.” If our Gospel, proclaiming life, pardon, and +peace, is not as applicable for salvation to the vilest harlot +here as to the greatest saint in London, it is not Christ’s +Gospel we preach.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—What reason does the Scripture give tor the +Gospel being hid to some?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—It is “hid to them that are lost; in whom +the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which +believe not, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who +is the image of God, should shine into them.” May God open all +our eyes, and take away the veil of unbelief with which the devil +may be blinding any of us!</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—Are there not many who give an intellectual +assent to all these things; and who yet have no power, and no +divine life?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—An intellectual assent is not faith. I have +never found anyone who really believed God’s Word who did not get +power in believing it. People may <i>assent</i> to it; but I do +not admit that that is believing it. I do not think there is any +man or woman here who really believes the Gospel of the grace of +God, who has not been taught it by the Holy Ghost. I could easily +cross-examine any one of those “intellectual believers” who +imagines he believes God, but really does not; and he would break +down in a few minutes.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—For whom, then, did Christ die?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—For “<span class="sc">the +ungodly</span>.”</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—Why is salvation obtained by faith?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—That it might be by grace. “For this cause +it is of faith, that it may be according to grace?”</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—How may a man know if he has eternal +life?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—By not treating God as if He were a liar, +when He tells us He has given us eternal life in His Son.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—What is the means by which the New Birth we +were speaking of is effected?</p> +<p class="pns">Mr. R.—“Of His own will begat He us with the +<i>word of truth</i>.” “Being <i>born again</i>, not of +corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the <i>Word of God</i> +. . . . and this is the Word, which by the Gospel is preached +unto you.”</p> +<p class="p2">“Oh, the wondrous love of Jesus</p> +<p class="p3">To redeem us with His blood!</p> +<p class="p2">Through His all-atoning merit,</p> +<p class="p3">He has brought us near to God:</p> +<p class="p2">For the boundless grace that saves us</p> +<p class="p3">We His name will magnify;</p> +<p class="p2">He is coming in His glory,</p> +<p class="p3s">We shall see Him by and by!</p> +<p class="p2">Oh, the wondrous love of Jesus</p> +<p class="p3">To redeem our souls from death!</p> +<p class="p2">We will thank Him, we will praise Him,</p> +<p class="p3">While His mercy lends us breath:</p> +<p class="p2">We are waiting—only waiting—</p> +<p class="p3">Till He comes our souls to bear</p> +<p class="p2">To the Home beyond the shadows,</p> +<p class="p3s">In His Kingdom over there!”</p> +<p style= +"text-align:left;text-indent:19.0em;font-size:88%;font-style:italic;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:1.5em"> +F. J. Crosby</p> +<hr style="margin-top:6em;margin-bottom:6em"> +<h1 style= +"text-align:center;margin-top:0.8em;margin-bottom:0.9em;font-size:117%"> +<a name="GDIII" id="GDIII">III.—MR. MOODY AND MR. +RADSTOCK.</a></h1> +<h2>WHAT IT IS TO BE CONVERTED.</h2> +<p class="pnn"><img style= +"float:left;margin-top:0.2em; margin-right:0.3em;height:4.7em;padding-right:0.1em" +src="images/m.jpg" alt="M">R. MOODY: Christ says, “Except ye be +converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into +the kingdom of heaven.” What is it to be converted?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. Radstock: To be “converted” is to turn to God, +who is the only one that can save. We cannot save ourselves even +by our religion. Therefore, in order to salvation we must turn to +God, who alone has the grace, the wisdom, and the power to +save.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—What is it to be born of the Spirit?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—Man, by nature, cannot enter into the +thoughts of God. He cannot hold communion with God until he has a +new nature. The natural man receiveth not the things of the +Spirit of God: he has no capacity until he has the new life which +God will give him by the power of the Holy Ghost.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—Can he get that to-day if he repents?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—Yes. Repentance means a change of mind—a +turning away from his own thoughts to hear the voice and the +message of God. If we listen to the voice of God and confess our +sins, God is “faithful and just to forgive us our sins.”</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—To whom are we to confess our sins?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—When the light of God comes in, we see that +we are guilty before him; then we are constrained to go and lay +our case before Him. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and +just to forgive us.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—There is a passage that says the Lord Jesus +Christ bear our sins. In what sense did He bear our sins.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—The Lord Jesus Christ had really laid to His +charge sins which He had never committed. He was punished as if +He had been the sinner. Therefore on the cross He cried out, “My +God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” God was dealing with +Jesus as if He had really been the guilty one.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—Do we get any help by believing that?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—When I believe God’s testimony, God’s +witness about Jesus, I then can trust myself to God, Giving +myself to God, God becomes my Saviour.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—Have these friends the power to believe?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—They are commanded to believe. They can +believe it just as well as they can believe any other fact, if +they only listen to God’s voice. But they must get rid of their +own thoughts, and listen to God: Hearing His voice they will +believe. “Faith cometh by hearing: and hearing by the Word of +God.”</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—All the sinner has to do is to repose in the +promises of God?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—Simply to trust Himself to God.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—What would you say to a man who says he has +tried a good many times and failed; and who has become +discouraged?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—That man has probably made a good many +resolutions, hoping that he would gradually make himself a +Christian by going through this or that process, or by doing this +or that thing. Of course he failed, because he tried to make +himself a Christian. Instead of trying to save himself, let him +trust in God, who has pledged His word that every one who +believes on the Lord Jesus Christ has at that moment everlasting +life.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—Should a man not break off from some of his +sins before he comes to God? Suppose he swears or has a bad +temper, should he not get a little control over his temper, or +stop swearing, before he comes to Christ?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—God knows that a man’s nature is wrong: +therefore He has promised to give a man a new nature. We must +therefore go to God, just as a man goes to a physician, because +he needs to be cured of some disease.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—Can a drunkard or a blasphemer be saved all +at once?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—Paul says: “To him that worketh not, but +believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly” bad people, lost +people, ruined people—“his faith is counted for righteousness.” +When he believes God, God becomes his Saviour. God is the friend +of sinners.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—What is it to believe God?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—To take Him at His word.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—Do you not think there are a good many here +who believe that Jesus Christ is the Saviour of the world; and +yet they are not saved?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—No doubt; because they have not believed for +themselves. A man at the time of the Deluge, for instance, might +have said, “Yes, I believe it is a very good ark indeed; and that +it will save those who get into it.” But it does not follow that +he got into it himself. The ark only saved those who went into +it. So, when a man trusts in Jesus Christ for himself, Jesus +becomes his personal and eternal Saviour.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—What if he should fall into sin after he has +believed in Christ?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—“These things write I unto you that ye sin +not,” says John; “and if any man sin, we have an Advocate with +the Father.” The Good Physician will not give up His case because +of the disease; He will deal with it. The Good Shepherd will not +turn His poor wandering sheep away; He will go after it, and +bring it back. He has promised that He will save His people +<i>from</i> their sins.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—Is salvation within the reach of every man +here tonight?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—Jesus said, “God so loved the world that He +gave his only begotten Son, that <i>whosoever</i> believeth in +Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—But some say they do not feel that; they do +not realize it.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—When they take God at His word, and cast +themselves upon Him, whether they feel it or not—when they +confess Jesus Christ as their Lord—the Holy Ghost will come as a +power to make them realize it. For instance, a man at the time of +the Deluge might have stood outside the ark, and said, “I cannot +realize how this ark will lift me up above the waters.” But if he +were inside when the flood came he would realize it. The sinner +must believe first, and have his experience afterwards. A man is +told that a certain train will take him to Edinburgh. He has +never been there: he does not understand about this particular +train; and he cannot realize that it will take him there. But he +knows that he may trust the friend who told him; so he gets into +the train. Then he realizes that he is in the train; by and by he +will be able to realize that he is in Edinburgh.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—Would you advise people to come to God as +they are, with their unfeeling, treacherous, hard hearts—with any +kind of heart?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—God has provided this salvation for lost +sinners—those who are thoroughly bad and corrupt. It is for such +that God has shown His salvation, His love, His grace.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—What would you say to any one who thinks he +has no power to believe?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—He <i>has</i> the power to believe. Probably +he is trying to believe something about himself; to feel +something about himself instead of giving credit to God—He is not +asked to realize this or that about himself, but to believe the +faithful God.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—Some say they have no power to overcome a +besetting sin?</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. R.—Jesus came proclaiming liberty to the +captives. As we read in the beautiful words of the Church of +England Prayer-book: “Though we be tied and bound by the chains +of our sin, let the pitifulness of Thy mercy save us.” Jesus +Christ takes the prisoners of sin and breaks off their +chains.</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. M.—There is something said about confessing +Christ. Would you advise any one who wants to become a Christian +to start right here by confessing Christ with the mouth?</p> +<p class="pns">Mr. R.—God is already on your side, whoever you +are. Christ is Immanuel—God with us and for us. He is already on +your side, whether you believe it or not. Now it is for you to +decide whether He shall be your Saviour. He says that if you own +Him as Lord—who is now the one rejected by the world—He is +responsible to be your Saviour from that moment.</p> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Sovereign Grace, by Dwight Moody + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOVEREIGN GRACE *** + +***** This file should be named 30657-h.htm or 30657-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/6/5/30657/ + +Produced by Keith G. Richardson + +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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