The Christian's Daily Helper
Too much of the work of the Church today is like a squirrel in a
cage--lots of activity, but no progress.--BILLY SUNDAY.
In the course of one of his campaigns, Sunday sweeps the arc of the
great Christian doctrines. While he stresses ever and again the
practical duties of the Christian life, yet he makes clear that the
reliance of the Christian for all that he hopes to attain in character
and in service is upon the promised Helper sent by our Lord, the
ever-present Holy Spirit. One of the evangelist's greatest sermons is
upon this theme, and no transcript of his essential message would be
complete without it.
"THE HOLY SPIRIT"
The personality, the divinity and the attributes of the Holy Ghost
afford one of the most inspiring, one of the most beneficial examples
in our spiritual life. We are told that when the Holy Spirit came at
Pentecost, he came as the rushing of a mighty wind and overurging
expectancy. When Jesus was baptized in the River Jordan, of John, out
from the expanse of heaven was seen to float the Spirit of God like a
snowflake, and they heard a sound as of whirring wings, and the Holy
Spirit in the form of a dove hovered over the dripping locks of Christ.
Neither your eyes nor mine will ever behold such a scene; neither will
our ears ever hear such a sound again. You cannot dissect or weigh the
Holy Spirit, nor analyze him as a chemist may analyze material matter
in his laboratory, but we can all feel the pulsing of the breath of his
eternal love.
The Holy Spirit is a personality; as much a personality as Christ, or
you or I. "Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will
guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself." He is to
us what Jesus was when he was on earth. Jesus always speaks of the Holy
Spirit in the future tense. He said, "It is expedient that I go away;
if I go not away the Spirit will not come. It is expedient for you that
I go away, but when I am gone, then I will send Him unto you who is
from the Father." So we are living today in the beneficence of the Holy
Spirit.
No Universal Salvation
I do not believe in this twentieth-century theory of the universal
fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. We are all made of one
blood--that is true, physically speaking; we are all related. I am
talking about the spiritual, not the physical. You are not a child of
God unless you are a Christian; then you are a child of God--if you are
a Christian.
Samson with the Holy Spirit upon him could take the jawbone of an ass
and lay dead a thousand Philistines. Samson without the Holy Spirit was
as weak as a new-born babe, and they poked his eyes out and cut off his
locks. And so with the Church and her members. Without the Holy Spirit
you are as sounding brass and tinkling cymbals, simply four walls and
a roof, and a pipe organ and a preacher to do a little stunt on Sunday
morning and evening. I tell you, Christian people, that with the Holy
Spirit there is no power on earth or in hell that can stand before the
Church of Jesus Christ. And the damnable, hell-born, whisky-soaked,
hog-jowled, rum-soaked moral assassins have damned this community long
enough. Now it is time it was broken up and it is time to do something.
There are three classes in the Church, as I have looked at it from my
standpoint. The first are those in the Church personally who want to be
saved, but they are not concerned about other people. They do not give
any help to other people; they don't lie awake at night praying for
other people that they may be brought to the Lord.
The second class are going to depend upon human wisdom. There is no
such thing as latent power, expressed or implied--power is just as
distinctive in an individual as the electricity in these lights. If
these globes are without a current they would be nothing but glass
bulbs, fit for nothing but the scrap heap. Without the Holy Spirit you
are as sounding brass and tinkling cymbals, and a third-rate amusement
parlor, with religion left out.
The third class are church members not from might and honor and power,
but from the Spirit.
While at Pentecost one sermon saved 3,000 people, now it takes 3,000
sermons to get one old buttermilk-eyed, whisky-soaked blasphemer.
Happiest Nation on Earth
We have our churches, our joss houses, our tabernacles; we have got the
wisdom of the orientals, the ginger, vim, tabasco sauce, peppering of
the twentieth century; we have got all of that, and I do not believe
that there are any people beneath the sun who are better fed, better
paid, better clothed, better housed, or any happier than we are beneath
the stars and stripes--no nation on earth. There are lots of things
that could be eliminated to make us better than we are today. We are
the happiest people in God's world.
Out in Iowa, a fellow said to me: "Mr. Sunday, we ought to be better
organized." Just think of that, we ought to be better organized. Now
listen to me, my friends! Listen to me! There is so much machinery in
the churches today that you can hear it squeak.
Drop into a young people's meeting. The leader will say in a weak,
effeminate, apologetic, minor sort of way, that there was a splendid
topic this evening but he had not had much time for preparation. It
is superfluous for him to say that; you could have told that. He goes
along and tells how happy he is to have you there to take part this
evening, making this meeting interesting. Some one gets up and reads
a poem from the _Christian Endeavor World_ and then they sing No. 38.
They get up and sing:
"Oh, to be nothing--nothing,
Only to lie at His feet."
We used to sing that song, but I found out that people took it so
literally that I cut it out.
Then a long pause, and some one says, "Let us sing No. 52." So they get
up and then some one starts,
"Throw out the life line,
Throw out the life line."
They haven't got strength enough to put up a clothesline. Another long
pause, and then you hear, "Have all taken part that feel free to do so?
We have a few minutes left. So let us sing No. 23." Then another long
pause. "I hear the organ prelude; it is time for us to close, now let
us all repeat together, 'The Lord keep watch between me and thee, while
we are absent one from another.'"
I tell you God has got a hard job on his hands. Ever hear anything like
that?
Ambassadors of God
Believe that God Almighty can do something. Don't whine around as
though God were a corpse, ready for the undertaker. God is still on
the job. The Holy Spirit is needed to bring man into spiritual touch
with God; to make man realize that he is a joint representative
of God on earth today. Do you ever realize that you are God's
representative--God's ambassador?
And as we are God's ambassadors why should we fear what the devil may
do? Can it be that you fail to realize his power? Or are you so blind
to the spiritual that you can't see that you need God's help? Let me
ask you one question: Are you ready to surrender to him? A man said
to me: "It was a mighty little thing to drive Adam and Eve out of the
Garden of Eden because they ate an apple." It wasn't the fruit. It was
the principle, whether man should bow to God or God bow to man. That
act was an act of disobedience. You may say it was a mighty little
thing for England to go to war with us because we threw some tea into
Boston harbor. We didn't go to war over the tea. We said: "You can't
brew tea in the East India Company and pour it down our throats." It
was the principle we went to war about, not the price of tea, and we
fought it out. Are you ready to surrender? You, who are in rebellion
against God? You, who are in rebellion against the authority of God's
government? Are you ready to do his will?
A good many people suppose that when they have accepted Jesus Christ
as their Saviour and joined the Church that is all there is to the
Christian life. As well might a student who has just matriculated
imagine that he has finished his education. Nobody has reached a stage
in the Christian life from which he cannot go further unless he is
in the coffin--and then it's all over. To accept Christ, to join the
Church, is only to begin. It is the starting of the race, not the
reaching of the goal. There are constant and increasing blessings if
you are willing to pay the price.
I don't care when or where you became a church member, if the
Comforter, who is the Holy Ghost, is not with you, you are a failure.
This power of the Spirit is meant for all who are Christians. It is a
great blessing for the Presbyterian elder as well as for the preacher.
I know some Methodist stewards who need it. Deacons would "deak" better
if they had it. It is a great blessing for the deacon and the members
of the prudential committee, and it is just as great a blessing for the
man in the pew who holds no office. To hear some people talk you would
think that the Holy Spirit is only for preachers. God sets no double
standard for the Christian life. There's nothing in the Bible to show
that the people may live differently from the man in the pulpit.
Holy Spirit a Person
I once heard a doctor of divinity pray for the Holy Spirit, and he
said: "Send it upon us now." He was wrong, doubly wrong. The Holy
Spirit is not an impersonal thing. He is a person, not an "it." And the
Holy Spirit has always been here since the days of Pentecost. He does
not come and go. He is right here in the world and his power is at the
command of all who will put themselves into position to use it.
A university professor was greeted by a friend of mine who took him
by the hand, and said: "What do you think of the Holy Spirit?" The
professor answered that he regarded the Holy Spirit as an influence for
good, a sort of emanation from God. My friend talked to him and tried
to show him his mistake, and a few months later he met him again. "What
do you think of the Holy Spirit now?" he asked. The professor answered:
"Well, I know that the Holy Spirit is a person. Since I talked with
you and have come to that conviction, I have succeeded in bringing
sixty-three students to Christ."
A great many people think the Holy Spirit comes and goes again, and
quote from the Acts, where it says that Peter was filled with the Holy
Spirit. Well, if you will find that Peter had been doing things right
along, that showed he had been filled with the Holy Spirit all the
time. Acts, second chapter and fourth verse, we read: "And they were
all filled with the Holy Spirit." You have no right, nor have I, to
say that the Holy Spirit ever left any one. We have no right to seek
to find Scripture to bolster up some little theory of our own. We must
take the Word of God for it, just as we find it written there. Now, at
Pentecost, Peter had said: "Repent, and be baptized for the remission
of sins." Then he promised them that the Holy Spirit would come and
fill them. Now we have the fulfilment of the promise.
Who were filled with the Holy Spirit? Peter and James and John? No--the
people. That is the record of the filling with the Holy Spirit of the
three thousand who were converted at Pentecost, not the filling of
Peter and James and John.
If the Spirit remains forever, why doesn't his power always show
itself? Why haven't you as much power with God as the one hundred and
twenty had at Pentecost? There are too many frauds, too much trash in
the Church. It is because the people are not true to God. They are
disobeying him. They are not right with him yet.
I don't know just how the Holy Spirit will come, but Jesus said we
should do even greater works than he did. What are you doing? You are
not doing such works now.
The Last Dispensation
We find the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. When the prophets spoke
they were moved by him. God seems to have spoken to man in three
distinct dispensations. Once it was through the covenant with Abraham,
then it was through Moses and under the Mosaic dispensation, and
finally it is through his own son, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came
into the world, proved that he is the Son of God, suffered, died and
was buried, rose again, and sent his Holy Comforter. This is the last
dispensation. There is no evidence that after the Holy Spirit once
came, he ever left the world. He is here now, ready to help you to
overcome your pride, and your diffidence that has kept you from doing
personal work, and is willing and ready to lead you into a closer
relationship with Jesus.
But you say, some are elected and some are not. On that point I agree
with Henry Ward Beecher. He said: "The elect are those who will and the
non-elect are those who won't."
But you go in for culture--"culchah." If you are too cultured to be
a Christian, God pity you. You may call it culture. I have another
name for it. Is there anything about Christianity that is necessarily
uncultured? I think the best culture in the world is among the
followers of Jesus Christ.
But you say: "Ignorance is a bar to some." No sir. Billy Bray, the
Cornish miner, was an illiterate man. He was asked if he could read
writing, and he answered: "No, I can't even read readin'." Yet Billy
Bray did a wonderful work for God in Wales and England. Ignorance is
no bar to religion, or to usefulness for Jesus.
Some time ago, over in England, a man died in the poor house. He had
had a little property, just a few acres of land, and it hadn't been
enough to support him. After he died the new owner dug a well on it,
and at a depth of sixty-five feet he found a vein of copper so rich
that it meant a little fortune. If the man who died had only known of
that vein, he need not have lived in poverty. There are many who are
just as ignorant of the great riches within their reach. Lots of people
hold checks on the bank of heaven, and haven't faith enough to present
them at the window to have them cashed.
"Little Things"
You may say, "I have failed in something, but it is a little thing."
Oh, these little things! Bugs are little things, but they cost this
country $800,000,000 in one year. Birds are little enemies of the bugs,
and birds are little things, and if it weren't for the birds we would
starve in two years. If there's anything that makes me mad it is to see
a farmer grab a shotgun and kill a chicken hawk. That hawk is worth a
lot more than some old hen you couldn't cook tender if you boiled it
for two days. That chicken hawk has killed all the gophers, mice and
snakes it could get its claws on and it has come to demand from the
farmer the toll that is rightfully due to it, for what it has done to
rid the land of pests.
Why is it that with all our universities and colleges we haven't
produced a book like the Bible? It was written long ago by people who
lived in a little country no bigger than some of our states. The reason
was that God was behind the writers. The book was inspired.
When good old Dr. Backus, of Hamilton College, lay dying the doctor
whispered to Mrs. Backus, saying, "Dr. Backus is dying." The old
man heard and looked up with a smile on his face and asked: "Did I
understand you to say that I am dying?"
Sadly the doctor said: "Yes, I'm sorry, you have no more than half an
hour to live."
Dr. Backus smiled again. "Then it will soon be over," he said. "Take
me out of bed and put me on my knees. I want to die praying for the
students of Hamilton College." They lifted him out and he knelt down
and covered his face with his transparent hands, and prayed "Oh, God,
save the students of Hamilton College."
For a time he continued to pray, then the doctor said, "He is getting
weaker." They lifted him back upon the bed, and his face was whiter
than the pillows. Still his lips moved. "Oh, God, save----" Then the
light of life went out, and he finished the prayer in the presence of
Jesus. What did his dying prayer do? Why, almost the entire student
body of Hamilton College accepted Jesus Christ.
If you haven't the power of the Spirit you have done something wrong. I
don't know what it is--it's none of my business. It's between you and
God. It is only my duty to call upon you to confess and get right with
him.
A man went to a friend of mine and said: "I don't know what is wrong
with me. I teach a Sunday-school class of young men, and I have tried
to bring them to Jesus, and I have failed. Can you tell me why?"
"Yes," was the answer. "There's something wrong with you. You've done
something wrong."
The man hesitated, but finally he said, "You're right. Years ago I was
cashier in a big business house, and one time the books balanced and
there was some money left over. I took that money and I have kept it.
That was twelve years ago. Here is the money in this envelope."
"Take it back to the owner," said my friend. "It's not yours, and it's
not mine."
"But I can't do that," said the man. "I am making a salary of $22,000
a year now, and I have a wife and daughters, and my firm will never
employ a dishonest man."
"Well, that's your business," said my friend. "I have advised you, and
that's all I can do; but God will never forgive you until you've given
that money back."
The man sank into a chair and covered his eyes for a while. Then he got
up and said, "I'll do it." He took a Chesapeake and Ohio train and went
to Philadelphia, and went to a great merchant prince in whose employ he
had been, and told his story. The merchant prince shut and locked the
door. "Let us pray," he said. They knelt together, the great merchant's
arm about his visitor; and when they got up the great merchant said:
"Go in peace. God bless you."
[Illustration: "I'VE WALKED SIXTY MILES TO LOOK UPON HER FACE AGAIN"]
On the next Sunday the man who had confessed took the Bible on his
knee as he sat before his class and said to them: "Young men, I often
wondered why I couldn't win any of you to Christ. My life was wrong,
and I've repented and made it right." That man won his entire class
for Christ, and they joined Dr. McKibben's church at Walnut Hills,
Cincinnati, Ohio.
If you would get right with God what would be the result? Why, you
would save your city.
The Fame of a Christian
Some time ago the funeral of a famous woman was held in London. Edward,
who was king then, came with his consort, Alexandra, to look upon her
face, and dukes and duchesses and members of the nobility came. Then
the doors were opened and the populace came in by thousands. Down the
aisle came a woman whose face and dress bore the marks of poverty. By
one hand she led a child, and in her arms she carried another. As she
reached the coffin she set down the child she was carrying and bent her
head upon the glass above the quiet face in the coffin, and her old
fascinator fell down upon it.
"Come," said a policeman, "you must move on."
But the woman stood by the coffin. "I'll not move on," she said, "for I
have a right here."
The policeman said, "You must move on. It's orders;" but the woman
said, "No, I've walked sixty miles to look upon her face again. She
saved my two boys from being drunkards." The woman in the coffin was
Mrs. Booth, wife of the great leader of the Salvation Army.
I'd rather have some reclaimed drunkard, or some poor girl redeemed
from sin and shame, stand by my coffin and rain down tears of gratitude
upon it, than to have a monument of gold studded with precious stones,
that would pierce the skies.
"If ye love me keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he
shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever."