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diff --git a/30740-h/30740-h.htm b/30740-h/30740-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d10023e --- /dev/null +++ b/30740-h/30740-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3940 @@ +<!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>Men of the Bible</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.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 {padding-left:3em;letter-spacing:1em;margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0.8em} + p.p2 {padding-left:5em; text-indent:-2em; font-size:92%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0} + p.p2s {padding-left:5em; text-indent:-2em; font-size:92%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em} + p.p3 {padding-left:6em; text-indent:-2em; font-size:92%;margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0} + p.p3s {padding-left:6em; text-indent:-2em; font-size:92%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em} + p.pr {padding-left:17em; font-size:92%;margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0} + + .sc {font-variant:small-caps} + ol {list-style-type:upper-roman;line-height:1.5em} + h1 {text-align:center;margin-top:1.5em;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:113%;font-weight:normal} + h2 {text-align:center;margin-top:1.2em;margin-bottom:0.5em;font-size:113%;font-weight:normal} + h3 {text-align:center;margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.3em;font-size:83%;font-weight:normal} +</style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Men of the Bible, 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: Men of the Bible + +Author: Dwight Moody + +Release Date: December 22, 2009 [EBook #30740] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEN OF THE BIBLE *** + + + + +Produced by Keith G. Richardson from pdf file kindly +provided at www.archive.org + + + + + + +</pre> + +<p><a href="#Contents">CONTENTS.</a></p> +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:242%;margin-top:1.5em;margin-bottom:3.7em"> +MEN OF THE BIBLE</p> +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:75%;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:1.7em"> +BY</p> +<div style="text-align:center"> +<p><img alt="D. L. Moody." src="images/signature.jpg" style= +"width: 9.3em; margin-top:0;margin-bottom:8.6em"></p> +<img alt="Circle Graphic" src="images/graphic1.jpg" style= +"width: 1.3em; margin-top:0;margin-bottom:9.4em"></div> +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:83%;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0.5em"> +Chicago : New York : Toronto</p> +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:121%;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0.3em"> +Fleming H. Revell Company</p> +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:75%;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0"> +Publishers of Evangelical Literature</p> +<hr style="margin-top:4.2em;margin-bottom:24em"> +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:96%;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0"> +<i>Copyright, 1898, by The Bible Institute Colportage +Association.</i></p> +<hr style="margin-top:26em;margin-bottom:18.5em"> +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:113%;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0"> +<a name="Contents" id="Contents">CONTENTS.</a></p> +<hr style="width:3.5em;margin-top:0.7em;margin-bottom:1.5em"> +<ol> +<li><a href="#Abram">A<span class="sc">braham’s four +Surrenders</span></a></li> +<li><a href="#Moses">T<span class="sc">he Call of +Moses</span></a></li> +<li><a href="#Naaman">N<span class="sc">aaman the +Syrian</span></a></li> +<li><a href="#Nehemiah">T<span class="sc">he Prophet +Nehemiah</span></a></li> +<li><a href="#Baptist">H<span class="sc">erod and John the +Baptist</span></a></li> +<li><a href="#Joseph">T<span class="sc">he Man Born Blind and +Joseph of Arimathea</span></a></li> +<li><a href="#Thief">T<span class="sc">he Penitent +Thief</span></a></li> +</ol> +<hr style="margin-top:18.2em;margin-bottom:6.5em"> +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:175%;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0.7em"> +<a name="Abram" id="Abram">Men of the Bible</a></p> +<div style="text-align:center"><img alt="Divider" src= +"images/graphic2.jpg" style= +"width: 3em; margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0"></div> +<h1>ABRAHAM’S FOUR SURRENDERS</h1> +<p class="pn">A great many people are afraid of the will of God, +and yet I believe that one of the sweetest lessons that we can +learn in the school of Christ is the surrender of our wills to +God, letting Him plan for us and rule our lives. If I know my own +mind, if an angel should come from the throne of God and tell me +that I could have my will done the rest of my days on earth, and +that everything I wished should be carried out, or that I might +refer it back to God, and let God’s will be done in me and +through me, I think in an instant I would say:</p> +<p class="pn">“Let the will of God be done.”</p> +<p class="pn">I cannot look into the future. I do not know what +is going to happen to-morrow; in fact, I do not know what may +happen before night; so I cannot choose for myself as well as God +can choose for me, and it is much better to surrender my will to +God’s will. Abraham found this out, and I want to call your +attention to four surrenders that he was called to make. I think +that they give us a pretty good key to his life.</p> +<h2>I</h2> +<p class="pn">In the first place, Abraham was called to give up +<i>his kindred and his native country</i>, and to go out, not +knowing whither he went.</p> +<p class="pn">While men were busy building up Babylon, God called +this man out of that nation of the Chaldeans. He lived down near +the mouth of the Euphrates, perhaps three hundred miles south of +Babylon, when he was called to go into a land that he perhaps had +never heard of before, and to possess that land.</p> +<p class="pn">In the twelfth chapter of Genesis, the first four +verses, we read:</p> +<p class="pn">“Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of +thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, +unto a land that I will shew thee.” Now notice the promise: “And +I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and +make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will +bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and +in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. So Abram +departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: +and Abram was seventy five years old and when he departed out of +Haran.”</p> +<p class="pn">It was several years before this that God first +told him to leave Ur of the Chaldees. Then he came to Haran, +which is about half-way between the valley of the Euphrates and +the valley of the Jordan. God had called him into the land of the +Canaanite, and</p> +<h3>HE CAME HALF-WAY,</h3> +<p class="pnn">and stayed there—we do not know just how long, but +probably about five years.</p> +<p class="pn">Now, I believe that there are a great many +Christians who are what might be called <i>Haran Christians</i>. +They go to Haran, and there they stay. They only half obey. They +are not out-and-out. How was it that God got him out of Haran? +His father died. The first call was to leave Ur of the Chaldees +and go into Canaan, but instead of going all the way they stopped +half-way, and it was affliction that drove Abram out of Haran. A +great many of us bring afflictions on ourselves, because we are +not out-and-out for the Lord. We do not obey Him fully. God had +plans He wanted to work out through Abram, and He could not work +them out as long as he was there at Haran. Affliction came, and +then we find that he left Haran, and started for the Promised +Land.</p> +<p class="pn">There is just one word there about Lot—“and Lot +went with Abram.” That is the key, you might say, to Lot’s life. +He was a weaker character than Abram, and he followed his +uncle.</p> +<p class="pn">When they got into the land that God had promised +to give him, Abram found it already inhabited by great and +warlike nations—not by one nation, but by a number of nations. +What could he do, a solitary man, in that land? Not only was his +faith tested by finding the land preoccupied by other strong and +hostile nations, but he had not been there a great while before a +great famine came upon him. No doubt a great conflict was going +on in his breast, and he said to himself:</p> +<p class="pn">“What does this mean? Here I am, thirteen hundred +miles away from my own land, and surrounded by a warlike people. +And not only that, but a famine has come, and I must get out of +this country.”</p> +<p class="pn">Now, I don’t believe that God sent Abram down to +Egypt. I think that He was only testing him, that he might in his +darkness and in his trouble be</p> +<h3>DRAWN NEARER TO GOD.</h3> +<p class="pnn">I believe that many a time trouble and sorrow are +permitted to come to us that we may see the face of God, and be +shut up to trust in Him alone. But Abram went down into Egypt, +and there he got into trouble by denying his wife. That is the +blackest spot on Abram’s character. But when we get into Egypt we +will always be getting into trouble.</p> +<h2>II</h2> +<p class="pn">Abram became rich; but we don’t hear of any +altar—in fact, we hear of no altar at Haran, and we hear of no +altar in Egypt. When he came up with Lot out of Egypt, they had +great possessions, and they increased in wealth, and their herds +had multiplied, until there was a strife among their +herdsmen.</p> +<p class="pn">Now it is that Abram’s character shines out again. +He might have said that he had a right to the best of everything, +because he was the older, and because Lot would probably not have +been worth anything if it had not been for Abram’s help. But +instead of standing up for <i>his rights</i>, to choose the best +of the land, he surrenders them, and says to the nephew:</p> +<p class="pn">“Take your choice. If you go to the right hand, I +will take the left; or if you prefer the left hand, then I will +go to the right.”</p> +<p class="pn">Here is where Lot made his mistake. If there was a +man under the sun that needed Abram’s counsel, and Abram’s +prayers, and Abram’s influence, and to have been surrounded by +the friends of Abram, it was Lot. He was just one of those weak +characters that</p> +<h3>NEEDED BOLSTERING UP.</h3> +<p class="pnn">But his covetous eye looked upon the well-watered +plains of the valley of the Jordan that reached out towards +Sodom, and he chose them. He was influenced by what he saw, He +walked by sight, instead of by faith. I think that is where a +great many Christian people make their mistake—walking by sight, +instead of by faith. If he had stopped to think, Lot might have +known that it would be disastrous to him and his family to go +anywhere near Sodom. Abram and Lot must both have known about the +wickedness of those cities on the plains, and although they were +rich, and there was chance of making money, it was better for Lot +to keep his family out of that wicked city. But his eyes fell +upon the well watered plains, and he pitched his tent towards +Sodom, and separated from Abram.</p> +<p class="pn">Now, notice that after Abram had let Lot have his +choice, and Lot had gone off to the plains, for the first time +God had Abram alone. His father had died at Haran, and he had +left his brother there. Now, after his nephew had left him, he +moved down to Hebron, and there built an altar. “Hebron” means +<i>communion</i>. Here it is that God came to him and said:</p> +<p class="pn">“Abram, look around as far as your eye can reach—it +is all yours. Look from the place where thou art northward, and +southward, and eastward, and westward: for all the land which +thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. And +I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man +can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be +numbered. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in +the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.”</p> +<p class="pn">“Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in +the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar +unto the Lord.”</p> +<p class="pn">It is astonishing how far you can see in that +country. God took Moses up on Pisgah and showed him the Promised +Land. In Palestine, a few years ago, I found that on Mount Olivet +I could look over and see the Mediterranean. I could look into +the valley of the Jordan, and see the Dead Sea. And on the plains +of Sharon I could look up to Mount Lebanon, and up at Mount +Hermon, away beyond Nazareth. You can see with the naked eye +almost the length and breadth of that country. So when God said +to Abram that he might look to the north, and that as far as he +could see he could have the land; and then look to the south, +with its well-watered plains that Lot coveted, and to the east +and the west, from the sea to the Euphrates—then God gave His +friend Abram a clear title, no conditions whatever, saying:</p> +<p class="pn">“I will give it all to you.”</p> +<p class="pn">Lot chose all he could get, but it was not much. +Abram let God choose for him, and was given all the land. Lot had +no security for his choice, and soon lost all. Abram’s right was +maintained undisputed by God the giver.</p> +<p class="pn">Do you know that the children of Israel never had +faith enough to take possession of all that land as far as the +Euphrates? If they had, probably Nebuchadnezzar would never have +come and taken them captives. But that was God’s offer; He said +to Abram, “Unto your seed I will give it forever, clear to the +valley of the Euphrates.” From that time on God enlarged Abram’s +tents. He enriched His promises, and gave him much more that He +had promised down there in the valley of the Euphrates when He +first called him out. It is very interesting to see how God +kept</p> +<h3>ADDING TO THE PROMISE</h3> +<p class="pnn">for the benefit of His friend Abram.</p> +<p class="pn">Let us go back a moment to Lot, and see what Lot +gained by making that choice. I believe that you can find five +thousand Lots to one Abram to-day. People are constantly walking +by sight, lured by the temptations of men and of the world. Men +are very anxious to get their sons into lucrative positions, +although it way be disastrous to their character; it may ruin +them morally and religiously, and in every other way. The glitter +of this world seems to attract them. Some one has said that Abram +was a far-sighted man, and Lot was a short-sighted man; his eye +fell on the land right around him. There is the one thing that we +are quite sure of—he was so short-sighted that his possessions +soon left him. And you will find that these people who are +constantly building for time are disappointed.</p> +<p class="pn">I have no doubt that the men of Sodom said that Lot +was</p> +<h3>A MUCH SHREWDER MAN</h3> +<p class="pnn">than his uncle Abram, and that if he lived +twenty-five years he would be the richer of the two, and that by +coming into Sodom he could sell his cattle and sheep and goats +and whatever else he had for large sums, and could get a good +deal better market than Abram could back there on the plains of +Mamre.</p> +<p class="pn">For awhile Lot did make money very fast, and became +a very successful man. If you had gone into Sodom a little while +before destruction came, you would have found that Lot owned some +of the best corner lots in town, and that Mrs. Lot moved in what +they called the <i>bon-ton</i> society or upper ten; and you +would have found that she was at the theatre two or three nights +in the week. If they had progressive euchre, she could play as +well as anybody; and her daughters could dance as well as any +other Sodomites. We find Lot sitting in the gates, he was getting +on amazingly well. He might have been one of the principal men in +the city; Judge Lot, or the Honorable Lot of Sodom. If there had +been a Congress in those days, they would have run him for a seat +in Congress. They might have elected him</p> +<h3>MAYOR OF SODOM.</h3> +<p class="pnn">He was getting on amazingly well; wonderfully +prosperous.</p> +<p class="pn">But by and by there comes a war. If you go into +Sodom, you must take Sodom’s judgment when it comes, for it is +bound to come. The battle turned against those five cities of the +plain and they took Lot and his wife and all that they had, and +one man escaped and ran off to Hebron and told Abram what had +taken place. Abram took his servants,—three hundred and eighteen +of them,—went after these victorious kings, and soon returned +with all the booty and all the prisoners.</p> +<h2>III</h2> +<p class="pn">On Abram’s way back with the spoils one of the +strangest scenes of history occurs. Whom should he meet but +Melchizedek, who brought out bread and wine; and the priestly +king blessed the Father of the Faithful. After the old king of +peace had blest him, he met the King of Sodom, and the King of +Sodom said, “You take the money, and I will take the people”; but +Abram replied:</p> +<p class="pn">“Not a thing will I take, not even the +shoe-latchets, lest thou shouldst say, I have made Abram +rich.”</p> +<p class="pn">There is another surrender. There was a temptation +<i>to get rich at the hands of the King of Sodom</i>. But the +King of Salem had blessed him, and this world did not tempt him. +It tempted Lot, and no doubt Lot thought Abram made a great +mistake when he refused to take this wealth; but Abram would not +touch a thing; he spurned it and turned from it. He had the +world under his feet; he was living for another world. He would +not be enriched from such a source.</p> +<p class="pn">Every one of us is met by the prince of this world +and the Prince of Peace. The one tempts us with wealth, pleasure, +ambition: but our Prince and Priest is ready to succor and +strengthen us in the hour of temptation.</p> +<p class="pn">A friend of mine told me some years ago that his +wife was very fond of painting, but that for a long time he never +could see any beauty in her paintings; they all looked like a +daub to him. One day his eyes troubled him and he went to see an +oculist. The man looked in amazement at him and said:</p> +<p class="pn">“You have what we call a short eye and a long eye, +and that makes everything a blur.”</p> +<p class="pn">He gave him some glasses that just fitted him, and +then he could see clearly. Then, he said, he understood why it +was that his wife was so carried away with art, and he built an +art gallery, and filled it full of beautiful things; because +everything looked so beautiful after he had had his eyes +straightened out.</p> +<p class="pn">Now there are lots of people that have</p> +<h3>A LONG EYE AND A SHORT EYE,</h3> +<p class="pnn">and they make miserable work of their Christian +life. They keep one eye on the eternal city and the other eye on +the well-watered plains of Sodom. That was the way it was with +Lot: he had a short eye and a long eye. It would be pretty hard +work to believe that Lot was saved if it were not for the New +Testament. But there we read that “Lot’s righteous soul was +vexed,”—so he had a righteous soul, but he had a stormy time. He +didn’t have peace and joy and victory like Abram.</p> +<p class="pn">After Abram had given up the wealth of Sodom that +was offered him, then God came and enlarged his borders +again—enlarged the promise. God said:</p> +<p class="pn">“I will be your exceeding great reward; I will +protect you.”</p> +<p class="pn">Abram might have thought that these kings that he +had defeated might get other kings and other armies to come, and +he might have thought of himself as a solitary man, with only +three hundred and eighteen men, so that he might have feared lest +he be swept from the face of the earth. But the Lord came and +said:</p> +<p class="pn">“Abram, fear not.”</p> +<p class="pn">That is the first time those oft-repeated words, +“fear not,” occur in the Bible.</p> +<p class="pn">“Fear not, for I will be your shield and your +reward.”</p> +<p class="pn">I would rather have that promise than all the +armies of earth and all the navies of the world to protect me—to +have the God of heaven for my Protector! God was teaching Abram +that He was to be his Friend and his Shield, if he would +surrender himself wholly to His keeping, and trust in His +goodness. That is what we want—to surrender ourselves up to God, +fully and wholly.</p> +<p class="pn">In Colorado the superintendent of some works told +me of a miner that was promoted, who came to the superintendent, +and said:</p> +<p class="pn">“There is a man that has seven children, and I have +only three, and he is having a hard struggle. Don’t promote me, +but promote him.”</p> +<p class="pn">I know of nothing that speaks louder for Christ and +Christianity than to see a man or woman giving up what they call +their rights for others, and “in honor preferring one +another.”</p> +<p class="pn">We find that Abram was constantly surrendering his +own selfish interests and trusting to God. What was the result? +Of all the men that ever lived he is the most renowned. He never +did anything the world would call great. The largest army he ever +mustered was three hundred and eighteen men. How Alexander would +have sneered at such an army as that! How Cæsar would have looked +down on such an army! How Napoleon would have curled his lip as +he thought of Abram with an army of three hundred and eighteen! +We are not told that he was a great astronomer; we are not told +that he was a great scientist; we are not told that he was a +great statesman, or anything the world calls great; but there was +one thing he could do—he could live an unselfish life, and in +honor could waive his rights, and in that way he became the +friend of God; in that way he has become immortal. There is</p> +<h3>NO NAME IN HISTORY</h3> +<p class="pnn">so well known as the name of Abram. Even Christ is +not more widely known, for the Mohammedans, the Persians, and the +Egyptians make a great deal of Abram. His name has been for +centuries and centuries favorably known in Damascus. God promised +him that great men, and warriors, and kings, and emperors, should +spring from his loins. Was there ever a nation that has turned +out such men? Think of Moses, and Joseph, and Joshua, and Caleb, +and Samuel, and David, and Solomon, and Elisha. Think of Elijah, +and Daniel, and Isaiah, and all the other wonderful Bible +characters that have sprung from this man! Then think of Peter, +of James, and John, and Paul, and John the Baptist, a mighty +army. No man can number the multitude of wonderful men that have +sprung from this one man called out of the land of the Chaldeans, +unknown and an idolater, probably, when God called him; and yet +how literally God has fulfiled His promise that through him He +would bless all the nations of the earth. All because he +surrendered himself fully and wholly to let God bless him.</p> +<h2>IV</h2> +<p class="pn">The last surrender is perhaps the most touching and +the hardest of all to understand. Perhaps he could not have borne +it until the evening of life. God had been taking him along, step +by step, until now he had reached a place where he had learned to +obey fully whatever God told him to do. I believe the world has +yet to see what God will do with the man who is perfectly +surrendered. Next to God’s own Son, Abraham was perhaps the man +who came nearest to this standard.</p> +<h3>FOR TWENTY-FIVE YEARS</h3> +<p class="pnn">Abraham had been in the Promised Land without the +promised heir. God had promised that He would bless all the +nations of the earth through him, and yet He did not give him a +son. Abraham’s faith almost staggered a number of times. Ishmael +was born, but God set aside the son of the bondwoman, for he was +not to be the ancestor of the Son of God. God was setting Abram +apart simply that He might prepare the way for His own Son, and +now, at last, a messenger comes down from heaven to Hebron, and +tells Abraham in his old age that he should have a son.</p> +<p class="pn">It seemed too good to be true. He had hard work to +believe it; but at the appointed time Isaac was born into that +family. I don’t believe there was ever a child born into the +world that caused so much joy in the home as in Abraham’s heart +and home. How Abraham and that old mother, Sarah, must have doted +on that child! How their eyes feasted on him!</p> +<p class="pn">But just when the lad was growing up into manhood +Abraham received another very strange command, and there was +another surrender—<i>his only son</i>. Perhaps he was making an +idol of that boy, and thought more of him than he did of the God +that gave him. There must be no idol in the heart if we are going +to do the will of God on earth.</p> +<p class="pn">I can imagine that one night the old patriarch +retired worn out and weary. The boy had gone fast to sleep, when +suddenly a heavenly messenger came and told him that he must take +that boy off on to a mountain that God was to show him, and offer +him up as a sacrifice. No more sleep that night! If you had +looked into that tent the next morning I can imagine that you +would have seen the servants flying round and making preparations +for the master’s taking a long journey. He perhaps keeps the +secret locked up in his heart, and he doesn’t tell even Sarah or +Isaac. He doesn’t tell the servants, even the faithful servant +Eliezer, what is to take place. About nine o’clock you might have +seen those four men—Abraham, Isaac and the two young men with +them—start off on the long journey. Once in a while Abraham turns +his head aside and wipes away the tear. He doesn’t want Isaac to +see what a terrible struggle is going on within. It is a hard +battle to give up his will and to surrender that boy, the idol of +his life. Oh, how he loved him!</p> +<p class="pn">I can imagine the first night. The boy soon falls +asleep, tired and weary with the hot day’s journey, but the old +man doesn’t sleep. I can see him look into the face of the +innocent boy, and say:</p> +<p class="pn">“Soon my boy will be gone, and I will be returning +without him.”</p> +<p class="pn">Perhaps most of the night his voice could have been +heard in prayer, as he cries to God to help him; and as God had +helped him in the past so God was helping him that night.</p> +<p class="pn">The next day they journeyed on, and again a +terrible conflict goes on. Again he brushes away the tear. +Perhaps Isaac sees it, and says:</p> +<p class="pn">“Father is going away to meet his God, and the +angels may come down and talk with him as at Hebron. That is what +he is so agitated about.”</p> +<p class="pn">The second night comes, and the old man looks into +that face every hour of the night. He sleeps a little, but not +much, and the next morning at family worship he breaks down. He +cannot finish his prayer.</p> +<p class="pn">They journey on that day—it is a long day—and the +old patriarch say: “This is the last day I am to have my boy with +me. To-morrow I must offer him up; to-morrow I shall be without +the son of my bosom.”</p> +<p class="pn">The third night comes, and what a night it must +have been! I can imagine he didn’t eat or sleep that night. +Nothing is going to break his fast, and every hour of the night +he goes to look into the face of that boy, and once in a while he +bends over and kisses him, and he says:</p> +<p class="pn">“O Isaac, how can I give thee up?”</p> +<p class="pn">Morning breaks. What a morning it must have been +for that father! He doesn’t eat; he tries to pray, but his voice +falters. After breakfast they start on their journey again. He +has not gone a great way before he lifts up his eyes, and yonder +is Mount Moriah. His heart begins to beat quickly. He says to the +two young men:</p> +<p class="pn">“You stay here, and I will go yonder with my +son.”</p> +<p class="pn">Then, as father and son went up Mount Moriah, with +the wood, and the fire, and the knife, the boy turns suddenly to +the father, and says:</p> +<p class="pn">“Father, where is the lamb? We haven’t any +offering, father.”</p> +<p class="pn">It was a common thing for Isaac to see his father +offer up a victim, but there is no lamb now.</p> +<p class="pn">Did you ever think</p> +<h3>HOW PROPHETIC THAT ANSWER WAS</h3> +<p class="pnn">when Abraham turned and said to the son, “God will +provide Himself a sacrifice?” I don’t know that Abraham +understood the full meaning of it, but a few hundred years after +God did provide a sacrifice right there. Mount Moriah and Mount +Calvary are close together, and God’s Son was provided as a +sacrifice for the world.</p> +<p class="pn">On Mount Moriah this father and son begin to roll +up the stones, and together they build the altar; then they lay +on the wood and everything is ready for the victim. Isaac looks +around to see where the lamb is and then the father can keep it +from the son no longer, and he says:</p> +<p class="pn">“My boy, sit down here close to the altar, and let +me tell you something.”</p> +<p class="pn">Then perhaps that old, white-haired patriarch puts +his arm around the lad, and tells how God came to him in the land +of the Chaldeans, and the story of his whole life, and how, by +one promise after another, God had kept enlarging the promised +blessings, and that He would bless all the nations of the earth +through him. Isaac was to be the heir. But he says:</p> +<p class="pn">“My son, the last night I was at home God came to +me in the hours of the night and told me to bring you here and +offer you up as a sacrifice. I don’t understand what it means, +but I can tell you one thing: it is much harder for me to offer +you up than it would be for me to be sacrificed myself.”</p> +<p class="pn">There was a time when I used to think more of the +love of Jesus Christ than of God the Father. I used to think of +God as a stern judge on the throne, from whose wrath Jesus Christ +had saved me. It seems to me now I could not have</p> +<h3>A FALSER IDEA OF GOD</h3> +<p class="pnn">than that. Since I have become a father I have +made this discovery: that it takes more love and self-sacrifice +for the father to give up the son than it does for the son to +die. Is a father on earth a true father that would not rather +suffer than to see his child suffer? Do you think that it did not +cost God something to redeem this world? It cost God the most +precious possession He ever had. When God gave His Son, He gave +all, and yet He gave Him freely for you and me.</p> +<p class="pn">I can imagine that Abraham talks to Isaac and tells +him how hard it is to offer him up. “But God has commanded it,” +he says, “and I surrender my will to God’s will. I don’t +understand it, but I believe that God will be able to raise you +up, and maybe He will.”</p> +<p class="pn">They fell on their faces, and prayed together. +After prayer I can see that old father take his boy to his bosom, +and embrace him for the last time. He kisses and kisses him. Then +he takes those hands that are so innocent, and binds them, and he +binds the feet, and he ties him up, and lays him on the altar, +and gives him a last kiss. Then he takes the knife, and raises +his hand. No sooner is the hand lifted than a voice calls from +heaven:</p> +<p class="pn">“Abraham, Abraham, spare thy son!”</p> +<p class="pn">You remember that Christ said, “Abraham saw my day, +and was glad.” I have an idea that God then and there just</p> +<h3>LIFTED THE CURTAIN OF TIME</h3> +<p class="pnn">for Abraham. He looked down into the future, saw +God’s Son coming up Calvary, bearing his sins and the sins of all +posterity. God gave him that secret, and told him how His Son was +to come into the world and take away his sins.</p> +<p class="pn">Now, my friends, notice: whenever God has been +calling me to higher service, there has always been a conflict +with my will. I have fought against it, but God’s will has been +done instead of mine. When I came to Jesus Christ, I had a +terrible battle to surrender my will, and to take God’s will. +When I gave up business, I had another battle for three months; I +fought against it. It was a terrible battle. But oh! how many +times I have thanked God that I gave up my will and took God’s +will. Then there was another time when God was calling me into +higher service, to go out and preach the gospel all over the +land, instead of staying in Chicago. I fought against it for +months; but the best thing I ever did was when I surrendered my +will, and let the will of God be done in me. Because Abraham +obeyed God and held back not even his only child, God enlarged +his promises once again:</p> +<p class="pn">“And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out +of heaven the second time, and said, By myself have I sworn, +saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast +not withheld thy son, thine only son: that in blessing I will +bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the +stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; +and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy +seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou +hast obeyed my voice.”</p> +<p class="pn">If you take my advice, you will have no will other +than God’s will. Make a full and complete surrender, and the +sweet messages of heaven will come to you. God will whisper into +your soul</p> +<h3>THE SECRETS OF HEAVEN.</h3> +<p class="pnn">After Abraham did what God told him, then it was +that God told His friend all about His Son. If we make a full +surrender, God will give us something better than we have ever +known before. We will get a new vision of Jesus Christ, and will +thank God not only in this life but in the life to come. May God +help each and every one of us to make a full and complete and +unconditional surrender to God, fully and wholly, now and +forever.</p> +<h1><a name="Moses" id="Moses">THE CALL OF MOSES</a></h1> +<p class="pn">There is a great deal more room given in Scripture +to the <i>call</i> of men to God’s work than there is to their +<i>end</i>. For instance, we don’t know where Isaiah died, or how +he died, but we know a great deal about the call God gave him, +when he saw God on high and lifted up on His throne. I suppose +that it is true to-day that hundreds of young men and women who +are listening for a call and really want to know what their +life’s mission is, perhaps find it the greatest problem they ever +had. Some don’t know just what profession or work to take up, and +so I should like to take the call of Moses, and see if we cannot +draw some lessons from it.</p> +<p class="pn">You remember when God met Moses at the burning bush +and called him to do as great a work as any man has ever been +called to in this world, that</p> +<h3>HE THOUGHT THE LORD HAD MADE A MISTAKE,</h3> +<p class="pnn">that he was not the man. He said, “Who am I?” He +was very small in his own estimation. Forty years before he had +started out as a good many others have started. He thought he was +pretty well equipped for service. He had been in the schools of +the Egyptians, he had been in the palaces of Egypt, he had moved +in the <i>bon ton</i> society. He had had all the advantages any +man could have when he started out, undoubtedly, without calling +on the God of Abraham for wisdom and guidance, yet he broke +down.</p> +<p class="pn">How many men have started out in some profession +and made a failure of it! They haven’t heard the voice of God, +they haven’t waited upon God for instruction.</p> +<p class="pn">I suppose Moses thought that the children of Israel +would be greatly honored to know that a prince of the realm was +going to take up their cause, but you remember how he lost his +temper and killed the Egyptian, and next day, when he interfered +in a quarrel between two Hebrews, they wanted to know who had +made him judge and ruler over them, and he had to flee into the +desert, and was there for forty years hidden away. He killed the +Egyptian and lost his influence thereby. Murder for liberty; +wrong for right; it was a poor way to reform abuses, and Moses +needed training.</p> +<p class="pn">It was a long time for God to keep him in His +school, a long time for a man to wait in the prime of his life, +from forty to eighty. Moses had been brought us with all the +luxuries that Egypt could give him, and now he was a shepherd, +and in the sight of the Egyptians a shepherd was an abomination. +I have an idea that Moses started out with a great deal bigger +head than heart. I believe that is the reason so many fail; they +have</p> +<h3>BIG HEADS AND LITTLE HEARTS.</h3> +<p class="pnn">If a man has a shriveled-up heart and a big head +he is a monster. Perhaps Moses looked down on the Hebrews. There +are many people who start out with the idea that they are great +and other people are small, and they are going to bring them up +on the high level with themselves. God never yet used a man of +that stamp. Perhaps Moses was a slow scholar in God’s school, and +so He had to keep him there for forty years.</p> +<p class="pn">But now he is ready; he is just the man God wants, +and God calls him. Moses said, “Who am I?” He was very small in +his own eyes—just small enough so that God could use him. If you +had asked the Egyptians who he was, they would have said he +was</p> +<h3>THE BIGGEST FOOL IN THE WORLD.</h3> +<p class="pn">“Why,” they would say, “look at the opportunity +that man had! He might have been commander of the Egyptian army, +he might have been on the throne, swaying the sceptre over the +whole world, if he hadn’t identified himself with those poor, +miserable Hebrews! Think what an opportunity he has lost, and +what a privilege he has thrown away!”</p> +<p class="pn">He had dropped out of the public mind for forty +years, and they didn’t know what had become of him, but God had +His eye upon him. He was the very man of all others that God +wanted, and when he met God with that question, “Who am I?” it +didn’t matter who he was but who his God was. When men learn the +lesson that they are nothing and God is everything, then there is +not a position in which God cannot use them. It was not Moses who +accomplished that great work of redemption, for he was only the +instrument in God’s hand. God could have spoken to Pharaoh +without Moses. He could have spoken in a voice of thunder, and +broken the heart of Pharaoh with one speech, if He had wanted to, +but He condescended to take up a human agent, and to use him. He +could have sent Gabriel down, but he knew that Moses was the man +wanted above all others, so He called him. God uses men to speak +to men: He works through mediators. He could have accomplished +the exodus of the children of Israel in a flash, but instead He +chose to send a lonely and despised shepherd to work out His +purpose through pain and disappointment. That was God’s way in +the Old Testament, and also in the New. He sent His own Son in +the likeness of sinful flesh to be the mediator between God and +man.</p> +<p class="pn">Moses went on making excuses and said, “When I go +down there, who shall I say has sent me?” I suppose he remembered +how he went before he was sent that other time, and he was afraid +of a failure again. A man who has made a failure once is always +afraid he will make another. He loses confidence in himself. It +is a good thing to lose confidence in ourselves so as to gain +confidence in God.</p> +<p class="pn">The Lord said, “Say unto them, ‘I AM hath sent +me.’ ”</p> +<p class="pn">Some one has said that God gave him</p> +<h3>A BLANK CHECK,</h3> +<p class="pnn">and all he had to do was to fill it out from that +time on. When he wanted to bring water out of the rock, all he +had to do was to fill out the check; when he wanted bread, all he +had to do was to fill out the check and the bread came; he had a +rich banker. God had taken him into partnership with Himself. God +had made him His heir, and all he had to do was to look up to +Him, and he got all he wanted.</p> +<p class="pn">And yet he seemed to draw back, and began to make +another excuse, and said:</p> +<p class="pn">“They will not believe me.”</p> +<p class="pn">He was afraid of the Israelites as well as of +Pharaoh: he knew how hard it is to get even your friends to +believe in you.</p> +<p class="pn">Now, if God has sent you and me with a message it +is not for us to say whether others will believe it or not. +<i>We</i> cannot make men believe. If I have been sent by God to +make men believe, He will give me power to make them believe. +Jesus Christ didn’t have that power; it is the work of the Holy +Ghost; we cannot persuade men and overcome skepticism and +infidelity unless we are baptised with the Holy Ghost and with +power.</p> +<p class="pn">God told Moses that they <i>would</i> believe him, +that he would succeed, and bring the children of Israel out of +bondage. But Moses seemed to distrust even the God who had spoken +to him.</p> +<p class="pn">Then the Lord said, “What is that in thy hand?”</p> +<p class="pn">He had a rod or staff, a sort of shepherd’s crook, +which he had cut haphazard when he had wanted something that +would serve him in the desert.</p> +<p class="pn">“It is only a rod.”</p> +<p class="pn">“With that you shall deliver the children of +Israel; with that rod you shall make Israel believe that I am +with you.”</p> +<p class="pn">When God Almighty linked Himself to that rod, it +was worth more than all the armies the world had ever seen. Look +and see how that rod did its work. It brought up the plagues of +flies, and the thunder storm, and turned the water into blood. It +was not Moses, however, nor Moses’ rod that did the work, but it +was the God of the rod, the God of Moses. As long as God was with +him, he could not fail.</p> +<p class="pn">Sometimes it looks as if God’s servants fail. When +Herod beheaded John the Baptist, it looked as if John’s mission +was a failure. But was it? The voice that rang through the valley +of the Jordan rings through the whole world to-day. You can hear +its echo upon the mountains and the valleys yet, “I must +decrease, but He must increase.” He held up Jesus Christ and +introduced Him to the world, and Herod had not power to behead +him until his life work had been accomplished. Stephen never +preached but one sermon that we know of, and that was before the +Sanhedrim; but how that sermon has been preached again and again +all over the world! Out of his death probably came Paul, the +greatest preacher the world has seen since Christ left this +earth. If a man is sent by Jehovah, there is no such thing as +failure. Was Christ’s life a failure? See how His parables are +going through the earth to-day. It looked as if the apostles had +made a failure, but see how much has been accomplished. If you +read the book of Acts, you will see that every seeming failure in +Acts was turned into a great victory. Moses wasn’t going to fail, +although Pharaoh said with contempt, “Who is God that I should +obey Him?” He found out who God was. He found out that there was +a God.</p> +<p class="pn">But Moses made another excuse, and said, “I am slow +of speech, slow of tongue.” He said he was</p> +<h3>NOT AN ORATOR.</h3> +<p class="pn">My friends, we have too many orators. I am tired +and sick of your “silver-tongued orators.” I used to mourn +because I couldn’t be an orator. I thought, Oh, if I could only +have the gift of speech like some men! I have heard men with a +smooth flow of language take the audience captive, but they came +and they went, their voice was like the air, there wasn’t any +<i>power</i> back of it; they trusted in their eloquence and +their fine speeches. That is what Paul was thinking of when he +wrote to the Corinthians:—“My speech and my preaching was not +with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the +Spirit and of power: that your faith should not stand in the +wisdom of men, but in the power of God.”</p> +<p class="pn">Take a witness in court and let him try his +oratorical powers in the witness-box, and see now quickly the +judge will rule him out. It is the man who tells the plain, +simple truth that has the most influence with the jury.</p> +<p class="pn">Suppose that Moses had prepared a speech for +Pharaoh, and had got his hair all smoothly brushed, and had stood +before the looking-glass or had gone to an elocutionist to be +taught how to make an oratorical speech and how to make gestures. +Suppose that he had buttoned his coat, put one hand in his chest, +had struck an attitude and begun:</p> +<p class="pn">“The God of our fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, +and Jacob, has commanded me to come into the presence of the +noble King of Egypt.”</p> +<p class="pn">I think they would have taken his head right off! +They had Egyptians who could be as eloquent as Moses. It was not +eloquence they wanted. When you see a man in the pulpit trying to +show off his eloquence he is making a fool of himself and trying +to make a fool of the people. Moses was slow of speech, but he +had a message, and what God wanted was to have him deliver the +message. But he insisted upon having an excuse. He didn’t want to +go; instead of being eager to act as heaven’s messenger, to be +God’s errand boy, he wanted to excuse himself. The Lord humored +him and gave him an interpreter, gave him Aaron.</p> +<p class="pn">Now, if there is a stupid thing in the world, it is +to talk through an interpreter. I tried it once in Paris. I got +up into a little box of a pulpit with the interpreter—there was +hardly room enough for one. I said a sentence while he leaned +away over to one side, and then I leaned over while he repeated +it in French. Can you conceive of a more stupid thing than Moses +going before Pharaoh and speaking through Aaron!</p> +<p class="pns">But this slow-of-speech man became eloquent. Talk +about Gladstone’s power to speak! Here is a man one hundred and +twenty years old, and he waxed eloquent, as we see in Deuteronomy +xxxii:1-4:</p> +<div style="line-height:1.2em"> +<p class="p3">Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak;</p> +<p class="p3">And hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.</p> +<p class="p3">My doctrine shall drop as the rain,</p> +<p class="p3">My speech shall distil as the dew,</p> +<p class="p3">As the small rain upon the tender herb,</p> +<p class="p3">And as the showers upon the grass:</p> +<p class="p3">Because I will publish the name of the Lord:</p> +<p class="p3">Ascribe ye greatness unto our God.</p> +<p class="p3">He is the Rock, His work is perfect:</p> +<p class="p3">For all His ways are judgment:</p> +<p class="p3">A God of truth and without iniquity,</p> +<p class="p3s">Just and right is He.</p> +</div> +<p class="pn">He turned out to be one of the most eloquent men +the world has ever seen. If God sends men and they deliver His +message He will be with their mouth. If God has given you a +message, go and give it to the people as God has given it to you. +It is a stupid thing for a man to try to be eloquent. Make</p> +<h3>YOUR MESSAGE, AND NOT YOURSELF,</h3> +<p class="pnn">the most prominent thing. Don’t be self-conscious +Set your heart on what God has given you to do, and don’t be so +foolish as to let your own difficulties or your own abilities +stand in the way. It is said that people would go to hear Cicero +and would come away and say, “Did you ever hear anything like it? +wasn’t it sublime? wasn’t it grand?” But they would go and hear +Demosthenes, and he would fire them so with the subject that they +would want to go and fight at once. They forgot all about +Demosthenes, but were stirred by his message; that was the +difference between the two men.</p> +<p class="pn">Next Moses said: “O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by +the hand of him whom thou wilt send.”</p> +<p class="pn">Did you ever stop to think what Moses would have +lost if God had taken him at his word, and said:</p> +<p class="pn">“Very well, Moses; you may stay here in the desert, +and I will send Aaron, or Joshua, or Caleb!”</p> +<p class="pn">Don’t seek to be excused if God calls you to some +service. What would the twelve disciples have lost if they had +declined the call of Jesus! I have always pitied those other +disciples of whom we read that they went back, and walked no more +with Jesus. Think what Orpah missed and what Ruth gained by +cleaving to Naomi’s God! Her story has been</p> +<h3>TOLD THESE THREE THOUSAND YEARS.</h3> +<p class="pnn">Father, mother, sisters, brothers, the grave of +her husband—she turned her back on them all. Ruth, come back, and +tell us if you regret your choice! No: her name shines one of the +brightest among all the women that have ever lived. The Messiah +was one of her descendants.</p> +<p class="pn">Moses, you come back and tell us if you were +afterwards sorry that God had called you? I think that when he +stood in glorified body on the Mount of Transfiguration with +Jesus and Elijah, he did not regret it.</p> +<p class="pn">My dear friends, God is not confined to any one +messenger. We are told that He can raise up children out of +stones. Some one has said that there are three classes of people, +the “wills,” the “won’ts,” and the “can’ts”; the first accomplish +everything, the second oppose everything, and the third fail in +everything. If God calls you, consider it a great honor. Consider +it a great privilege to have partnership with Him in anything. Do +it cheerfully, gladly. Do it with all your heart, and He will +bless you. Don’t let false modesty or insincerity, self-interest, +or any personal consideration turn you aside from the path of +duty and sacrifice. If we listen for God’s voice, we shall hear +the call; and if He calls and sends us, there will be no such +thing as failure, but success all along the line. Moses had +glorious success because he went forward and did what God called +him to do.</p> +<h1><a name="Naaman" id="Naaman">NAAMAN THE SYRIAN</a></h1> +<p class="pn">I wish to call your attention to one who was a +great man in his own country, and very honorable; one whom the +king delighted to honor. He stood high in position; he was +captain of the host of the King of Syria; but he was a leper, and +that threw a blight over his whole life. As Bishop Hall quaintly +puts it, “The meanest slave in Syria would not have changed skins +with him.”</p> +<p class="pn">Now you cannot have a better type of a sinner than +Naaman was. I don’t care who or what he is, or what position he +holds—all men alike have sinned, and all have to bear the same +burden of death. “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of +God.” All men must stand in judgment before God. What a gloom +that throws over our whole life!</p> +<p class="pn">“<i>But he was a leper</i>.” There was</p> +<h3>NO PHYSICIAN</h3> +<p class="pnn">who could help him in Syria. None of the eminent +doctors in Damascus could do him any good. If he was to get rid +of the leprosy, the power must come from on high. It must be some +one unknown to Naaman, for he did not know God.</p> +<p class="pn">But I will tell you what they had in Syria—they had +one of God’s children there, and she was a little girl, a simple +captive maid, who waited on Mrs. Naaman. Naaman knew nothing +about this little Israelite, though she was one of his +household.</p> +<p class="pn">I can imagine that one day, as she was waiting on +the general’s wife, she noticed her weeping. Her heart was +breaking because of the dark cloud that rested over her home. So +she told her mistress that there was a prophet in her country +that could cure her master of his leprosy. “Would to God,” she +said, “my lord were with the prophet in Samaria! for he would +recover him of his leprosy.”</p> +<p class="pn">There’s faith for you!</p> +<p class="pn">She boasted of God that He would do more for this +heathen than He had done for any in Israel; and</p> +<h3>GOD HONORED HER FAITH.</h3> +<p class="pn">“What do you say? A prophet in Israel that can cure +leprosy?”</p> +<p class="pn">“Yes.”</p> +<p class="pn">“Why, did you ever know any one that was +cured?”</p> +<p class="pn">“No.”</p> +<p class="pn">“Well, then, what makes you think there is a +prophet that can cure leprosy?”</p> +<p class="pn">“Oh, that isn’t anything to what Elisha can do. +There was a little child that lived near us that died, and he +raised him to life. He has done many wonderful things.”</p> +<p class="pn">She must have had a reputation for truthfulness. If +she hadn’t, her testimony would not have been taken.</p> +<p class="pn">Some one told the general of it, and he made it +known to the king. Now, Naaman stood high in the king’s favor, +for he had recently won a great victory. He stood near the +throne. So the king said:</p> +<p class="pn">“You had better go down to Samaria, and see if +there is anything in it. I will give you letters of introduction +to the King of Israel.”</p> +<p class="pn">Yes, he would give Naaman letters of introduction +to the king. That’s just man’s idea. The notion was, that if +anybody could help him it was the king, and that the king had +power both with God and man. Oh, my friends, it is a good deal +better to know a man that knows God! A man acquainted with God +has more power than any earthly potentate. Gold can’t do +everything.</p> +<p class="pn">Away goes Naaman down to Samaria with his kingly +introduction. What a stir it must have made when the commander of +the Syrian army drove up! He has brought with him a lot of gold +and silver. That is man’s idea again; he is going to pay for a +great doctor, and he took about five hundred thousand dollars to +pay for the doctor’s bill. There are a good many men who would +willingly pay that sum if with it they could buy the favor of +God, and get rid of the curse of sin. Yes, if money could do +it,</p> +<h3>HOW MANY WOULD BUY SALVATION!</h3> +<p class="pnn">But, thank God, it is not in the market for sale. +You must buy it at God’s price, and that is “without money and +without price.” Naaman found that out.</p> +<p class="pn">My dear friends, did you ever ask yourselves which +is the worse—the leprosy of sin, or the leprosy of the body? For +my own part, I would a thousand times sooner have the leprosy of +the body eating into my eyes, and feet, and arms! I would rather +be loathsome in the sight of my fellow-men than die with the +leprosy of sin in my soul, and be banished from God forever! The +leprosy of the body is bad, but the leprosy of sin is a thousand +times worse. It has cast angels out of heaven. It has ruined the +best and strongest men that ever lived in the world. Oh, how it +has pulled men down! The leprosy of the body could not do +that.</p> +<p class="pn">There is one thing about Naaman that I like +specially, and that is his earnestness of purpose. He was</p> +<h3>THOROUGHLY IN EARNEST.</h3> +<p class="pnn">He was quite willing to go one hundred and fifty +miles, and to take the advice of this little maid. A good many +people say:</p> +<p class="pn">“Oh, I don’t like such and such a minister; I +should like to know where he comes from, and what he has done, +and whether any bishop has laid his hands on his head.”</p> +<p class="pn">My dear friends, never mind the minister; it is the +message you want. If some one were to send me a telegraph +message, and the news were important, I shouldn’t stop to ask +about the messenger who brought it. I should want to read the +news. I should look at the message, and not at the boy who +brought it.</p> +<p class="pn">And so it is with God’s message. The good news is +everything, the minister nothing. The Syrians looked down with +contempt on the Israelites, and yet this great man was willing to +take the good news at the hands of this little maiden, and +listened to the words that fell from her lips. If I got lost in +New York, I should be willing to ask anybody which way to go, +even if it were only a shoeblack; and, in point of fact, a boy’s +word in such a case is often better than a man’s. It is the way I +want, not the person who directs me.</p> +<p class="pn">But there was one drawback in Naaman’s case. Though +he was willing to take the advice of the little girl, he was not +willing to take the remedy. The stumbling-block of pride stood in +his way. The remedy the prophet offered him was a terrible blow +to his pride. I have no doubt he expected a grand reception from +the King of Israel, to whom he brought letters of introduction. +He had been victorious on many a field of battle, and held high +rank in the army; perhaps we may call him Major-General Naaman of +Syria, or he might have been higher in rank even than that; and +bearing with him kingly credentials, he expected no doubt a +distinguished reception. But instead of the king rushing out to +meet him, he, when he heard of Naaman’s arrival and his object, +simply rent his mantle, and said:</p> +<p class="pn">“Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man +doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? Wherefore +consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against +me.”</p> +<p class="pn">Elisha heard of the king’s trouble, and sent him a +message, saying:</p> +<p class="pn">“Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? Let him come +now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in +Israel.”</p> +<p class="pn">I can imagine Naaman’s pride reasoning thus: +“Surely, the prophet will feel very much exalted and flattered +that I, the great Syrian general, should come and call upon +him.”</p> +<p class="pn">And so, probably, full of those proud thoughts, he +drives up to the prophet’s humble dwelling with his chariot and +his splendid retinue. Yes, Naaman drove up in grand style to the +prophet’s abode, and as nobody seemed to be coming out to greet +him, he sent in his message:</p> +<p class="pn">“Tell the prophet that Major-General Naaman of +Syria has arrived, and wishes to see him.”</p> +<p class="pn">Elisha takes it very coolly. He does not come out +to see him, but as soon as he learns his errand he sends his +servant to tell him to dip seven times in the river Jordan, and +he shall be clean.</p> +<p class="pn">That was a terrible blow to his pride. I can +imagine him saying to his servant:</p> +<p class="pn">“What did you say? Did I understand you aright? Dip +seven times in the Jordan! Why, we call the river Jordan a +<i>ditch</i> in our country.”</p> +<p class="pn">But the only answer he got was, “The prophet says, +Go and dip seven times in the Jordan, and thy flesh shall become +like the flesh of a little child.”</p> +<p class="pn">I can fancy Naaman’s indignation as he asks, “Are +not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the +waters of Israel? May I not wash in them and be clean? Haven’t I +bathed myself hundreds of times, and has it helped me? Can water +wash away leprosy?”</p> +<p class="pn">So he turned and went away in a rage.</p> +<p class="pn">It isn’t a bad sign when a man gets mad if you tell +him the truth. Some people are afraid of getting other people +mad. I have known wives afraid to talk to their husbands, afraid +of getting them mad. I have known mothers who were afraid to talk +to their sons because they were</p> +<h3>AFRAID THEY WOULD GET MAD.</h3> +<p class="pnn">Don’t be afraid of getting them mad, if it is the +truth that makes them mad. If it is our foolishness that makes +them mad, then we have got reason to mourn over it. If it is the +truth, God sent it, and it is a good deal better to have a man +get mad than it is to have him go to sleep. I think the trouble +with a great many nowadays is that they are sound asleep, and it +is a good deal better to rouse them even if they do wake up +mad.</p> +<p class="pn">The fact was, the Jordan never had any great +reputation as a river. It flowed into the Dead Sea, and that sea +never had a harbor to it, and its banks were not half so +beautiful as those of the rivers of Damascus. Damascus was one of +the most beautiful cities in the world. It is said that when +Mahomet beheld it he turned his head aside for fear it should +divert his thoughts from heaven.</p> +<p class="pn">Naaman turned away in a rage. “Ah,” he said, “here +am I, a great conqueror, a successful general on the battlefield, +holding the very highest rank in the army, and yet this prophet +does not even come out to meet me; he simply sends a message. +Why, I thought he would surely come out to me, and stand and call +on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the +place and recover the leper.”</p> +<p class="pn">There it is. I hardly ever knew a man yet who, when +talked to about his sins, didn’t say:</p> +<p class="pn">“Yes, but I <i>thought</i> so and so.”</p> +<p class="pn">“Mr. Moody,” they say, “I will tell you what <i>I +think;</i> I will tell you <i>my opinion</i>.”</p> +<p class="pn">In the 55th chapter of Isaiah it says that God’s +thoughts are not our thoughts, nor His ways our ways. And so it +was with Naaman. In the first place, he thought a good big +doctor’s fee would do it all, and settle everything up. And +besides that there was another thing he thought; he thought going +to the king with his letters of introduction would do it. Yes, +those were Naaman’s first thoughts. <i>I thought</i>. Exactly so. +He turned away in rage and disappointment. He thought the prophet +would have come out to him very humble and very subservient, +and</p> +<h3>BID HIM DO SOME GREAT THINGS.</h3> +<p class="pnn">Instead of that, Elisha, who was perhaps busy +writing, did not even come to the door or the window. He merely +sent out the message:</p> +<p class="pn">“Tell him to dip seven times in the Jordan.”</p> +<p class="pn">And away went Naaman, saying, <i>I thought, I +thought, I thought</i>.</p> +<p class="pn">I have heard that tale so often that I am tired of +it. Give it up, and take God’s words, God’s thoughts, God’s ways. +I never yet knew a man converted just in the time and manner he +expected to be. I have heard people say, “Well, if ever I am +converted, it won’t be in a Methodist church; you won’t catch me +there.” I never knew a man say that but, at last, if converted at +all, it was in a Methodist church.</p> +<p class="pn">In Scotland a man was converted at one of our +meetings—an employer. He was very anxious that all his employees +should be reached, and he used to send them one by one to the +meetings. But there was one man that wouldn’t come. We are all +more or less troubled with stubbornness; and the moment this man +found that his employer wanted him to go to the meetings he made +up his mind he wouldn’t go. If he was going to be converted, he +said, he was going to be converted by some ordained minister; he +was not going to any meeting that was conducted by Americans that +were not ordained. He believed in conversion, but he was going to +be</p> +<h3>CONVERTED THE REGULAR WAY.</h3> +<p class="pnn">He believed in the regular Presbyterian Church of +Scotland, and that was the place for him to be converted.</p> +<p class="pn">The employer tried every way he could to get him to +attend the meetings, but he wouldn’t come.</p> +<p class="pn">After we left that town and went away up to +Inverness, the employer had some business up there, and he sent +this employee to attend to it in the hope that he would attend +some of our meetings.</p> +<p class="pn">One night as I was preaching on the banks of a +river I happened to take this for my text: “I thought; I +thought.” I was trying to take men’s thoughts up and to show the +difference between their thoughts and God’s thoughts. This man +happened to be walking along the banks of the river. He saw a +great crowd, and heard some one talking, and he wondered to +himself what that man was talking about. He didn’t know who was +there, so he drew up to the crowd, and listened. He heard the +sermon, and became convicted and converted right there. Then he +inquired who was the preacher, and he found out it was the very +man that he said he would not hear—the man he disliked. The very +man he had been talking against was the very man God used to +convert him.</p> +<p class="pn">Whilst Naaman was thus wavering in his mind, and +thinking on what was best to be done, one of his servants drew +near and made a very sensible remark:</p> +<p class="pn">“My lord, if the prophet had bid thee do some great +thing, wouldest thou not have done it? How much rather then, when +he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?”</p> +<p class="pn">There is a great deal of truth in that.</p> +<p class="pn">If Elisha had told him to go back to Syria on his +hands and knees, one hundred and fifty miles, he would have done +it and thought it was all right. If he had told him to go into +some cave and stay there a year or two, he would have done it and +thought it was all right. If he had told him that it was +necessary to have some surgical operation performed, and that he +had to go through all the torture incident to it, that would have +suited him. Men like to have something to do about their +salvation; they don’t like to give up the idea that they can’t do +anything; that God must do it all. If you tell them to take +bitter herbs every morning and every night for the next five +years, they think that’s all right, and if he had told Naaman to +do that he would have done it. But to tell him merely to dip in +the river Jordan seven times, why, it seemed absurd on the face +of it! But this servant suggested to him that he had better go +down to the Jordan and try the remedy, as it was</p> +<h3>A VERY SIMPLE ONE.</h3> +<p class="pn">Now, don’t you see yourselves there? How many men +there are who are waiting for some great thing; waiting for some +sudden feeling to come stealing over them; waiting for some shock +to come upon them. That is not what the Lord wants. There is a +man that I have talked to about his soul for a number of years, +and the last time I had a talk with him, he said:</p> +<p class="pn">“Well, the thing hasn’t struck me yet.”</p> +<p class="pn">I said: “What?”</p> +<p class="pn">“Well,” says he, “the thing hasn’t struck me +yet.”</p> +<p class="pn">“Struck you; what do you mean?”</p> +<p class="pn">“Well,” said he, “I go to church, and I hear you +preach, and I hear other men preach, but the thing hasn’t struck +me yet; it strikes some people, but it hasn’t struck me yet.”</p> +<p class="pn">That was all that I could get out of him. There are +a good many men who reason in that way. They have heard some +young converts tell how light dawned upon them like the flash of +a meteor; how they experienced a new sensation; and so they are +waiting for something of the kind. But you can’t find any place +in Scripture where you are told to wait for anything of the kind. +You are just to obey what God tells you to do, and let your +feelings take care of themselves. I can’t control my feelings. I +can’t make myself feel good and bad when I want to, but I can +obey God. God gives me the power. He doesn’t command me to do +something and not give me the power to do it. With the command +comes the power.</p> +<p class="pn">Now, Naaman could do what the prophet told him; he +could go down to the Jordan, and he could dip seven times; and +that is what the Lord had for him to do; and if we are going to +get into the kingdom of God, right at the threshold of that +kingdom we have to learn this doctrine of obedience, to do +whatsoever He tells us.</p> +<p class="pn">I can fancy Naaman still reluctant to believe in +it, saying, “Why, if there is such cleansing power in the waters +of Jordan, would not every leper in Israel go down and dip in +them, and be healed?”</p> +<p class="pn">“Well, but you know,” urges the servant, “now that +you have come a hundred and fifty miles, don’t you think you had +better do what he tells you? After all, you can but try it. He +sends word distinctly, my lord, that your flesh shall come again +as that of a little child.”</p> +<p class="pn">Naaman accepts this word in season. His anger is +cooling down. He has got over the first flush of his indignation. +He says:</p> +<p class="pn">“Well, I think I might as well try it.”</p> +<p class="pn">That was</p> +<h3>THE STARTING-POINT OF HIS FAITH,</h3> +<p class="pnn">although still he thought it a foolish thing, and +could not bring himself to believe that the result would be what +the prophet had said.</p> +<p class="pn">At last Naaman’s will was conquered, and he +surrendered. When General Grant was besieging a town which was a +stronghold of the Southern Confederacy, some of the officers sent +word that they would leave the city if he would let them go with +their men. But General Grant sent word:</p> +<p class="pn">“No, nothing but an unconditional surrender!”</p> +<p class="pn">Then they sent word that they would go if he would +let them take their flag with them. But the answer was: “No, an +unconditional surrender.”</p> +<p class="pn">At last the beleagured walls were broken down, and +the city entered, and then the enemy made a complete and +unconditional surrender. Well, it was so with Naaman; he got to +that point when he was willing to obey, and the Scripture tell +us, “To obey is better than to sacrifice.”</p> +<p class="pn">God wants obedience. Naaman had to learn this +lesson. There was no virtue, probably, in going down to the +Jordan, any more than in obeying the voice of God. He had to obey +the word, and</p> +<h3>IN THE VERY ACT OF OBEDIENCE</h3> +<p class="pnn">he was blessed.</p> +<p class="pn">Look at those ten New Testament lepers who came to +Christ. He said to them: “Go show yourselves to the priests.”</p> +<p class="pn">“Well,” they might have said, “what good is that +going to do us? Here we are all full of leprosy, and if we go and +show ourselves to the priests they will order us back again into +exile. That is not going to help us.”</p> +<p class="pn">But those ten men started off, and did just what +the Lord Jesus Christ told them to do, and in the very act of +doing it they were blessed; their leprosy left them.</p> +<p class="pn">He said to that man that had the palsy, whom they +brought to Him upon a bed: “Take up thy bed and walk.”</p> +<p class="pn">The man might have said: “Lord, I have been trying +for years to take that bed up, but I can’t. I haven’t got the +power. I have been shaking with the palsy for the last ten years. +Do you think that if I could have rolled up that bed that I would +have been brought here and let down through the roof? I haven’t +the power.”</p> +<p class="pn">But when the Lord commanded him He gave the power. +Power came with the command, and that man stood up, rolled up his +bed, and started off home. He was blessed in the very act of +obedience.</p> +<p class="pn">My friends, if you want God to bless you, obey Him. +Do whatsoever He calls upon you to do, and then see if He will +not bless you.</p> +<p class="pn">Christ went to a Pharisee’s house one day while He +was down here upon earth, to be entertained. They wanted to get +Him to do something to break the law of Moses, that they might +condemn Him to death, and so they put a man right opposite to Him +at the table with a withered hand, to see if He would heal upon +the Sabbath day. He said to the man:</p> +<p class="pn">“Stretch out thy hand.”</p> +<p class="pn">Now, the man might have said, “Lord, that is a very +strange command. I haven’t got the power. That hand has been +withered for the last twenty years. I haven’t stretched it out +for the last twenty years; and you say, ‘Stretch it out.’ ”</p> +<p class="pn">But when He told him to do it He gave him the +power, and out went that old withered hand, and before it came +out straight, right in the very act, it was made whole. He was +blessed in the very act of obedience.</p> +<p class="pn">Now, Naaman had to be taught the lesson that he had +to obey; and so, finally, he went down to the Jordan just as he +was told to do. And if you will do just what the Lord tells you +the Lord will bless you as He did Naaman.</p> +<p class="pn">You may ask, “What does He tell me?”</p> +<p class="pn">“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be +saved.”</p> +<p class="pn">The word of God to Naaman was to go and wash; and +the word of God to every soul out of Christ is to believe on His +Son. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth My word and +believeth on Him that sent Me <i>hath</i> everlasting life, and +shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto +life.” If a man believes with all his heart on the Lord Jesus +Christ, God will never bring him to judgment for sin; that is all +passed—that is all gone. Take Him at His word; believe Him; +believe what He says, and you shall enter into life eternal. “He +came unto His own, and His own received Him not.” H<span class= +"sc">im</span>—mark you—not a dogma, not a creed,</p> +<h3>NOT A MYTH, BUT A PERSON.</h3> +<p class="pnn">“He came to His own, and His own received Him not. +But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the +sons and daughters of God.” That is the way you get the +power.</p> +<p class="pn">Naaman goes down to the river and takes the first +dip. As he comes up I can imagine him looking at himself, and +saying to his servant:</p> +<p class="pn">“There! there I am, no better than I was when I +went in! If one-seventh of the leprosy was gone, I should be +content.”</p> +<p class="pn">The servant says: “The man of God told you to dip +seven times. Do just as he told you. There is no discount on +God’s word.”</p> +<p class="pn">Well, down he goes a second time, and he comes up +puffing and blowing, as much a leper as ever; and so he goes down +again and again, the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth time, with +the same result, as much a leper as ever. Some of the people +standing on the banks of the river probably said, as they +certainly would in our day:</p> +<p class="pn">“Why, that man has gone clean out of his mind!”</p> +<p class="pn">When he comes up the sixth time, he looks at +himself, and says:</p> +<p class="pn">“Ah, no better! What a fool I have made of myself! +How they will all laugh at me! I wouldn’t have the generals and +aristocracy of Damascus know that I have been dipping in this way +in Jordan for all the world. However, as I have gone so far, I’ll +make the seventh plunge.”</p> +<p class="pn">He has not altogether lost faith, and down he goes +the seventh time, and comes up again. He looks at himself, and +shouts aloud for joy.</p> +<p class="pn">“Lo, I am well! My leprosy is all gone, all gone! +My flesh has come again as that of a little child.”</p> +<p class="pn">If one speck of leprosy had remained, it would have +been a reflection on God.</p> +<p class="pn">Ask him now how he feels.</p> +<p class="pn">“Feel? I feel that this is the happiest day of my +life. I thought when I won a great victory upon the battlefield +that that was the most joyful day of my life; I thought I should +never be so happy again; but that wasn’t anything; it didn’t +compare with this hour; my leprosy is all gone, I am whole, I am +cleansed.”</p> +<p class="pn">First he lost his temper; then he lost his pride; +then his leprosy. That is generally the order in which proud, +rebellious sinners are converted.</p> +<p class="pn">So he comes up out of Jordan and puts on his +clothes, and goes back to the prophet. He was very mad with +Elisha in the beginning, but when he was cleansed his anger was +all gone too. He wants to pay him. That’s just the old story; +Naaman</p> +<h3>WANTS TO GIVE MONEY</h3> +<p class="pnn">for his cure. How many people want to do the same +nowadays. Why it would have spoiled the story of grace if the +prophet had taken anything! You may give a thank-offering to +God’s cause, not to purchase salvation, but because you are +saved. The Lord doesn’t charge anything to save you. It is +“without money and without price.” The prophet Elisha refused to +take anything, and I can imagine no one felt more rejoiced than +he did.</p> +<p class="pn">Naaman starts back to Damascus a very different man +than he was when he left it. The dark cloud has gone from his +mind; he is no longer a leper, in fear of dying from a loathsome +disease. He lost the leprosy in Jordan when he did what the man +of God told him; and if you obey the voice of God, even while I +am speaking to you, the burden of your sins will fall from off +you, and you shall be cleansed. It is all done through faith and +obedience.</p> +<p class="pn">Let us see what Naaman’s faith led him to believe. +“And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and +came, and stood before him: and he said, Behold, now I know that +there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel: now therefore, I +pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant.”</p> +<p class="pn">What I want particularly to call your attention to +is the words</p> +<h3>I KNOW.</h3> +<p class="pn">There is no hesitation about it, no qualifying the +expression. Naaman doesn’t now say, “I think”; no, he says, “<i>I +know</i> there is a God who has power to cleanse the +leprosy.”</p> +<p class="pn">Then there is another thought. Naaman left only one +thing in Samaria, and that was his leprosy; and the only thing +God wishes you to leave with Him is your sin. And yet it is the +only thing you seem not to care about giving up.</p> +<p class="pn">“Oh,” you say, “I love leprosy, it is so +delightful, I can’t give it up; I know God wants it, that He may +make me clean. But I can’t give it up.”</p> +<p class="pn">Why, what downright madness it is for you to love +leprosy; and yet that is your condition.</p> +<p class="pn">“Ah,” says someone, “I don’t believe in sudden +conversions.”</p> +<p class="pn">Don’t you? How long did it take Naaman to be cured? +The seventh time he went down, away went the leprosy. Read the +great conversions recorded in the Bible. Saul of Tarsus, +Zacchæus, and a host of others; how long did it take the Lord to +bring them about? They were effected in a minute. We are born in +iniquity, shapen in it, dead in trespasses and sins; but when +spiritual life comes it comes in a moment, and we are free both +from sin and death.</p> +<p class="pn">You may be sure when he got home there was no small +stir in Naaman’s house. I can see his wife, Mrs. Naaman, when he +gets back. She has been watching and looking out of the window +for him with a great burden on her heart. And when she asks him, +“Well, husband, how is it?” I can see the tears running down his +cheeks as he says:</p> +<p class="pn">“Thank God, I am well.”</p> +<p class="pn">They embrace each other, and pour out mutual +expressions of rejoicing and gladness. The servants are just as +glad as their master and mistress, as they have been waiting +eagerly for the news. There never was a happier household than +Naaman’s, now that he has got rid of the leprosy. And so, my +friends, it will be with your own households if you will only get +rid of the leprosy of sin to-day. Not only will there be joy in +your own hearts and at home, but there will also be</p> +<h3>JOY AMONG THE SAINTS IN HEAVEN.</h3> +<p class="pn">Once, as I was walking down the street, I heard +some people laughing and talking aloud. One of them said:</p> +<p class="pn">“Well, there will be no difference, it will be all +the same a hundred years hence.”</p> +<p class="pn">The thought flashed across my mind, “Will there be +no difference? Where will you be a hundred years hence?”</p> +<p class="pn">Young man, just ask yourself the question, “Where +shall I be?” Some of you who are getting on in years may be in +eternity ten years hence. Where will you be, on the left or the +right hand of God? I cannot tell your feelings, but I can my own. +I ask you, “Where will you spend eternity? Where will you be a +hundred years hence?”</p> +<p class="pn">I heard once of a man who went to England from the +Continent, and brought letters with him to eminent physicians +from the Emperor. The letters said:</p> +<p class="pn">“This man is a personal friend of mine, and we are +afraid he is going to lose his reason. Do all you can for +him.”</p> +<p class="pn">The doctor asked him if he had lost any dear friend +in his own country, or any position of importance, or what it was +that was weighing on his mind.</p> +<p class="pn">The young man said, “No; but my father and +grandfather and myself were brought up infidels, and for the last +two or three years this thought has been haunting me, Where shall +I spend eternity? And the thought of it follows me day and +night.”</p> +<p class="pn">The doctor said, “You have come to</p> +<h3>THE WRONG PHYSICIAN,</h3> +<p class="pnn">but I will tell you of one who can cure you”; and +he told him of Christ, and read to him the 53d chapter of Isaiah, +“With His stripes we are healed.”</p> +<p class="pn">The young man said, “Doctor, do you believe +that?”</p> +<p class="pn">The doctor told him he did, and prayed and wrestled +with him, and at last the clear light of Calvary shone on his +soul. He had settled the question in his own mind at last, where +he would spend eternity. I ask you, sinner, to settle it now. It +is for you to decide. Shall it be with the saints, and martyrs, +and prophets, or in the dark caverns of hell, amidst blackness +and darkness forever? Make haste to be wise; for “how shall we +escape if we neglect so great salvation?”</p> +<p class="pn">At our church in Chicago I was closing the meeting +one day, when a young soldier got up and entreated the people to +decide for Christ at once. He said he had just come from a dark +scene. A comrade of his, who had enlisted with him, had a father +who was always entreating him to become a Christian, and in reply +he always said he would when the war was over. At last he was +wounded, and was put into the hospital, but got worse and was +gradually sinking. One day, a few hours before he died, a letter +came from his sister, but he was too far gone to read it. Oh, it +was such an earnest letter! The comrade read it to him, but he +did not seem to understand it, he was so weak, till it came to +the last sentence, which said:</p> +<p class="pn">“Oh, my dear brother, when you get this letter, +will you not accept your sister’s Savior?”</p> +<p class="pn">The dying man sprang up from his cot, and said, +“What do you say? what do you say?” and then, falling back on his +pillow, feebly exclaimed, “<i>It is too late! It is too +late!</i>”</p> +<p class="pn">My dear friends, thank God it is not <i>too +late</i> for you to-day. The Master is still calling you. Let +every one of us, young and old, rich and poor, come to Christ at +once, and He will put all our sins away. Don’t wait any longer +for feeling, but obey at once. You can believe, you can trust, +you can lay hold on eternal life, if you will. Will you not do it +now?</p> +<h1><a name="Nehemiah" id="Nehemiah">THE PROPHET +NEHEMIAH</a></h1> +<p class="pn">I should like to call your attention to the prophet +Nehemiah. We may gain some help from that distinguished man who +accomplished a great work. He was one of the last of the +prophets, was supposed to be contemporary with Malachi, and +perhaps his book was one of the last of the Old Testament books +that was written. He might have known Daniel, for he was a young +man in the declining years of that very eminent and godly +statesman. We are sure of one thing at least—he was a man of +sterling worth. Although he was brought up in the Persian court +among idolaters, yet he had a character that has stood all these +centuries.</p> +<p class="pn">Notice his prayer in which he made confession of +Israel’s apostasy from God. There may be some confessions we need +to make to be brought into close fellowship with God. I have no +doubt that numbers of Christians are hungering and thirsting for +a personal blessing, and have a great desire to get closer to +God. If that is the desire of <i>your</i> heart, keep in mind +that if there is some obstacle in the way which you can remove, +you will not get a blessing until you remove it. We must +cooperate with God. If there is any sin in my heart that I am not +willing to give up then I need not pray. You may take a bottle +and cork it up tight, and put it under Niagara, and not a drop of +that mighty volume of water will get into the bottle. If there is +any sin in my heart that I am not willing to give up, I need not +expect a blessing. The men who have had power with God in prayer +have always begun by confessing their sins. Take the prayers of +Jeremiah and Daniel. You find Daniel confessing his sin, when +there isn’t a single sin recorded against him; but he confesses +his sin and the sins of the people. Notice how David confessed +his sins and what power he had with God. So it is a good thing +for us to begin as Nehemiah did.</p> +<p class="pn">It seems that some men had come down from his +country to the Persian court, perhaps to see the king on +business. This man, who was in high favor with the king, met +them, and finding that they had come from Jerusalem he began to +inquire about his country. He not only loved his God, but he</p> +<h3>LOVED HIS COUNTRY.</h3> +<p class="pnn">I like to see a patriotic man. He began to inquire +about his people and about the city that was very near to his +heart, Jerusalem. He had never seen the city. He had no relations +back there in Jerusalem that he knew of. Nehemiah was not a +Jewish prince, although it is supposed he had royal blood in his +veins. He was born in captivity. It was about one hundred years +after Jerusalem was taken that he appeared upon the horizon. He +was in the court of Artaxerxes, a cupbearer to the king, and held +a high position. Yet he longed to hear from his native land. When +these men told him the condition of the city, that the people +were in great want and distress and degradation, and that the +walls of the city were still down, that the gates had been burned +and never restored, his patriotic heart began to burn. We are +told he fasted and prayed and wept, and not only did he pray for +one week, or one month, but he kept on praying. He prayed “day +and night.” Having many duties to perform, of course he was not +always on his knees, but in heart he was ever before the throne +of grace. It was not hard for him to understand and obey the +precept, “Pray without ceasing.” He began the work in prayer, +continued in prayer, and the last recorded words of Nehemiah are +a prayer.</p> +<p class="pn">It was in November or December when those men +arrived at that court, and this man prayed on until March or +April before he spoke to the king. If a blessing doesn’t come +to-night, pray harder to-morrow, and if it doesn’t come +to-morrow, pray harder, and then, if it doesn’t come keep right +on, and you will not be disappointed. God in heaven will hear +your prayers, and will answer them. He has <i>never failed</i>, +if a man has been honest in his petitions and honest in his +confessions. Let your faith beget patience. God is never in a +hurry, said St. Augustine, because He has all eternity to +work.</p> +<p class="pn">In the first chapter of Nehemiah is</p> +<h3>THE PRAYER</h3> +<p class="pnn">of this wonderful man, his cry which has been on +record all these years, and a great help to many people:</p> +<p class="pn">“I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, the great +and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that +love him and observe his commandments: let thine ear now be +attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer +of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for +the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the +children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and +my father’s house have sinned. We have dealt very corruptly +against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the +statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandedst thy servant +Moses. Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst +thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you +abroad among the nations: but if ye turn unto me, and keep my +commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out unto +the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from +thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to +set my name there. Now these are thy servants and thy people, +whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong +hand. O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to +the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who +desire to fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant +this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.”</p> +<p class="pn">When he began to pray I have no idea that he +thought he was to be the instrument in God’s hand of building the +walls of Jerusalem. But when a man gets into sympathy and harmony +with God, then God prepares him for the work He has for him. No +doubt he thought the Persian king might send one of his great +warriors and accomplish the work with a great army of men, but +after he had been praying for months, it may be the thought +flashed into his mind:</p> +<p class="pn">“Why should not I go to Jerusalem myself and build +those walls?”</p> +<p class="pn">Prayer for the work will soon arouse your own +sympathy and effort.</p> +<p class="pn">Now mark, it meant a good deal for Nehemiah to give +up the palace of Shushan and his high office, and identify +himself with the despised and captive Jews. He was among the +highest in the whole realm. Not only that, but he was a man of +wealth, lived in ease and luxury, and had great influence at +court. For him to go to Jerusalem and lose caste was like Moses +turning his back on the palace of Pharaoh and identifying himself +with the Hebrew slaves. Yet we might</p> +<h3>NEVER HAVE HEARD OF</h3> +<p class="pnn">either of them if they had not done this. They +stooped to conquer; and when you get ready to stoop God will +bless you. Plato, Socrates, and other Greek philosophers lived in +the same century as Nehemiah. How few have heard of them and read +their words compared with the hundreds of thousands who have +heard and read of Nehemiah during the last two thousand +years!</p> +<p class="pn">If you and I are to be blessed in this world, we +must be willing to take any position into which God puts us. So, +after Nehemiah had prayed a while, he began to pray God to send +him, and that he might be the man to rebuild the walls of +Jerusalem.</p> +<p class="pn">After he had been praying some time, he was one day +in the banqueting hall, and the king noticed that his countenance +was sad. We might not have called the face sad; but much prayer +and fasting</p> +<h3>CHANGE THE VERY COUNTENANCE</h3> +<p class="pnn">of a man. I know some godly men and women, and +they seem to have the stamp of heaven on them. The king noticed a +strange look about this cupbearer, and he began to question him. +Then the thought came to Nehemiah that he would tell the king +what caused his sorrow,—how his own nation was degraded, and how +his heart was going out for his own country. After he had told +the king, the king said:</p> +<p class="pn">“What is your request?”</p> +<p class="pn">Now, some men tell us they don’t have time to pray, +but I tell you if any man has God’s work lying deep in his heart +he <i>will</i> have time to pray. Nehemiah</p> +<h3>SHOT UP A PRAYER</h3> +<p class="pnn">to heaven right there in the king’s dining hall +that the Lord would help him to make his request in the right +way. He first looked beyond Artaxerxes to the King of Kings. You +need not make a long prayer. A man who prays much in private will +make short prayers in public. The Lord told Nehemiah what to ask +for, that he might be sent to his own country, that some men +might go with him, and that the king would give him letters to +the governors through whose provinces he would pass so that he +might have a profitable journey and be able to rebuild the walls +of his city. God had been preparing the king, for the king at +once granted the request, and before long this young prince was +on his way to Jerusalem.</p> +<p class="pn">When he reached the city he didn’t have a lot of +men go before him blowing trumpets and saying that the cupbearer +of the great Persian king,</p> +<h3>THE CONVERTED CUPBEARER,</h3> +<p class="pnn">had arrived from the Persian court, and was going +to build the walls of Jerusalem. There are some men who are +always telling what they are going to do. Man, let the work speak +for itself. You needn’t blow any horns; go and do the work, and +it will advertise itself. Nehemiah didn’t have any newspapers +writing about him, or any placards. However, there was no small +stir. No doubt every one in town was talking about it, saying +that a very important personage had arrived from the Persian +court; but he was there three days and three nights without +telling anyone why he had come.</p> +<p class="pn">One night he went out to survey the city. He +couldn’t ride around; even now you cannot ride a beast around the +walls of Jerusalem. He tried to ride around, but he couldn’t, so +he walked. It was a difficult task which he had before him, but +he was not discouraged. That is what makes character. Men who can +go into a hard field and succeed, they are the men we want. Any +quantity of men are looking for easy places, but the world will +never hear of them. We want men who are looking for hard places, +who are willing to go into the darkest corners of the earth, and +make those dark places bloom like gardens. They can do it if the +Lord is with them.</p> +<p class="pn">Everything looked dark before Nehemiah. The walls +were broken down. There was not a man of influence among the +people, not a man of culture or a man of wealth. The nations all +around were looking down upon these weak, feeble Jews. So it is +in many churches today, the walls are down, and people say it is +no use, and their hands drop down by their side. Everything +seemed against Nehemiah, but he was a man who had the <i>fire of +God</i> in his soul; he had come to build the walls of Jerusalem. +If you could have bored a hole into his head, you would have +found “Jerusalem” stamped on his brain. If you could have looked +into his heart you would have found “Jerusalem” there. He was a +fanatic; he was terribly in earnest; he was an enthusiast. I like +to see a man take up some one thing and say, “I will do it; I +live for this thing; this one thing I am bound to do.” We spread +out so much, and try to do so many things, that</p> +<h3>WE SPREAD SO THIN</h3> +<p class="pnn">the world never hears of us.</p> +<p class="pn">After he had been in the city three days and +nights, he called the elders of Israel together, and told them +for what he had come. God had been preparing them, for the moment +he told them they said:</p> +<p class="pn">“Let us rise up and build.”</p> +<p class="pn">But there has not been a work undertaken for God +since Adam fell which has not met with opposition. If Satan +allows us to work unhindered, it is because our work is of no +consequence. The first thing we read, after the decision had been +made to rebuild the walls, is:</p> +<p class="pn">“When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the +servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they +laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this +thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king?”</p> +<p class="pn">These men were very indignant. They didn’t care for +the welfare of Jerusalem. Who were they? A mixed multitude who +had no portion nor right nor memorial in Jerusalem. They didn’t +like to see the restoration of the ruins, just as people nowadays +do not like to see the cause of Christ prospering. The offence of +the cross has not ceased.</p> +<p class="pn">It doesn’t take long to build the walls of a city +if you can only get the whole of the people at it. If the +Christians of this country would only rise up, we could +evangelize America in twelve months. All the Jews had a hand in +repairing the walls of Jerusalem. Each built over against his own +house, priest and merchant, goldsmith and apothecary, and even +the women. The men of Jericho and other cities came to help. The +walls began to rise.</p> +<p class="pn">This stirred up Nehemiah’s enemies, and they began +to ridicule.</p> +<h3>RIDICULE</h3> +<p class="pnn">is a mighty weapon.</p> +<p class="pn">“What do these feeble Jews?” said Sanballat. “Will +they fortify themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they make an +end in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the +rubbish which are burned?”</p> +<p class="pn">“Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he +shall even break down their stone wall,” said Tobiah the +Ammonite.</p> +<p class="pn">But Nehemiah was wise. He paid no attention to +them. He just looked to God for grace and comfort:</p> +<p class="pn">“Hear, O our God; for we are despised: and turn +their reproach upon their own head, and give them for a prey in +the land of captivity: and cover not their iniquity, and let not +their sin be blotted out from before: for they have provoked thee +to anger before the builders.”</p> +<p class="pn">Young man, if you wish to be successful in this +world, don’t mind Sanballat or Tobiah. Don’t be kept out of the +kingdom of God or out of active Christian work by the scorn and +laughter and ridicule of your godless neighbors and +companions.</p> +<p class="pn">Next, these enemies conspired to come and fight +against Jerusalem.</p> +<p class="pn">Nehemiah was warned, and took steps to guard +against them. Half of the people were on the watch, and the other +half held a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other. There +was</p> +<h3>NO EIGHT-HOUR WORKING DAY</h3> +<p class="pnn">then; they were on duty from the rising of the +morning till the stars appeared. They did not take off their +clothes except to wash them. Fancy, this man who came from the +Persian court with all its luxury, living and sleeping in his +clothes for those fifty-two days! But he was in earnest. Ah, that +is what we want! men who will set themselves to do one thing, and +keep at it day and night.</p> +<p class="pn">All the people were bidden to lodge within the +city, so that they should always be on hand to work and fight. +Would to God that we could get all who belong inside the church +to come in and do their share. “Happy is the church,” says one, +“whose workers are well skilled in the use of the Scripture, so +that while strenuously building the Gospel Wall, they can fight +too, if occasion require it.” We ought all be ready to use the +Sword of the Spirit.</p> +<p class="pn">By and by the men wrote a friendly letter, and +wanted Nehemiah to go down on the plain of Ono and have a +friendly discussion. It is</p> +<h3>A MASTERPIECE OF THE DEVIL</h3> +<p class="pnn">to get men into friendly discussions. I don’t know +whether Nehemiah had a typewriter in those days or not; I don’t +know whether he had a printed form of letters, but he always sent +back the same reply:</p> +<p class="pn">“I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come +down.”</p> +<p class="pn">How many a church has turned aside for years to +discuss “questions of the day,” and has neglected the salvation +of the world because they must go down to the “plain of Ono” and +have a friendly discussion! Nehemiah struck a good keynote—“I am +doing a great work, so that I cannot come down.” If God has sent +you to build the walls of Jerusalem, <i>you go and do it</i>.</p> +<p class="pn">They sent him another letter, and again he sent +word back, “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down.” +He did not believe in “coming down.” They sent him another, and +he sent back the same word. They sent him a fourth letter, with +the same result. They could not get him down; they wanted to slay +him on the way.</p> +<p class="pn">I have seen many Christian men on the plain of Ono, +men who were doing a splendid work but had been switched off. +Think how much work has been neglected by temperance advocates in +this country because they have gone into politics and into +discussing woman’s rights and woman’s suffrage. How many times +the Young Men’s Christian Association has been switched off by +discussing some other subject instead of holding up Christ before +a lost world! If the church would only keep right on and build +the walls of Jerusalem they would soon be built. Oh, it is a wily +devil that we have to contend with! Do you know it? If he can +only get the church to stop to discuss these questions, he has +accomplished his desire.</p> +<p class="pn">His enemies wrote him one more letter,</p> +<h3>AN OPEN LETTER,</h3> +<p class="pnn">in which they said that they had heard he was +going to set up a kingdom in opposition to the Persians, and that +they were going to report him to the king. Treason has an ugly +sound, but Nehemiah committed himself to the Lord, and went on +building.</p> +<p class="pn">Then his enemies hired a prophet, one of his +friends. A hundred enemies outside are not half so hard to deal +with as one inside—a false friend. When the devil gets possession +of a child of God he will do the work better than the devil +himself. Temptations are never so dangerous as when they come to +us in a religious garb. So Tobiah and Sanballat bought up one of +the prophets, and hired him to try to induce Nehemiah to go into +the temple, that they might put him to death there.</p> +<p class="pn">“Now, Nehemiah, there is a plan to kill you, come +into the temple. Let’s go in and stay for the night.”</p> +<p class="pn">He came near being deceived, but he said, “Shall I, +such a man as I, be afraid of my life, and do that to save my +life?”</p> +<p class="pn">After he had refused their invitation he saw that +this man was a false prophet; and so by his standing his ground +he succeeded in fifty-two days in building the walls of +Jerusalem. Then the gates were set up and the work was +finished.</p> +<p class="pn">Now during all these centuries that story has been +told. If Nehemiah had remained at court, he might have died a +millionaire, but he never would have been heard of twenty years +after his death. Do you know the names of any of Nineveh’s +millionaires? This man stepped out of that high position and took +a low position, one that the world looked down upon and frowned +upon, and his name has been associated with the walls of +Jerusalem all these centuries. Young man, if you want to be +immortal, become identified with God’s work, and pay no attention +to what men outside say. Nehemiah and his associates began at +sunrise and worked until it grew so dark they could not see. A +man who will take up God’s work, and work summer and winter right +through the year, will have a harvest before the year is over, +and the record of it will shine after he enters the other +world.</p> +<p class="pn">The next thing we learn of Nehemiah is that he got +up a great</p> +<h3>OPEN-AIR MEETING</h3> +<p class="pnn">for the reading of the law of Moses in the hearing +of the people. A pulpit of wood, large enough to hold Ezra the +Scribe and thirteen others, was built. The people wept when they +heard the words of the law, but Nehemiah said:</p> +<p class="pn">“Mourn not, nor weep. Go your way, eat the fat, and +drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is +prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye +sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”</p> +<p class="pn">He did not forget the poor. Reading the Bible and +remembering the poor—a combination of faith and works—will always +bring joy.</p> +<p class="pn">Nehemiah then began to govern the city, and correct +the abuses he found existing. He gathered about fifty priests and +scribes together and made them sign and seal a written covenant. +There were five things in that covenant I want to call attention +to.</p> +<p class="pn">First, <i>they were not to give their daughters to +the heathen</i>.</p> +<p class="pn">They had been violating the law of God, and had +been marrying their daughters to the ungodly. God had forbidden +them to intermarry with the heathen nations in the land of +Canaan; “for they will turn away thy son from following me, that +they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the Lord be +kindled against you and <i>destroy thee suddenly</i>.” I have +known many a man who has lost his power by being identified with +the ungodly. If you want to have the blessing of God rest upon +you, you must be very careful about your alliances. The Jews +always got into trouble when they married with the nations round +about. The houses of Ahab and of Solomon lost their kingdom by +that sin. That was the cause of the overthrow of David’s kingdom. +Families who marry for wealth, and marry the godly to the +ungodly, always bring distress into the family.</p> +<p class="pn">Then he made them sign a covenant that they would +<i>keep the Sabbath</i>, that they would not buy upon the +Sabbath.</p> +<p class="pn">Think of a man going from a heathen court where +they had no Sabbath, a man brought up in that atmosphere, coming +up to Jerusalem and enforcing the law of Moses! It is recorded +that they brought up fish, and he would not let them into the +city on the Sabbath, and the fish spoiled. After they had tried +that a few times, they gave it up. If you will take your stand +for God, even if you stand alone, it will not be very long before +you will get other men to stand with you. God stood with this +man, and he carried everything before him.</p> +<p class="pn">I don’t believe we shall have the right atmosphere +in this country until we can get men who have backbone enough to +stand up against the thing they believe is wrong. If it is a +custom rooted and grounded for a hundred years, never mind; you +take your stand against it if you believe it is wrong. If you +have gatherings, and it is fashionable to have wine and +champagne, and you are a teetotaler; if they ask you anywhere and +you know that they are to have drink, tell them you are not +going. A man said to me some years ago:</p> +<p class="pn">“Mr. Moody, now that I am converted, must I give up +the world?”</p> +<p class="pn">I said: “No, you haven’t got to give up the world. +If you give a good ringing testimony for the Son of God, the +world will give you up pretty quick; they won’t want you +around.”</p> +<p class="pn">They were going to have a great celebration at the +opening of a saloon and billiard hall in Chicago, in the northern +part of the city, where I lived. It was to be a gateway to death +and to hell, one of the worst places in Chicago. As a joke they +sent me an invitation to go to the opening. I took the invitation +and went down and saw the two men who had the saloon, and I +said:</p> +<p class="pn">“Is that a genuine invitation?”</p> +<p class="pn">They said it was.</p> +<p class="pn">“Thank you,” I said, “I will be around; if there is +anything here I don’t like I may have something to say about +it.”</p> +<p class="pn">They said: “You are not going to +<i>preach</i>?”</p> +<p class="pn">“I may.”</p> +<p class="pn">“We don’t want you. We won’t let you in.”</p> +<p class="pn">“How are you going to keep me out?” I asked; “there +is the invitation.”</p> +<p class="pn">“We will put a policeman at the door.”</p> +<p class="pn">“What is the policeman going to do with that +invitation?”</p> +<p class="pn">“We won’t let you in.”</p> +<p class="pn">“Well,” I said, “I will be there.”</p> +<p class="pn">I gave them a good scare, and then I said, “I will +compromise the matter; if you two men will get down here and let +me pray with you, I will let you off.”</p> +<p class="pn">I got those two rumsellers down on their knees, one +on one side of me, and the other on the other side, and I prayed +God to save their souls and smite their business. One of them had +a Christian mother, and he seemed to have some conscience left. +After I had prayed, I said:</p> +<p class="pn">“How can you do this business? How can you throw +this place open to ruin young men of Chicago?”</p> +<p class="pn">Within three months the whole thing smashed up, and +one of them was converted some time after. I have never been +invited to a saloon since.</p> +<p class="pn">You won’t have to give up the world, not by a good +deal. If you go to reunions, and there is drinking, get up and go +away. Don’t you be party to it. That is the kind of men we want. +When you find anything that is ruining your fellow men, fight it +to its bitter end.</p> +<p class="pn">Nehemiah said, “We will not have desecration of the +Sabbath.” Not sell the Sunday paper? Not buy a Sunday paper? How +many read the Sunday newspapers?</p> +<p class="pn">I suppose that if you had Nehemiah as mayor of New +York, he would stop that sort of thing. Here we have boys who are +kept away from the Sunday school to sell papers on the +streets—trains running in order that the papers can be +distributed. I don’t believe a man is in a fit state to hear a +sermon whose mind is full of such trash as the Sunday newspaper +is filled with. Men break the Sabbath and wonder why it is they +have not spiritual power. The trouble nowadays is that it doesn’t +mean anything to some people to be a Christian. What we must have +is a higher type of Christianity in this country. We must have a +Christianity that has in it the principle of self-denial. We must +deny ourselves. If we want power, we must be separate.</p> +<p class="pn">The next thing they were to do—(and bear in mind +this was a thing they had to sign)—was to <i>give their land +rest</i>.</p> +<p class="pn">For four hundred and ninety years they had not let +their land rest, so God took them away to Babylon for seventy +years, and let the land rest. A man that works seven days in the +week right along is cut off about five or ten years earlier. You +cannot rob God. Why is it that so many railroad superintendents +and physicians die early? It is because they work seven days in +the week. So Nehemiah made them covenant to keep the law of +Moses. If the nations of the earth had kept that law, the truth +would have gone to the four corners of the earth before this +time.</p> +<p class="pn">Then he made them sign a covenant that <i>they +would not charge usury</i>.</p> +<p class="pn">They were just grinding the poor down. I believe +that the reason we are in such a wretched state in this country +to-day is on account of crowding the poor, and getting such a +large amount of money for usury. People evade the law, and pay +the interest, and then they give a few hundred dollars to +negotiate the loan. There is a great amount of usury, and see +where we are to-day! See what a wretched state of things we are +having, not only in this country, but all over the world!</p> +<p class="pn">The fifth thing he made them do was to <i>bring +their first fruits to the sons of Levi</i>.</p> +<p class="pn">They were to give God a tenth, the first and best. +As long as Israel did that they prospered, and when they turned +away from that law they did not prosper. You can look through +history and look around you and see the same thing to-day. As +long as men keep God’s law and respect God’s testimony, they are +going to prosper, but when they turn aside, like Samson, they +lose their strength; they have no power.</p> +<p class="pn">If you take these five things and carry them out, +you will have prosperity. Let us all do it personally. If it was +good for those men it is good for us. The moment we begin to rob +God of time or talents then darkness and misery and wretchedness +will come.</p> +<h1><a name="Baptist" id="Baptist">HEROD AND JOHN THE +BAPTIST</a></h1> +<p class="pn">If some one had told me a few years ago that he +thought Herod at one time came near the kingdom of God, I should +have been inclined to doubt it. I would have said, “I do not +believe that the bloodthirsty wretch who took the life of John +the Baptist ever had a serious thought in his life about his +soul’s welfare.” I held that opinion because there is one scene +recorded in Herod’s life that I had overlooked. But some years +ago, when I was going through the gospel of Mark, making a +careful study of the book, I found this verse:</p> +<p class="pn">“Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man +and an holy, and observed him; and when he heard him, he did many +things, and heard him gladly.” (Mark vi, 20).</p> +<p class="pn">This caused me to change my views about Herod. I +saw that he was not only brought within the sound of John’s +voice, but under the power of the Spirit of God; his heart was +touched and his conscience awakened. We are not told under what +circumstances he heard John; but the narrative plainly states +that he was brought under the influence of the Baptist’s +wonderful ministry.</p> +<p class="pn">Let me first say a word or two about</p> +<h3>THE PREACHER.</h3> +<p class="pn">I contend that John the Baptist must have been one +of the grandest preachers this world has ever had. Almost any man +can get a hearing nowadays in a town or a city, where the people +live close together; especially if he speaks in a fine building +where there is a splendid choir, and if the meetings have been +advertised and worked up for weeks or months beforehand. In such +circumstances any man who has a gift for speaking will get a good +audience. But it was very different with John. He drew the people +out of the towns and cities away into the wilderness. There were +no ministers to back him; no business men interested in Christ’s +cause to work with him; no newspaper reporters to take his +sermons down and send them out. He was an unknown man, without +any title to his name. He was not the Right-Rev. John the +Baptist, D. D., or anything of the kind, but plain John the +Baptist. When the people went to inquire of him if he were Elias +or Jeremiah come back to life, he said he was not.</p> +<p class="pn">“Who are you then?”</p> +<p class="pn">“I am the Voice of one crying in the +wilderness.”</p> +<p class="pn">He was nothing but a voice—to be heard and not +seen; he was Mr. Nobody. He regarded himself as a messenger who +had received his commission from the eternal world.</p> +<p class="pn">How he began his ministry, and how he gathered the +crowds together we are not informed. I can imagine that one day +this strange man makes his appearance in the valley of the +Jordan, where he finds a few shepherds tending their flocks. They +bring together their scattered sheep, and the man begins to +preach to these shepherds. The kingdom of heaven, he says, is +about to be set up on the earth; and he urges them to set their +houses in order—to repent and turn away from their sins. Having +delivered his message, he tells them that he will come back the +next day and speak again.</p> +<p class="pn">When he had disappeared in the desert, I can +suppose one of the shepherds saying to another:</p> +<p class="pn">“Was he not a strange man? Did you ever hear a man +speak like that? He did not talk as the rabbis or the Pharisees +or the Sadducees do. I really think he must be one of the old +prophets. Did you notice that his coat was made of camel’s hair, +and that he had a leathern girdle round his loins? Don’t the +Scriptures say that Elijah was clothed like that?”</p> +<p class="pn">Says another: “You remember how Malachi says that +before the great and dreadful day of the Lord, Elijah should +come? I really believe this man is the old prophet of +Carmel.”</p> +<p class="pn">What could stir the heart of the Jewish people more +than the name of Elijah?</p> +<p class="pn">The tidings of John’s appearance spread up and down +the valley of the Jordan, and when he returned the next day, +there was great excitement and expectation as the people listened +to the strange preacher. Perhaps till Christ came he had only +that</p> +<h3>ONE TEXT:</h3> +<p class="pnn">“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” +Day after day you could hear his voice ringing through the valley +of the Jordan:</p> +<p class="pn">“Repent! repent! repent! The King is at the door. I +do not know the day or the hour, but He will be here very +soon.”</p> +<p class="pn">By and by some of the people who flocked to hear +him wanted to be baptized, and he took them to the Jordan and +baptized them.</p> +<p class="pn">The news spread to the surrounding villages and +towns, and it was not long before it reached Jerusalem. Then the +people of the city began to flock into the desert to hear this +prince among preachers. His fame soon reached Galilee, and the +people in the mountains began to flock down to hear him. Men left +their fishing-smacks on the lake, that they might listen to this +wonderful preacher. When he was in the zenith of his popularity, +as many as twenty or thirty thousand people perhaps flocked to +his ministry day after day.</p> +<p class="pn">No doubt there were some old croakers who said it +was</p> +<h3>ALL SENSATION.</h3> +<p class="pn">“Catch me there! No, sir; I never did like +sensational preaching.”</p> +<p class="pn">Just as some people speak nowadays when any special +effort is made to reach the people!</p> +<p class="pn">“Great harm will be done,” they say.</p> +<p class="pn">I wish all these croakers had died out with that +generation in Judea; but we have plenty of their descendants +still. I venture to say you have met with them. Why, my dear +friends, there is more excitement in your whisky shops and beer +saloons in one night than in all the churches put together in +twelve months. What a stir there must have been in Palestine +under the preaching of John the Baptist, and of Christ! The whole +country reeled and rocked with intense excitement. Don’t be +afraid of a little excitement in religious matters; it won’t +hurt.</p> +<p class="pn">One might hear those old Pharisees and Scribes +grumbling about John being such a sensational preacher. “It won’t +last.” And when Herod had John the Baptist beheaded, they would +say, “Didn’t I tell you so?”</p> +<p class="pn">Do not let us be in a hurry in passing judgment. +John the Baptist lives to-day more than ever he did; his voice +goes ringing through the world yet. He only preached a few +months, but for more than eighteen hundred years his sermons have +been repeated and multiplied, and the power of his words will +never die as long as the world lasts.</p> +<p class="pn">I can imagine that just when John was at the height +of his popularity, as Herod sat in his palace in Jerusalem +looking out towards the valley of the Jordan, he could see great +crowds of people passing day by day. He began to make inquiries +as to what it meant, and the news came to him about this strange +and powerful preacher. Some one, perhaps, reported that John was +preaching treason. He was telling of a king who was at hand, and +who was going to set up his kingdom.</p> +<p class="pn">“A king at hand! If Cæsar were coming, I should +have heard of it. There is no king but Cæsar. I must look into +the matter. I will go down to the Jordan, and hear this man for +myself.”</p> +<p class="pn">So one day, as John stood preaching, with the eyes +of the whole audience upon him, the people being swayed by his +eloquence like tree-tops when the wind passes over them, all at +once he lost their attention. All eyes were suddenly turned in +the direction of the city. One cries:</p> +<p class="pn">“Look, look! Herod is coming!”</p> +<p class="pn">Soon the whole congregation knows it, and there is +great excitement.</p> +<p class="pn">“I believe he will stop this preaching,” says +one.</p> +<p class="pn">And if they had in those days some of the +compromising weak-kneed Christians we sometimes meet, they would +have said to John:</p> +<p class="pn">“Don’t talk about a coming King; Herod won’t stand +it. Talk about repentance, but any talk about a coming King will +be high treason in the ears of Herod.”</p> +<p class="pn">I think if any one had dared to give John such +counsel, he would have replied: “I have received my message from +heaven; what do I care for Herod or any one else?”</p> +<p class="pn">As he stood thundering away and calling on the +people to repent, I can see Herod, with his guard of soldiers +around him, listening attentively to find anything in the +preacher’s words that he can lay hold of. At last John says:</p> +<p class="pn">“The King is just at the door. He will set up His +kingdom, and will separate the wheat from the chaff.”</p> +<p class="pn">I can imagine Herod then saying to himself: “I will +have that man’s head off inside of twenty-four hours. I would +arrest him here and now if I dared. I will catch him to-morrow +before the crowd gathers.”</p> +<p class="pn">By and by, as Herod listens, some of the people +begin to press close up to the preacher, and to question him. +Some soldiers are among them, and they ask John:</p> +<p class="pn">“What shall we do?”</p> +<p class="pn">John answers: “Do violence to no man, neither +accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages.”</p> +<p class="pn">“That is pretty good advice,” Herod thinks; “I have +had a good deal of trouble with these men, but if they follow the +preacher’s advice, it will make them better soldiers.”</p> +<p class="pn">Then he hears the publicans ask John, as they come +to be baptized:</p> +<p class="pn">“What shall we do?”</p> +<p class="pn">The answer is: “Exact no more than that which is +appointed you.”</p> +<p class="pn">“Well,” says Herod, “that is excellent advice. +These publicans are all the time overtaxing the people. If they +would do as the preacher tells them, the people would be more +contented.”</p> +<p class="pn">Then the preacher addresses himself to the +Pharisees and the Sadducees in the crowd, and cries:</p> +<p class="pn">“O generation of vipers! Who hath warned you to +flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth fruits worthy of +repentance.”</p> +<p class="pn">Says Herod within himself: “I like that. I am glad +he is giving it pretty strong to these men. I do not think I will +have him arrested just yet.”</p> +<p class="pn">So he goes back to his palace. I can imagine he +was</p> +<h3>NOT ABLE TO SLEEP MUCH</h3> +<p class="pnn">that night; he kept thinking of what he had heard. +When the Holy Ghost is dealing with a man’s conscience, very +often sleep departs from him. Herod cannot get this wilderness +preacher and his message out of his mind. The truth had reached +his soul; it echoed and re-echoed within him: “Repent, for the +kingdom of heaven is at hand.” He says:</p> +<p class="pn">“I went out to-day to hear for the Roman +Government; I think I will go to-morrow and hear for myself.”</p> +<p class="pn">So he goes back again and again. My text says that +he heard him gladly, that he observed him, and feared him, +knowing that he was a just man and a holy. He must have known +down in his heart that John was</p> +<h3>A HEAVEN-SENT MESSENGER.</h3> +<p class="pnn">Had you gone into the palace in those days, you +would have heard Herod talking of nobody but John the Baptist. He +would say to his associates:</p> +<p class="pn">“Have you been out into the desert to hear this +strange preacher?”</p> +<p class="pn">“No; have you?”</p> +<p class="pn">“Yes.”</p> +<p class="pn">“What! you, the Roman Governor, going to hear this +unordained preacher?”</p> +<p class="pn">“Yes, I have been quite often. I would rather hear +him than any man I ever knew. He does not talk like the regular +preachers. I never heard any one who had such influence over +me.”</p> +<p class="pn">You would have thought that Herod was a very +hopeful subject. “He did many things.” Perhaps he stopped +swearing. He may have stopped gambling and getting drunk. A +wonderful change seemed to have passed over him. Perhaps he +ceased from taking bribes for a time; we catch him at it +afterwards, but just then he refrained from it. He became quite +virtuous in certain directions. It really looked as if he were +near the kingdom of heaven.</p> +<p class="pn">I can imagine that one day, as John stands +preaching, the truth is going home to the hearts and consciences +of the people, and the powers of another world are falling upon +them, one of John’s disciples stands near Herod’s chariot, and +sees the tears in the eyes of the Roman Governor. At the close of +the service he goes to John and says:</p> +<p class="pn">“I stood close to Herod today, and no one seemed +more impressed. I could see the tears coming, and he had to brush +them away to keep them from falling.”</p> +<p class="pn">Have you ever seen a man in a religious meeting +trying to keep the tears back? You noticed that his forehead +seemed to itch, and he put up his hand; you may know what it +means—he wants to conceal the fact that the tears are there. He +thinks it is a weakness. It is no weakness to get drunk and abuse +your family, but it is weakness to shed tears. So this disciple +of John may have noticed that Herod put his hand to his brow a +number of times; he did not wish his soldiers, or those standing +near, to observe that he was weeping. The disciple says to +John:</p> +<p class="pn">“It looks as if he were coming near the kingdom. I +believe you will have him as an inquirer very soon.”</p> +<p class="pn">When a man enjoys hearing such a preacher, it +certainly seems a hopeful sign.</p> +<p class="pn">Herod might have been present that day when Christ +was baptized. Was there ever a man lifted so near to heaven as +Herod must have been if he were present on that occasion? I see +John standing surrounded by a great throng of people who are +hanging on his words. The eyes of the preacher, that never had +quailed before, suddenly began to look strange. He turned pale +and seemed to draw back as though something wonderful had +happened, and right in the middle of a sentence he ceased to +speak. If I were suddenly to grow pale, and stop speaking, you +would ask:</p> +<p class="pn">“Has death crept onto the platform? Is the tongue +of the speaker palsied?”</p> +<p class="pn">There must have been quite a commotion among the +audience when John stopped. The eyes of the Baptist were fixed +upon a Stranger who pushed His way through the crowd, and coming +up to the preacher, requested to be baptized. That was a common +occurrence; it had happened day after day for weeks past. John +listened to the Stranger’s words, but instead of going at once to +the Jordan and baptizing Him, he said:</p> +<p class="pn">“I need to be baptized of Thee!”</p> +<p class="pn">What a thrill of excitement must have shot through +the audience! I can hear one whispering to another:</p> +<p class="pn">“I believe that is the Messiah!”</p> +<p class="pn">Yes, it was the long-looked-for One, for whose +appearing the nation had been waiting these thousands of years. +From the time God had made the promise to Adam, away back in +Eden, every true Israelite had been looking for the Messiah; and +there He was in their midst!</p> +<p class="pn">He insisted that John should baptize Him, and the +forerunner recognized His authority as Master, took Him to the +Jordan, and baptized Him. As He came up from the water, lo! the +heavens opened, and the Spirit of God in the form of a dove +descended and rested on Him. When Noah sent forth the dove from +the Ark, it could find no resting-place; but now the Son of God +had come to do the will of God, and the dove found its +resting-place upon Him. The Holy Ghost had found a home. Now God +broke the silence of four thousand years. There came a voice from +heaven, and Herod may have heard it if he was there that day:</p> +<p class="pn">“This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well +pleased.”</p> +<p class="pn">Even if he had not witnessed this scene and heard +the voice, he must have heard about it; for the thing was not +done in a corner. There were thousands to witness it, and the +news must have been taken to every corner of the land.</p> +<p class="pn">Yet Herod, living in such times, and hearing such a +preacher, missed the kingdom of heaven at last. He did many +things because he feared John. Had he feared God he would have +done everything. “He did many things”; but there was one thing he +would not do—</p> +<h3>HE WOULD NOT GIVE UP ONE DARLING SIN.</h3> +<p class="pn">The longer I preach, the more I am convinced that +that is what keeps men out of the kingdom of God. John knew about +Herod’s private life, and warned him plainly.</p> +<p class="pn">If those compromising Christians of whom I have +spoken had been near John, one of them would have said:</p> +<p class="pn">“Look here, John, it is reported that Herod is very +anxious about his soul, and is asking what he must do to be +saved. Let me give you some advice; don’t touch on Herod’s secret +sin. He is living with his brother’s wife, but don’t you say +anything about it, for he won’t stand it. He has the whole Roman +Government behind him, and if you allude to that matter it will +be more than your life is worth. You have a good chance with +Herod; he is afraid of you. Only be careful, and don’t go too +far, or he will have your head off.”</p> +<p class="pn">There are those who are willing enough that you +should preach about the sins of other people, so long as you do +not come home to them. My wife was once teaching my little boy a +Sabbath-school lesson; she was telling him to notice how sin +grows till it becomes habit. The little fellow thought it was +coming too close to him, so he colored up, and finally said:</p> +<p class="pn">“Mamma, I think you are getting a good way from the +subject.”</p> +<p class="pn">John was a preacher of this uncompromising kind, +for he drove the message right home. I do not know when or how +the two were brought together at that time, but John kept nothing +back; he boldly said:</p> +<p class="pn">“Herod, it is not lawful for thee to have thy +brother’s wife.”</p> +<p class="pn">The man was breaking the law of God, and living in +the cursed sin of adultery. Thank God, John did not spare him! It +cost the preacher his head, but the Lord had got his heart, and +he did not care what became of his head. We read that Herod +feared John, but John did not fear Herod.</p> +<p class="pn">I want to say that I do not know of a quicker way +to hell than by the way of adultery. Let no one flatter himself +that he is going into the kingdom of God who does not repent of +this sin in sackcloth and ashes. My friend, do you think God will +never bring you into judgment? Does not the Bible say that no +adulterer shall inherit the kingdom of God?</p> +<p class="pn">Do you think John the Baptist would have been a +true friend of Herod if he had spared him, and had covered up his +sin? Was it not a true sign that John loved him when he warned +him, and told him he must quit his sin? Herod had before done +many things, and heard John gladly; but he did not like him then. +It is one thing to hear a man preach down other people’s sins. +Men will say, “That is splendid,” and will want all their friends +to go and hear the preacher. But let him touch on their +individual sin as John did, and declare (as Nathan did to David), +“Thou art the man,” and they say, “I do not like that.” The +preacher has touched a sore place.</p> +<p class="pn">When a man has broken his arm, the surgeon must +find out the exact spot where the fracture is. He feels along and +presses gently with his fingers.</p> +<p class="pn">“Is it there?”</p> +<p class="pn">“No”</p> +<p class="pn">“Is it there?”</p> +<p class="pn">“No.”</p> +<p class="pn">Presently, when the surgeon touches another spot, +“Ouch!” says the man.</p> +<p class="pn">He has found the broken part, and it hurts. John +placed his finger on the diseased spot, and Herod winced under +it. He put his hand right on it:</p> +<p class="pn">“Herod, it is not lawful for thee to have thy +brother Philip’s wife!”</p> +<p class="pn">Herod did not want to give up his sin.</p> +<p class="pn">Many a man would be willing to enter into the +kingdom of God, if he could do it without giving up sin. People +sometimes wonder why Jesus Christ, who lived six hundred years +before Mohammed, has got fewer disciples than Mohammed to-day. +There is no difficulty in explaining that. A man may become a +disciple of Mohammed, and continue to live in the foulest, +blackest, deepest sin; but a man cannot be a disciple of Christ +without giving up sin. If you are trying to make yourself believe +that you can get into the kingdom of God without renouncing your +sin, may God tear the mask from you! Can Satan persuade you that +Herod will be found in the kingdom of God along with John the +Baptist, with the sin of adultery and of murder on his soul?</p> +<p class="pn">And now, let me say this to you. If your minister +comes to you frankly, tells you of your sin, and warns you +faithfully, thank God for him. He is your best friend; he is a +heaven-sent man. But if a minister speaks smooth, oily words to +you; tells you it is all right, when you know, and he knows, that +it is all wrong, and that you are living in sin, you may be sure +that he is a devil-sent man. I want to say I have a contempt for +a preacher that will tone his message down to suit some one in +his audience; some Senator, or big man whom he sees present. If +the devil can get possession of such a minister and speak through +him, he will do the work better than the devil himself. You might +be horrified if you knew it was Satan deceiving you, but if a +professed minister of Jesus Christ preaches this doctrine and +says that God will make it all right in the end, that though you +go on living in sin, it is just the same. Don’t be deluded into +believing such doctrine—it is as false as any lie that ever came +from the pit of hell. All the priests and ministers of all the +churches cannot save one soul that will not part with sin.</p> +<p class="pn">There is an old saying that, “Every man has his +price.” Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage; pretty +cheap, was it not? Ahab sold out for a garden of herbs. Judas +sold out for thirty pieces of silver—less than $17 of our money. +Pretty cheap, was it not? Herod sold out for adultery.</p> +<h3>WHAT IS THE PRICE</h3> +<p class="pnn">that you put upon your soul? You say you do not +know. I will tell you. <i>It is the sin that keeps you from +God</i>. It may be whisky; there is many a man who will give up +the hope of heaven and sell his soul for whisky. It may be +adultery; you say:</p> +<p class="pn">“Give me the harlot, and I will relinquish heaven +with all its glories. I would rather be damned with my sin than +saved without it.”</p> +<p class="pn">What are you selling out for, my friend? You know +what it is.</p> +<p class="pn">Do you not think it would have been a thousand +times better for Herod to-day if he had taken the advice of John +the Baptist instead of that vile, adulterous woman? There was +Herodias pulling one way, John the other, and Herod was in the +balance. It’s the same old battle between right and wrong; heaven +pulling one way, hell the other. Are you going to make the same +mistake yourself? We have ten thousand-fold more light than Herod +had. He lived on the other side of the cross. The glorious gospel +had not shone out as it has done since. Think of the sermons you +have heard, of the entreaties addressed to you to become a +Christian. Some of you have had godly mothers who have prayed for +you. Many of you have godly wives who have pleaded with you, and +with God, on your behalf. You have been surrounded with holy +influences from year to year, and how often you have been near +the kingdom of God! Yet here you are to-day, further off than +ever!</p> +<p class="pn">It may be true of you, as it was of Herod, that you +hear your preacher gladly. You attend church, you contribute +liberally, you do many things. Remember that none of these avail +to cleanse your soul from sin. They will not be accepted in the +place of what God demands—repentance and the forsaking of every +sin.</p> +<p class="pn">A child was once playing with a vase, and put his +hand in and could not draw it out again. His father tried to help +him, but in vain. At last he said:</p> +<p class="pn">“Now, make one more try. Open your fingers out +straight, and let me pull your arm.”</p> +<p class="pn">“Oh, no, papa,” said the son, “I’d drop the penny +if I opened my fingers like that!”</p> +<p class="pn">Of course he couldn’t get his hand out when his +fist was doubled. He didn’t want to give up the penny. Just so +with the sinner. He won’t cut loose from his sins.</p> +<p class="pn">Your path and mine will perhaps never cross again. +But if I have any influence with you, I beseech and beg of you to +break with sin now, let it cost you what it will. Herod might +have been associated with Joseph of Arimathea, and with the +twelve apostles of the Lamb, if he had taken the advice of John. +There might have been a fragrance around his name all these +centuries. But alas! when we speak of Herod, we see a sneer on +the faces of those who hear us. If one had said to Herod in those +days, “Do you know that you are going to silence that great +preacher, and have him beheaded?” he would have replied, “Is thy +servant a dog that he should do such a thing? I never would take +the life of such a man.” He would probably have thought he could +never do it. Yet it was only a little while after that he had the +servant of God beheaded.</p> +<p class="pn">Do you know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ proves +either a savor of life unto life, or of death unto death? You +sometimes hear people say: “We will go and hear this man preach. +If it does us no good, it will do us no harm.” Don’t you believe +it, my friend! Every time you hear the Gospel and reject it, the +hardening process goes on. The same sun that melts the ice +hardens the clay. The sermon that would have moved you a few +years ago would make no impression now. Do you not recall some +night when you heard some sermon that shook the foundations of +your skepticism and unbelief? But you are indifferent now.</p> +<p class="pn">I believe Herod was seven times more a child of +hell after his conviction had passed away than he was before. +There is not a true minister of the Gospel who will not say that +the hardest people to reach are those who have been impressed, +and whose impressions have worn away. It is a good deal easier to +commit a sin the second time than it was to commit it the first +time, but it is a good deal harder to repent the second time than +the first.</p> +<p class="pn">If you are near the kingdom of God now, take the +advice of a friend and step into it. Don’t be satisfied with just +getting near to it. Christ said to the young ruler, “Thou art not +far from the kingdom,” but he failed to get there. Don’t run any +risks. Death may overtake you before you have time to carry out +your best intentions, if you put off a decision.</p> +<p class="pn">It is sad to think that men heard Jesus and Paul, +and were moved under their preaching, but were not saved. Judas +must many times have come near the kingdom, but he never entered +in. I saw it in the army—men who had</p> +<h3>ALMOST DECIDED</h3> +<p class="pnn">to become Christians cut down in battle without +having taken the step that would have made them sure of eternal +life. I confess there is something very sad about it.</p> +<p class="pn">In one of the tenement houses in New York city, a +doctor was sent for. He came, and found a young man very sick. +When he got to the bedside the young man said:</p> +<p class="pn">“Doctor, I don’t want you to deceive me; I want to +know the worst. Is this illness to prove serious?”</p> +<p class="pn">After the doctor had made an examination, he said: +“I am sorry to tell you you cannot live out the night.”</p> +<p class="pn">The young man looked up and said: “Well, then, I +have missed it at last!”</p> +<p class="pn">“Missed what?”</p> +<p class="pn">“I have missed eternal life. I always intended to +become a Christian some day, but I thought I had plenty of time, +and put it off.”</p> +<p class="pn">The doctor, who was himself a Christian man, said: +“It is not too late. Call on God for mercy.”</p> +<p class="pn">“No; I have always had a great contempt for a man +who repents when he is dying; he is a miserable coward. If I were +not sick I would not have a thought about my soul, and I am not +going to insult God now.”</p> +<p class="pn">The doctor spent the day with him, read to him out +of the Bible, and tried to get him to lay hold of the promises. +The young man said he would not call on God, and in that state of +mind he passed away. Just as he was dying the doctor saw his lips +moving. He reached down, and all he could hear was the faint +whisper:</p> +<p class="pn">“<i>I have missed it at last!</i>“</p> +<p class="pn">Dear friend, make sure that you do not miss eternal +life at last. Will you go with Herod or with John? Bow your head +now and say:</p> +<p class="pn">“Son of God, come into this heart of mine. I yield +myself to Thee, fully, wholly, unreservedly.”</p> +<p class="pn">He will come to you, and will not only save you, +but will keep you to the end.</p> +<h1><a name="Joseph" id="Joseph">THE MAN BORN BLIND AND JOSEPH OF +ARIMATHEA</a></h1> +<p class="pn">There were two extraordinary men living in the city +of Jerusalem when Christ was on earth. One of them has come down +through history nameless—we do not know who he was; the name of +the other is given. One was not only a beggar, but blind from his +birth; the other was one of the rich men of Jerusalem. Yet in the +Gospel of John, there is more space given to this blind beggar +than to any other character. The reason why so much has been +recorded of this man is because he took his stand for Jesus +Christ.</p> +<p class="pn">Look at the account given in John ix., beginning at +the fifth verse. In the previous chapter Christ had been telling +them that He was the Light of the world, and that if any man +would follow Him he should not walk in darkness, but should have +the light of life. After making a statement of that kind, Christ +often gave</p> +<h3>AN EVIDENCE OF THE TRUTH</h3> +<p class="pnn">of what He said by performing some miracle. If He +had said He was the Light of the world, He would show them in +what way He was the Light of the world. If He had said He was the +Life of the world, He would prove Himself to be such by +quickening and raising the dead; just as He did, after telling +them that He was the Resurrection and the Life, by going to the +graveyard of Bethany and calling Lazarus forth. When Lazarus +heard the voice of his friend saying, “Lazarus, come forth!” he +came forth immediately.</p> +<p class="pn">The Son of God does not ask men to believe Him +without a reason for so doing. We need to keep this in mind. You +might as well ask a man to see without light or eyes, as to +believe without testimony.</p> +<p class="pn">He gave them good reason for believing in Him, and +proved His Messiahship and authority. He not only told them that +He had the power, but He showed them that He had.</p> +<p class="pn">These two men, then, were both at Jerusalem. One +held as high a position, and the other as low a position, as any +in the city. One was at the top of the social ladder, and the +other at the bottom. And yet they both made a good confession; +and one was as acceptable to Jesus as the other.</p> +<h2>I</h2> +<p class="pn">The man mentioned in this chapter was born blind. +We find the Lord’s disciples asking Him:</p> +<p class="pn">“Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that +he was born blind?”</p> +<p class="pn">Jesus answered, “Neither hath this man sinned, nor +his parents; but that the works of God should be manifest in +him.”</p> +<p class="pn">When He had thus spoken, He spat on the ground, and +made clay of the spittle; and He anointed the eyes of the blind +man with the clay, and said unto him:</p> +<p class="pn">“Go wash in the pool of Siloam.”</p> +<p class="pn">The blind man went his way and washed, and his +eyesight was restored.</p> +<p class="pn">Observe what that man did. He did <i>just what +Christ told him to do</i>. The Savior’s command to him was to go +to the pool of Siloam and wash; and “he went his way therefore, +and came seeing.” He was blessed in the very act of +obedience.</p> +<p class="pn">Another thought: God does not generally repeat +Himself. Of all the blind men who were healed while Christ was on +earth, no two were healed in exactly the same way. Jesus met +blind Bartimeus near the gates of Jericho, and called him to Him +and said:</p> +<p class="pn">“What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?”</p> +<p class="pn">The answer was: “Lord, that I might receive my +sight.”</p> +<p class="pn">Now, see what He did. He did not send Bartimeus off +to Jerusalem twenty miles away to the pool of Siloam to wash. He +did not spit on the ground, and make clay, and anoint his eyes; +but with a word He wrought the cure, saying:</p> +<p class="pn">“Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole.”</p> +<p class="pn">Suppose Bartimeus had gone from Jericho and had met +the other blind beggar at the gate of the city of Jerusalem, and +asked him how it was he got his sight; suppose they began to +compare notes—one telling his experience, and the other telling +his. Imagine the first saying:</p> +<p class="pn">“I do not believe that you have got your sight, +because you did not get it in the same way that I got mine.”</p> +<p class="pn">Would the different ways the Lord Jesus had in +healing them make their cases the less true? Yet there are some +people who talk just that way now. Because God does not deal with +some exactly as He does with others, people think that God is not +dealing with them at all. God seldom repeats Himself. No two +persons were ever converted exactly alike, so far as my +experience goes. Each one must have an experience of his own. Let +the Lord give sight in His own way.</p> +<p class="pn">There are thousands of people who</p> +<h3>KEEP AWAY FROM CHRIST</h3> +<p class="pnn">because they are looking for the experience of +some dear friend or relative. They should not judge of their +conversion by the experiences of others. They have heard some one +tell how he was converted twenty years ago, and they expect to be +converted in the same way. Persons should never count upon having +an experience precisely similar to that of some one else of whom +they have heard or read. They must go right to the Lord Himself, +and do what He tells them to do. If He says, “Go to the pool of +Siloam and wash,” then they must go. If He says, “Come just as +you are,” and promises to give sight, then they must come, and +let Him do His own work in His own way, just as this blind man +did. It was a peculiar way by which to give a man sight; but it +was the Lord’s way; and the man’s sight was given him. We might +think it was enough to make a man blind to fill his eyes with +clay. True, he was now doubly blind; for if he had been able to +see before, the clay would have deprived him of his sight. But +the Lord wanted to show the people that they were not only +spiritually blind by nature, but that they had also allowed +themselves to be blinded by the clay of this world, which had +been spread over their eyes. But God’s ways are not our ways. If +He is going to work, we must let Him act as He pleases.</p> +<p class="pn">Shall we dictate to the Almighty? Shall the clay +say to the potter, “Why hast thou made me thus?” Who art thou, O +man, that repliest against God? Let God work in His own way; and +when the Holy Ghost comes, let Him mark out a way for Himself. We +must be willing to submit, and to do what the Lord tells us, +without any questioning whatever.</p> +<p class="pn">“He went his way, therefore, and washed, and came +seeing. The neighbors, therefore, and they which before had seen +him that he was blind, said, ‘Is not this he that sat and +begged?’ ”</p> +<p class="pn">“Some said, ‘This is he’; others said, ‘He is like +him.’ ”</p> +<p class="pn">Now, if he had been like a good many at the present +time, I am afraid he would have remained silent. He would have +said:</p> +<p class="pn">“Well, now I have got my sight, and I will just +keep quiet about it. It is not necessary for me to confess it. +Why should I say anything? There is a good deal of opposition to +this man Jesus Christ. There are a great many bitter things said +in Jerusalem against Him. He has a great many enemies. I think +there will be trouble if I talk about Him; so I will say +nothing.”</p> +<p class="pn">Some said, “This is he”; others said, “He is like +him.” But he said, “I am he.” He not only got his eyes opened, +but, thank God, he got his mouth open too!</p> +<p class="pn">Surely, the next thing after we get our eyes opened +is for us to open our lips and begin to testify for Him.</p> +<p class="pn">The people asked him, “How were thine eyes +opened?”</p> +<p class="pn">He answered: “A man that is called Jesus made clay +and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of +Siloam and wash: and I went and washed, and I received +sight.”</p> +<p class="pn">He told a straightforward story, just what the Lord +had done for him. That is all. That is what a witness ought to +do—tell what he knows, not what he does not know. He did not try +to make a long speech. It is not the most flippant and fluent +witness who has the most influence with a jury.</p> +<p class="pn">This man’s testimony is what I call “experience.” +One of the greatest hindrances to the progress of the Gospel +to-day is that the narration of the experience of the Church is +not encouraged. There are a great many men and women who come +into the Church, and we never hear anything of their experiences, +or of the Lord’s dealings with them. If we could, it would be a +great help to others. It would stimulate faith and encourage the +more feeble of the flock.</p> +<h3>THE APOSTLE PAUL’S EXPERIENCE</h3> +<p class="pnn">has been recorded three times. I have no doubt +that he told it everywhere he went: how God had met him; how God +had opened his eyes and his heart; and how God had blessed him. +Depend upon it, experience has its place; the great mistake that +is made now is in the other extreme. In some places and at some +periods there has been too much of it—it has been all experience; +and now we have let the pendulum swing too far the other way.</p> +<p class="pn">I think it is not only right, but exceedingly +useful, that we should give our experience. This man bore +testimony to what the Lord had done for him.</p> +<p class="pn">“And it was the Sabbath day when Jesus made the +clay, and opened his eyes; Then again the Pharisees also asked +him how he had received his sight. He said unto them, ‘He put +clay upon mine eyes; and I washed, and do see.’ Therefore said +some of the Pharisees, ‘This man is not of God, because he +keepeth not the Sabbath day.’ Others said, ‘How can a man that is +a sinner do such miracles?’ And there was a division among +them.</p> +<p class="pn">They say unto the blind man again, ‘What sayest +thou of Him, that He hath opened thine eyes?’ ”</p> +<p class="pn">What an opportunity he had for evading the +questions! He might have said: “Why, I have never seen Him. When +He met me I was blind; I could not see Him. When I came back I +could not find Him; and I have not formed any opinion yet.” He +might have put them off in that way, but he said:</p> +<p class="pn">“He is a prophet.”</p> +<p class="pn">He gave them his opinion. He was a man of backbone. +He had moral courage. He stood right up among the enemies of +Jesus Christ, the Pharisees, and told them what he thought of +Him—</p> +<p class="pn">“He is a prophet.”</p> +<p class="pn">If you can get young Christians to talk, not about +themselves, but about Christ, their testimony will have power. +Many converts talk altogether about their own experience—“I,” +“I,” “I,” “I.” But this blind man got away to the Master, and +said, “He is a prophet.” He believed, and he told them what he +believed.</p> +<p class="pn">“But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that +he had been blind, and received his sight, until they called the +parents of him that had received his sight. And they asked them, +saying, ‘Is this your son, who ye say was born blind? How then +doth he now see?’ His parents answered them, and said, ‘We know +that this is our son, and that he was born blind: but by what +means he now seeth, we know not: or who hath opened his eyes, we +know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself.’ +These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews; for +the Jews had agreed already that if any man did confess that He +was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. Therefore said +his parents, ‘He is of age; ask him.’ ”</p> +<p class="pn">I have always had great contempt for those parents. +They had a noble son, and their lack of moral courage then and +there to confess what the Lord Jesus Christ had done for their +son, makes them unworthy of him. They say, “We do not know how he +got it,” which looks as if they did not believe their own son. +“He is of age; ask him.”</p> +<p class="pn">It is sorrowfully true to-day that we have hundreds +and thousands of people who are professed disciples of Jesus +Christ, but when the time comes that they ought to take their +stand, and give a clear testimony for Him, they testify against +Him. You can always tell those who are really converted to God. +The new man always takes his stand for God; and the old man takes +his stand against Him. These parents had an opportunity to +confess the Lord Jesus Christ, and to do great things for Him; +but they neglected their golden opportunity.</p> +<p class="pn">If they had but stood up with their noble son, and +said, “This is our son. We have tried all the physicians, and +used all the means in our power, and were unable to do anything +for him; but now, out of gratitude, we confess that he received +his sight from the prophet of Galilee, Jesus of Nazareth,” they +might have led many to believe on Him. But, instead of that, they +said, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind: +but by what means he now seeth, we know not.”</p> +<p class="pn">Do you know why they did not want to tell how he +got his sight? Simply because it would</p> +<h3>COST THEM TOO MUCH.</h3> +<p class="pnn">They represent those Christians who do not want to +serve Christ if it is going to cost them anything; if they have +to give up society, position, or worldly pleasures. They do not +want to come out. This is what keeps hundreds and thousands from +becoming Christians.</p> +<p class="pn">It was a serious thing to be put out of the +synagogue in those days. It does not amount to much now. If a man +is put out of one church, another may receive him; but when he +went out of the synagogue there was no other to take him in. It +was the State church: it was the only one they had. If he were +cast out of that, he was cast out of society, position, and +everything else; and his business suffered also.</p> +<p class="pn">Then again the Jews called the man that was blind, +“and said unto him, ‘Give God the praise; we know that this man +is a sinner.’ ”</p> +<p class="pn">It looks now as if they were trying to prejudice +him against Christ: but he “answered and said, ‘Whether He be a +sinner or no, I know not; one thing I know, that whereas I was +blind, now I see.’ ”</p> +<p class="pn">There were no infidels or philosophers there who +could persuade him out of that. There were not men enough in +Jerusalem to make him believe that his eyes were not opened. Did +he not <i>know</i> that for over twenty years he had been feeling +his way around Jerusalem; that he had been led by children and +friends; and that during all those years he had not seen the sun +in its glory, or any of the beauties of nature? Did he not know +that he had been feeling his way through life up to that very +day?</p> +<p class="pn">And do we not know that we have been born of God, +and that we have got the eyes of our souls opened? Do we not know +that old things have passed away and all things have become new, +and that the eternal light has dawned upon our souls? Do we not +know that the chains that once bound us have snapped asunder, +that the darkness is gone, and that the light has come? Have we +not liberty where we once had bondage? Do we not know it? If so, +then let us not hold our peace. Let us testify for the Son of +God, and say, as the blind man did in Jerusalem, “O<span class= +"sc">ne thing I know</span>, that whereas I was blind, now I see. +I have a new power. I have a new light. I have a new love. I have +a new nature. I have something that reaches out toward God. By +the eye of faith I can see yonder heaven. I can see Christ +standing at the right hand of God. By and by, when my journey is +over, I am going to hear that voice saying, ‘Come hither,’ when I +shall sit down in the kingdom of God.”</p> +<p class="pn">“Then said they to him again, ‘What did He do to +thee? how opened He thine eyes?’ But he answered them, ‘I have +told you already, and ye did not hear; wherefore would ye hear it +again? Will ye also be His disciples?’ ”</p> +<p class="pn">This was a most extraordinary man. Here was a young +convert in Jerusalem, not a day old,</p> +<h3>TRYING TO MAKE CONVERTS</h3> +<p class="pnn">of these Pharisees—men who had been fighting +Christ for nearly three years! He asked them if they would also +become His disciples. He was ready to tell his experience to all +who were willing to hear it. If he had covered it up at the +first, and had not come out at once, he would not have had the +privilege of testifying in that way, neither would he have been a +winner of souls. This man was going to be a soul-winner.</p> +<p class="pn">I venture to say he became one of the best workers +in Jerusalem. I have no doubt he stood well to the front on the +day of Pentecost, when Peter preached, and when the wounded were +around him; he went to work and told how the Lord had blessed +him, and how He would bless them. He was a <i>worker</i>, not an +<i>idler</i>, and he kept his lips open.</p> +<p class="pn">It is a very sad thing that so many of God’s +children are dumb; yet it is true. Parents would think it a great +calamity to have their children born dumb; they would mourn over +it, and weep; and well they might; but did you ever think of the +many dumb children God has? The churches are full of them; they +never speak for Christ. They can talk about politics, art, and +science; they can speak well enough and fast enough about the +fashions of the day; but they have</p> +<h3>NO VOICE FOR THE SON OF GOD.</h3> +<p class="pn">Dear friend, if He is your Savior, confess Him. +Every follower of Jesus should bear testimony for Him. How many +opportunities each one has in society and in business to speak a +word for Jesus Christ! How many opportunities occur daily wherein +every Christian might be “instant in season and out of season” in +pleading for Jesus! In so doing we receive blessing for +ourselves, and also become a means of blessing to others.</p> +<p class="pn">This man wanted to make converts of those +Pharisees, who only a little while before had their hands full of +stones, ready to put the Son of God to death, and even now had +murder in their hearts. They reviled him, saying, “Thou art His +disciple, but we are Moses’ disciples. We know that God spake +unto Moses. As for this fellow, we know not from whence He +is.”</p> +<p class="pn">Well, now the once blind man might have said, +“There is a good deal of opposition, and I will say no more; I +will keep quiet, and walk off and leave them.” But, thank God, he +stood right up with the courage of a Paul! He answered and said +unto them:</p> +<p class="pn">“Why, herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know +not from whence He is, and yet He hath opened mine eyes! Now we +know that God heareth not sinners; but if any man be a worshiper +of God, and doeth His will, him He heareth.”</p> +<p class="pn">Now, I call that logic. If he had been through a +theological seminary he could not have given a better answer. It +is sound doctrine, and was a good sermon for those who were +opposed to the work of Christ. “If this man were not of God He +could do nothing.” This is very strong proof of the man’s +conviction as to who the Lord Jesus was. It is as though he said: +“I, a man born blind, and He can give me sight. He a +<i>sinner!</i>” Why, it is unreasonable! If Jesus Christ were a +man only, how could He give that man sight?</p> +<p class="pn">Let philosophers, skeptics, and infidels answer the +question,</p> +<p class="pn">Neither had he to wear glasses. He received good +sight, not short sight, or weak sight, but as good sight as any +man in Jerusalem, and perhaps a little better. They could all +look at him and see for themselves. His testimony was beyond +dispute.</p> +<p class="pn">After his splendid confession of the divinity and +power of Christ, “they answered and said unto him, ‘Thou wast +altogether born in sin, and dost thou teach us?’ And they cast +him out.” They could not meet his argument, and so they cast him +out. So it is now. If we give a clear testimony for Christ, the +world will cast us out. It is a good thing to give our testimony +so clearly for Christ that the world dislikes it; it is a good +thing when such testimony for Christ causes the world to cast us +out.</p> +<p class="pn">Let us see what happened when they cast him out. +“Jesus heard,” that is the next thing. No sooner did they cast +him out than Jesus heard of it. No man was ever cast out by the +world for the sake of Jesus Christ but He heard of it; indeed, He +will be the first one to hear of it. “Jesus heard that they had +cast him out; and when He found him He said unto him, ‘Dost thou +believe in the Son of God?’ He answered and said, ‘Who is He, +Lord, that I might believe on Him?’ And Jesus said unto him, +‘Thou hast both seen Him, and it is He that talketh with thee.’ +And he said, ‘Lord, I believe!’ And he worshiped Him.”</p> +<p class="pn">That was</p> +<h3>A GOOD PLACE TO LEAVE HIM</h3> +<p class="pnn">—at the feet of Jesus. We shall meet him by and by +in the kingdom of God.</p> +<p class="pn">His testimony has been ringing down through the +ages these last nineteen hundred years. It has been talked about +wherever the Word of God has been known. It was a wonderful day’s +work that man did for the Son of God; doubtless there will be +many in eternity who will thank God for his confession of +Christ.</p> +<p class="pn">By thus showing his gratitude in coming out and +confessing Christ, he has left a record that has stirred the +Church of God ever since. He is one of the characters that always +stirs one up, imparting new life and fire, new boldness and +courage when one reads about him. This is what we need to-day as +much as ever—to stand up for the Son of God. Let the Pharisees +rage against us; let the world go on mocking, and sneering, and +scoffing; we will stand up courageously for the Son of God. If +they cast us out, they will cast us right into His own bosom. He +will take us to His own loving arms. It is a blessed thing to +live so godly in Christ Jesus that the world will not want +you—that they will cast you out.</p> +<h2>II</h2> +<p class="pn">Now we come to Joseph of Arimathea.</p> +<p class="pn">I do not think he came out quite so nobly as this +blind beggar did; but he did come out, and we will thank God for +that. We read in John that for fear of the Jews he was kept back +from confessing openly.</p> +<p class="pn">“And after this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a +disciple of Jesus, but secretly, <i>for fear of the Jews</i>, +besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and +Pilate gave him leave. He came, therefore, and took the body of +Jesus.”</p> +<p class="pn">Read the four accounts given in the four Gospels of +Joseph of Arimathea. There is very seldom anything mentioned by +all four of the Evangelists. If Matthew and Mark refer to an +event it is often omitted by Luke and John; and, if it occur in +the latter, it may not be contained in the former. John’s Gospel +is made up of that which is absent from the others in most +instances—as in the case of the blind man alluded to. But all +four record what Joseph did for Christ. All His disciples had +forsaken Him. One had sold Him, and another had denied Him. He +was left in gloom and darkness, when Joseph of Arimathea came out +and confessed Him.</p> +<p class="pn">It was the death of Jesus Christ that brought out +Joseph of Arimathea. Probably he was one of the number that stood +at the cross when the centurion smote his breast, and cried out, +“Truly, this was the Son of God,” and he was doubtless convinced +at the same time. He was a disciple before, because we read that +on the night of the trial he did not give his consent to the +death of Christ. There must have been some surprise in the +Council-chamber on that occasion, when Joseph of Arimathea, a +rich man, stood up and said:</p> +<p class="pn">“I will never give my consent to His death.”</p> +<p class="pn">There were seventy of those men, but we have very +good reason to believe that there were two of them that, like +Caleb and Joshua of old, had the courage to stand up for Jesus +Christ—these were Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus: neither of +them gave their consent to the death of Christ. But I am afraid +Joseph did not come out and say that he was a disciple—for we do +not find a word said about his being one until after the +crucifixion.</p> +<p class="pn">I am afraid there are</p> +<h3>MANY JOSEPHS TODAY,</h3> +<p class="pnn">men of position, of whom it could be said they are +secret disciples. Such would probably say to-day, “I do not need +to take my stand on Christ’s side. What more do <i>I</i> need? I +have everything.” We read that he was a rich and honorable +councillor, a just and a good man, and holding a high position in +the government of the nation. He was also a benevolent man, and a +devout man too. What more could he need? God wants something more +than Joseph’s good life and high position. A man may be all +Joseph was and yet be without Christ.</p> +<p class="pn">But a crisis came in his history. If he was to take +his stand, now was the time for him to do it, I consider that +this is one of the grandest, the noblest acts that any man ever +did, to take his stand for Christ when there seemed nothing, +humanly speaking, that Christ could give him. Joseph had no hope +concerning the resurrection. It seems that none of our Lord’s +disciples understood that He was going to rise again even Peter, +James, and John, as well as the rest, scarcely believed that He +had risen when He appeared to them. They had anticipated that He +would set up His kingdom, but He had no sceptre in His hand; and, +so far as they could see, no kingdom in view. In fact, He was +dead on the cross, with nails through His hands and feet. There +He hung until His spirit took its flight; that which had made Him +so grand, so glorious, and so noble, had now left the body.</p> +<p class="pn">Joseph might have said, “It will be no use my +taking a stand for Him now. If I come out and confess Him I shall +probably lose my position in society and in the council, and my +influence. I had better remain where I am.”</p> +<p class="pn">There was no earthly reward for him; there was +nothing, humanly speaking, that could have induced him to come +out; and yet we are told by Mark that he went boldly into +Pilate’s judgment-hall and begged the body of Jesus. I consider +this was</p> +<h3>ONE OF THE SUBLIMEST, GRANDEST ACTS</h3> +<p class="pnn">that any man ever did. In that darkness and gloom, +His disciples having all forsaken Him; Judas having sold Him for +thirty pieces of silver; the chief apostle Peter having denied +Him with a curse, swearing that he never knew Him; the chief +priests having found Him guilty of blasphemy; the Council having +condemned him to death; and when there was a hiss going up to +heaven over all Jerusalem, Joseph went right against the current, +right against the influence of all his friends, and begged the +body of Jesus.</p> +<p class="pn">Blessed act! Doubtless he upbraided himself for not +having been more bold in his defence of Christ when He was tried, +and before He was condemned to be crucified. The Scripture says +he was an honorable man, an honorable councillor, a rich man, and +yet we have only the record of that one thing—the one act of +begging the body of Jesus. But I tell you, that what he did for +the Son of God, out of pure love for Him, will live for ever; +that one act rises up above everything else that Joseph of +Arimathea ever did. He might have given large sums of money to +different institutions, he might have been very good to the poor, +he might have been very kind to the needy in various ways; but +that one act for Jesus Christ, on that memorable, that dark +afternoon, was one of the noblest acts that a man ever did. He +must have been a man of great influence, or Pilate would not have +given him the body.</p> +<p class="pn">And now you see another secret disciple, Nicodemus. +Nicodemus and Joseph go to the cross. Joseph is there first, and +while he is waiting for Nicodemus to come, he looks down the +hill; and I can imagine his delight as he sees his friend coming +with a hundred pounds of ointment. Although Jesus Christ had led +such a lowly life, He was to have a kingly anointing and burial. +God has touched the hearts of these two noble men and they drew +out the nails, and took the body down, washed the blood away from +the wounds that had been made on His back by the scourge, and on +His head by the crown of thorns; then they took the lifeless +form, washed it clean, and wrapped it in fine linen, and Joseph +laid Him in his own sepulchre.</p> +<p class="pn">When all was dark and gloomy, when His cause seemed +to be lost, and the hope of the Church buried in that new tomb, +Joseph took his stand for the One “despised and rejected of men.” +It was the greatest act of his life; and, my reader, if you want +to stand with the Lord Jesus Christ in glory; if you want the +power of God to be bestowed upon you for service down here, you +must not hesitate to take your stand boldly and manfully for the +most despised of all men—the Man Christ Jesus. His cause is +unpopular. The ungodly sneer at His name. But if you want the +blessings of heaven on your soul, and to hear the “Well done, +good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord,” +take your stand at once for Him; whatever your position may be, +or however much your friends may be against you. Decide for Jesus +Christ, the crucified but risen Savior. Go outside the camp and +bear His reproach. Take up your cross and follow Him, and by and +by you will lay it down and take the crown to wear it for +ever.</p> +<p class="pn">I remember some meetings being held in a locality +where the tide did not rise very quickly, and bitter and +reproachful things were being said about the work. But one day, +one of the most prominent men in the place rose and said:</p> +<p class="pn">“I want it to be known that I am a disciple of +Jesus Christ, and if there is any odium to be cast on His cause, +I am prepared to take my share of it.”</p> +<p class="pn">It went through the meeting like an electric +current, and a blessing came at once to his own soul and to the +souls of others.</p> +<p class="pn">Depend upon it, there is</p> +<h3>NO CROWN WITHOUT A CROSS.</h3> +<p class="pnn">We must take our proper position here, as Joseph +did. It cost him something to take up his cross. I have no doubt +they put him out of the council and out of the synagogue. He lost +his standing, and perhaps his wealth: like other faithful +followers of Christ, he became, henceforth, a despised and +unpopular man.</p> +<p class="pn">The blind man could not have done what Joseph did. +Some men can do what others cannot. God will hold us responsible +for our own influence. Let each of us do what we can. Even though +the conduct of our Lord’s professed followers was anything but +helpful to those who, like Joseph, had but little courage to come +out on the Lord’s side, he was not deterred from taking his +stand.</p> +<p class="pn">Whatever it costs us, let us be true Christians, +and take a firm stand. It is like the dust in the balance in +comparison to what God has in store for us. We can afford to +suffer with Him a little while if we are going to reign with Him +for ever. We can afford to take up the cross and follow Him, to +be despised and rejected by the world, with such a bright +prospect in view. If the glories of heaven are real, it will be +to His praise and to our advantage to share in His rejection +now.</p> +<p class="pn">May the Lord keep us from halting; and may we, when +weighed in the balance, not be found wanting! May God help every +reader to do all that the poor blind beggar did, and all that +Joseph did!</p> +<p class="pn">Let us confess Him at all times and in all places. +Let us show our friends that we are out and out on His side. +Every one has a circle that he can influence, and God will hold +us responsible for the influence we possess. Joseph of Arimathea +and the blind man had circles in which their influence was +powerful. I can influence people that others cannot reach; and +they, in their turn, can reach a class that I could not touch. It +is only for a little while that we can confess Him and work for +Him. It is only for a few months or years; and then the eternal +ages will roll on, and great will be our reward in the crowning +day that is coming. We shall then hear the Master say to us:</p> +<p class="pn">“Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou +into the joy of thy Lord.”</p> +<p class="pn">God grant it may be so!</p> +<h1><a name="Thief" id="Thief">THE PENITENT THIEF</a></h1> +<p class="pn">It should give us all a great deal of hope and +comfort that Jesus saved such a man as the penitent thief just +before He went back to heaven. Every one who is not a Christian +ought to be interested in this case, to know how he was +converted. Any one who does not believe in sudden conversions +ought to look into it. If conversions are gradual, if it takes +six months, or six weeks, or six days to convert a man, there was +no chance for this thief. If a man who has lived a good, +consistent life cannot be converted suddenly, how much less +chance for him! Turn to the 23d chapter of Luke, and see how the +Lord dealt with him. He was a thief, and the worst kind of a +thief, or else they would not have punished him by crucifixion. +Yet Christ not only saved him, but took him up with Himself into +glory.</p> +<p class="pn">Let us look at Christ hanging on the cross between +the two thieves. The Scribes and Pharisees wagged their heads, +and jeered at Him. His disciples had fled. Only His mother and +one or two other women remained in sight to cheer Him with their +presence among all the crowd of enemies. Hear those spiteful +Pharisees mocking among themselves: “He saved others; Himself He +cannot save.” The account also says that the two thieves “cast +the same in his teeth.”</p> +<h3>REVILING.</h3> +<p class="pn">The first thing we read, then, of this man is that +he was a reviler of Christ.</p> +<p class="pn">You would think that he would be doing something +else at such a time as that; but hanging there in the midst of +torture, and certain to be dead in a few hours, instead of +confessing his sins and preparing to meet that God whose law he +had broken all his life, he is abusing God’s only Son. Surely, he +cannot sink any lower, until he sinks into hell!</p> +<h3>UNDER CONVICTION.</h3> +<p class="pn">The next time we hear of him, he appears to be +under conviction:</p> +<p class="pn">“And one of the malefactors which were hanged +railed on Him, saying, If thou be Christ, save Thyself and us. +But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear +God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed +justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this Man +hath done nothing amiss.”</p> +<p class="pn">What do you suppose made so great a change in this +man in these few hours? Christ had not preached a sermon, had +given him no exhortation. The darkness had not yet come on. The +earth had not opened her mouth. The business of death was going +on undisturbed. The crowd was still there, mocking and hissing +and wagging the head. Yet this man, who in the morning was +railing at Christ, is now confessing his sins and rebuking the +other thief. “We indeed justly!” No miracle had been wrought +before his eyes. No angel from heaven had come to place a +glittering crown upon His head in place of the bloody crown of +thorns.</p> +<p class="pn">What was it wrought such a change in him?</p> +<p class="pn">I will tell you what I think it was. I think it was +the Savior’s prayer:</p> +<p class="pn">“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they +do.”</p> +<p class="pn">I seem to hear the thief</p> +<h3>TALKING TO HIMSELF</h3> +<p class="pnn">in this way:</p> +<p class="pn">“What a strange kind of man this must be! He claims +to be king of the Jews, and the superscription over His cross +says the same. But what sort of a throne is this! He says He is +the Son of God. Why does not God send down His angels and destroy +all these people who are torturing His Son to death? If He has +all power now, as He used to have when He worked those miracles +they talked about, why does He not bring out His vengeance, and +sweep all these wretches into destruction? I would do it in a +minute if I had the power. I wouldn’t spare any of them. I would +open the earth and swallow them up! But this man prays to God to +forgive them! Strange, strange! He <i>must</i> be different from +us. I am sorry I said one word against Him when they first hung +us up here.</p> +<p class="pn">What a difference there is between Him and me! Here +we are, hanging on two crosses, side by side; but all the rest of +our lives we have been far enough apart. I have been robbing and +murdering, and He has been feeding the hungry, healing the sick, +and raising the dead. Now these people are railing at us both! I +begin to believe He must be the Son of God; for surely no man +could forgive his enemies like that.”</p> +<p class="pn">Yes, that prayer of Christ’s did what the scourge +could not do. This man had gone through his trial, he had been +beaten, he had been nailed to the cross; but his heart had not +been subdued, he had raised no cry to God, he was not sorry for +his sins. Yet, when he heard the Savior praying for His +murderers, that</p> +<h3>BROKE HIS HEART.</h3> +<p class="pn">It flashed into this thief’s soul that Jesus was +the Son of God, and that moment he rebuked his companion, +saying:</p> +<p class="pn">“Dost thou not fear God?”</p> +<p class="pn">The fear of God fell upon him. There is not much +hope of a man’s being saved until the fear of God comes upon him. +Solomon says, “The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.”</p> +<p class="pn">We read in Acts that great fear fell upon the +people; that was the fear of the Lord. That was the first sign +that conviction had entered the soul of the thief. “Dost thou not +fear God?” That was the first sign we have of life springing +up.</p> +<h3>CONFESSING.</h3> +<p class="pn">Next, he confessed his sins: “We indeed justly.” He +took his place among sinners, not trying to justify himself.</p> +<p class="pn">A man may be very sorry for his sins, but if he +doesn’t confess them, he has no promise of being forgiven. Cain +felt badly enough over his sins, but he did not confess. Saul was +greatly tormented in mind, but he went to the witch of Endor +instead of to the Lord. Judas felt so bad over the betrayal of +his Master that he went out and hanged himself; but he did not +confess to God. True, he went and confessed to the priests, +saying, “I have sinned in that I have betrayed innocent blood”; +but it was of no use to confess to them—they could not forgive +him.</p> +<p class="pn">How different is the case of this penitent thief! +He confessed his sins, and Christ had mercy on him there and +then.</p> +<p class="pn">The great trouble is, people are always trying to +make out that they are not sinners, that they have nothing to +confess. Therefore, there is no chance of reaching them with the +Gospel. There is no hope for a man who folds his arms and says: +“I don’t think God will punish sin; I am going to take the risk.” +There is no hope for a man until he sees that he is under just +condemnation for his sins and shortcomings. God never forgives a +sinner until he confesses.</p> +<h3>JUSTIFYING CHRIST.</h3> +<p class="pn">The next thing, he justifies Christ: “This Man hath +done nothing amiss.”</p> +<p class="pn">When men are talking against Christ, they are a +great way from becoming Christians. Now he says, “He hath done +nothing amiss.” There was the world mocking him; but in the midst +of it all, you can hear that thief crying out:</p> +<p class="pn">“This Man hath done nothing amiss.”</p> +<h3>FAITH.</h3> +<p class="pn">The next step is faith.</p> +<p class="pn">Talk about faith! I think this is about the most +extraordinary case of faith in the Bible. Abraham was the father +of the faithful; but God had him in training for twenty-five +years. Moses was a man of faith; but he saw the burning bush, and +had other evidences of God. Elijah had faith; but see what good +reason he had for it. God took care of him, and fed him in time +of famine. But here was a man who perhaps had never seen a +miracle; who had spent his life among criminals; whose friends +were thieves and outlaws; who was now in his dying agonies in the +presence of a crowd who were rejecting and reviling the Son of +God. His disciples, who had heard His wonderful words, and +witnessed His mighty works, had forsaken Him; and perhaps the +thief knew this. Peter had denied Him with oaths and cursing; and +perhaps this had been told the thief. Judas had betrayed Him. He +saw no glittering crown upon His brow; only the crown of thorns. +He could see no sign of His kingdom. Where were His subjects? And +yet, nailed to the cross, racked with pain in every nerve, +overwhelmed with horror, his wicked soul in a tempest of passion, +this poor wretch managed to lay hold on Christ and trust Him for +a swift salvation. The faith of this thief, how it flashes out +amid the darkness of Calvary! It is one of the most astounding +instances of faith in the Bible!</p> +<p class="pn">When I was a boy I was a poor speller. One day +there came a word to the boy at the head of the class which he +couldn’t spell, and none of the class could spell it. I spelled +it; by good luck; and I went from the foot of the class to the +head. So the thief on the cross passed by Abraham, Moses and +Elijah, and went to the head of the class. He said unto +Jesus:</p> +<p class="pn">“Lord, remember me when thou comest into Thy +kingdom.”</p> +<p class="pn">Thank God for such a faith! How refreshing it must +have been to Christ to have one own Him as Lord, and believe in +His kingdom, at that dark hour! How this thief’s heart goes out +to the Son of God! How glad he would be to fall on his knees at +the foot of the cross, and pour out his prayer! But this he +cannot do. His hands and feet are nailed fast to the wood, but +they have not nailed his eyes and his tongue and his heart. He +can at least turn his head and look upon the Son of God, and his +breaking heart can go out in love to that One who was dying for +him and dying for you and me, and he can say:</p> +<p class="pn">“Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy +kingdom.”</p> +<h3>WHAT A CONFESSION</h3> +<p class="pnn">of Christ that was! He called Him “Lord.” A queer +Lord! Nails through His hands and feet, fastened to the cross. A +strange throne! Blood trickling down His face from the scars made +by the crown of thorns. But He was all the more “Lord” because of +this.</p> +<p class="pn">Sinner, call Him “Lord” now. Take your place as a +poor condemned rebel, and cry out:</p> +<p class="pn">“Lord, remember me!”</p> +<p class="pn">That isn’t a very long prayer, but it will prevail. +You don’t have to add—“when Thou comest into Thy kingdom,” +because Christ is now at His Father’s right hand. Three words; a +chain of three golden links that will bind the sinner to his +Lord.</p> +<p class="pn">Some people think they must have a form of prayer, +a prayer-book, perhaps, if they are going to address the Throne +of Grace properly; but what could that poor fellow do with a +prayer-book up there, hanging on the cross, with both hands +nailed fast? Suppose it had been necessary for some priest or +minister to pray for him, what could he do? Nobody is there to +pray for him, and yet he is going to die in a few hours. He is +out of reach of help from man, but God has laid help upon One who +is mighty, and that One is close at hand. He prayed out of the +heart. His prayer was short, but it brought the blessing. It came +to the point: “Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy +kingdom.” He asked the Lord to give him, right there and then, +what he wanted.</p> +<h3>THE ANSWERED PRAYER.</h3> +<p class="pn">Now consider the answer to his prayer. He got more +than he asked, just as every one does who asks in faith. He only +asked Christ to “remember” him; but Christ answered:</p> +<p class="pn">“To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise!”</p> +<p class="pn">Immediate blessing—promise of fellowship—eternal +rest; this is the way Christ answered his prayer.</p> +<h3>DARKNESS.</h3> +<p class="pn">And now darkness falls upon the earth. The sun +hides itself. Worse than all, the Father hides His face from His +Son. What else is the meaning of that bitter cry:</p> +<p class="pn">“My God! my God! Why hast Thou forsaken me?”</p> +<p class="pn">Ah! It had been written, “Cursed is every one that +hangeth on a tree.” Jesus was made a curse for us. God cannot +look upon sin: and so when even His own Son was bearing our sins +in His body, God could not look upon Him.</p> +<p class="pn">I think this is what bore heaviest upon the +Savior’s heart in the garden when He prayed:</p> +<p class="pn">“If it be possible, let this cup pass from me.”</p> +<p class="pn">He could bear the unfaithfulness of His friends, +the spite of His enemies, the pain of His crucifixion, and the +shadow of death; He could bear all these; but when it came to the +hiding of His Father’s face, that seemed almost too much for even +the Son of God to bear. But even this He endured for our sins; +and now the face of God is turned back to us, whose sins had +turned it away, and looking upon Jesus, the sinless One, He sees +us in Him.</p> +<p class="pn">In the midst of all His agony, how sweet it must +have been to Christ to hear that poor thief confessing Him!</p> +<p class="pn">He likes to have men confess Him. Don’t you +remember His asking Peter, “Whom do men say that I am?” and when +Peter answered, “Some people say you are Moses, some people say +you are Elias, and some people say you are one of the old +Prophets,” He asked again, “But, Peter, whom do <i>you</i> say I +am?” When Peter said, “Thou art the Son of God,” Jesus blessed +him for that confession. And now this thief confesses +Him—confesses Him in the darkness. Perhaps it is so dark he +cannot see Him any longer; but he feels that He is there beside +him. Christ wants us to confess Him in the dark as well as in the +light; when it is hard as well as when it is easy. For He was not +ashamed of us, but bore our sins and carried our sorrows, even +unto death.</p> +<p class="pn">When a prominent man dies, we are anxious, to get +his last words and acts.</p> +<h3>THE LAST ACT OF THE SON OF GOD</h3> +<p class="pnn">was to save a sinner. That was a part of the glory +of His death. He commenced His ministry by saving sinners, and +ended it by saving this poor thief. “Shall the prey be taken from +the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered? But thus saith the +Lord: Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and +the prey of the terrible shall be delivered.” He took this +captive from the jaws of death. He was on the borders of hell, +and Christ snatched him away.</p> +<p class="pn">No doubt Satan was saying to himself: “I shall have +the soul of that thief pretty soon. He belongs to me. He has been +mine all these years.”</p> +<p class="pn">But in his last hours the poor wretch cried out to +the Lord, and He snapped the fetters that bound his soul, and set +him at liberty. He threw him a passport into heaven. I can +imagine, as the soldier drove his spear into our Savior’s side, +there came flashing into the mind of the thief the words of the +prophet Zechariah:</p> +<p class="pn">“In that day there shall be a fountain opened to +the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin +and for uncleanness.”</p> +<p class="pn">You see, in the conversion of this thief, that</p> +<h3>SALVATION IS DISTINCT AND SEPARATE FROM WORKS.</h3> +<p class="pn">Some people tell us we have to work to be saved. +What has the man who believes that to say about the salvation of +this thief? How could he work, when he was nailed to the +cross?</p> +<p class="pn">He took the Lord at His word, and believed. It is +with the heart men believe, not with their hands or feet. All +that is necessary for a man to be saved is to believe with his +heart. This thief made a good confession. If he had been a +Christian fifty years, he could not have done Christ more service +there than he did. He confessed Him before the world; and for +nineteen hundred years that confession has been told. Matthew, +Mark, Luke and John all recorded it. They felt it so important +that they thought we should have it.</p> +<p class="pn">See how</p> +<h3>SALVATION IS SEPARATE AND DISTINCT FROM ALL ORDINANCES</h3> +<p class="pnn">—not but that ordinances are right in their +place.</p> +<p class="pn">Many people think it is impossible for any one to +get into the kingdom of God if he is not baptized into it. I know +people who were greatly exercised because little children died +unbaptized. I have seen them carry the children through the +streets because the pastor could not come. I don’t want you to +think I am talking against ordinances. Baptism is right in its +place; but when you put it in the place of salvation, you put a +snare in the way. You cannot baptize men into the kingdom of God. +The last conversion before Christ perished on the cross ought to +forever settle that question. If you tell me a man cannot get +into Paradise without being baptized, I answer, This thief was +not baptized. If he had wanted to be baptized, I don’t believe he +could have found a man to baptize him.</p> +<p class="pn">I have known people who had sick relatives, and +because they could not get a minister to come to their house and +administer the sacrament, they were distressed and troubled. Now, +I am not saying anything against the ordinance by which we +commemorate the death of our Lord, and remember His return. God +forbid! But let me say that it is not necessary for salvation. I +might die and be lost before I could get to the Lord’s table; but +if I get to the Lord I am saved. Thank God, salvation is within +my reach always, and I have to wait for no minister. This poor +thief certainly never partook of the sacrament. Was there a man +on that hill that would have had faith to believe he was saved? +Would any church to-day have received him into membership? He had +not to wait for this. The moment he asked life, our Savior gave +it.</p> +<p class="pn">Baptism is one thing; the sacrament of the Lord’s +Supper is another thing; and salvation through Christ is quite +another thing. If we have been saved through Christ, let us +confess Him by baptism, let us go to His table, and do whatever +else He bids. But let us not make stumbling-blocks out of these +things.</p> +<p class="pn">That is what I call sudden conversion—men calling +on God for salvation and getting it. You certainly won’t get it +unless you call for it, and unless you take it when He offers it +to you. If you want Christ to remember you—to save you—call upon +Him.</p> +<h3>TWO SIDES.</h3> +<p class="pn">The cross of Christ divides all mankind. There are +only two sides, those for Christ, and those against Him. Think of +the two thieves; from the side of Christ one went down to death +cursing God, and the other went to glory.</p> +<p class="pn">What a contrast! In the morning he is led out, a +condemned criminal; in the evening he is saved from his sins. In +the morning he is cursing; in the evening he is singing +hallelujahs with a choir of angels. In the morning he is +condemned by men as not fit to live on earth; in the evening he +is reckoned good enough for heaven. In the morning nailed to the +cross; in the evening in the Paradise of God, crowned with a +crown he should wear through all the ages. In the morning not an +eye to pity; in the evening washed and made clean in the blood of +the Lamb. In the morning in the society of thieves and outcasts; +in the evening Christ is not ashamed to walk arm-in-arm with him +down the golden pavements of the eternal city.</p> +<p class="pn">The thief was</p> +<h3>THE FIRST MAN TO ENTER PARADISE</h3> +<p class="pnn">after the veil of the Temple was rent. If we could +look up yonder, and catch a glimpse of the throne, we would see +the Father there, and Jesus Christ at His right hand; and hard by +we would see that thief. He is there to-day. Nineteen hundred +years he has been there, just because he cried in faith:</p> +<p class="pn">“Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy +kingdom.”</p> +<p class="pn">You know Christ died a little while before the +thief. I can imagine that He wanted to hurry home to get a place +ready for His new friend, the first soul brought from the world +He was dying to redeem. The Lord loved him because he confessed +Him in that dark hour. It was a dark hour for many who reviled +the Savior. You have heard of the child who did not want to die +and go to heaven because he didn’t know anybody there. But the +thief would have one acquaintance. I can imagine how his soul +leaped within him when he saw the spear thrust into our Savior’s +side, and heard the cry:</p> +<p class="pn">“It is finished!”</p> +<p class="pn">He wanted to follow Christ. He was in a hurry to be +gone, when they came to break his legs. I can hear the Lord +calling:</p> +<p class="pn">“Gabriel, prepare a chariot. Make haste. There is a +friend of mine hanging on that cross. They are breaking his legs. +He will soon be ready to come. Make haste, and bring him to +me?”</p> +<p class="pn">The angel in the chariot swept down from heaven, +took the soul of that penitent thief, and hastened back to glory. +The gates of the city swung wide open, and the angels shouted +welcome to this poor sinner who had been washed white in the +blood of the Lamb.</p> +<p class="pn">And that, my friends, is just what Christ wants to +do for you. That is the business on which He came down from +heaven. That is why He died. And if He gave such a swift +salvation to this poor thief on the cross, surely He will give +you the same if, like the penitent thief, you repent, and +confess, and trust in the Savior.</p> +<p class="pn">Somebody says that this man “was saved at the +eleventh hour.” I don’t know about that. It might have been the +first hour with him. Perhaps he never knew of Christ until he was +led out to die beside Him. This may have been the very first time +he ever had a chance to know the Son of God.</p> +<p class="pn">How many of you gave your hearts to Christ the very +first time He asked them of you? Are you not farther along in the +day than even that poor thief?</p> +<p class="pn">Some years ago, in one of the mining districts of +England, a young man attended one of our meetings and refused to +go from the place till he had found peace in the Savior. The next +day he went down into the pit, and the coal fell in upon him. +When they took him out he was broken and mangled, and had only +two or three minutes of life left in him. His friends gathered +about him, saw his lips moving, and, bending down to catch his +words, heard him say:</p> +<p class="pn">“It was a good thing I settled it last night.”</p> +<p class="pn">Settle it now, my friends, once for all. Begin now +to confess your sins, and pray the Lord to remember you. He will +make you an heir of His kingdom, if you will accept the gift of +salvation. He is just the same Savior the thief had. Will you not +cry to Him for mercy?</p> +<div style="line-height:1.1em"> +<p class="pc">. . . . . . . . . .</p> +<p class="p3">A cross,—and one who hangs thereon, in sight</p> +<p class="p2s">Of heaven and earth.</p> +<p class="pr">The cruel nails are fast</p> +<p class="p2">In trembling hands and feet, the face is white</p> +<p class="p2">And changed with agony, the failing head</p> +<p class="p2">Is drooping heavily; but still again,</p> +<p class="p2">And yet again, the weary eyes are raised</p> +<p class="p2">To seek the face of One who hangeth pale</p> +<p class="p2">Upon another cross. He hears no shrill</p> +<p class="p2">And taunting voices of the crowd beneath,</p> +<p class="p2">He marks no cruel looks of all that gaze</p> +<p class="p2">Upon the woeful sight. He sees alone</p> +<p class="p2">That face upon the cross. Oh, long, long look,</p> +<p class="p2">That searcheth there the deep and awful things</p> +<p class="p2s">Which are of God!</p> +<p class="pr">In his first agony</p> +<p class="p2">And horror he had joined with them that spake</p> +<p class="p2">Against the Lord, the Lamb, who gave Himself</p> +<p class="p2">That day for us. But when he met the look</p> +<p class="p2">Of those calm eyes,—he paused that instant; +pale</p> +<p class="p2">And trembling, stricken to the heart, and faint</p> +<p class="p2s">At sight of Him.</p> +<p class="pc">. . . . . . . .</p> +<p class="pr">At length</p> +<p class="p2">The pale, glad lips have breathed the trembling +prayer,</p> +<p class="p2">“<i>O Lord, remember me!</i>“ The hosts of God</p> +<p class="p2">With wistful angel-faces, bending low</p> +<p class="p2">Above their dying King, were surely stirred</p> +<p class="p2">To wonder at the cry. Not one of all</p> +<p class="p2">The shining host had dared to speak to Him</p> +<p class="p2">In that dread hour of woe, when Heaven and +Earth</p> +<p class="p2">Stood trembling and amazed. Yet, lo! the voice</p> +<p class="p2">Of one who speaks to Him, who dares to pray,</p> +<p class="p2">“<i>O Lord, remember me!</i>“ A sinful man</p> +<p class="p2">May make his pitiful appeal to Christ,</p> +<p class="p2">The sinner’s Friend, when angels dare not +speak.</p> +<p class="p2">And sweetly from the dying lips that day</p> +<p class="p2s">The answer came.</p> +<p class="pr">Oh, strange and solemn joy</p> +<p class="p2">Which broke upon the fading face of him</p> +<p class="p2">Who there received the promise: “<i>Thou shalt +be</i></p> +<p class="p2s"><i>In Paradise this night, this night, with +Me</i>.”</p> +<p class="pc">. . . . . . . .</p> +<p class="pr">O Christ, the King!</p> +<p class="p2">We also wander on the desert-hills,</p> +<p class="p2">Though haunted by Thy call, returning sweet</p> +<p class="p2">At morn and eve. We will not come to Thee</p> +<p class="p2">Till Thou hast nailed us to some bitter cross,</p> +<p class="p2">And <i>made</i> us look on Thine, and driven at +last</p> +<p class="p2">To call on Thee with trembling and with tears.—</p> +<p class="p2">Thou lookest down in love, upbraiding not,</p> +<p class="p2s">And promising the kingdom!</p> +<p class="pc">. . . . . . .</p> +<p class="pr">A throne,—and one</p> +<p class="p2">Who kneels before it, bending low in new</p> +<p class="p2s">And speechless joy.</p> +<p class="pr">It is the night on earth.</p> +<p class="p2">The shadows fall like dew upon the hills</p> +<p class="p2">Around the Holy City, but above,</p> +<p class="p2">Beyond the dark vale of the sky, beyond</p> +<p class="p2">The smiling of the stars, they meet once more</p> +<p class="p2">In peace and glory. Heaven is comforted,—</p> +<p class="p2">For that strange warfare is accomplished now,</p> +<p class="p2">Her King returned with joy: and one who watches</p> +<p class="p2">The far-off morning in a prison dim,</p> +<p class="p2">And hung at noonday on the bitter cross,</p> +<p class="p2">Is kneeling at His feet, and tasteth now</p> +<p class="p2s">The sweet, sweet opening of an endless joy.</p> +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Men of the Bible, by Dwight Moody + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEN OF THE BIBLE *** + +***** This file should be named 30740-h.htm or 30740-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/7/4/30740/ + +Produced by Keith G. 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