words remain true of our dear friends, day after day, while we meet
them, and live with them, is there still blame? There are just two left
out of the four: God, and ourselves who trust Him. Let me ask very
reverently, but very plainly: Is it God's fault? You and I have both
heard such a thing hinted at, and sometimes openly said. I believe it is
a good thing with reverence to ask, and attempt to find the answer, to
such a question as that. And for answer let me first bring to you a
picture of the God of the Old Testament whom some people think of as
being just, but severe and stern.
Away back in the earliest time, in the first book, Genesis, the sixth
chapter, and down in verses five and six are these words: "And the Lord
saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and"--listen to
these words--"that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was
only evil continually."
What an arraignment! "Every imagination," "evil," "_only_ evil;" no
mixture of good at all; "only evil _continually_," no occasional spurts
of good even--the whole fabric bad, and bad clear through, and all the
time. Is not that a terrific arraignment? But listen further: "And it
repented the Lord that He had made man on the earth, and"--listen to
these last pathetic words--"_it grieved Him at His heart_."
Will you please remember that "grieve" is always a love word? There can
be no grief except where there is love. You may annoy a neighbor, or
vex a partner, or anger an acquaintance, but you cannot grieve except
where there is love, and you cannot be grieved except wherein you love.
I have sometimes, more often than I could wish, seen a case like this. A
young man of good family sent away to college. He gets in with the wrong
crowd, for they are not all angels in colleges yet, quite. Gets to
smoking and drinking and gambling, improper hours, bad companions, and
all that. His real friends try to advise him, but without effect. By and
by the college authorities remonstrate with him, and he tries to
improve, but without much success after the first pull. And after a
while, very reluctantly, he is suspended, and sent home in disgrace. He
feels very bad, and makes good resolutions and earnest promises, and
when he returns he does do much better for a time. But it does not last
long. Soon he is in with the old crowd again, the old round of habits
and dissipations, only now it gets worse than before; the pace is
faster. And the upshot of it all is that he is called up before the
authorities and expelled, sent home in utter disgrace, not to return.
And here is his chum who roomed with him, ate with him, lived with him.
He says, "Well, I declare, I am all broken up over Jim. It's too bad! He
was "hail-fellow, well met," and now he has gone like that. I'm awfully
sorry. It's too bad! too bad!!" And by and by he forgets about it
except as an unpleasant memory roused up now and then. And here is one
of his professors who knew him best perhaps, and liked him. "Well," he
says, "it is too bad about young Collins. Strange, too, he came of good
family; good blood in his veins; and yet he seems to have gone right
down with the ragtag. It's too bad! too bad!! I am so sorry." And the
matter passes from his mind in the press of duties and is remembered
only occasionally as one of the disagreeable things to be regretted, and
perhaps philosophized over.
And there is the boy's father's partner, down in the home town. "Well,"
he soliloquizes, "it is too bad about Collins' boy. He is all broken up
over it, and no wonder. Doesn't it seem queer? That boy has as good
blood as there is: good father, lovely mother, and yet gone clean to the
bad, and so young. It is too bad! I am awfully sorry for Collins." And
in the busy round of life he forgets, save as a bad dream which will
come back now and then.
But down in that boy's home there is a woman--a mother,
heart-broken--secretly bleeding her heart out through her eyes. She goes
quietly, faithfully about her round of life, but her hair gets thinner,
and the gray streaks it plainer, her form bends over more, and the lines
become more deeply bitten in her face, as the days come and go. And if
you talk with her, and she will talk with you, she will say, "Oh, yes, I
know other mothers' boys go wrong; some of them going wrong all the
time; but to think of _my Jim_--that I've nursed, and loved so, and done
everything for--to think that my Jim--" and her voice chokes in her
throat, and she refuses to be comforted. _She grieves at her heart._ Ah!
that is the picture of God in that Genesis chapter. He saw that the
world He had made and lavished all the wealth of His love upon had gone
wrong, and it grieved Him at His heart.
This world is God's prodigal son, and He is heartbroken over it. And
what has He done about it. Ah! what has He done! Turn to Mark's twelfth
chapter, and see there Jesus' own picture of His Father as He knew Him.
In the form of a parable He tells how His Father felt about things here.
He sent man after man to try and win us back, but without effect, except
that things got worse. Then Jesus represents God talking with Himself.
"What _shall_ I do next, to win them back?--there is My son--My only
boy--Jesus--I believe--yes, I believe I'll send Him--then they'll _see_
how badly I feel, and how much I love them; that'll touch them surely;
I'll do it." You remember just how that sixth verse goes, "He had yet
one, a beloved Son; He sent Him _last_ unto them, saying, they will
_reverence_ my Son." And you know how they treated God's Son, His love
gift. And I want to remind you to-night that, speaking in our human
way--the only way we can speak--God suffered more in seeing His Son
suffer than though He might have suffered Himself. Ask any mother here:
Would you not gladly suffer pain in place of your child suffering if you
could? And every mother-heart answers quickly, "Aye, ten times over, if
the child could be spared pain." Where did you get that marvelous
mother-heart and mother-love? Ah, that mother-heart is a bit of the
God-heart transferred. That is what God is like. Let me repeat very
reverently that God suffered more in giving His Son to suffer than
though He had Himself suffered. And that is the God of the Old
Testament! Let me ask: Is _He_ to blame? Has He not done His best?
Let it be said as softly as you will, and yet very plainly, that those
awful words, "damned" and "cursed," whatever their meaning may be, are
true of your friends. Then add: It is not so because of God's will in
the matter, but in spite of His will. Remember that God exhausted all
the wealth of His resource when He gave His Son. There can come nothing
more after that.
Your Personality Needed.
Then there is a second question from God's side to ask about those ugly
words: thoughtfully, and yet plainly--Is it the fault of Jesus, the Son
of God? And let anyone here listen to Him speaking in that tenth chapter
of John. "I lay down My life for the sheep. No man taketh it from Me. I
lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down and power to take it
again." And then go out yonder to that scene just outside the Jerusalem
wall. There hangs Jesus upon that cross, suspended by nails through
hands and feet. He is only thirty-three. He is intensely human. Life was
just as sweet to Him that day as it is to you and me to-night. Aye, more
sweet: for sin had not taken the edge off his relish of life. Plainly He
could have prevented them. For many a time had He held the murderous mob
in check by the sheer power of His presence alone. Yet there He hangs
from nine until noon and until three--six long hours. And He said He did
it for you, for me. Do not ask me to tell _how_ His dying for us saves.
I do not know. No one statement seems to tell all the truth. When I
study into it I always get clear beyond my depth. In a tremendous way it
tells a double story; of the damnable blackness of sin; and of the
intensity of love. I do know that _He said_ He did it for us, and for
our salvation, and that it had to be done. But as we look to-day on that
scene, again the question: does any of the blame of the awful statements
this book makes regarding your friends belong to Him, do you think? And
I think I hear your hearts say "surely not."
Well, the Father has done His best. No blame surely attaches there. The
Son has gone to the utmost limit. No fault can be found there. There is
just one other left up yonder, of the divine partnership--the Holy
Spirit. What about Him. Listen. Just as soon as the Son went back home
with face and form all scarred from His brief stay upon the earth, He
and the Father said, "now We will send down the last one of Us, the Holy
Spirit, and He will do His best to woo men back," and so it was done.
The last supreme effort to win men back was begun. The Holy Spirit came
down for the specific purpose of telling the world about Jesus. His work
down here is to convict men of their terrible wrong in rejecting Jesus,
and of His righteousness, and of the judgment passed upon Satan. Only He
can convince men's minds and consciences. A thousand preachers with the
logic of a Paul and the eloquence of an Isaiah could not convince one
man of sin. Only the Spirit can do that. But listen to me as I say very
thoughtfully--and this is the one truth I pray God to _burn_ into our
hearts to-night--that to do His work among men _He needs to use men_. He
needs you. "Oh!" you say, "it is hardly possible that you mean that: I
am not a minister: I have no special ability for christian work: I am
just an obscure, humble christian: I have no gift in that direction."
Listen with your heart while I remind you that He needs not your special
abilities or gifts, though He will use all you have, and the more the
better, but _He needs your personality as a human channel_ through which
to touch the men you touch. And I want to say just as kindly and
tenderly as I can and yet with great plainness that if you are refusing
to let Him use you as He chooses--shall I say the unpleasant
truth?--the practical blame for those ugly words, and the uglier truth
back of them come straight home to _you_.
That is a very serious thing to say, and so I must add a few words to
make it still more clear and plain. The Spirit of God in working among
men seeks embodiment _in men_, through whom He acts. The amazing truth
is that not only is He willing to enter into and fill you with His very
presence, but He seeks for, He wants, yes, _He needs your personality_
as a channel or medium, that living in you He may be able to do His work
among the men you touch even though you may not be conscious of much
that He is doing through you. Is not that startling? He wants to live in
your body, and speak through your lips, and look out of your eyes, and
use your hands, really, actually. Have you turned your personality over
to Him as completely as that?
Remember the law of God's communication with men; namely, He speaks _to_
men _through_ men. Run carefully through the Bible, and you will find
that since the Cain disaster, which divided all men into two great
groups, whenever God has a message for a man or a nation out in the
world He chooses and uses a man in touch with Himself as His messenger.
Listen to Jesus' own words in that last night's long talk in John's
Gospel, chapter fourteen, verse seventeen. Speaking about the coming
Spirit, He says, "Whom the world cannot receive." That is a strange
statement. Though an important part of the Spirit's great mission is to
the world yet it cannot receive Him. But chapter sixteen, verses seven
and eight gives the explanation: "I will send Him _unto you_, and He
when He is come (unto you) will convince," and so on. That is to say, a
message from God to one who has come within the circle of personal
relation with Jesus--that message comes along a straight line without
break or crook. But a message to one who remains outside that circle
comes along an _angled_ line--two lines meeting at an angle--and the
point of that angle is in some christian heart. The message He sends out
to the outer circle passes through some one within the inner circle. To
make it direct and personal: He needs to use you to touch those whom you
touch.
God's Sub-Headquarters.
Let me bring you a few illustrations of how God uses men, though the
_fact_ of His using them is on almost every page of this Bible. Back in
the old book of Judges is a peculiar expression which is not brought out
as clearly as it might be in our English Bibles. The sixth chapter and
thirty-fourth verse might properly read: "_the Spirit of Jehovah clothed
Himself with Gideon_." It was a time of desperate crisis in the nation.
God chose this man for leadership among his fellows. If you take his
life throughout you will not think him an ideal character. But he seems
to be the best available stuff there was. He became the general guiding
an army in what, to human eyes, was a perfectly hopeless struggle. Men
saw Gideon moving about giving orders. But this strangely significant
phrase lets us into the secret of his wise strategy and splendid
victory. "The Spirit of Jehovah clothed Himself with Gideon." Gideon's
personality was merely a suit of clothes which God wore that day in
achieving that tremendous victory for His people. The same expression is
used of Amasai, one of David's mighty chieftains,[4] and of Zechariah,
one of the priests during Joash's reign.[5]
A New Testament illustration is found in the book of Acts in the account
of Philip and the Ethiopian stranger. This devout African official had a
copy of the old Hebrew Scriptures, but needed an interpreter to make
plain their newly acquired significance. The Holy Spirit, _the_
interpreter of Scripture, longs to help him. For that purpose He seeks
out a man, of whom He has control, named Philip. He is directed to go
some distance over toward the road where this man is journeying. We are
told of Philip that he was "full of the Spirit." And a reading of that
eighth chapter makes plain the controlling presence of the Spirit in
Philip's personality. In the beginning He gives very explicit direction.
"The Spirit (within Philip) said, go near, join thyself to this
chariot." And at the close "the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip."
These are a few illustrations of what seems to be a common law of God's
intercourse with men. The language of the Bible throughout fits in with
this same conception. Strikingly enough the same seems to be true in the
opposing camp, among the forces of the Evil One. Repeatedly in the
gospels we come across the startling expressions--"possessed with
demons," "possessed of demons," evidently speaking of men whom demons
had succeeded in getting possession of, and clothing themselves with. It
seems to be a law of _spirit_ life that a spirit needs to be embodied in
dealing with embodied beings. And God conforms to this law in His
dealings with men.
My friend, will you ask your heart, has the Holy Spirit gotten
possession of you like that? With reverence I repeat that He is seeking
for men in whom He may set up a sort of sub-headquarters, from which He
may work out as He pleases. Has He been able to do that with you? Or,
have you been holding back from Him, fearing He might make some changes
in you or your plans? If that is so, may I say just as kindly as these
lips can speak it, but also as plainly, that then _the practical blame_
for those cutting words about your friends comes straight back to _you_.
Hugh McAllister Beaver, son of the former governor of Pennsylvania, and
one of the rarest christian young men that ever lived, felt impelled at
a conference of students at Northfield, in '97, to tell this bit of his
inner experience, though naturally reluctant to do so. While at college,
arrangements were made for a series of meetings every night for a week.
"One day going down the hallway of the college building," he said, "I
met a boy we all called Dutchy, one of the toughest fellows in school. I
said to him, 'Dutch, come to the meeting to-night.'" Instead of laughing
or swearing, to Beaver's surprise, he paused a moment as though such a
thing was possible, and Beaver said, "I prayed quietly to myself, and
urged him to come." And he said, "Well, I guess I will." And that night
to every one's surprise Dutch came to the meeting. When Beaver rose to
speak, to his surprise this fellow was not simply intensely interested
but his eyes were full of tears. And Beaver said "a voice as distinct as
an audible voice said to me, 'Speak to Dutchy!' But _I did not_." Again
the next night Dutchy came of his own accord, and one of the boys
putting his arm on Beaver's shoulder said, "Speak to Dutchy. We boys
never saw him like this before." And he said he would. But _he did not_.
And some time after he had a dream and thought he would not walk this
earth any more. It did not trouble him except that his brother was
crying. But he thought he met the Master, who looked into his face, and
said, "Hugh, do you remember, I asked you to speak to Dutchy?" "Yes."
"And you did not." "No." "Would you like to go back the earth and win
him?" And he finished the story by saying, "it's hard work, but he's
coming now."
I wonder if the Master has ever tried to use your lips like that, and
you have refused?
A prominent clergyman in New England tells this experience of his. In
the course of his pastoral work he was called to conduct the funeral
service of a young woman who had died quite unexpectedly. As he entered
the house he met the minister in charge of the mission church, where the
family attended, and asked him, "Was Mary a christian?" To his surprise
a pained look came into the young man's face as he replied, "Three weeks
ago I had a strong impulse to speak to her, but _I did not_; and I do
not know." A moment later he met the girl's Sunday school teacher and
asked her the same question. Quickly the tears came, as she said, "Two
weeks ago, Doctor, a voice seemed to say to me, 'Speak to Mary,' and I
knew what it meant, and I intended to, but _I did not_, and I do not
know." Deeply moved by these unexpected answers, a few minutes later he
met the girl's mother, and thinking doubtless to give her an opportunity
to speak a word that would bring comfort to her own heart, he said
quietly, "Mary was a christian girl?" The tears came quick and hot to
the mother's eyes, as she sobbed out, "One week ago a voice came to me
saying, 'Speak to Mary,' and I thought of it, but I did not at the
time, and you know how unexpectedly she went away and I do not know."
Well, please understand me, I am not saying a word about that girl. I do
not know anything to say. I would hope much and can understand that
there is ground for hope. But this is what I say: How pathetic, beyond
expression, that the Spirit tried to get the use of the lips of three
persons, a pastor, a teacher, aye, _a mother!_ to speak the word that
evidently He longed to have spoken to her, _and He could not_!
Has He tried to use you _like that_?
The Highest Law of Action.
But these two illustrations are narrower than the truth. They speak of
the lips. He wants to use your lips; but, even more, He wants to use
your _life_. Much as He may use your lips, He will use your personality,
your presence, your life ten times more, when you are wholly unconscious
of it. He loves men so much. He longs to save them. But He needs us--you
and me--as channels through which His power shall flow to touch and
mightily influence those whom we touch. How often has He turned away
disappointed because the channel had broken connections, or could not be
used?
"He was not willing that any should perish;
Jesus, enthroned in the glory above,
Saw our poor fallen world, pitied our sorrows,
Poured out His life for us, wonderful love.
Perishing, perishing, thronging our pathway,
Hearts break with burdens too heavy to bear;
Jesus would save, but there's no one to tell them,
No one to save them from sin and despair."
Someone says: "You are putting an awful responsibility upon us. Would
you have us go out and begin speaking to everyone we meet?" No, that is
not what I am saying just now. Though there is a truth there. But this:
Surrender yourself to Jesus as your _Master_, for Him to take
possession. Turn the channel over to Him, that He may tighten the
connections, upward and outward, and clean it out, and then use as He
may choose. He has a passion for winning men, and He has marvelous tact
in doing it. Let Him have His way in you. Keep quiet and close to Him,
and _obey_ Him, gladly, cheerily, constantly, and _He will assume all
responsibility for the results_.
There is a law of personal service. It is this: Contact means
opportunity; opportunity means responsibility. To come into personal
contact with a man gives an opportunity of influencing him for Christ,
and with opportunity goes its twin partner--responsibility.
There is another law--a higher law--the highest law of the christian
life. It is this: In everything hold yourself subject to the _Holy
Spirit's leading_. Whenever these two laws come into conflict remember
that the lower law always yields to the higher. It is a law of life that
where two laws come into conflict the lower law always gives way to the
higher. That is a supreme law both of nature and in legislation. Now,
the highest law of the christian life is to yield constantly to the
leading of our Companion--the Holy Spirit. Then quiet time alone with
the Master daily over His word for the training of the ear, and the
training of the judgment, and the training of the tongue becomes the
great essential.
But to-night the great question is: Have you turned the channel of
power--your personality--over to Him to be flushed and flooded with His
power? Will you?
"Only a smile, yes, only a smile,
That a woman o'erburdened with grief
Expected from you; 'twould have given relief,
For her heart ached sore the while.
But, weary and cheerless, she went away,
Because, as it happened that very day,
You were _out of touch_ with your Lord.
"Only a word, yes, only a word,
That the Spirit's small voice whispered, 'Speak';
But the worker passed onward, unblessed and weak,
Whom you were meant to have stirred
To courage, devotion and love anew,
Because, when the message came to you,
You were _out of touch_ with your Lord.
"Only a note, yes, only a note,
To a friend in a distant land;
The Spirit said, 'Write,' but then you had planned
Some different work, and you thought
It mattered little. You did not know
'Twould have saved a soul from sin and woe--
You were _out of touch_ with your Lord.
"Only a song, yes, only a song,
That the Spirit said, 'Sing to-night;
Thy voice is thy Master's by purchased right.'
But you thought, ''Mid this motley throng,
I care not to sing of the City of God';
And the heart that your words might have reached grew cold--
You were _out of touch_ with your Lord.
"Only a day, yes, only a day,
But oh! can you guess, my friend,
Where the influence reaches and where it will end
Of the hours that you frittered away?
The Master's command is, 'Abide in Me';
And fruitless and vain will your service be
If _out of touch_ with your Lord."
FOOTNOTES:
[4] 1 Chron. xii: 18.
[5] 2 Chron. xxiv: 20.
THE PRICE OF POWER.
Law of Exchange.
Every man needs power. Every earnest man covets power. Every willing man
has the Master's promise of power. But every man does not possess the
promised power. And many, it is to be feared, never will. Many a man's
life to-day is utterly lacking in power. Some of us will look back at
the close of life with a sense of keen disappointment and of bitter
defeat. And the reason is not far to seek, nor hard to see through. If
we do not have power it is because _we are not willing to pay the
price_.
Everything costs. There is a law of exchange that rules in every sphere
of life. It is this, "to get, you must give." It rules in the business
world. If I want a house or a hat I must give the sum agreed upon. It
rules in the intellectual world. If a young man wants a disciplined mind
he must give time, and close application, and some real, hard work. It
holds true in the spirit realm. If you and I wish to have business
transactions in this upper world of spirit-life we must be governed by
this same law. To have power in our lives over sin and selfishness, and
passion, and appetite; over tongue, and temper, and self-seeking
ambition; to have power in prayer, and in winning others over from sin
to Jesus Christ, one must first lay down the required price.