Oh, how I tremble for some of these men who are converted here. They do

not know how necessary it is to keep right down in the dust, and not

only to give diligence, but to _make it their chief business_ for some

time to watch and guard their thoughts and ways, and to pray always, and

by all the means we have spoken of try to keep away--far, far away from

temptation. I beg you to make up your minds to bear anything and

everything. Always be ready for a disappointment, and determine not to

let your contentment and happiness depend upon anything or anybody in

this world. Then it won't make any difference what happens to you; it

will come like water on a duck's back, and won't hurt you. Remember how

humble you had to get before you could get forgiveness and strength to

resist your appetites. And did it kill you or did it damage you in any

way? No! It killed your wretched sins, but not you. It robbed you of

your bondage and darkness and despair and wretchedness. But it did not

rob you of any good, did it? Then it won't hurt you to keep humble and

in that same state of mind till you die. And you can afford to do so.

How would you like to get back into bondage and darkness where you were?

You say: "Not for the world!" But, if you knew you could, by diligence

and watchfulness, gain the world, you would be diligent and watchful.

And yet, by this diligence, you not only keep yourself secure from

falling back, you make your family happy, you bless many others--and,

best of all, you make _sure_ of everlasting life, and escape the hell

which we all fear more than all things else combined.

"Since I must fight if I would reign,

Increase my courage, Lord;

I'll bear the toil, endure the pain,

Supported by Thy word."

ECCLESIASTES XII: 13.

"Let us bear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and

keep His commandments; for this is the whole duty of man."

The book of Ecclesiastes contains the experience of a man who had tried

every phase of life, who had tasted every kind of pleasure, and who,

also, had experience in the service of God, with its consolations and

its sacrifices; and he had also made a study of the great questions that

come up in considering the affairs of the world about him. And after his

long and thorough experience, and his deep and life-long study of the

facts of human life and history, he at last reaches a conclusion

concerning it all, and this conclusion he has recorded in the text I

have read, "Fear God and keep His commandments," etc.

1. Fear God.

The fear of God is natural to man until, by false teaching and evil

association, it is destroyed. The severe things we see in nature about

us lead us to have a dread of Him who is the author of all these things.

And, then, death is an awful and a fear-inspiring thing, and the thought

of what is to come after death, in that unknown country from which no

traveler has ever returned to tell us of it, fills us with awe and

sobers us whenever it comes to us. And most men even that are in their

lives wicked, and seemingly have no thought of God or fear of Him, are

often troubled with the fear of death and what is to come after death.

This was my own experience.

2. But merely to have this fear of God is not sufficient, and will do no

good if it does not lead a man to obey God and keep His commandments, as

the text says. For example, I knew a fireman in an engine-house here who

had this fear of God; but he lived a swearing, drinking man, and, of

course, he was not at all benefited by his fear of God. No doubt this

fear of God was created in the human mind in order to lead men to keep

God's commandments. But how are we to know His commandments? Why, my

brothers, they are given with great plainness in His Holy Word--so plain

that the wayfaring man, though he be a fool, need not miss them if only

he is willing to know them and to do them. And, as St. John says, "His

commandments are not grievous." They only require of us what is most

just and reasonably due to Him who is the giver, the free and bountiful

giver, of all the good things of this life, and the gracious promiser of

perfect blessedness in the life to come. And, on the human side, His

commandments require of us only that we keep from doing to others what

they ought not do to us, and that we do for others that which they ought

to do for us. In other words, the commandments of God are all embraced

in two sentences, "Love God with all your heart, because He first loved

you," and "Love your fellowmen, because they are commanded to love you,"

and when you submit to God's Spirit, and become renewed in mind and

heart, born again, made a new creature, you will see the reasonableness

of keeping God's commandments, and the desirableness of it, in such a

light that you will go on in His ways with delight, desiring to know

more and more of Him.

3. And we are told that to do this is the _whole purpose_ of man's

existence, and when he does this he has fully answered the end of his

existence, met all that is required of him and is secure amid the

problems of life and the possibilities of the unknown future.

This, also, brings rest to the human heart, a rest to be found nowhere

else. I am in a position to speak with some confidence and positiveness

on this point; for, like the man who uttered the text, I have tried life

in all its phases. I have had all the kinds of pleasure, and I have

tested them to the bottom. I have found out all there is in them. For

forty years I gave myself to seeking and enjoying worldly pleasure, and

I ought to know what it can do for a human soul. But I have another

advantage, too; I have tried the doctrine of my text. I have surrendered

myself, my life, my prospects, my all, to God, and live only to keep His

commandments and to please Him. My mind has been renewed, transformed,

my life entirely turned around. I have passed through the struggle and

the sacrifice that were involved in becoming a Christian, and I have

been passing through those that belong to the life of a Christian. But

you may say I speak thus because it is a novelty to me. No, sir; it is

no longer a novelty. I have been trying it now for ten years--surely a

long enough time to know pretty well how it compares with the old life;

and my testimony, from forty years' experience of the old life and ten

years of the new life, is that of the writer of my text, "Fear God and

keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man."

HEBREWS XII: 1, 2.

"1. Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great

a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the

sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience

the race that is set before us.

"2. Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith;

who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross,

despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the

throne of God."

The Apostle here speaks of a great number of witnesses, who, having

tried God and His ways, are competent to testify as to what God can do

for those who trust Him and serve Him. In the chapter just preceding he

has spoken of Abraham and Joseph and Moses, and many others, and they,

having lived the life of faith, were prepared to say whether it was a

disappointment or not to trust God and to walk in His ways. And they

were not disappointed. They obtained a good report, held fast to their

faith in God, and were content to endure all sorts of trials and

sufferings for the comfort and compensation of their religion. And so

now there are witnesses, not a few, who have tested this matter, and

tested it under circumstances the most adverse and trying, and they give

no uncertain testimony as to the desirableness of religion. There are

people who have none of the good things of this world; none of its

honors; none of its pleasures; none of its wealth, and not many of its

comforts, and yet they are contented, and even happy. Yes, far happier

than many who have the best that this world can give. I am one of this

class myself. Then the Apostle goes on to exhort them to hold fast, and

to go on, because others having tried it were conquerors.

He exhorts to three things:

1. To lay aside every weight, and especially every besetting sin that

might have especial attraction and special power. And it is impossible

to serve God and have peace of conscience and to overcome sin while the

mind is divided and undecided. A man can not expect to win a race if he

ties heavy weights upon his person; be must be unencumbered and free.

So, in running the Christian race, we must free ourselves from

everything we find to be a hindrance, no matter how desirable or how

dear it may be to the flesh. So Jesus Himself says: "If anything so dear

as a right arm or a right eye becomes a hindrance to to us, it must be

given up." There are men who say they want to serve God, and expect to

do so, but then they enjoy certain things they know to be wrong and

hurtful, and they will indulge in them just a little, not enough to

cause them to get clear away from God. I know and you know men who think

they can enjoy sin just a little, or once in awhile. In the first place,

this is ungrateful and mean. It is the same as to say: "I want to be

just religious enough to escape hell, and yet I want to enjoy all the

pleasure I can from sin, too." Such a feeling dishonors God. And, in the

second place, it is exceedingly dangerous. It shows that the heart is

not right. While you are trifling thus with sin, you may become so

fascinated by it and led away as to be enslaved before you know it, and

lose all your taste for heavenly things. Besides, God will not long bear

with a man who has no better heart and no more self-sacrificing spirit

than that. For myself, I should tremble and shudder if I were so far

gone as to feel that I could go and deliberately indulge in some

pleasant sin for awhile and then come back to resume the service of God

when I had satiated my evil desires. Be assured, you can not serve God

and sin. They are as opposite as light and darkness; you must give up

one or the other. "But," you say, "how can I give up sin?" If you are

_willing_ to do so, God will see that you have the _power_ to do it.

Give it up if it gives you pain--yes, if it breaks your heart! God

Himself will pour in the oil of comfort and joy, and heal all your

wounds.

2. The Apostle exhorts to run with patience the race set before us. It

is easy to do well for awhile; to abstain from sin while the excitement

of novelty in the religious life is upon us; and how many there are who

began well and did well for awhile, but when the novelty wore away, and

the excitement of the change was gone, they grew weary and sought the

old pleasures of sin again. Some have thus done in connection with our

work here in this mission. Make up your mind before hand that when the

time of temptation and loneliness comes, you will endure it and go

through with it patiently, waiting for the removal of the temptation and

the return of joy. And when temptation does come, pray, oh pray. Go

alone and ask God to restore to you the joy of His salvation and trust

Him until he does it. Go work for others; go mingle with Christian

people, whether you feel like it or not, and you will soon find how to

meet the enemy, and how to defeat his plans and purposes.

3. But his last exhortation is to look to Jesus. He bore our sins on the

cross, and therefore we are released from them, if we trust Him and

accept Him as our sin-bearer. He is alive forevermore; and when

earnestly asked, He gives spiritual life and joy and strength by sending

the Holy Spirit into our hearts. Then again, His life is the pattern of

patience in loneliness and trials, which you and I are to follow; and

can we desire or aspire to be or to do any better than did He?

"Would you lose your load of sin?

Fix your eyes upon Jesus.

Would you have God's peace within?

Fix your eyes upon Jesus."

ACTS II: 38.

"Then Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptized every one of

you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and

ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."

We may not be able to understand how it is, but these inspired

Scriptures represent the work of salvation as applied to human hearts by

the Holy Spirit. We do not hear enough of the Holy Spirit. We do not

know Him and speak of Him and pray for His help and guidance and power,

as the Scriptures teach us to do. These Scriptures are our guide; what

they say we do not question, nor can we subtract from them or add to

them. Let us see, then, what they teach us as to the Holy Spirit. In the

14th, 15th and 16th chapters of St. John's Gospel Jesus distinctly

promises His disciples that upon His departure He would send to them and

to the world a divine agent whom He calls the Spirit of Truth, the

Comforter, etc., and He tells them what that divine agent would do. Let

us, then, fix our minds now intently on what He says, and be prepared to

believe it.

He said that this Spirit of Truth should "convince men of sin." Well,

the fact is, we do see men convinced of sin as sin, and not merely

because it is damaging and ruinous. But we see this only in connection

with the Christian religion. So it must be by means of some power that

belongs to the Christian religion. And if any of you here to-night see

your sins and feel them to be, not only damaging and destructive, but

mean and hateful and crimes against the good Father who has borne with

you and blessed you through all these years of sin, then you may know

that it is God's Holy Spirit that has produced that feeling in you; and

especially so if you feel that your ingratitude to God, who has provided

for you a way of salvation at such great cost, and your cold and

heartless neglect of Jesus Christ through all these years of sin are the

most aggravated part of your guilt. And you may be sure if God is

willing to begin a good work in you He is willing to carry it on to

completion, and will do so if you do not hinder Him. "Work out your

salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God that worketh in you."

And since it is He who has begun this work, beware that you do not

hinder it or stop it by your coldness, carelessness or sin.

But, in the second place, Jesus says the Holy Spirit should reveal Him

to sinners as their sin-bearer and life-giver. So the promise is to you.

Hold on in prayer and patient expectation. You can not be disappointed,

for God can not lie. I was ignorant of Christ to an astonishing and

shameful degree; but I was told to pray and I did so. I shut myself up

in my back room one evening and told God I was going to stay there until

He blessed me, and I was blessed, and the only three words I uttered

were "Jesus of Nazareth." By some power I was so illuminated and changed

that I saw Jesus as the dearest and loveliest being I ever thought of.

Was not this a fulfillment to me of the promise made in John xvi.: 14?

And having received grace from my God, I continue to this day witnessing

to small and to great the things I have experienced since becoming a

Christian. Now, let us inquire what else this gracious divine agent

working in man is to do.

He it is who produces that change in men which we call conversion or

regeneration or new birth. You remember in John (3d chapter) the

expression, "Born of the Spirit," and again in Titus iii.: 5, it is said

we are saved by the "renewing of the Holy Ghost." When we know, then,

that these changes are the immediate effect of the inworking of this

divine agent, we need not be surprised that they are so sudden and so

thorough as we see them to be in some cases that we know of. Let me say

to those who have not yet experienced this wonderful deliverance from

the power and love of sin and this inner revolution, that many of us

have tested this matter who were in the deepest depths of sin and

darkness, and God will do to depend on. Go ahead, go ahead; keep on

praying and keep on hoping and trust yourself to Jesus, and you shall

receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

But, after we have experienced this change which we call conversion,

God's spirit abides with us and keeps on doing great things for us when

we are converted. We are not made angels or gods, but are still human,

and, though delivered from the guilt and power of sin, we are hampered

by ignorance and depressed by sorrow and encompassed with temptations.

But just anticipating these needs of ours, the Holy Spirit is to be our

teacher and to guide us into the truth. So we need not fear if we are

only humble and honest and teachable; we shall not go dangerously

astray, for God Himself will thus open to our minds the wonderful things

of Scripture, and cause us to understand as much of it as we need.

But He, the Holy Spirit, is to be the comforter of God's people in their

loneliness and trials and conflicts in this world of exile. I have been

sustained by unseen power in my trials as a Christian. But He enables

them to overcome, and be more than conquerors, when they are assailed by

temptation to sin. "He strengthens with might in the inner man"

(Ephesians iii.: 16), and gives joy and peace; so that the soul, being

content with these, does not need or desire the poor pleasures of sin.

This has been my experience.

He sanctifies God's people; He makes them holier and holier; He produces

the fruit of love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness,

meekness, temperance, faith; and He gives power to reach, by our poor

words, the hearts and consciences of others, though they be dead in sin.

Jesus says, "Ye shall receive power after the Holy Ghost is come upon

you." (Acts 1.: 8.) There are some men who have this power to reach and

awaken and interest sinners in the salvation of their souls. And they do

have power to bring sinners into this new life of peace and purity and

joy. And you and I might have this power, and far more of it than we do,

if, like the Apostle, we would wait before God in patient, believing

prayer till the Holy Spirit should come in fullness and power. Pentecost

was a display of this power, and we may have another Pentecost when we

are willing to wait for it and pray for it as did the little company in

the upper room at Jerusalem.

LUKE V: 32.

"I came not to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."

These words of Jesus were spoken to the Scribes and Pharisees, and

combine in themselves a defense of His own course in mingling with

sinners, and a keen rebuke of the spirit of those who brought against

him an accusation of associating with sinners, as well as the

declaration of the object of His mission into this poor darkened world.

And does it not seem strange that a man should be required to defend

himself for going to spend and be spent for the good of those who are

most sorely in need of help and relief? But it has always been so. Men

are so selfish, so utterly without concern for the interests of others

that they want to monopolize and swallow up everything that is good. So

when Jesus of Nazareth was revealed to the Jewish people, and made

Himself conspicuous and famous by the daily performance of astonishing

miracles, the Scribes and Pharisees, who thought that everything ought

to be subservient to their own personal interests and aggrandizement,

fell out with Jesus because He did not fall in with notions of what He

ought to be and do. They did not care a baubee for the people, the

rabble, the mob, the human cattle. Indeed they utterly despised them,

and would have nothing to do with them. They might perish and rot so far

as the Scribes and Pharisees were concerned, provided these latter could

hold the places of honor and gain. And so utterly possessed were they by

this feeling of all-consuming selfishness, that when they saw this

Jesus of Nazareth going with sinners, talking with sinners and eating

with sinners, they set it down as a conclusion they would never give up

that He was not, and could not be, and should not be, their Messiah. So

that Jesus was thus forced to reason with them, and to make His defense

before these self-constituted judges of His, and tell them why it was

that He pursued the course He did. So it was in the time of John Wesley

in England. He went among sinners, talked with them, taught them, and

drew them by the magic force of his great love to follow him wherever he

went to preach; and they so crowded the churches to hear the words of

grace and tenderness that fell from his lips, that the doors were shut

upon him, and he had to go out on the commons and into the fields

beneath the sky of that God and Father whose words he was preaching, and

whose lost children he was trying to save. This has been the experience

of other zealous and earnest ministers of Christ. And they, too, have

had to defend themselves for such a course. Our dear Brother Morris felt

himself pressed to say why he went to the courthouse steps to try to

lift up the fallen and save the wretched and the lost. But the words of

Jesus contain also a scathing rebuke of the self-righteous spirit of

those hard-headed, hard-hearted Scribes and Pharisees. It was the same

as saying, "you claim that you are the righteous of the world. You are

not willing to be classed with sinners, or to be called sinners, or to

believe yourselves sinners. Therefore you have no need of me, and I have

nothing for you; for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners, to

repentance." Let us beware then, my dear friends and brethren, of

thinking or feeling that we are better than others, or that we are not

sinners. Now, need I stop here to prove that any of you are sinners?

Does any one here need to have arguments worked out and laid before him

to prove to him that he is a poor, miserable, blind sinner? If there is

any one here who thinks and feels that he is not, then he has no

business here, he has no business with Christ, and we have nothing to

tell him or give him here. We bid him farewell, and turn away from him,

to work for and to talk to others. If I were to go to see a sick man

concerned about his soul, and he were to begin to tell about his good

deeds and his freedom from sins and vices, I would get my hat and tell

him good-bye; that I knew nothing about salvation for anybody but

sinners. But for sinners I have and hold up a Saviour, a divine Saviour,

who, blessed be God, is able to save to the uttermost all who come to

him, and to save them here and now. If you want to see a specimen of

Christ's interest in sinners and feeling for sinners, look at His life.

In the beginning of His ministry He chooses Matthew, one of the despised

class of publicans, to be one of His disciples--nay, one of His

Apostles. Then He went to Matthew's house to dinner. It was as if some

leading minister of the Gospel here to-day would be seen walking down

the street with some leading gambler, on his way to take dinner and

spend the afternoon with him. It was as if Mr. Moody should come to

Louisville to conduct one of his great meetings, and, instead of

stopping with Mr. Carley or Mr. Carter or Judge Bullock, should stop

with John Young or Harry Johnson, and be his willing guest. So Jesus

went to the house of another big gambler, so to speak, in his day. It

was the publican Zaccheus (Luke xix., 1-10), and Jesus not only went

there to dinner, but took salvation with Him to Zaccheus' house. So by

His tenderness and grace, Jesus drew to Him the poor outcast women of

His day. One wretched sinner of this class was so won by His concern for

sinners, that she pressed her way into a rich man's house where Jesus

was dining, and going to Him washed His feet with her tears, and

anointed them with costly perfume, Jesus not only not forbidding her,

but defending her for it (Luke 7). And Jesus spoke the parables of the

Lost Sheep, the Lost Piece of Silver, the Lost Prodigal Son, and

said--oh, hear it--"There is joy in heaven over one sinner that

repenteth."

JAMES I: 25, 26.

"25. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and

continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer

of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

"26. If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth

not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's

religion is vain."

James, the writer of this language, is that inspired servant of God, who

gets impatient with mere professions of piety, and who wants to see

action, action! not mere words, not dead faith, but also action. He

speaks, in the text, of "forgetful hearers of the Word." Now, do you not

know all about what that means? Have you not, many a time, read the

Bible, or heard a sermon from it that, like a mirror, held up to your

heart, showed you yourself even better than you knew yourself? And have

you not said: "Well, I will change; that picture is true, and it is too

dark to be endured any longer?" But, instead of carrying out your

purpose and doing what you say, you went away and forgot all about it,

and soon you were as dead as ever. And, instead of continuing to read

the Bible and see yourself there; and instead of continuing to go where

faithful ministers would uncover your poor, wicked heart and life to

your eyes, you went on your accustomed ways of business or pleasure, and

became a "forgetful hearer of the Word," and it did you no good. How,

then, in the name of God, can a man keep himself from forgetting the

things he reads or hears from the Bible? Why, it is very simple--to go

to _doing_ at once, without waiting even till to-morrow. "Do what?" you

say. Why, go to praying. Cut yourself off from retreat by coming out on

the side of Christ and taking your place among those who are seeking His

mercy and salvation, till you can take your place among those who have

that salvation. But I want to say a very solemn word to those who

profess to have already obtained salvation. Are _you doing_, as well as

_hearing_ the Word of God? Does your life exemplify "holiness to the

Lord," and does it abound in good works and good words? Do you abstain

from evil and keep yourself from evil associations? Do you turn away

from dangerous and suspicious places and people? Do you obey readily and

heartily what you find to be commanded in God's Word? If you do not do

the things you hear, then you, too, will soon become "forgetful

hearers," and little by little the world will re-assert its power over

you, and the flesh will get the upper hand, and at the last you may wind

up as our poor friend Eicheler did. Doing is as important a part of the

Gospel as hearing. Read the last part of the Sermon on the Mount

(Matthew vii., 24-27). Notice that Jesus says the man who does His

sayings is like one who buildeth on a solid and enduring foundation that

can stand storms and temptations. Now, do you not find that if you do

what you find in the Bible, then the Bible becomes sweeter and sweeter

to you? You do not shut it up then and shove it aside for fear of

finding yourself condemned, for when you do its biddings it will not

condemn you, but commend you, and that makes you love it and keeps you

from forgetting it. And thus you grow stronger and stronger, and sin

will grow weaker and weaker, and you will surely find that you have

built on a strong foundation. But, in the last part of the text is a

subject I want to talk about. Read verse 26. It is the tongue. If any

man seems to be religious, and fails to control his tongue, then he is

mistaken. Oh, have you not found your tongue to be one of the most

troublesome things you have to contend with? If you want to see James'

idea of the tongue, read chapter iii., 1-10. Do you watch your

conversation? Do you guard the door of your lips? Do you? I am in

earnest.

Do you ever indulge in the least obscenity? Some so-called Christians

do, and it is sickening and disgusting to others; and while it shows

what their thoughts dwell on, it does themselves great harm, for it

keeps temptation before their minds, and makes it a great deal more

difficult to resist temptations when they come in their lives. Do you

mean it only as innocent fun? It is not innocent. For if you are so

hardened as to unclean thoughts, that they don't hurt _you_, they, will

hurt others.

What about swearing? If the devil can get you to swear a few times, then

he will say: "Oh, you might as well confess that you are no Christian,

and give up this hypocritical business." There is one of the Ten

Commandments forbidding to take God's name in vain; the Sermon on the

Mount forbids it still more strongly, and James, in chapter v., 12,

condemns it in the strongest language. And yet there are some church

members who practice it, especially when they get mad. That man's heart

is not right, and he is treading on very dangerous ground who is not

changed enough to avoid swearing. And if a man, by God's grace, will

turn away from it and from the thought of it, he will soon become so

that it will make him shudder to hear others swear. I know this from my

own experience.

If you do not watch yourself in conversation, you will tell things that

are not true; and so, in trying to be polite, you will have to watch or

your tongue will tell a falsehood, and you will recollect it with shame

and lose strength of faith in God.

And then that tongue often indulges in gossip about your acquaintances

that does them great harm. And have you not, in moments of temper and

passion, said cruel and, perhaps, false things to your dear ones; to

those who have worked for you, and maybe would die for you? It cut them

to the heart, and you have not made acknowledgment of your sin to them.

JAMES I: 8.

"A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways."

One of the commonest and greatest faults and weaknesses of men is this

that I am going to speak about to you to-night, and that is indecision.

It is not only a weakness and a fault and a great hindrance in regard to

religion, but in any and all the affairs of life. Do you not know men of

competent ability and of good advantages and education who amount to

very little in the world? And when you ask yourself why it is, is it not

because they have not enough decision of character to keep at any one

thing long enough to master the difficulties with which it is beset and

to win success in spite of obstacles? Some of them are confused by the

great number of ways that seem to open before them and are not decided

as to which one they will pursue. And after embarking in one pursuit and

continuing in it for awhile, they conclude they could do better at

something else; and before they have studied and labored long enough to

obtain success in this second enterprise, they conclude they could do

better by changing for a third or going back to the first. And so,

because study and time and labor are necessary to success in any

occupation or profession and they do not bestow these, they do not

succeed, and, in the nature of the case, can not succeed. Or, if they

are not embarrassed by the number of openings before them, they are

divided in their minds between a life of ease, indulgence and pleasure

and a life of labor and self-denial, and, though they would be something

and are not without ambition, yet a life of indolence and rest offers

so many inducements that they prefer it to a life of hard work and of

discouragements and battles and anxieties, or, at least, if they do not

positively prefer such a life, yet they hanker after it; and in their

effort to have ease and pleasure and, at the same time, to pursue some

honorable and profitable calling, _they miss both_, and have no

satisfaction, but only a consciousness of their own weakness and

uselessness and a contempt for themselves. But maybe I need not ask you

if you know persons of this sort. You who listen to me to-night may be

of just that kind. Possibly--nay, probably--there are men here to-night

whose lives have been failures just because of the miserable weakness I

have been trying to describe. But if this weakness of character is the

cause of many failures and the utter disappointment that many lives have

ended in, in worldly matters, how much more so is it in religious

concerns and interests. If concentration of thought and fixedness of

purpose and firmness of will are necessary to overcome obstacles and to

master success in business or in the learned professions, they are more

so in the matter of religion. If indecision and dividedness of mind and

wavering of purpose cause men to fail in worldly matters, much more so

will they cause men to fail in religion. Some men are forever wavering

between accepting and rejecting Christianity. To-day they are satisfied

that Christianity is true, and to-morrow they say they have found proof

that Christianity is false. Then, again, they get into trouble and find

that nothing can help them but Christianity, and they believe it until

some man comes along and argues against it, and away they go off after

him. So they never believe in Christianity long enough at any time to

get any good from it, and they will not utterly and finally reject it so

as to be no longer troubled by it. But the trouble with most of the

people who are in this wretched state of indecision is that they believe

in Christianity, and are persuaded that it is far better to be a

Christian and safer, but they love the world and the ways of the world

and the honors of the world and the pleasures of the world; and it is

impossible to love the world and partake of the pleasures of the world

and at the same time to serve God with your whole heart. "Ye can not

serve two masters," and yet you see people who are trying to do it. So

they do not make good Christians, for their hearts are in the world, and

their lives and influence are not for Christianity, but for the world.

Nor do they get the good and pleasure of a worldly life, for they are

restrained and harassed by their fear of conscience, God and hell. And

Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, says, "Ye can not serve two masters."

Many have tried it. Some whose histories are given in the Bible tried

it. Saul, the first king of Israel, tried it. When God sent him to

destroy the Amalekites, he obeyed the command in part, but not

altogether. (I. Samuel xv., 13-25.) But God is not mocked, and because

Saul trifled with Him He rejected Saul, and Saul went from bad to worse,

until at last, in his abandonment to the power of evil, he committed

murder after murder and finally died a suicide. The rich young man in

the New Testament was another case of divided mind. He saw the

desirableness of being good, and the safety of being at peace with God,

and showed a zeal in trying to be good; but when Jesus told him to sell

all he had and give it to the poor, he refused. He wanted to do both,

obey God and inherit the kingdom of heaven and have a fortune for

selfish enjoyment or for miserable greed at the same time. But he could

not do both. King Agrippa said "he was almost persuaded" to be a

Christian. His mind was divided; he could not do both. He chose to keep

his worldly possessions, and, of course, could not be a Christian (Acts

xxvi., 28). But, on the other hand, those men who were decided and

positive in their rejection of the pleasures of the world found no great

trouble in serving God. Moses was a man of this sort (Hebrews xi.,

25-27). He deliberately chose to suffer afflictions with the people of

God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Paul was

another man of this positive character. When Jesus revealed Himself to

Paul his surrender was immediate and complete. He said, "What wilt thou

have me do?" And to the end of a long and laborious life, amid

persecutions and sufferings and disgraces and loneliness and bonds, he

continually cried, "None of these things move me." And his Christian

life was victorious and glorious.

II. TIMOTHY III: 5.

"Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof;

from such turn away."

This text is a description of certain false teachers who had arisen in

the midst of the church, or who would arise and assume the name of

disciples of Christ, as well as authority to teach. They would assume

the outward form of Christianity and adopt its expressions and conform

to its usage in outward respects, but would deny that there was any

supernatural power or divine unction in it. And there are such men

to-day. But if Christianity be not attended by any supernatural agency

and energy present in it and with it, then it is no better than any

other of the so-called religions of the world. If it has only form and

body, without a living and life-giving soul and divinity in it, it is on

a level with the heathen religions, for they all have these. And,

indeed, all men have a form of religion, and many of them are so devoted

to it that they will suffer and some of them die before they will give

it up. The ancient Jews held to the forms of their religion, and fought

for it in bloody and bitter wars. And the Pharisees at the time of

Christ were the most careful and scrupulous observers of all the forms

of their religion, and yet Jesus denounced them as the wickedest sinners

of His time. There are men of this kind in the Christian churches of

to-day, men who go through the forms of religion, who perform the

outward duties of religion, and who would not give these up for any

consideration; and yet they not only do not experience anything of the

power of inward religion, but they go so far as to deny that there is

any such inward power, and call those who claim to have it fanatical.

But read the following passages, and see if we have not Scripture

warrant for this power of religion: I. Corinthians ii., 4; I.

Thessalonians i., 5; II. Timothy i., 7; Ephesians iii., 16; and our

text, II. Timothy iii., 5.

1. The power of Christianity is shown in the conviction for sin.

It is impossible to get men to see and realize the sinfulness and

hatefulness of sin. It is impossible for any power of men's eloquence to

pierce through the deep native depravity of the heart--through the

selfish motives, desires, ambitions and interests, and get men to see

and feel the nature and danger of sin. Oh, the impossibility of making

men feel guilt and danger by any human means while they are dead in sin!

But under the power of this force, or, rather, this agent, who works in

and through Christianity, the poor sinner sees and feels all this. He

sees that, of all bitter and perilous things, sin is the most bitter and

perilous and dreadful. He feels smitten with remorse. He feels that

there is no beauty in the world, or in anything, because of the

blackness and ugliness and foulness of his own evil heart and life. And

he feels that, above all things, he must get rid of sin, and at whatever

cost, and speedily at that, for the agony is unendurable. Everything

seems as nothing compared with salvation from sin. "He will go and sell

all he has to buy it," as Jesus says. This sense of sin and danger

produces an earthquake in the spiritual nature that upheaves the hidden

depths of the soul. Like the pilgrim in Bunyan's Pilgrims Progress, he

puts his fingers in his ears and flees from the City of Destruction.

Like the murderers of Jesus when convicted by this power, he cries out,

"What must I do to be saved?"

2. It is shown in what we call conversion.

But this power which belongs to Christianity, not only produces this

awful sense of the guilt and danger of sin, it also delivers from the

guilt and power of sin, and makes the man a new creature. The awful

sense of condemnation and the fear of a just and endless retribution are

taken away. He may not know how or just why, but he knows it is so, and

he rejoices with joy unspeakable and full of glory. But, not only so, he

finds to his amazement and joy that his whole inner nature is reversed,

re-created, and he no longer is a slave of sinful habits and passions,

but he is delivered from these, and now loves holiness and holy people

and holy things and holy thoughts. The whole current of his nature is

changed. "Old things are passed away, and behold all things are become

new," and, instead of the old defilement and darkness and

devilishness, there flows out and on a life of purity, consecration,

self-forgetfulness and holiness. Now, do you not call that a power which

can bring to pass such effects as this? Do you know of any other power

that can do anything like it?

And now, my brother, you who profess to be a follower of Jesus, have you

experienced this power, or have you only the form of godliness without

the power? That is what is the matter with most of the church members

of this day. They have a form of godliness, but in too many cases only a

form. They do not know anything of the power of which I have been

speaking. But let no one be discouraged who has not experienced this

blessed deliverance from the power of the enemy, provided you are

seeking for it. You shall not seek long in vain, if you seek it in

earnest. May God reveal Himself to us all now and here.

I. CORINTHIANS IX: 26, 27.

"I therefore so run not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one

that beateth the air:

"But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest

that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself

should be a castaway."

This Is the language of St. Paul, the Apostle. As we have already

remarked of Jesus, that He took the most familiar facts and experiences

of every-day life by which to teach His doctrines, so we may say of His

great Apostle, Paul. The Grecian games, consisting of running matches

and boxing matches, were well known among the people of St. Paul's day,

and especially so at Corinth, and these furnished him the illustrations

which he frequently used in his letters. In another place he speaks of

laying aside all weights and running with patience the race set before

us. In this place he speaks both of running and boxing. His object is to

show that, as in these games the utmost attention and energy and

self-denial were necessary to success, and that these would insure

success, so it is in the Christian race and the Christian fight. He

says: "I, for my part, run not as uncertainly," that is, I run no risk,

I indulge in nothing that would make it in the least degree uncertain as

to my gaining the desired object; I know what is required of me, and I

know that if I do not fully observe all that is commanded me and

required of me, I, to that extent, render my success uncertain, and this

I am determined, by the grace of God, not to do. Then he says: "I fight

not as one that beateth the air." The boxers would frequently take

exercise by striking into the air, as we see men practicing gymnastics

now; but Paul meant to say that he was not taking exercise--he was

facing an earnest and dangerous foe, and it was a life and death matter

to him to know just what that foe was, and to know just how to attack it

so as to conquer it. And what was that foe? Hear it, you who think you

are safe and can just go smoothly to heaven as if you were sliding down

hill. Hear what Paul's greatest foe was: It was his body--yes, his body,

with its appetites and passions, its constant craving for gratification

and pleasure. What! do you mean to say that Paul, the great Apostle, was

in danger of being led away by the appetites of the body? Well, that is

what he himself says. He was not in danger of falling because of doubt,

for he had had such a wonderful conversion, and such an actual vision of

Christ, that he could never, never doubt that, nor does he any where, in

any of his epistles, show the slightest wavering in this respect, but he

does show that he knew and felt there was danger of being, in some

unguarded moment, misled and brought into sin by the appetites of an

unmastered body. So, he says in the next verse: "I keep under my body

and bring it into subjection, lest that when I have preached to others,

I myself should be lost." He still keeps up the figure of the boxing

matches in the games, and says: "The foe I have to contend with is my

body," and as the winner in the fist fight of the games beats his foe

black, till he cries "enough!" so do I deny my body till it ceases to

have any desire or disposition toward the objects of unholy passions,

till it meekly gives up, and I feel that I am perfect master, and it is

under my feet as it were. When the body is fed and gratified and

pampered, its animal appetites and passions are nursed and become

strong. So men who live high and eat to gluttony and drink wines and

liquors are usually in a perfect strut of sensual passion. I guess that

is why the Lord keeps me so poor, and why I have so little to live on

and so little to feed on. It is that, by this necessary self-denial, I

may keep my poor body down, out of danger of betraying me into sin.

David was as great a man in some respects as Paul, he communed with God

in the solitudes of Bethlehem's sheep pastures, till he became strong

enough to overcome a giant and to put a whole army to flight. He

composed most of the Psalms, the most spiritual songs in the world. He

withstood all the temptations of honor, and endured, with matchless

meekness, the hatred and persecution of Saul, the king (I. Samuel xxiv).

But his poor body, with its sensual passions, got the better of him, and

he committed the awful sin of adultery. Doubtless, when he had become

king, he forgot the self-denial which he practiced when he was a

shepherd, and when he was a persecuted and hunted fugitive, and instead

of that he lived high, fed high, drank high, and so he fell, and fell

very low.

Solomon was a wise man. He knew all the secrets of the human heart. He

wrote Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, books full of profound knowledge, as

well as of deepest piety. Yet Solomon was led away from God by indulging

in sensuality. And if David and Solomon, with all their faith and wisdom

and power and piety, found that their bodies, because not kept down,

led them into sin, we need not wonder that Paul saw and shunned this

danger. But how is a man to keep his body under? By totally abstaining

from everything that heats the blood and inflames passion, as drinking,

etc., and high living; by fleeing from evil conversation, evil books,

evil thoughts; by fasting and abstinence, frequently practiced. Moses

fasted; Elijah, David, Nehemiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Jesus, Paul, the

early church and Wesley and the early Methodists--all these eminent

servants of God fasted, and there must be something good and profitable

in it. I am satisfied it is one of the ways of keeping the body under,

and bringing it into subjection. And may God help us to use all the

means in our power for securing ourselves from our greatest enemy.

ACTS XX: 21.

"Testifying both to the Jews, and also the Greeks, repentance

toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ."

This verse is a part of St. Paul's account of his own ministry at the

city of Ephesus in Asia. He revisits them after having spent three years

of labor among them, and in his address to them he reminds them of his

manner of life among them, and recounts the substance of his preaching

among them; and the burden of his preaching was as is stated in the

text: "Repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ."

And the first point to be noticed is that St. Paul made no difference

among men; he was no respecter of persons or classes. You all know the

Jews were the church people of that day. They not only claimed to be the

pious of that day, but they claimed to be the only pious people, and the

only ones qualified to teach others. But Paul, finding their religion

was altogether outward and formal, as is the religion of many of the

church people to-day, preached to them just as he did to the vilest of

the heathens around them, the necessity of repentance, of turning from

their sins and passions to God, with self-abhorrence and hope of mercy

and pardon. And in this he has only followed the example of his Divine

Master; for Christ said to Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, a sort of

reverend doctor of divinity, "Except ye be born again, ye can not enter

into the kingdom of God." (John iii., 3.) And so now it makes no

difference if you belong to the Catholic church or the Episcopal church

or the Methodist church, or any or all others, it will do you

absolutely no good at all if you have not repented of your sins and evil

doings and turned to God in prayer and hope for grace to enable you to

live above the power of sin. But, in the next place, Paul said he

preached "repentance toward God." It is God, then, whom you have

offended by your sins. As David says in the fifty-first Psalm, "Against

Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight." And

because you have sinned against God, you must repent toward God, and as

in the sight of Him who sees and knows all, even the secret thoughts and

passions and purposes of the heart. God is judge, and God is a consuming

fire. But what is it to repent? Ordinarily, when we hear persons speak

of repentance, we think at once about being sorry and of feeling a deep

grief because we have done wrong; and some of us think it means to weep

and moan and to be afflicted with an awful bitterness of soul because of

our sins, when we hear any one speak of repentance in a religious sense.

And, indeed, this may be the kind of repentance which many people have,

and doubtless do have. But there _may_ be true repentance without this

extreme sorrow for sin, provided there is enough sorrow for sin and

hatred of sin and dread of sin to turn away from it, and to at once and

forever forsake it. Nor must you wait for this extreme sorrow, which you

may have heard others speak of, but if you are convinced of the evil of

sin and the baseness of sin and the ruinousness of sin, then cease to

follow it, cease to practice it, and cease at once, however much it may

cost you to do so. The old prophet, speaking to the Jews who came with

sighs and groans and tears to God's altar, but without mending their

ways, says, "Cease to do evil, learn to do right, put away the evil from

you." And John the Baptist says, "Bring forth fruits worthy of

repentance," that is, such fruit as will show that you have indeed and

in heart turned away from evil and from sin. Meanwhile, ask God to help

you repent, tell Him you are nothing but sin and that you look to Him

for grace to repent right and to turn away from all sin. And as long as

you cleave to one sin, you need not expect to get any relief. Many give

up one thing and another, but think they can hold on to one sin--one

darling sin, one idolized sin--and that God will excuse this one, if

they give up all others. "But be not deceived; God is not mocked," nor

can you trifle with Him. Having thus let go your hold of sin, of your

secret darling sins, and turned away from them with hope of mercy from

God, you can trust in Jesus Christ, His Son crucified for your sins, and

in your stead, and you will surely have peace, and that quickly.

Observe, Paul says he preached faith, not in God the Father, but faith

in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is in Jesus that God reconciles the world

unto Himself, And if you do not accept Jesus and trust in God's mercy,

as shown in Jesus, you will get no relief and no peace. God has promised

nothing outside of Jesus. But He has promised everything to him who

accepts Jesus Christ's suffering and sacrifice as the sufficient and

satisfactory penalty due to his own sins, and believes that Jesus bore

his sins in His body on the cross. If Jesus satisfied Paul, He ought to

satisfy you, and be worthy of your confidence and trust and worship.

Turn from sin, then, with humility and shame that you have so long

grieved God, and trust in Jesus, and Jesus alone, and keep doing so for

days if necessary, and you can not, and shall not, fail to obtain

salvation.

ON SELF-DENIAL.

LUKE IX: 23.

"And He said unto them all, if any man will come after Me, let

him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me."

Religion depends on this more than on any other one thing. If we are

willing to give up all our own preferences and to deny all our desires

and inclinations, we shall not have much trouble at any other point. The

greatest hindrance to getting religion or _keeping_ religion is our own

desire for ease, comfort and self-gratification, and our aversion to

enduring any hardship or privation or suffering. The reason why

self-denial is necessary is that our very nature is corrupted and

diseased and we are blinded by sin. Once the will of man was the same as

the will of God; but, since the fall, the will of man and that of God

are directly opposed; and if we live according to God's will, we must go

directly against our own.

Self-denial is necessary in avoiding sin to which we are inclined and

which we find give us pleasure.

But it is necessary also, when no sin or temptation is present, to

preserve that frame of mind which keeps us in readiness for temptation

and enables us to resist it when it does come.

A constant habit of self-denial is necessary to make us proof against

the gradual and unperceived approach of sin either in the form of

coldness and distaste for religion, or sloth, or a desire to gratify the

flesh. So Paul (I. Cor. ix., 27) said he kept his body under and

brought it into subjection, lest _even he_, through the deceitfulness of

sin, should become a castaway.

It follows that self-denial is absolutely necessary to growing in grace.

We are mistaken if we imagine we are growing in grace, when we are

practicing no self-denial. Jesus said (Luke ix., 23): "If any man will

come after Me let him deny himself and take up his cross _daily_." Now

what does that word "daily" mean in this connection? Indeed growth in

piety is a growing out of self so that self is _crucified_, as Paul says

he was.

Self-denial must be practiced then.

1. In abstaining from sins of all kinds.

2. In performing all our duties of religion, however hard and unpleasant

they may be, as attending all church services, ordinances, etc., and

giving according to your ability.

3. In practicing private prayer however hard and distasteful it may be

at first. Some men have prayed three hours a day in secret, as, for

example, Luther.

4. In abstinence from food, _i.e._, fasting; and sometimes from sleep

when it is necessary to have time to pray, etc.

Get the upper hand of your animal nature and keep it by _daily_

self-denial and you will mount up with wings as eagles, you will run and

not be weary, you will walk and not faint.

I. JOHN III: 5.

"And ye know that He was manifested to take away our sins; and

in Him is no sin."

These are Christmas days. This is the period of the year that is

celebrated as the anniversary of the birth of Jesus. I fear that if some

stranger from a foreign land, who knew nothing of the character of Jesus

and His history and nothing of Christianity, were to happen in our midst

during this Christmas time, he would think, from the character of our

festivities and the kind of our demonstrations, that we were either, by

our bonfires and guns and rockets and fireworks, celebrating some

warlike hero who, in the midst of belching cannon and blazing musketry,

had delivered his country from peril, or else that we were, by our

revelry and dissipation and debauchery and riot, celebrating some

heathen god of pleasure like Bacchus, the Roman god of the wine cup. And

it is strange--unaccountably strange--that men should so pervert the

sacred Christmas time into a season of unusual and disgraceful

indulgence in sin. What does our text say? "He was manifested to take

away our sins." "He was manifested;" what does that mean? Oh, it means

more than you and I will give ourselves time to fully take in. It is

said that the angels desire to look into the wonderful fact of the

condescension of Jesus Christ, the prince of princes, in becoming man in

order to save sinners. But though _angels_ thus desire, very few of

_us_, for whom this wonderful humiliation was suffered, give enough time

or attention to it to either understand it or care much about it. We are

too much occupied with these lower things to take any special interest

in things infinitely higher.

Paul, in the second chapter of the Philippians, tells us how Jesus

humbled himself. Let us see verse 5: "Who being in the form of God,

thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made _Himself_ of _no

reputation_ and took on Him the form of a servant, and humbled Himself

and became obedient unto _death_, yea even unto the death of the cross."

Christ, then, was the equal of God, the Father, worshipped by angels;

and yet He consented to become man, and so be made "a little lower than

the angels." But He not only became man, He became a servant among men.

So His life was one of lowly service and unremitting toil for others. He

once girded Himself with a towel and washed the feet of His disciples.

But He not only became man and servant to man, He went to a deeper depth

of humiliation than any other ever descended to: He suffered as an

evil-doer, though in fact He was the only good and pure man that ever

lived. "He was numbered among the transgressors," though He was guilty

of no transgression, and He descended down to the bottom floor of

disgrace--He was nailed on a cross and left there to die as you hang the

worst criminals by the neck till they are dead.

Yes, He was born poor; He lived in toil and sorrow and died in shame:

the Prince of Glory did all this. But, stop and ask, Why did He endure

all this when He might and could have avoided it? Let God answer:

"Surely He hath borne _our_ griefs and carried _our_ sorrows. He was

wounded for _our_ transgressions. He was bruised for _our_ iniquities;

all we like sheep had gone astray, and the Lord laid on _Him_ the

iniquity of us all." (Isaiah lviii., 4, 6.) Yes, "He was manifested to

take away our transgressions" in the sense that He suffered in our stead

for those transgressions that are past. But what good would it do to

forgive sinners if they were not changed and renewed, so that they could

have the power in the future to abstain from sin? What good would it do

for God to say to a drunkard, "Your sins are forgiven" if He did not at

the same time so change that drunkard as to make him able to keep from

drinking in the future? What good to forgive the past sins of a

debauchee or a liar or a gambler or a thief or a murderer if, at the

same time, their hearts were not so changed that they would and could

keep from sinning again? It would do no good, for they would go straight

into the sins they had been practicing. Well, does Jesus make provision

for this? Yes, He does. He was manifested not only to take away the

guilt of our transgressions, but also their _power_ over us. Do we not

read in the Scripture that if the Son shall make us free we shall be

free indeed? Jesus promised a mighty agent which should work in the

hearts of men and renew their natures. I, myself, am as different a man

as if I had been blotted out of existence and born again a new creature.

And these are the very expressions the Scripture uses for describing the

wonderful change. This, then, is what Jesus was born in poverty, lived

in sorrow and died in shame for, and at this time of remembrance and

rejoicing He makes appeal to you:

"I gave my life for thee, my precious blood I shed

That thou mightest ransomed be, and quickened from the dead.

My Father's house of light, my glory-circled throne,

I left, for earthly night, far wanderings, sad and lone.

I've borne it all for thee; what hast thou borne for me?"

NEW YEAR'S SERMON.

DEUTERONOMY VIII: 2-11.

The people of Israel had journeyed long and wearily since leaving Egypt.

For forty years they had wandered and now at last had come to the

borders of the Promised Land. Only the narrow Jordan was between them

and the Canaan of their hopes. They were encamped upon the eastern bank

of this river and were only awaiting orders to pass over and possess the

goodly land which lay before them. And Moses, who was not to cross over

with them, but to be buried in the land of Moab, gives this parting

address to them. They were just passing from one stage of their journey

to another and they need to be reminded of the _past_ and instructed and

warned as to the _future_.

So he says:

"Thou shalt _remember_ all the way which the Lord hath led thee these

forty years."

1. They were to remember the trials and temptations they had. The object

of these, he says (verse 2), was to _humble_ them and to _prove_ them

that they might know what was in their hearts. And so, my brother, if

during the past year, or during your past life, you have had trials and

temptations, it was that you might learn your own weakness, a hard

lesson for proud mortals to learn, and so be humbled to distrust

yourself and seek help from God. And if you have had sorrow or

bereavement it was for the same purpose, that you might learn to give up

seeking perfect happiness in anything or any creature on earth and seek

it in God. And have not some of you learned this lesson or are you not

beginning to learn it at last? Have not the sins and the sorrows of your

past life humbled you and at last brought you to feel your _need of

God_? But another object of these past experiences of trial was to prove

what was in your heart. A man does not know what there is in his heart

till temptation brings it out. He does not know how bad it is. I thought

I was patient; but when temptation came, I found my heart had much

impatience in it. I thought I was humble and did not think highly of

myself till people began to praise me and I found I enjoyed it and loved

it and I was not humble.

2. But they were to remember God's goodness to them also (see verses 3

and 4). He had fed them Himself with manna and kept their clothes from

wearing out and their feet from swelling. And so _you_ are to remember

the goodness of God to you during the past year and during your past

life. Remember how He has spared you in the midst of your wickedness as

He spared me in my neglect of Him _for forty years_, and how He has

furnished you many blessings and would have given you more, but you

would not. And if He has allowed your wickedness to bring you into

trouble and distress, it is to cause you to _stop_ and _reflect_ upon

your ways and turn from them unto Him for deliverance and true

happiness. Thus you are to recall, from the past year and from your past

life, your sins and sorrows, and God's manifold mercies to you.

II. But, just entering upon this new year, you are to look ahead also,

even as the Israelites were to look ahead to the goodly land into which

the Lord was going to bring them (see verses 7, 8 and 9).

1. God _promises_ you much, my brother, on condition that you follow Him

and obey Him. He promises to bless you temporally and spiritually, and

to give you happiness--a goodly possession--if you, for your part, give

yourself up, _unreservedly_ to His directions. He has done much for

_me_, since I began to follow and obey Him years ago.

2. Moses ends his discourse with a solemn warning (verse 11). _Beware_

that you forget not the Lord your God, and go at any time to trusting to

yourself or any earthly help.

ON AFFLICTION AND SUFFERING.

LAMENTATIONS, III: 32-33.

"32. But though He cause grief, yet will He have compassion

according to the multitude of His mercies.

"33. For He doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children

of men."

There is a vast deal of suffering and of sorrow in the world, and the

most of it, if not all, is due directly or indirectly to _sin_ as the

cause. Sin is followed by suffering, as for example, intemperance ruins

the health and brings on a slavery worse in some cases than death; and

sensuality is often followed by loathsome and painful diseases. Thus God

declares His feeling towards sin in these sufferings that result from

it. He has set up a barrier to keep men from the practice of it. But we

will consider how afflictions and sufferings may all be overruled to the

good of the sufferer and his deliverance from the evil of _sin_.

1. Sufferings which are the direct effect of sin have a tendency to make

us turn away from sin. For example, the poverty and distress of the

Prodigal son were the cause of his returning to his Father. So it was

with Jack Harrington and others whom we know.

2. But sufferings and misfortunes which are not the direct effect of sin

stir up the memory to a recollection of past sins, and excite a remorse

for them. For example, a lady who is the wife of a whisky dealer told

her husband she believed that their losses and misfortunes were

judgments sent on them for being in that business.

3. Sometimes it takes the greatest and most prolonged suffering to

conquer man's stubbornness and independence of God. But suffering

humbles him, and, his pride being out of the way, he has no more

trouble.

4. Sorrow that is too great for any earthly consolation leads the

sorrowing one to seek comfort in God. One of the greatest and best

preachers of Germany was thus led to God by the loss of his young wife.

So parents are brought to God by the death of children and children by

the death of parents.

5. Sometimes suffering is necessary to wean us from some idol which we

would not otherwise be willing to give up.

6. Sometimes when we forget God and become absorbed in the world,

nothing but some affliction will make us come to ourselves and turn

again to God with repentance and consecration. Read Psalm cxix., 67-75.

The case of Sister P----, at Portland, was one of this kind. She was a

backslider and put off her return to God and kept putting it off. But

she had a great sorrow. Her son left home under a cloud, her son's wife

lost her mind and then died, and her son was put in prison. To this was

added her own bad health. These things broke the spell of the world,

woke her up from her apathy and made her seek God with all her heart and

she found Him again, and died in great peace and triumph.

7. Then suffering purifies us and develops us and prepares us for work

we could not otherwise do. "Tribulation worketh _patience_." What

_excellent training_ I got when I rubbed the engine for a dollar and a

half a day. It brought patience and resignation and a better preparation

for the work I am doing than any other sort of experience, perhaps,

could have given me.

REVELATIONS XXI: 3.

"And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the

tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and

they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them,

and be their God."

The subject suggested by the text is, the future and final conquest of

the world by the Church of Christ, and the rest and reward of that

church in Heaven.

And the Scriptures do teach that, in time, all nations shall learn

righteousness. The time is coming when neighbor shall not say to

neighbor, "Know ye the Lord," but when all shall know Him, from the

least to the greatest; and the knowledge of God shall cover the earth,

as the waters cover the deep. When this blessed time is to be, and what

are to be the signs of its approach, are not questions for us to attempt

to discuss here to-day, though we may be allowed to say that the Gospel

is being preached to more people to-day that at any former period in the

history of the church. There is a missionary zeal in the church to-day

that has not been paralleled in all her history. There is not only a

readiness among heathen people to hear the Gospel, but there seems to be

a positive hunger for it, and within the last few years the Gospel has

penetrated to the interior of nations and continents that were

previously inaccessible. Certainly the church is more aggressive and

bold in her plans and operations to-day than ever before. And if it be a

prophecy of the not distant conquest of the world to the reign of

Christ, we take courage, and say: "God speed the day!" It is well for us

to pause now, and to reflect upon the reward promised to us in the end

of our course. We do not give enough attention to this. To study about

it; to learn what we do not know concerning it; to realize the

unspeakable blessedness of that state would make us more patient in

waiting, more cheerful in suffering, more earnest and active and

untiring in our efforts to help others to the attainment and enjoyment

of it.

Heaven, then, is represented in the Bible as a place of _perfect beauty,

perfect security, perfect rest and perfect joy_.

It is so represented as to appeal to the desires and longings of all

classes of people. To the inhabitant of the city, what could be more

pleasing than the freedom and freshness and beauty of the country? So

heaven is described as having its landscapes, with its fruit-bearing

trees, its crystal rivers and gurgling fountains. But for the rustic

peasant, it is said to be a resplendent city, with walls of sapphire and

gates of pearl and streets of gold.

But in some respects we are all alike.

We want to be free from sin and danger.

To a Christian heart, sin is the most abhorred and dreadful of all

things. It gives more pain and causes more darkness than any other

cause; and the fear of it causes more suspense than the fear of all

bodily suffering.

But in heaven we shall be free from sin, and free from all fear of sin

and all liability to sin. For nothing that defileth or maketh a lie can

ever enter there; and they who are so happy as to gain heaven shall go

out no more forever.

We all dread sorrow and grief and pain. And truly we all have our share

of it in this life. "Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward."

"Man is of few days and full of trouble," but we leave it all behind

when we go in at the gate of the City of God. "And there shall be no

more sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the

former things are passed away." Christians in this world feel that they

are pilgrims and strangers in a foreign land, away from their home and

their Father's house. Their hearts have been so changed, and they have

tasted of the powers of the world to come, and have come into communion

with God, so that neither the pleasures of the world nor the friendships

of earth can content them--their hearts are not here, but away in

heaven.

I heard a Christian man say, not long ago (though he has a sweet family

and many friends), that he felt that day an unutterable loneliness, as

if he were an exile. His heart had such a longing for his Father and his

kindred and his home beyond the skies. Oh, the sympathy and love and

tenderness we know we shall get at home! It makes us all feel a thrill

that responds to the poet's immortal lines:

"Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home."

And all the sympathy and tenderness of father, mother, brother and

sister are transcended by the sympathy and tenderness of God, for

marvelous to tell it is said that "God _Himself_ shall wipe away all

tears from our eyes."

And how we thirst for _knowledge_ here. We know nothing now. We are

surrounded on all sides by things we do not understand. If we undertake

to investigate, we soon reach the limit of our capacity and have to stop

before we have learned anything. "But then we shall know as also we are

known."

What it means, when it says we shall "sit down at the marriage supper of

the Lamb" we know not, nor what it implies when it says we are to "enter

into the joy of our Lord;" nor do we understand that wonderful saying,

"Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over

many things." No, no; now we see through a glass darkly, but then face

to face, and "it doth not yet appear what we shall be." But we know that

"if we suffer with Him, we shall reign with Him." The suffering comes

first, the humiliation first, the toil and weariness, the _cross_ first,

and then the crown. Peter the Great, of Russia, during one of his wars,

was separated from his army and lost, and, to escape detection, took off

his royal apparel and dressed in common garb. In his wanderings he came

to a humble cottage, and was kindly received and ministered unto by the

peasant woman, who knew not who he was. She gave him a home until danger

was passed, and then helped him to get back to his capital. When the war

was ended, Peter sent for this poor peasant woman, brought her to his

splendid court, and, marrying her, made her the partner of his throne

and his empire. She who had ministered to him in his sufferings now

reigned with him as Queen Catherine, of Russia.

So, my brethren, see that you serve Christ, suffer for Him; spend and be

spent for His cause, and _then_, oh, then, how sweet to rest and reign

forevermore.

ECCLESIASTES XII: 13.

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter; Fear God, and

keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

Now, boys, here is a piece of advice given by the wisest of men. Can any

of you tell me who was the wisest man? (Solomon.) Well this Solomon was

the son of a king. Can any of you tell me whose son Solomon was?

(David's.) And, of course, Solomon had all that money could buy from his

childhood up; and when his father died, he became king in his place. He

lived to be an old man and he had a wide experience of life. In other

words he tried everything that he thought he could get happiness from

and his experience is given in the book of Ecclesiastes. He tried all

sorts of pleasures and he tried them fully, because there was nothing to

hinder or to check him. He denied himself nothing that his heart

desired. He knew fully the effects of all sorts of enjoyment and when he

had passed through it all he wrote it down as the lesson of his

experience for all boys and young men to read. And what was it? Does he

say "Young man, you have a long life before you. Now you must enjoy the

pleasures of life while you are young?" Does he say you must run off

from your father's house and presence like the Prodigal son did, so you

can have a good time in the enjoyment of the pleasures of the world and

then in your after life, when you get more settled, you can think about

your Creator and death and heaven and hell and eternity? Was that the

lesson which his long and extended experience taught him? Ah, no. It

was a far different one. He would say this: "Young men, boys, I have

been all over the road you are traveling now. I have had your feelings,

your hopes, your ambitions, your passions, your temptations. And in one

part of my life I concluded I would give myself up to the enjoyment of

pleasure of every kind and I did so. And I know all about it and this is

what I would say to you all just starting out. Remember _now_ your

Creator in the days of your _youth_ and give your hearts _and lives_ to

Him, if you want to be happy."

1. In the first place by so doing you will avoid wretched poverty. For a

man whose heart and life are given to God can not be a spendthrift. But

just look at some young men how they spend their money or that of their

fathers. However large a fortune they may have, they soon come to

_poverty_.

And a man whose life is given to God is industrious and loves to work.

He can not bear to be idle, for he knows and _feels_ it to be a great

sin. Besides all this God promises to see that those who live for Him

shall not want what is best for them. Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount

declares that if God provides for sparrows and clothes lilies, He will

be sure to see to the needs of His own children. So the way to get the

best assurance that you will be blessed with things needful in this life

is to give yourself up to God to be His, through thick and thin.

2. If you give your heart to God _now_, you will be kept from the sins

which bring men into _disgrace_. "A good name is rather to be chosen

than riches." Ah! you know not into what awful sins your passions will

plunge you, if you do not get the control of yourself, which only

religion can give. You may be led along little by little, almost without

knowing it, till you may wake up to find that you can not, _can not_,

break off from your sins--your hated and ruinous sins. But if you give

God your heart to be changed, renewed, purified _now_, you will avoid

all these awful dangers.

3. But this verse says "the years will draw nigh in which thou shalt

take no pleasure in these things that relate to God." My dear young

friend, that is terribly true. The longer you live away from God the

less and less will be your care for Him and for your soul. How few old

men ever turn to God! Yes, very few, forty years of age and over, ever

do so. I heard Dr. Munhall ask once, in a large congregation, that all

who were converted after seventy years of age would stand up. Not one

stood up. Then he asked that all who had been converted after they were

sixty years of age would stand up. Not one stood up. Then he asked all

who were converted after fifty years to stand up. Only one, I believe,

did so. When he asked all who were converted after forty years to stand

up, only three or four did so. When he asked all converted after thirty

years to stand up, perhaps eight or ten did so. A few more had been

converted after twenty years of age; but when he asked all who were

converted _under_ twenty years to stand, most of the congregation arose.

True, I was converted after I was forty years of age, but it was a bare

chance. And oh, how hard it was for me. And if I had not had the most

patient of friends to sympathize with me, encourage me and guide me, I

should never have gotten along. I beg you do not follow my example in

putting off your return to God.

Look at the men _whom you know_. How little interest they take in

religion and their interest grows less and less all the time. The years

have already come when they have no pleasure in the things of God. They

have encouraged all their feelings, desires and ambitions but this, and

this has almost died out. They have devoted all their thought and

affections to making money and enjoying it, to seeking pleasure and

enjoying it, to acquiring fame and enjoying it, and so their hearts are

completely hardened and insensible to the religion which they cast aside

ten, twenty or thirty years ago. And they will probably _never_ feel the

all-absorbing interest in religion which is necessary to obtain it.

Hence, they will go on blinder and blinder, colder and colder, more and

more hardened down to old age and to the grave and to a hopeless

eternity. I beg you, my young friends, all who hear me to put off your

return to God not one day longer.

NOTE.--The address, of which this is the outline, was delivered

on a Sunday-school occasion and is a specimen of Mr. Holcombe's

talks to young people.--ED.

MARK II: 15.

"And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house,

many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and His

disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him."

1. This class of persons _feel_ that they are outcast, and not

recognized by those who are esteemed the good. Hence, they feel

backward, and will not make advances toward the good for fear of being

slighted.

2. If those who are looked upon and honored as good and pious and pure,

will show that they _want_ to be friendly and sociable, it will take

these persons by surprise, and will win their feelings--and this is

nearly half the battle.

3. Besides, if the good, instead of waiting for these sinners to make

advances, which they will not do, will take pains to show their interest

in the welfare of these, their unfortunate brothers, it will make them

believe that the pious are sincere, and not hypocritical, and that

religion is a reality and not a mere profession. This is a great step

toward gaining them. Most of this class believe in the Gospel in some

vague sense, but it is too vague to amount to anything. But when they

see the grand principle of the Gospel--_Love_--embodied in the

Christian, and coming after them in their lost condition, it makes an

impression, and it moves them to _action_. You can not drive men, nor

can you convince them by abusing them and by shutting them out as too

vile to be your associates. This only drives them further away. But all

men have a chord in their natures that can be touched by love and

kindness. It was this gentleness and sympathy that drew the thousands

around John Wesley. It was this wonderful tenderness that made the

publicans and sinners and harlots, the outcast and the low and the vile

seek the company of the loving Jesus and press into His presence, even

when He was the guest of the great and noble of His day. They knew Jesus

would never repulse them--they knew He would love them, help them, save

them.

"Down in the human heart

Crushed by the Tempter,

Feelings lie buried that grace can restore;

Touched by a loving hand, wakened by kindness,

Chords that were broken will vibrate once more."

4. There has to be such an interest felt for those of this class as will

make you cease to care for what people will say about your going among

them and working with them. This was the sort of interest Jesus had for

them.

5. Imagine your own dear son to be one of this number, and see what

feelings you would have, what earnestness and what planning. These are

some of the ways and means of getting at this class of persons. For we

have to use means and reason in all things.

6. But the _agent_, the only one who can accomplish anything is _God's

Holy Spirit_, and the Holy Spirit comes _only_ in answer to prayer and

trust. Prayer is to be first and second and third and everywhere and

always, and then we may hope that our plans will succeed.

PREPARATION FOR WINNING SOULS.

I am sure, my dear brethren, that in the discussion of this topic we are

to be allowed some liberty and some latitude; and, if I shall speak in a

general way, I trust I shall not be counted out of order. And, not to

detain you with preliminaries, I say that, to be a winner of souls, a

man must have the anointing of the Holy One, reproducing the mind that

was in Christ, who "though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor,

that we through His poverty might become rich," and who "being in the

form of God, thought it not a usurpation to be equal with God, but He

emptied Himself and took upon Him the form of a servant; and being found

in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient as far as

unto death, even death on a cross."

A sympathy that arises from any other motive, or comes from any other

source, than His divine and supernatural anointing, will fall short of

the mark, and will be found too shallow and weak to bear with the

hardheartedness, the perversity and the ingratitude of sinful men.

This anointing, on the other hand, brings with it a yearning love and a

profound sympathy for those who are in the blindness and bondage of sin,

which impels one to _seek out_ the lost, to be at patient pains to save

them, and to bear with all their dullness, slothfulness, selfishness,

perverseness and thanklessness, while they are under training, so to

speak.

It makes a man as ready and anxious to save the soul of a solitary

sinner, however humble and degraded he may be, as to preach with power

to the great congregations. It was this that made John Wesley as willing

and careful and patient in talking to a negro servant girl as to a

multitude. And it was this which lead a greater than John Wesley to lead

with patient love along, the poor Samaritan adulteress whom He met at

the well of Jacob.

But what is more important and imperative for the immediate work of

getting a dead soul to a living Saviour, this divine anointing imparts

that peculiar and energetic pungency which pierces to the heart and

conscience of a sinner, rouses his fears, and prepares him for the

reception of Christ.

Not only so, this unction from the Holy One is accompanied with a

practical wisdom and _insight_ which discerns, if not all things, yet,

at least, _many practical things_. It enables a man to see that the

first thing to be done in the way of saving a sinner is to convict him

of sin. To get him to admit theoretically that he is a sinner, is equal

to zero, amounts to nothing. But, in a way not to repel him, he must be

made to _feel_ that he is sinful, and so, wretched. It is wonderful what

tact some men have in this respect. Here lies, undoubtedly, the secret

of Sam Jones' power. He turns all classes of men, Pharisees in the

church and sinners out of it, inside out, and makes them see, in spite

of all spiritual apathy and all self-deception, what they are. He shows

them secrets which they thought nobody knew but themselves.

But a greater than he did the same thing--Jesus touched the _sore spot_

in the conscience of the Samaritan woman and compelled her to say: "He

told me all things that I have done." This revealing the secrets of the

heart is a thing that fascinates and attracts and wins a sinner; and he

feels, if you know so well without being told, all the particulars of

his inner life and all the desperate trouble of his case, you surely can

not make a mistake in pointing out the way of escape. Just as a patient

yields immediate and unquestioning confidence to the physician who can

tell him all his symptoms and describe his feelings better than he

himself can do it.

If preaching the love of Christ without convicting of sin would have

saved people, then most people in the United States would have been

saved long ago, for the love of Christ has been told and retold and

preached and re-preached, and it does not bring sinners to repentance.

To be sure there are some sinners who have found, by bitter experience,

the ripe fruits of sin, and these may be already prepared to accept a

deliverer and a deliverance as soon as offered to them.

The possession of this unction presupposes that a man is correct,

upright, holy in his life; for God would not give it to one who was not

so. I believe Mr. Moody was right when he said: "If a man's life is not

above reproach, the less he says the better." A friend of mine says he

knows a minister who, though no doubt a good man and a fine talker, will

_lie_ now and then. Of course, he would not call it lying, nor would his

admirers call it lying, but lying it is; and so he has no power. His

preaching is like a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal.

There are some men who have some little success in soul-saving, but who

would have much more success, if their lives were thoroughly holy, and

Christlike. And indeed some men would not have the success they do have,

if the public knew their secret life. For example, there are some men

who indulge evil thoughts (if they do not go further) and who are not

chaste in their associations with women; and there are others who are

ill-tempered, cross, fault-finding, sour and bitter in their home life.

If these things were publicly and generally known, they would lose what

power they have with the people. Brethren, we can hardly be too careful

of these things. But a full and constant anointing of the Holy One would

correct all these evils at the _source_, namely, in the heart. It makes

a sober Christian man tremble to know how little some of the preachers

and evangelists of the day _pray_. It would be no wonder if under stress

of some sudden and strong temptation, they should fall into scandalous

sin and disgrace themselves and the cause they represent. There is an

old and true saying that "when a man's life is lightning, his words will

be thunderbolts."

We are advised to make ourselves familiar with the Scriptures, to equip

ourselves with weapons from the armory of God's word; and excellent

advice it is.

No man can maintain a spiritual life who does not habitually and

diligently study God's holy word. No man is prepared to understand the

wants of souls or to deal with them who is not familiar with the

Scriptures. It is a marked characteristic of our honored brother, D. L.

Moody, that he can, not only discern the deeper, inner spiritual sense

of all the Scriptures, both of the Old Testament and the New, but he

can handle and apply them with a skill, effectiveness and power that are

truly wonderful. And, what is more, he is peculiarly apt in selecting

just the right passages for any particular case or occasion. He is truly

a masterly handler of the sword of the spirit, and his success is

largely due to this fact.

But there is a class of workers who seem to think that it is sufficient

to know by heart some Scriptures, or to have a certain facility in

referring to different passages, and they rely upon this, congratulating

themselves that they are doing well. But it is all perfunctory and

lifeless and dead. There is no charm, no warmth, no power in it. A man

must be more than a mechanical text-peddler in order to impress, arouse,

comfort and save the souls of men. You may pitch cold lead at a man all

day long and never break his skin; but let a full charge of ignited

gunpowder drive it out of a well-aimed rifle, and the effect is

terrific. So these text-mongers may throw Scripture at people all day

long, and they laugh at it. But let the same missile be hurled forth

with the energy of a soul on fire of the Holy Ghost, and the slain of

the Lord will be many.

So, my brother, there is absolutely no substitute for this unction of

the Holy Spirit. And this unction is given in answer to self-denying and

daily prayer.

If we would know the secret of power with men, we _must_ spend much time

in secret communion with God.

NOTE.--This address is one of two delivered by Mr. Holcombe

before the convention of Christian workers of United States and

Canada in the Broadway Tabernacle, New York, September 21-28,

1887.--ED.

THE MISSION--PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

I. THE PAST.

Two years ago I was working in the Fire Department of the city, because

I could get nothing else to do. The close and slavish confinement, the

necessity of being always at my place, both of nights and Sundays, and

the consequent lack of opportunity to do anything for the cause of my

Master, made it almost intolerable for me, and several times I made up

my mind I would give up the place, even though I had nothing else to

fall back on for a living for myself and family. But through the advice

of friends and the help of God, I was kept from that rash step. However,

I determined I must do something for my Lord and for the men of my

acquaintance and former occupation who would not, I knew, go inside of a

church. So, though I was getting under sixty dollars a month, and had a

large family to support, I determined to rent a room at my own expense

in the central part of the city for holding Gospel meetings, and to hire

a substitute to take my place in the Fire Department when I was absent

and engaged in the work of my Lord.

I made known my plans to my former pastor, and he became interested and

promised to help me. He was living in the country, and hardly ever

attended the preachers' meeting here on Mondays; but it happened on the

next Monday after I told him of my purpose that he was at the preachers'

meeting, and, on my name being mentioned by some one present, he took

occasion to speak at length of my conversion, trials, poverty; my

intense yearning to engage entirely in the work of God, and my immediate

purpose to commence Gospel meetings in entire dependence on God alone

for help. He went so far as to ask the preachers present to speak of the

matter to their members and make an effort to get assistance from them

for the expenses of my proposed work. But one of the preachers present,

though saying very little at the time, was moved to lay before his

official board a proposition not to _assist_ in paying the expenses of

such a plan of work, but to take me from the Fire Department and pay me

a regular salary and defray all the other necessary expenses of such a

Mission work as my heart was set on doing. And his official members were

_also moved_ to agree to his proposition, and when he came to me and

told me of what had taken place, I was constrained to say: "This is

God's doing, and it is marvelous in my eyes." So the very thing I

desired above all other things; the very thing I should have chosen if I

could have had my wish, was brought to pass. And I saw that by waiting

God's time, He rewarded me in granting me the desire of my heart, and

meanwhile I had learned lessons of patience and preparation that I could

not have learned so well anywhere else. (Mr. Holcombe went on to speak

of the beginning of his work in the Tyler Block, with the assistance and

co-operation of Rev. Mr. Morris; of the results accomplished during that

first period; of the removal of the Mission to Jefferson street, between

Fourth and Fifth streets, and the results accomplished there, and,

lastly, of the removal to the present building, etc. See his life.)

II. THE PRESENT.

At present we have the house on Jefferson street. We have a

Sunday-school of scholars who do not attend any other school, and would

not. It is supplied with able and devoted teachers, such as Brother

Atmore and others. The devotion of Brother Atmore is shown by his

refusing to leave his class one Sunday to go to the Masonic Temple

during Sam Jones' meetings. The children show a wonderful improvement

since they have been coming to the Sunday-school. Brother Atmore's boys

were almost unmanageable at first, but they are now so changed that it

is very noticeable. This Sunday-school feature of the work is one of the

most important and promising parts of it, and we believe the results to

be accomplished by it _alone_ will amply repay all the outlay of labor,

time and means that has been made in the enterprise. We have also a

reading-room in connection with the Mission-room, where we have papers,

magazines, books, etc. The words of invitation and welcome painted on

the door have drawn in some who, but for the reception, sympathy and

help which they found there, might have gone on in their wretchedness to

suicide.

While we furnish lodging, food, etc., to those who are destitute, yet it

is with a view to their spiritual welfare and ultimate salvation. And so

soon as we find a man is availing himself of our charity with no

intention or effort to become a Christian, we let him go.

III. THE FUTURE.

In looking at the past, we find there are several plain and striking

results of the work. The most apparent is the radical and astonishing

change for the better that has taken place in the cases of many unhappy

men and their families. Two years ago these men "sat in darkness and in

the shadow of death," being bound in affliction and iron, because they

rebelled against the laws of God. Therefore He brought down their

hearts. They fell down and there was none to help. And none but

themselves and God knew the bitterness of their bondage and the depth of

their dark and unrelieved despair. But they were brought into contact

with a new force and a new agency by means of the efforts and sympathy

and instructions of those engaged in this work, and to-day their old

life with its bitterness and bondage and darkness is left behind from

one to two years in a path that, it is hoped, is not to be retraced

forever, and now these men are happy again, and some of them prosperous

in business. And what shall be said of their families--their wives and

children, innocent sufferers from the vices of husbands and fathers?

Husband is husband again, father is father again, and the long dark

night of hopeless sorrow and bitter tears has ended--ended at last, and

ended, let us hope and pray, forever.

But if it be also true, as He said, who spake as never man spake, that

it profits nothing to gain the whole world and lose one's own soul; if

there is for the unsaved an undying worm and an unquenchable fire, and

for the saved an inheritance of joy that is incorruptible and a glory

that fadeth never more away, then where or how shall we _begin_ to

compute the result of this mission work? It is recorded in eternity, and

only the unfolding of eternity can unfold the good that has thus far

been done.

But aside from these direct results, there is another one which can not

be estimated, namely the demonstration of the power of the Gospel to do

for helpless, enslaved, lost men what nothing else in the universe can

do. There is naturally in the hearts of men a doubt as to the divinity

of that religion which fails to do what it proposes to do, and so in

times of religious deadness, men lose faith, and unbelief grows stronger

and more stubborn in proportion as they see no actual instances of the

power of the Gospel to save bad men. But when bad men have been reached

and quickened and convicted and made holy by the Gospel, then the tide

turns and faith becomes natural and easy and contagious, not to say

necessary. Many of my old companions were brought to believe in the

Gospel when I was changed by it; and now when scores of the worst cases

in Louisville have been reached and saved, and have _stayed saved_ so

long, men are brought back from unbelief to faith, and naturally turn to

the Gospel with increasing hope.

But this return of faith has not only been noticeable in the case of the

unsaved classes, the churches have seen this work, and have had their

faith in the divine power of the Gospel to save all men increased, and a

corresponding activity is witnessed among many of the churches in the

city. They have learned also that to save lost men we must, like Jesus,

not wait for them to come to us, but we must go to them and after them,

just as has been done in this work.

There is a passage in Malachi which says, "Bring all the tithes into my

storehouse and prove me herewith if I will not open the windows of

heaven and pour you out such a blessing there shall not be room enough

to receive it."

This Walnut-street church, led by its devoted pastor, was willing to

accept God's challenge, and they brought the tithes, they laid down

their money, they made the venture, and God has given them a great

blessing.

But this is only the pledge of far greater blessings yet to be given

them, if they will continue to honor God, by the faith that lays upon

His altar, sacrifices that cost something and amount to something.

Let us not stop to congratulate ourselves upon what has been done and

rest satisfied with that, but accept it only as an indication of what He

will do for us if we have faith to claim a deep wide-spread and

continuous revival.

NOTE.--The foregoing is the substance of an address delivered

by request of the Directors of the Mission on the occasion of a

reunion of the converts and mass-meeting of the Christian

people of Louisville, in the Walnut-street Methodist Church, in

April, 1886.--ED.

CHRISTIAN WORKERS.

From September 21st to 28th, the second convention of Christian

Workers in the United States and Canada was held in Broadway

Tabernacle, New York City. From the published report of the

proceedings, this speech of the Rev. S. P. Holcombe is taken:

It would be presumptuous in me to stand up here and say how you should

conduct a "Gospel Meeting." I do not propose to do that; but will simply

tell you how, for six years, I have conducted one at Louisville,

Kentucky, and with some success. I say some success, for we

have succeeded in gaining the confidence and respect of all

classes--preachers, Christians, gamblers, drunkards and infidels. Not

only have we succeeded in reaching the hearts of the people, but also

their pocket-books.

Beginning in a basement room, at a rent of twenty dollars per month, we

now own a building of thirty rooms. As an instance of the respect all

classes have for our work, while we were negotiating for this property a

German Singing Society also wanted it. This kept the price up above our

figures.

I called on the President of the Club, who is an infidel, told him I

wanted that property for my Mission work. Said he: "Mr. Holcombe, I am

not a Christian, neither do I believe in the churches, but I do believe

in the kind of work that you are doing. I shall withdraw until the

Holcombe Mission is done." We soon had the property.

Since my conversion I have tried to be a man, just as much as before. As

Dr. Pentecost said the other day: "When I put off the old man, I did

not put on the old woman," and by this I mean no disrespect to the dear

old women, for many of them have more manhood in them than some of us

men, and my wife is one of them. What I mean is, that since I have

become a Christian I have not lost any of my manhood.

When I was a gambler, I had gambling houses all over the country. The

object was to get other people's money without giving them any

equivalent, in order to gratify my base passion. I could not, of course,

call on the police for protection, as my business was not legitimate.

Hence, I had to protect myself, which I did at all hazards.

So, when I opened a house for the Lord, to win souls for Him, I

determined I would take care of it at any cost. I think some who are

engaged in Christian work are too stilted, others are too lax. I have

tried to be both stiff and limber; when it was a matter of no

consequence, to bend like the willow; when it was something vital to my

Master's cause, to be as stiff as steel. In other words I have tried to

be "all things to all men" that I might win some.

I think all Missions ought to have a leader. Ours has one. I am the

leader of the meetings. Not that I do all the talking, but I look out

for the details.

I have a time for opening and a time for closing the meeting, and I

always close at the time. If my opening time is 7:30, I begin the

meeting if there is no one there but myself, which, however, has never

occurred; and if my closing hour is at 9 o'clock, I close at 9--not

9:30 or 10. We have in Louisville a class of poor people who attend the

Mission and who work every day. They must be at their places of labor at

an early hour in the morning. They love to be at the meeting, and when

they know that they will be dismissed promptly, they will come. I feel

that if I were to keep these men and women up till 10, 11 or 12 o'clock,

and let them get up at 5 and go to a hard day's work, while I lie in bed

until 8 or 9, that I would be a robber.

Now, I do not say that I go home at 9 o'clock; for if there is a single

one anxious enough about his soul's eternal salvation to stay till the

dawning of the morning, I will remain with him. I simply say that I have

a time for opening and a time for closing, and I keep promptly to it.

I have no set way of conducting the meetings. I try to take advantage of

the situation and do the best I can under the circumstances.

We always have a Scripture lesson read and a few remarks by the leader.

If I ask him to speak twenty minutes, I mean twenty minutes; and, if he

is a bishop, I will stop him when his time is up. I don't ask you to

agree that this is right--I am only telling you how I conduct a Gospel

meeting. After this we have Christians to give their experience, never

allowing more than three minutes, and I make it my business to know what

kind of lives those who testify are living. If one gets up and begins to

talk about the love of Jesus, who I know has that day been drinking, or

in a house of prostitution, I stop him right there. I do not allow him

to talk, and injure the cause, and then tell him afterward. I say,

"Brother, we don't want to hear from you to-night," and so I stop him at

once.

I am very careful as to who testifies in my meetings and what they say.

If a man who is not a Christian undertakes to exhort others to become

Christians, I stop him, because he is trying to talk about something of

which he knows nothing, and this is one of the hardest things in the

world to do.

Where everybody is invited to take part in a meeting, we are apt to have

cranks to deal with. They must be checked and kept down rather than

encouraged. By cranks I mean those who have eccentric and unsound views,

and think that nobody else can know as well about these things as

themselves.

I was holding a series of Gospel meetings in Atlanta, Ga., on one

occasion, and had been talking from Acts ii., 38, "And ye shall receive

the gift of the Holy Ghost." In the address I undertook, as best I

could, to show that He, the Holy Ghost, convinces men of sin, and that

He reveals Jesus to poor sinners as their sin bearer and life giver, and

that it is He that produces that change in men which we call conversion

or regeneration or the new birth; and that He, the Holy Ghost, is the

comforter of God's people, in their loneliness and trials and conflicts

here in this world of exile, as well as our teacher to guide us into the

truth. When I had gotten through, I said, "Now we will have short talks

from others, and no one will talk more than three minutes." Up jumped a

street preacher, who began saying that I had been talking about the

Holy Ghost, but I did not know what I was talking about. He knew all

about Him, and would tell them about Him. (This was pretty trying, but I

kept mum, however.) He then began a harangue. When his time was up, I

stopped him. "You are going to limit the Holy Ghost, are you? You are

going to take the responsibility of stopping Him, are you?" "No, but I

am going to stop you, and that at once." And at once he stopped.

I never allow those who testify to abuse others. Some will begin to talk

about the gambling hells. I stop them and say: "No man will go farther

to stop these things than I, but this is not the place for that kind of

talk." Others, as soon as they are converted, begin to find fault with

the churches, and abuse the ministers. I do not approve of this, and I

discourage it. I am sorry to know that many who are conducting Gospel

meetings are inclined to find fault with Christians, magnifying

themselves and their work and underrating the churches and the work of

their faithful pastors.

Some of these Mission workers have spent the best part of their lives in

sin, never looking into the Bible--have been converted only a short

time; have had a little success; got the big-head, and think they know

better how to do God's work than those dear men who have been good all

their lives and made a study of God's Word.

My dear brethren, in the Mission work, we must remember that all who

have ever done any mighty work for God have been trained for it, and

trained slowly. Moses, you remember, when he was going to his work down

in Egypt, commenced killing people. He was the great chieftain, and was

going to deliver his brethren by killing his enemies. This was not the

way God wanted it done. God saw that there was good material in Moses,

and that He could use him, but he must be trained. So He sent him away

to the solitudes of Horeb and Sinai, and kept him there forty years.

Then when God called him to go down and bring His people out, he had

learned the lesson God wanted him to learn, had gotten down in the dust,

was humbled, and he said: "Who am I, Lord?" Moses had gotten more of the

Holy Ghost. The more we get of the Holy Ghost the closer we get to God.

The more we see of Him, and the more we see of God, the less we think of

ourselves; the more insignificant we become in our own eyes.

The Twelve had a grand work to do, but they were slowly trained for it.

So, then, let us young converts, whose work God has honored and blessed,

be very careful how we magnify ourselves, and underrate the regular

ministry. These men are doing a noble work in their respective fields,

and they are just as ready and willing to take hold of the poor outcast

as we Mission workers are.

There are preachers who are occupying pulpits, where they are getting

twenty-five hundred or three thousand dollars a year, and they are doing

just as much to save poor drunkards as we ignorant, humble Mission

workers are.

You who were at the Chicago Convention last year remember what Dr.

Lawrence told us about taking one of these poor, wretched drunkards to

his beautiful home; how, notwithstanding he was full of vermin, he had

him take a bath, burned his clothes, put clean ones on him, gave him a

bed and took care of him as a brother. I tell you, my friends, I was

touched by that story as well as taught a valuable lesson. I know of

many instances of the same kind that I might tell.

You remember Dr. John A. Broadus, a well-known Baptist minister in

Louisville. I know him well. He has been one of my best friends. Not

very long before I left home, a drunkard came to the Mission and showed

me a note from Dr. Broadus, saying: "This man has called on me for help.

I do not like to give him any money, as he is under the influence of

liquor. Give him whatever you think best, and I will settle the bill." I

asked the man, as I knew him well: "How did you happen to go to Dr.

Broadus?" "Because I had heard so many say that he had helped them." I

gave him nothing. My friends, we must not underrate the willingness of

the preachers to help the poor outcast, for they are much interested in

their very welfare.

I love the Missions and the Mission work. Just at this present time, the

Missions have got a boom over the country, but if we are not very

careful how we talk and act, the Missions will suffer. And the only

reason some of them have not quit already is because those who support

them, for want of time to hunt up real results, have had to take printed

reports.

It is easy for us to find fault with Christians, rich Christians, and

say they are cold and indifferent about the souls of men, but the

history of the church proves that this is a great mistake. These

Missions have to be supported by rich Christians, and when you find a

man that has got much money, you will find that he is not a fool. He is

generally a man with a long head and farsightedness. He wants to see

where his money is going, and what is being done with it. If you use it

properly, he will give it liberally. If he finds that you are one of

those fellows that want to give his money to every beggar that comes

along, he will stop his subscription at once. These are simple facts. If

we want this Mission work to succeed we have got to be very careful.

I never allow any begging in my Mission, I don't care how pitiable the

object may be. When tramps want food, I send them to the wood yard to

work for it. If men will not work, neither shall they eat of the money

intrusted to me for spiritual work.

I have no indiscriminate praying. When I want a prayer, I want to know

something about the man or woman who is to make it. I ask some one who,

I have good reason to believe, is a true Christian, that is, who walks

and talks with God. I do not care about their name or denomination. I

feel that there is a great responsibility in going to God for these poor

sinners, and I want the best man or woman that I can get to talk to God

for them. I say: "I am going to call on some one to pray. I don't want

you to pray for Africans, Chinese or any other of the heathen nations

here. When you go home, you can pray for them all night if you want to,

but now we want you to pray for this special work."

I believe in good singing, and try to have it. I would like to have a

hundred in the choir. I seldom have over two persons. I suppose the

reason is that I will not allow any one to sit on my platform and sing

these sweet hymns unless I have good reason to believe they are living

pure, holy, consistent Christian lives. I think the man or woman who

sits in the choir ought to be as good as he who stands in the pulpit.

Some will come to me and say: "So-and-so is a fine singer; has such a

fine voice." "What church does he or she belong to?" "Oh, they are not

members." "Well, then, excuse me, if you please." "But that might save

them!" "I shall not try the experiment."

I have polite ushers to welcome the people, and to shake hands with them

as they come in and also as they go out, and invite them back. They are

also supplied with tracts for distribution, tracts that have passed

under my observation, as I allow nobody to distribute tracts unless I

know what they are.

I try to keep the run of the converts; in fact, I try to know all about

them. I try to get them into some church of their choice, that one which

they will feel the most at home in and where they will get the right

sort of care. It is a very easy thing to get one of these poor

drunkards, who hasn't got any place to sleep or anything to eat, to say,

"I am going to try and be a better man and follow Christ!" It is a very

easy thing, I say, and the poor fellows mean it. But, oh! my friends,

how hard it is to get them up to the sticking point. They want to be

watched over and given the very best nursing. If I had not had the very

best care and nursing of one of the most godly of ministers, I do not

think I should be standing before you to-day a Christian man.

I try to follow them up and help the pastors to nurse them. In order to

keep track of them we use a book, something like a bank check-book. When

they want to unite with some church, we give them a certificate of

introduction. In it I ask the pastor to let me know when it is

presented. On the stub I take the man's name, age, residence, where

from, to whom introduced, with space for remarks as to future career,

etc. If he has a home, we visit him at his home, and if he has not, I

invite him to visit me at my home at any time, day or night, which is in

the same building over the Mission, and we talk together and pray

together.

QUESTION. "Will you please state whether you ever recommend fasting as a

means of keeping the body under?"

ANSWER. "I think it is a good idea. I think fasting a good thing to keep

the body under. Owing to my poverty, since I have become a Christian, I

have had little to feed on. This necessary self-denial has enabled me to

keep my poor body down, and from betraying me into sin. No man was ever

a greater slave to his passions than I. My passion for gambling was so

great I would have committed murder to gratify it. I was very

licentious. I just gave loose reins to my passions; but to-day, I thank

God, I can stand up before you and say that I am complete master of

myself. I know it is a help to live a plain life."

Q. "How many meetings a week do you hold?"

A. "We have them every night."

Q. "Do the men go to the churches when you send them? Do you prepare

them?"

A. "I do not hurry them into the churches. And yet I don't say they must

be converted before they go in. When a man is sick of sin, willing to

give it up, I think he is about as ready for the church as we can get

him."

Q. "Do you have much or little Bible reading in the services?"

A. "We do not have much Bible reading. I know that it is the power of

God unto salvation; but the class of men who attend Missions, as a rule,

are in no condition to be profited by a long Bible reading. The mission

of the Missions is to stop these men in their downward course, put them

to thinking, get them into churches; then have the Bible read and

explained to them by those who are more competent than I am."

Q. "How long do you hold service?"

A. "Exactly one hour and a half; never more, sometimes a little less.

The first half hour is taken up in prayer and singing, the other hour in

exhortation and testimonies and prayers for the inquirers. After

dismissing, we remain with any anxious ones."

Q. "When do you have your converts' meeting?"

A. "Every Sunday morning, beginning at 9:30 o'clock and closing at

10:30, in time for them to get to church."

Q. "Do the churches take good care of the converts?"

A. "As a rule, yes. Some better than others."

Q. "Do the converts come to your Mission after they have joined the

church?"

A. "Oh, yes, sir. They feel more at home in the Mission than they do in

church, because it was there they entered upon the Christian life. Many

of our Christian workers make a great mistake. They find fault with the

churches because they don't receive these tramps--I must call them

tramps--in their filthy condition and give them the best seats, etc. I

want to say right here that a clean church, where clean people go, is no

place for a body of tramps. We must remember, my friends, that people

who are clean, who have good clothes and clean homes, also have some

rights to be considered. I say it is not right to take these people into

a fine church, and put them side by side with the clean ones until they

themselves are thoroughly clean. I took fifty or sixty of them into a

church once, but afterward I was aware that I had made a great mistake.

The Mission is the place to clean them up, and then send them to a clean

church, and they will feel better themselves, and be warmly welcomed by

the members. I don't like dirt any better than other folks, but some one

has to do this work, and I am perfectly willing to do it."