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diff --git a/33520-h/33520-h.htm b/33520-h/33520-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4550ccb --- /dev/null +++ b/33520-h/33520-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5256 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content= +"text/html; charset=utf-8"> +<title>Wondrous Love</title> + +<style type="text/css"> + body {font-family:'Bookman Old Style', 'Book Antiqua', 'Garamond'; text-align:justify; margin-left:2em; margin-right:2em} + p.pnn {margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0} + p.ps {margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em} + p.pn {text-indent:1.5em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0} + p.pns {text-indent:1.5em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em} + p.p0 {margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; font-size:0.9em} + p.p0s {margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em; font-size:0.9em} + p.p1 {margin-left:4em; text-indent:-2em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; font-size:0.9em} + p.p1s {margin-left:4em; text-indent:-2em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em; font-size:0.9em} + p.p2 {margin-left:5em; text-indent:-2em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; font-size:0.9em} + p.p2s {margin-left:5em; text-indent:-2em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em; font-size:0.9em} + p.p3 {margin-left:6em; text-indent:-2em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; font-size:0.9em} + p.p3s {margin-left:6em; text-indent:-2em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em; font-size:0.9em} + p.p4 {margin-left:7em; text-indent:-2em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; font-size:0.9em} + p.p4s {margin-left:7em; text-indent:-2em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em; font-size:0.9em} + p.pt1 {text-align:center; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em; font-size:0.85em; font-weight:normal} + p.pt2 {text-align:left; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em; font-size:0.8em; font-weight:normal} + + .sc {font-variant:small-caps} + .dc2 {font-size:2.8em; float:left; line-height:0.82em; padding-top:0.01em; padding-right:0.06em; letter-spacing:-0.01em } + .f11 {font-size:0.85em} + h1 {text-align:center; margin-top:4.5em; margin-bottom:0.5em; letter-spacing:0.08em; font-size:1.5em; font-weight:normal} + h2 {text-align:center; margin-top:1.0em; margin-bottom:0.9em; font-size:0.82em; font-weight:normal} + hr {margin: 0 auto} +</style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Wondrous Love, by Dwight Moody + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Wondrous Love + and other Gospel addresses + +Author: Dwight Moody + +Release Date: August 23, 2010 [EBook #33520] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WONDROUS LOVE *** + + + + +Produced by Keith G. Richardson + + + + + +</pre> + +<p class="pnn"><a href="#contents">Contents</a></p> +<hr style="margin-top:5em; margin-bottom:4.2em"> +<p style= +"text-align:center; font-size:2.5em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0.2em"> +WONDROUS LOVE</p> +<p style= +"text-align:center; font-size:1.25em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:3.2em"> +AND OTHER GOSPEL ADDRESSES</p> +<p style= +"text-align:center; font-size:0.67em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1.0em"> +BY</p> +<p style= +"text-align:center; font-size:1.25em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0.2em"> +D. L. MOODY</p> +<p style= +"text-align:center; font-size:0.6em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0.3em"> +AUTHOR OF</p> +<p style= +"text-align:center; font-size:0.6em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:6.2em"> +“PREVAILING PRAYER” “SOVEREIGN GRACE” ETC.</p> +<p style= +"text-align:center; font-size:0.67em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0.2em"> +DELIVERED DURING MESSRS. MOODY AND SANKEY’S</p> +<p style= +"text-align:center; font-size:0.67em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:5.9em"> +FIRST CAMPAIGN IN ENGLAND</p> +<div style="text-align:center"> +<p><img alt="Bible" src="images/Bible.jpg" style= +"width: 5.3em; margin-top:0;margin-bottom:3.6em"></p> +</div> +<p style= +"text-align:center; font-size:1.17em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0.2em"> +PICKERING & INGLIS</p> +<p style= +"text-align:center; font-size:1.0em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0.2em"> +14 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON, E.C. 4</p> +<p style= +"text-align:center; font-size:1.0em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0.2em"> +229 BOTHWELL STREET, GLASGOW, C. 2</p> +<p style= +"text-align:center; font-size:1.0em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"> +29 GEORGE IV. BRIDGE, EDINBURGH</p> +<hr style="margin-top:7.3em; margin-bottom:10em"> +<div style="font-size:0.82em; margin-left:5em"> +<p style="text-align:center; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"> +<i>THE WORLD-WIDE LIBRARY</i></p> +<hr style="width:13em;margin-top:0.1em; margin-bottom:1.0em"> +<p class="pnn">THE SEEKING SAVIOUR</p> +<p class="p2">By <span class="sc">Dr. W. P. Mackay</span></p> +<p class="p4s">Author of “Grace and Truth”</p> +<p class="pnn">HOW AND WHEN</p> +<p class="p1">Do we Become Children of God?</p> +<p class="p2s">50 <span class="sc">Answers by Well-Known +Men</span></p> +<p class="pnn">THE GOOD SHEPHERD</p> +<p class="p2s">By <span class="sc">H. Forbes Witherby</span></p> +<p class="pnn">ABUNDANT GRACE</p> +<p class="p2">By DR. W. P. MACKAY</p> +<p class="p4s">Author of “Grace and Truth”</p> +<p class="pnn">FORGIVENESS, LIFE AND GLORY</p> +<p class="p2s">By <span class="sc">Sir S. Arthur +Blackwood</span></p> +<p class="pnn">WONDROUS LOVE: Original Addresses</p> +<p class="p2">By <span class="sc">D. L. Moody</span></p> +</div> +<p style= +"text-align:center; font-size:0.65em; margin-top:12.8em; margin-bottom:0.1em"> +First issued in 1876</p> +<p style= +"text-align:center; font-size:0.65em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1.5em"> +Made and Printed in Great Britain</p> +<hr style="margin-top:8.9em; margin-bottom:11.5em"> +<p style= +"text-align:center; font-size:1.25em; letter-spacing:0.1em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1.0em"> +<a name="contents" id="contents">CONTENTS</a></p> +<p class="pt2"><a href="#compassion"><span class="sc">Christ’s +Boundless Compassion</span></a></p> +<p class="pt2"><a href="#birth"><span class="sc">The New +Birth</span></a></p> +<p class="pt2"><a href="#blood"><span class="sc">The Blood (Two +Addresses)</span></a></p> +<p class="pt2"><a href="#all"><span class="sc">Christ All in +All</span></a></p> +<p class="pt2"><a href="#naaman"><span class="sc">Naaman the +Syrian</span></a></p> +<p class="pt2"><a href="#gospel"><span class="sc">One +Word—“Gospel”</span></a></p> +<p class="pt2"><a href="#way"><span class="sc">The Way of +Salvation</span></a></p> +<p class="pt2"><a href="#wills"><span class="sc">Eight “I wills” +of Christ</span></a></p> +<p class="pt2"><a href="#faith"><span class="sc">The Right Kind +of Faith</span></a></p> +<p class="pt2"><a href="#thief"><span class="sc">The Dying +Thief</span></a></p> +<hr style="margin-top:19.5em; margin-bottom:11.7em"> +<p style= +"text-align:center; font-size:1.3em; letter-spacing:0.08em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0.5em"> +WONDROUS LOVE</p> +<div style= +"margin-left:6em; line-height:1.15em; font-size:0.83em"> +<p class="pnn"><span class="dc2">G</span><span class= +"sc">od</span> loved the world of sinners lost</p> +<p class="p1"> And ruined by the fall;</p> +<p class="p0">Salvation full, at highest cost,</p> +<p class="p1s">He offers free to all.</p> +<p class="p2">Oh, ’twas love, ’twas wondrous love,</p> +<p class="p3">The love of God to me;</p> +<p class="p2">It brought my Saviour from above,</p> +<p class="p3s">To die on Calvary!</p> +<p class="p0">E’en now by faith I claim Him mine,</p> +<p class="p1">The risen Son of God;</p> +<p class="p0">Redemption by His death I find,</p> +<p class="p1s">And cleansing through the blood.</p> +<p class="p0">Love brings the glorious fulness in,</p> +<p class="p1">And to His saints makes known</p> +<p class="p0">The blessed rest from inbred sin,</p> +<p class="p1s">Through faith in Christ alone.</p> +<p class="p0">Believing souls, rejoicing go;</p> +<p class="p1">There shall to you be given</p> +<p class="p0">A glorious foretaste, here below,</p> +<p class="p1s">Of endless life in heaven.</p> +<p class="p0">Of victory now o’er Satan’s power</p> +<p class="p1">Let all the ransomed sing,</p> +<p class="p0">And triumph in the dying hour</p> +<p class="p1">Through Christ, the Lord, our King.</p> +</div> +<hr style="margin-top:12em; margin-bottom:6em"> +<p style= +"text-align:center; font-size:1.7em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0.5em"> +<a name="compassion" id="compassion">WONDROUS LOVE</a></p> +<p style= +"text-align:center; font-size:1em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1.0em"> +<i>Addresses by</i> D. L. M<span class="sc">oody</span></p> +<h1 style= +"text-align:center; margin-top:1.0em; margin-bottom:1.0em; font-size:1.4em; font-weight:normal"> +CHRIST’S BOUNDLESS<br> +COMPASSION</h1> +<p class="p0s f11">“And Jesus went forth, and saw a great +multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and He +healed their sick.”—<span class="sc">Matthew</span> xiv. 14.</p> +<p class="pnn"><span class="dc2">I</span><span class= +"sc">t</span> is often recorded in Scripture that Jesus was moved +by compassion; and we are told in this verse that after the +disciples of John had come to Him and told Him that their master +had been beheaded, that he had been put to a cruel death, He went +out into a desert place, and the multitude followed Him, and that +when He saw the multitude He had “compassion” on them, and healed +their sick. If He were here to-night in person, standing in my +place, His heart would be moved as He looked down into your +faces, because He could also look into your hearts, and could +read the burdens and troubles and sorrows you have to bear. They +are hidden from my eye, but He knows all about them, and so when +the multitude gathered round about Him, He knew how many weary, +broken, and aching hearts there were there. But He is here +to-night, although we cannot see Him with the bodily eye, and +there is not a sorrow, or trouble, or affliction which any of you +are enduring but He knows all about it; and He is the same +to-night as He was when here upon earth—the same Jesus, the same +Man of compassion.</p> +<p class="pn">When He saw that multitude He had compassion on it, +and healed their sick; and I hope He will heal a great many +sin-sick souls here, and will bind up a great many broken hearts. +And let me say, in the opening of this sermon, that there is no +heart so bruised and broken but the Son of God will have +compassion upon you, if you will let Him. “He will not break a +bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax.” He came into the +world to bring mercy, and joy, and compassion, and love.</p> +<p class="pn">If I were an artist I should like to draw some +pictures to-night, and put before you that great multitude on +which He had compassion. And then I would draw another painting +of that man coming to Him full of leprosy, full of it from head +to foot. There he was, banished from his home, banished from his +friends, and he comes to Jesus with his sad and miserable story. +And now, my friends, let us make</p> +<h2>THE BIBLE STORIES REAL,</h2> +<p class="pnn">for that is what they are. Think of that man. +Think how much he had suffered. I don’t know how many years he +had been away from his wife and children and home; but there he +was. He had put on a strange and particular garb, so that anybody +coming near him might know that he was unclean. And when he saw +any one approaching him he had to raise the warning cry, +“Unclean! unclean! unclean!” Aye, and if the wife of his bosom +were to come out to tell him that a beloved child was sick and +dying, he durst not come near her, he was obliged to fly. He +might hear her voice at a distance, but he could not be there to +see his child in its last dying moments. He was, as it were, in a +living sepulchre; it was worse than death. There he was, dying by +inches, an outcast from everybody and everything, and not a hand +put out to relieve him. Oh, what a terrible life! Then think of +him coming to Christ, and when Christ saw him, it says He was +moved with compassion. He had a heart that beat in sympathy with +the poor leper, He had compassion on him, and the man came to Him +and said, “Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou cant make me clean.” He knew +there was no one to do it but the Son of God Himself, and</p> +<h2>THE GREAT HEART OF CHRIST</h2> +<p class="pnn">was moved with compassion towards him. Hear the +gracious words that fell from His lips—“I will; be thou clean!” +and the leprosy fled, and the man was made whole immediately. +Look at him now on his way back home to his wife and children and +friends! No longer an outcast, no longer a loathsome thing, no +longer cursed with that terrible leprous disease, but going back +to his friends rejoicing. Now, my friends, you may say you pity a +man who was so badly off, but did it ever strike you that you are +a thousand times worse off? The leprosy of the soul is far worse +than the leprosy of the body. I would rather a thousand times +have the body full of leprosy than go down to hell with the soul +full of sin. A good deal better that this right hand of mine were +lopped off, that this right foot should decay, and that I should +go halt and lame and blind all the days of my life, than be +banished from God by the leprosy of sin. Hear the wailing and the +agony and the woe that is going up from this earth caused by sin! +If there is one poor sin-sick soul filled with leprosy here +to-night, if you come to Christ He will have compassion on you, +and say, as He did to that man, “I will; be thou clean.”</p> +<h2>THE DEAD RAISED.</h2> +<p class="pn">Well, now we come to the next picture that +represents Him as moved with compassion. Look into that little +home. There is a poor widow sitting there. Perhaps a few months +before she had buried her husband, and now she has an only son. +How she dotes upon him! She looks to him to be her stay and her +support and friend in her old age. She loves him far better than +her own life-blood. But see, at last sickness enters the +dwelling, and death comes with it, and lays his ice-cold hand +upon the young man. You can see that widowed mother watching over +him day and night; but at last those eyes are closed, and that +loved voice is hushed, she thinks, for ever. She will never see +or hear him more after he is buried out of her sight. And so the +hour comes for his burial. Many of you have been in the house of +mourning, and have been with your friends when they have gone to +the grave and looked at the loved one for the last time. There is +not one here, I dare say, who has not lost some beloved one. I +never went to a funeral and saw a mother take the last look of +her child but it has pierced my heart, and I could not keep back +the tears at such a sight. Well, the mother kisses her only son +on that poor, icy forehead; it is her last kiss, her last look, +and now the body is covered up, and they put him on the bier and +start for the place of burial. She had a great many friends, The +little town of Nain was moved at the sight of the widow’s only +son being borne away. I see that great crowd as they come pushing +out of the gates; but over yonder are thirteen men, weary, and +dusty, and tired, and they have to stand by the wayside to let +this great crowd pass by, and the Son of God is in this group, +and the others with Him are His disciples. And He looked upon +that scene and saw the mother with her broken heart; He saw it +bleeding, crushed, and wounded, and it touched His heart. Yes, +the great heart of the Son of God was moved with compassion, and +He came up and touched the bier, and said,</p> +<h2>“YOUNG MAN, ARISE!”</h2> +<p class="pnn">and the young man came forth. I can see the +multitude startled and astonished; I can see the widowed mother +going back rejoicing with the morning rays of the resurrection +shining in her heart. Yes, He had indeed compassion on her. And +there is not a widow in this hall but Christ’s voice will respond +to your trouble and give you peace. Oh, dear friends, let me say +to you whose hearts are aching, you need a friend like Jesus. He +is just the friend the widow needs; He is just the friend every +poor bleeding heart needs; He will have compassion on you and +will bind up your wounded, bleeding heart if you will only come +to Him just as you are. He will receive you, without upbraiding +or chastising, to His loving bosom, and say, “Peace, be still,” +and you can walk in the unclouded sunlight of His love from this +night. Christ will be worth more to you than all the world +besides. He is just the friend that all of you need; and I pray +God you may every one of you know Him from this hour as your +Saviour and friend.</p> +<h2>THE MAN WHO WAS ROBBED AND SPOILED.</h2> +<p class="pn">The next picture which I shall show you to +illustrate Christ’s compassion is the man that was going down to +Jericho and fell among thieves. They had taken away his coat, +aye, and if he had a watch they would have taken that as well. +However, they took his money, and stripped him, and left him half +dead. Look at him wounded, bleeding, dying; and now comes down +the road a priest, and he looks upon the scene. His heart might +have been touched, but he was not moved with compassion enough to +help the poor man. He might have said, “Poor fellow”; but he +passed by on the other side and left him. After him came down a +Levite, and he said, “Poor man”; but he was not moved with +compassion to help him. Ah, there are a good many like the priest +and Levite! Perhaps some of you coming down to this hall meet a +drunkard reeling in the street, and just say, “Poor fellow,” or +it may be you laugh because he stammers out some foolish thing. +We are very unlike the Son of God. At last a Samaritan came down +that way, and he looked down on the man and had compassion on +him. He got off his beast, and took oil and poured it into his +wounds, and bound them up, and took him out of the ditch, +helpless as he was, and placed him on his own beast, and brought +him to an inn, and took care of him. That good Samaritan +represents your Christ and mine. He came into the world to seek +and to save</p> +<h2>THAT WHICH WAS LOST.</h2> +<p class="pn">Young man, have you come to London, and fallen in +with bad companions? Have they taken you to theatres and vicious +places, and left you bleeding and wounded? Oh, come to-night to +the Son of God, and He will have compassion on you, and take you +off from the dunghill, and transform you, and lift you up into +His kingdom, and into the heights of His glory, if you will only +let Him! I do not care who you are; I do not care what your past +life may have been. As He said to the poor woman caught in +adultery, “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” He +had compassion upon her, and He will have compassion on you. That +man coming down from Jerusalem to Jericho represents thousands in +London, and that good Samaritan represents the Son of God. Young +man, Jesus Christ has set His heart on saving you. Will you +receive His love and compassion? Do not have such hard thoughts +about the Son of God. Do not think He has come to condemn you. He +has come to save you.</p> +<h2>THE PRODIGAL.</h2> +<p class="pn">But I should like to draw another picture, another +scene—that young man going away from his home that we read of in +the fifteenth chapter of Luke; an ungrateful man, an ungrateful +wretch as ever one saw. He could not wait for his inheritance +till his father was dead, he wanted his share at once; and so he +said to his father, “Give me the goods that belong to me,” and +his good old father gives him the goods, and away he goes. I can +see him now as he starts on his journey, full of pride, boastful +and arrogant, going out to see life, off in grand style to some +foreign country—say, going down to London. How many have come +down to London, that being the far country to them, squandering +all their money. Yes, he was a popular man as long as he had +money. His friends last as long as his money lasts; a very +popular young man in London, “hail-fellow-well-met” greets him +everywhere. He always paid the liquor bill and cigars. Yes, he +had plenty of friends in London. What grand folly! But when his +money was gone, where were his friends? Oh, you that serve the +devil, you have a hard master! Well, when the prodigal’s money +was all gone, of course they laughed at him, and called him a +fool; and so he was. What a blind, misguided young man he was! +Just see what he lost. He lost his father’s home, his table and +food, and testimony, and every comfort, and lost his work, except +what he got down there while feeding those swine. He was in an +unlawful business. And that’s just what</p> +<h2>THE BACKSLIDER</h2> +<p class="pnn">is doing; he is in the devil’s pay. You are losing +your time and testimony. No one has any confidence in a +backslider; for even the world despises such a character. This +young man lost his testimony. Look at him amongst the swine. At +last one in that far country comes along, and, taking stock of +him, says, “Look at that miserable, wretched, dirty, barefooted +fellow taking care of swine.” “Ah,” says the prodigal, “don’t +talk to me like that. Why, my father’s a rich man, and has got +servants better dressed than you are.” “Don’t tell me that,” says +the other. “If you had such a father as that, I know very well he +wouldn’t own you.” And no one would believe him.</p> +<h2>HE HAD LOST HIS TESTIMONY.</h2> +<p class="pnn">No one believes a backslider. Let him talk about +his enjoyment with God, nobody believes it. Oh, poor backslider, +I pity you! You had better come home again. Well, at last the +poor prodigal comes to himself, and he says, “I will arise and go +to my father,” and now he starts. Look at him as he goes along, +pale and hungry, with his head down; his strength is exhausted, +and perhaps disease in his frame, and so shattered that no one +would know him but his father. Love is keen to detect its object. +The old man has often been longing for his return. I can see him +many a night up on the house-top looking out to catch a glimpse +of him. Many a long night he has wrestled with God that his +prodigal son might come back. Everything he had heard from that +far country told him his boy was going to ruin as fast as he +could go. The old man spent much time in prayer for him, and at +last faith begins to arise, and he says, “I believe God will send +back my boy”; and one day the old man sees afar off that +long-lost boy. He does not know him by his dress, but he detected +the gait of him, and he says to himself, “Yes, that’s my boy.” I +see him now pass down the stairs; he rushes along the highway; he +is running. Ah! that is just like God. Many a time in the Bible +God is represented as running; He is in great haste to meet the +backslider. Yes, the old man is running; he sees him afar off, +and he has compassion on him. The boy wanted to tell him his +story what he had done, and where he had been, but the old man +could not wait to hear him; his heart was filled with compassion, +and he took him to his loving bosom. The boy wanted to go down +into the kitchen, but the old man would not let him. No, but he +bade the servants put shoes on his feet, and a ring on his +finger, and kill the fatted calf, and make merry. The prodigal +has come home, the wanderer has returned, and the old man +rejoices over the backslider’s return. Oh, backslider, come home, +and there will be joy in your heart and in the heart of God. May +God bring the backsliders back to-night—this very hour. Say as +the poor prodigal did, “I will arise and go to my father,” and on +the authority of God I tell you God will receive you; He will +blot out your sins, and restore you to His love, and you shall +walk again in the light of His reconciled countenance.</p> +<h2>CHRIST WEEPS OVER JERUSALEM.</h2> +<p class="pn">But look again. He comes to mount Olivet. He is +under the shadow of the cross. The city bursts upon Him. Yonder +is the Temple; He sees it in all its grandeur and glory. The +people are shouting, Hosanna to the Son of David! They are +breaking off the palm branches, and taking off their garments, +and spreading them before Him, still shouting, Hosanna to the Son +of David! and bowing down before Him. But He forgets it all. Yes, +even Calvary with all its sorrow He forgets. Gethsemane lay there +at the foot of the hill; He forgot it too. As He looked upon the +city which He loved, the great heart of the Son of God was moved +with compassion, and He cried aloud, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, +thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent +unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, +even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye +would not!”</p> +<p class="pn">My friends, look at Him there weeping over +Jerusalem. What a wonderful city it might have been. How exalted +to heaven it was. Oh, if they had only known the day of their +visitation, and had received instead of rejected their king, what +a blessing He would have been to them! Oh, poor backslider, +behold the Lamb of God weeping over you, and crying to you to +come to Him, and receive shelter and refuge from the storm which +has yet to sweep over this earth!</p> +<h2>LOOK AT POOR PETER,</h2> +<p class="pnn">See what he does. He denied the Lord, and swore he +never knew Him. If ever He needed sympathy, if ever He needed His +disciples round Him, it was that night, when they were bringing +false witnesses against Him, that He might be condemned to death; +and there was Peter, one of His foremost disciples, swearing he +never knew Him. He might have turned on Peter and said, “Peter, +is it true you don’t know me? Is it true you have forgotten how I +cured and healed your wife’s mother when she lay at the point of +death? Is it true you have forgotten how I raised you up when you +were sinking in the sea? Is it true, Peter, you forgot how you +were with me on the mount of transfiguration, when heaven and +earth came together, and you heard the voice speaking from the +clouds? Is it true you have forgotten that mountain scene when +you wanted to build the three tabernacles? Is it true, Peter, you +have forgotten <span class="sc">me</span>?” Yes, thus He might +have taunted poor Peter; but instead of that He just gave him one +look of compassion that broke his heart, and he went out and wept +bitterly.</p> +<h2>THE PERSECUTING SAUL.</h2> +<p class="pn">Again, look at that bold blasphemer and persecutor +who was going to stamp out the early Church, and was breathing +out threatenings and slaughter, when Christ met him on his way to +Damascus. It is the same Jesus still. Listen, and hear what He +says—“Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” Why, He could have +smitten him to the earth with a look or a breath; but instead of +that, the heart of the Son of God was moved with compassion, and +He cries out, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” If there is +a persecutor here to-night, I would ask you, “Why persecute +Jesus?” He loves you, sinner; He loves you, persecutor. You never +received anything but goodness and kindness and love from Him. +And Saul cried out, “Who art thou?” And He answered, “I am Jesus +whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the +pricks.” It is hard to fight against such a loving friend, to +contend against one who loves you as I do; and down comes the +proud, persecuting Saul, down upon his face, and he cried out, +“Lord, what wouldst Thou have me to do?” And the Lord told him, +and he went and did it. May the Lord have compassion upon the +infidel, and sceptic, and persecutor. Let me ask you, my friend, +Is there any reason why you should hate Christ, or why your heart +should be turned against Him?</p> +<p class="pn">I remember a story about a teacher telling the +scholars all to follow Jesus, and how they might all be +missionaries, and go out to work for others. And one day one of +the smallest came to her and said, “I asked such and such a one +to come with me, and they said they would like to come, but their +father was an infidel.”</p> +<h2>“WHY DON’T YOU LOVE JESUS?”</h2> +<p class="pnn">And the young child wanted to know what an infidel +was, and the teacher went on to explain to her. And one day, when +she was on her way to school, this infidel was coming out of the +post office with his letters in his hand, when the child ran up +to him, and said, “Why don’t you love Jesus?” He thought at first +to push her aside, but the child pressed it home again, “Why +don’t you love Jesus?” If it had been a man, the infidel would +have resented it; but he did not know what to do with the child, +and with tears in her eyes she asked him again, “Oh! please, tell +me, why don’t you love Jesus?” He went on to his office, but he +felt as if every letter he opened read, “Why don’t you love +Jesus?” He attempted to write, with the same result; every letter +seemed to ask him, “Why don’t you love Jesus?” and he threw down +his pen in despair, and went out of his office, but he could not +get rid of the question; it was asked by a still small voice +within, and as he walked along it seemed as if the very ground +and the very heavens whispered to him, “Why don’t you love +Jesus?” At last he went home, and there it seemed as if his own +children asked him the question, so he said to his wife, “I will +go to bed early to-night,” thinking to sleep it away; but when he +laid his head on the pillow it seemed as if the pillow whispered +it to him. So he got up about midnight, and said, “I can find out +where Christ contradicts Himself, and I’ll search it out and +prove Him a liar.” Well, the man got up, and turned to the Gospel +of John, and read on from the beginning until he came to the +words, “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten +Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have +everlasting life.” What love! he thought; and at last the old +infidel’s heart was stirred. He could find no reason for not +loving Jesus, and down he went on his knees and prayed, and +before the sun rose the old infidel was in the kingdom of +God.</p> +<p class="pn">I will challenge any one on the face of the earth +to find any reason for not loving Christ. It is only here on +earth men think they have a reason for not doing so. In heaven +they know Him, and they shout, “Worthy is the Lamb that was +slain.” Oh, sinner, if you knew Him you would have no wish to +find a reason for not loving Him. He is “the chiefest among ten +thousand, and altogether lovely.” I can imagine a good many +saying, “I should like very much to become a Christian, and I +should like to know how I can come to Him, and be saved.”</p> +<h2>COME TO HIM AS A PERSONAL FRIEND.</h2> +<p class="pn">For twenty years I have made this a rule. Christ is +just as habitually near, as personally present to me as any other +person living; and when I have any troubles, trials, and +afflictions, I go to Him with them. When I want counsel I go to +Him, just as if I could talk face to face with Him. Twenty years +ago God met me one night and took me to His bosom, and I would +sooner give up my life to-night than give up Christ, or that I +should leave Him, or that He should leave me, and that I should +have no one to bear my burdens, or tell my sorrows to. Why, He is +worth more than all the world beside; and to-night He will have +compassion upon you as He had upon me. I tried for weeks to find +a way to Him, and I just went and laid my burden upon Him, and +then He revealed Himself to me, and I have ever since found Him a +true and sympathizing friend, just the friend you need. Go right +straight to Him. You need not go to this man or that man, to this +church or that church. “I am the Way, the Truth, and the +Life.”</p> +<p class="pn">There is no name so dear to the Americans as that +of</p> +<h2>ABRAHAM LINCOLN,</h2> +<p class="pnn">and in an audience like this in America you would +see the tears trickle down many a cheek at his name: he is very +dear to us Americans. Do you want to know the reason why? I will +tell you. He was a man of compassion; he was very gentle, and was +noted for his heart of sympathy for the down-trodden and the +poor. No one went to him with a tale of sympathy but he had +compassion on them, no matter how far down they were in the scale +of society. He always took an interest in the poor. There was a +time in our history when we thought he had too much compassion. +Many of our soldiers did not understand army discipline, and a +great many were not true to the army regulations. They intended +to be, but they did not understand them. Many a man consequently +went wrong, and they were court-martialed and condemned to be +shot; but Abraham Lincoln would always pardon them; and at length +the nation rose up against him, and said that he was to merciful, +and ultimately they got him to give out that if a man was +court-martialed he must be shot, that there would be no more +reprieves.</p> +<h2>THE SLEEPING SENTINEL.</h2> +<p class="pn">A few weeks after this, news came that a young +soldier had been sleeping at his post. He was court-martialed, +and condemned to be shot. The boy wrote to his mother, “I do not +want you to think I do not love my country, but it came about in +this way: My comrade was sick, and I went out on picket for him; +and the next night he ought to have come, but still being sick I +went out for him again, and without intending it I fell asleep. I +did not intend to be disloyal.”</p> +<p class="pn">It was a very touching letter, and the mother and +father said there is no chance, there will be no more reprieves. +But there was a little girl in that home, and she knew that +Abraham Lincoln had a little boy, and how he loved that little +boy; and she said if Abraham Lincoln knew how my father and +mother loved my brother he would never allow him to be shot, and +she took the train to go and plead for her brother; and when she +got to the President’s mansion the difficulty arose how was she +to get past the sentinel. So she told him her story, and the +tears ran down his cheeks, and he let her pass. But the next +trouble was how to get past the secretary and the other +officials. However, she succeeded in getting, unobstructed, into +his private room, and there were the senators and ministers busy +with State affairs. The President saw the child, and called her +to him, and said, “My child, what can I do for you?” and she told +him her story. The big tears rolled down his cheeks. He was a +father, and his heart was full; he could not stand it. He treated +the girl with kindness, and then having reprieved the boy, gave +him thirty days furlough, and sent him home to see his mother. +His heart was full of compassion.</p> +<p class="pn">And, let me tell you, Christ’s heart is more full +of compassion than any man’s. You are condemned to die for your +sins; but if you come to Him He will say, “Loose him, and let him +go” (John xi.). He will rebuke Satan, and the dead shall live. Go +to Him as that little girl went to the President, and tell Him +all; keep nothing from Him, and He will say, “Go in peace.”</p> +<h2>THE TOUCH OF COMPASSION.</h2> +<p class="pns">Let me ask the poor backslider, Did you ever feel +the touch of the hand of Jesus? If so, you will know it again, +for there is love in it. There is a story told in connection with +our war of a mother who received a despatch that her boy was +mortally wounded. She went down to the front, as she knew that +those soldiers told to watch the sick and wounded could not watch +her boy as she would. So she went to the doctor, and said, “Would +you like me to take care of my boy?” The doctor said, “We have +just let him go to sleep, and if you go to him the surprise will +be so great it might be dangerous to him. He is in a very +critical state. I will break the news to him gradually.” “But,” +said the mother, “he may never wake up. I should so dearly like +to see him.” Oh, how she longed to see him! and finally the +doctor said, “You can see him, but if you wake him up and he +dies, it will be your fault.” “Well,” she said, “I will not wake +him up if I may only go by his dying cot and see him.” Well, she +went to the side of the cot. Her eyes had longed to see him; and +as she gazed upon him she could not keep her hand off that pallid +forehead, and she laid it gently there. There was love and +sympathy in that hand, and the moment the slumbering boy felt it, +he said, “Oh, mother, have you come?” He knew there was sympathy +and affection in the touch of that hand. And if you, oh, sinner, +will let Jesus reach out His hand and touch your heart, you, too, +will find there is sympathy and love in it. That every lost soul +here may be saved, and come to the arms of our blessed Saviour, +is the prayer of my heart!</p> +<p class="p3">Jesus, my Saviour, to Bethlehem come,</p> +<p class="p3">Born in a manger to sorrow and shame;</p> +<p class="p3">Oh it was wonderful blest be His name,</p> +<p class="p4s">Seeking for me, for me.</p> +<p class="p3">Jesus, my Saviour, on Calvary’s tree,</p> +<p class="p3">Paid my great debt, and my soul He set free;</p> +<p class="p3">Oh, it was wonderful, how could it be!</p> +<p class="p4">Dying for me, for me.</p> +<h1><a name="birth" id="birth">THE NEW BIRTH</a></h1> +<p class="pt1">“Except a man be born again, he cannot see the +kingdom of God.”—<span class="sc">John</span> iii. 3</p> +<p class="pnn"><span class="sc">Much</span> less inherit it. He +can’t even get a glimpse of the kingdom of God except he be born +again. I believe this is the most important subject that will +ever come before us in this world. I don’t believe there is any +truth in the whole Bible so important as the truth brought out in +the third chapter of the Gospel of John.</p> +<p class="pn">It is the A B C of God’s alphabet. If a man is +unsound on regeneration, he is unsound on everything. That is +really the foundation-stone; and he must get the foundation +right. If he don’t, what is the good of trying to build a house? +Now, Christ says plainly, “Except a man be born again, he cannot +see the kingdom of God.” But although regeneration or the new +birth is taught so plainly in the third chapter of John, I don’t +believe there is any truth in the whole Bible that there is such +great darkness about as this great truth. There are a great many +like the man that saw men as trees walking. Many Christians do +not seem to be clear about this new birth.</p> +<h2>BORN A CHRISTIAN.</h2> +<p class="pn">Only this afternoon, as I was in the inquiry-room, +a person came in, and I said, “Are you a Christian?” “Why,” she +says, “of course I am.” “Well,” I said, “how long have you been +one?” “Oh, sir, I was born one!” “Oh! indeed, then I am very glad +to take you by the hand; I congratulate you; you are the first +woman I ever met who was born a Christian; you are more fortunate +than others; they are born children of Adam.” She hesitated a +little, and then tried to make out that, because she was born in +England, she was a Christian. There are many who have the idea, +that because they are born in a Christian country, they have been +born of the Spirit. Now, in this third chapter of John, the new +birth is brought out so plain, that if any one will read it +carefully and prayerfully, I think his eyes will soon be opened. +That which is born of the flesh is flesh; it remains flesh; and +that which is born of the Spirit is spirit, and remains spirit. +So, when a man is born of God, he has God’s nature. When a man is +born of his parents, he receives their nature, and they received +the nature of their parents, and you can trace it back to Adam. +But when a man is born of God, or born from above, or born of the +Spirit—that is the way the Holy Ghost puts it in that third +verse—he receives God’s nature, and then it is he leaves the life +of the flesh for the life of the spirit.</p> +<p class="pn">Before I go on I want to say one thing, and that +is, what this new birth, or being born of the Spirit, is not. A +great many think they have been born again because they go to +church. A great many say, “Oh, yes, I am a Christian; I go to +church every Sabbath!” Let me say here that there is no one that +goes to church so regularly in all London as Satan. He is always +there before the minister, and he is the last one out of the +church. There is not a church in London, or a chapel, but that he +is a regular attendant of it. The idea that he is only down in +the slums and lanes and alleys of London is a false idea. He is +wherever the Word is preached; it is his business to be there, +and catch away the seed. He is here to-night. Some of you may go +to sleep, but he won’t. Some of you may not listen to the sermon, +but he will. He will be watching, and when the seed is just +entering into some heart he will go and catch it away.</p> +<h2>A CHRISTIAN BECAUSE BAPTIZED.</h2> +<p class="pn">Another class say, “Oh, yes, I am a Christian, +because I was baptized.” Now, I want to say here that baptism is +one thing, and being born again is another. Because a person is +baptized, you cannot say that that is the new birth. Would you +call that being born from above? You cannot baptize a man into +the kingdom of God. Now, bear that in mind. If I could save men +by baptizing them, you would not catch me preaching. I would get +water and baptize them; that would be the quickest way. It would +be no use to be praying and pleading for men to flee from the +wrath of God. But you can never get them into the kingdom of God +by baptism. Baptism is all right in its place. I am not here +crying down church ordinances; I am talking about the new birth: +and there are a great many, I believe, being deceived on this one +point, that because they have been baptized at some time in their +life they have become Christians. But that is not the new birth; +that is not being born from above and of the Spirit. Do not let +Satan deceive you, my friends, on that point, for it is a very +important truth; and we want to have every one here to +understand, and I hope the Spirit of God will make plain the +difference between baptism and regeneration, or being born of the +Spirit.</p> +<h2>JOINING THE CHURCH.</h2> +<p class="pn">There is another class that say, “Oh, yes, I became +a Christian when I joined the church.” That is not being born +again. What has that to do with the new birth, being united with +the church on earth? There are a great many united with the +church who are on their way to death and ruin. A great many have +no hope of eternal life who are church members. One of the twelve +Christ chose to follow Him turned out a hypocrite and a traitor; +he was not loyal to Christ at heart. My friends, don’t build your +hope of heaven upon some profession of your faith, but bear in +mind you must be born of God. Now just let me stop a minute, and +you think, and ask yourselves this question, “Have I been born +again?” It is the most solemn question that will ever come before +you down here, “Have I been born from above? Have I been born of +the Spirit?” It is not making some new resolutions. You have made +enough of them. I never met any one who had not made some good +resolutions in their life. It is not trying to do good. A great +many say, “I try to do the best I can, and I think it will come +out all right.” What is that to do with the new birth and the new +creation? God does not promise salvation to him that tries to do +the best he can, but to him that believeth, or that is born of +the Spirit; for “except a man be born again, he cannot see the +kingdom of God.”</p> +<h2>THE NEW BIRTH INSTANTANEOUS.</h2> +<p class="pn">Now, I believe this new birth is instantaneous. I +have met a great many people who cannot tell the day or the hour +of their conversion; but there must have been a time when they +passed from death unto life—when they were born of the Spirit. +There must have been a time when their names were written in the +Book of Life. They may not be conscious of the day, or the hour, +or the week, or the month, or the year; but, my friends, I beg of +you to be sure that you have been born of the Spirit. Don’t be +deceived upon this one truth, because Christ Himself says, +“Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of +God.”</p> +<h2>THE FLESH CANNOT SERVE GOD.</h2> +<p class="pn">As I said before, when I was born of my parents I +received their nature, I received the nature of the flesh; and I +cannot serve God in the flesh. “God is a Spirit, and they that +worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” And before +a man can worship God he must be born of God; he must be born of +the Spirit. Then with this new birth, with this new life, he can +serve God; then the yoke is easy, and the burden is light. A man +may as well try to fly to the moon as to serve God before he has +been born of the Spirit; it is utterly impossible. The natural +man is at enmity against God; his natural heart is at war with +God; it always has been, and it always will be. And not only +that, but you cannot make it better. God never mends, He creates +anew; therefore don’t be trying to patch up that old Adam nature. +God says, “It shall never come into my presence.” Therefore God +has just set it aside. But He tells us how we are to come into +His presence, and how we are to get into His kingdom. This is +worthy to be borne in mind. You cannot educate men into it. That +is what the world is trying to do. But he that climbeth up by +some other way than the Lord’s way, the same is a thief and a +robber. You had better be born into it in God’s way.</p> +<p class="pn">We have a law in America that no man shall be +President of the United States that has not been born on American +soil. We have a great many Englishmen come to America, and a +great many men from all parts of the world, and yet I have never +heard one complain of that law. They say America has the right to +say who shall be President. I come here to your country, and I do +not complain because you have a Queen to reign over you. What +right have I to complain? Has not England a right to say who +shall rule it, and who shall be its Queen? Foreigners have no +right to interfere. And I would like to ask you this question, +Has not God a right to say who shall come into His kingdom, and +how we shall come? Now, my friend, God tells us here we are to +come into His kingdom by the new birth. We must be born from +above, born of the Spirit, and then we get a nature that goes out +towards God. If you take a drunken man, and put him on the very +pavement of heaven, he will not be happy there. The drunkard +doesn’t want heaven. What is he to do there? He has no whisky to +drink there, and he has none of his old companions. What is he to +do? He would say, “This is hell to me. I don’t want to stay +here.” A man that cannot spend one Sabbath on earth among God’s +people, what is he to do with that eternal Sabbath, with those +that have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of +the Lamb? A man must have a spiritual nature before he wants to +go to heaven. Heaven cannot have any attractions to a man until +he is born of the Spirit.</p> +<h2>THE MORAL NEED THE NEW BIRTH.</h2> +<p class="pn">Now let us go back to the man to whom Christ said +these words. I often rejoice He didn’t say this to the woman at +the well, nor to Mary Magdalene. If He had said it to them, +people would have said, “Oh, that poor woman needs to be +converted; but I am a moralist; I don’t need to be converted. +Regeneration will do for harlots, thieves, and drunkards, but we +moralists do not need it.” But who did Christ say it to? He said +it to Nicodemus. Who was he? He belonged to the house of bishops. +Nicodemus stood very high; he was one of the church dignitaries; +he stood as high as any man in Jerusalem, except the high priest +himself. He belonged to the seventy rulers of the Jews; he was a +doctor of divinity, and taught the law. There is not one word of +Scripture against him; he was a man that stood out before the +whole nation as of pure and spotless character. What does Christ +say to him? “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the +kingdom of God.” I can see a scowl on his forehead. He says, +“What do you mean by being born again—born from above, born of +the Spirit? Now I am old, can I a second time enter my mother’s +womb, and be born again?” Jesus saith, “Verily, verily, I say +unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he +cannot see the kingdom of God.” He didn’t take back what He had +said, but He repeated it. I can imagine Nicodemus was like tens +of thousands of men in London to-day. The moment you talk to them +about regeneration or conversion, there is a scowl on their +forehead. They say, “I don’t understand it.” Of course, the +natural man doesn’t understand spiritual things. It is a matter +of revelation. A great many men try to investigate and find out +God. Suppose you spend a little of your time in asking God to +reveal Himself to you.</p> +<h2>REASON CANNOT UNDERSTAND THIS NEW BIRTH.</h2> +<p class="pn">I heard some time ago of some commercial travellers +who went to hear a man preach. They came back to the hotel, and +were sitting in the smoking-room talking, and they said the +minister did not appeal to their reason, and they would not +believe anything they could not reason out. There was an old man +sitting there listening, and he said to them, “You say you won’t +believe anything you can’t reason out?” “No, we won’t.” The old +man said, “As I was coming in the train yesterday, I noticed some +sheep, and cattle, and swine, and geese, all eating grass. Now, +can you tell me by what process that same grass was turned into +feathers, hair, bristles, and wool?” “Well, no, we can’t just +tell you that.” “Do you believe it is a fact?” “Oh, yes, it is a +fact.” “I thought you said you would not believe anything you +could not reason out?” “Well, we can’t help believing that; that +is a fact we see before our eyes.” “Well,” said the old man, “I +can’t help but believe in regeneration and a man being converted, +although I cannot explain how God converted him.”</p> +<h2>CHRIST’S ILLUSTRATION.</h2> +<p class="pn">Now, the illustration which Christ used to +Nicodemus was the wind. “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and +thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it +cometh, nor whither it goeth.” Now, you cannot see the Spirit of +God work in this audience; but I hope and pray He may be working +now in the hearts of many, convincing them of sin! Do you believe +more than ever that you are a sinner? Well, that is the work of +the Holy Ghost. The devil never told you you are a sinner; he +tries to make you believe that you are good enough. If you +believe to-night that you have sinned against God, that is the +work of the Holy Ghost. He is here at work. We cannot see Him, +but there are a great many who know He is here. Suppose I should +say, “I don’t believe in the wind, and that it must be all +imagination; I have lived thirty-seven years, and have never seen +the wind. It is folly for men to talk about the wind.” I can just +imagine that boy there saying, “Why, I know more than that man; I +know there is wind, for it blew my hat off this very day into the +mud, and I have often felt it blowing in my face.” My friends, +you have never felt the wind more than I have felt the Spirit of +God. You have never seen the effects of the wind more than I have +seen the effects of the Spirit of God, and of the working of the +Holy Ghost, and there are hundreds of witnesses here who would +testify the same thing. Yet this invisible power does its work in +creation, and the mighty invisible power of God does its work +effectively in the spiritual sphere.</p> +<p class="pn">New life in Christ means the breaking of old +fetters.</p> +<h2>GOD CAN CHANGE THE DRUNKARD.</h2> +<p class="pns">It may be that I am talking now to some poor +drunkard here. When he comes into his house his children listen, +and hear by the footfall that their father is coming home drunk, +and the little things run away and hide from him as if he was +some horrid demon. His wife begins to tremble. Many a time has +that great, strong arm been brought down on her weak, defenceless +body. Many a day has she carried about marks from that man’s +violence. He ought to be her protector, support, and stay; but he +has become her tormentor. His home is like hell upon earth; there +is no joy there. There may be one such here to-night who hears +the good news that he can be born again, and receive a nature +from heaven, and receive the Spirit of God. God can give him +power to hurl the infernal cup from him. God will give him grace +to trample Satan under his feet, and the drunkard will then +become a sober man. Go to that house three months hence, and you +find it neat and clean. As you draw near that home you hear +singing; not the song of the drunkard, that is gone, all things +have become new. He has been born of God, and is singing one of +the songs of Zion:</p> +<p class="p4">“Rock of Ages, cleft for me,</p> +<p class="p4s">Let me hide myself in Thee.”</p> +<p class="ps">Or perhaps he is singing that good old hymn that +his mother taught him when he was a little boy:</p> +<p class="p3">“There is a fountain filled with blood,</p> +<p class="p4">Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;</p> +<p class="p3">And sinners plunged beneath that flood</p> +<p class="p4s">Lose all their guilty stains.”</p> +<p class="pnn">He has become a child of God, an heir of heaven. +His children are climbing up his knee, and he has his arms round +their necks. That dark home is now changed into a little Bethel +on earth. God dwells there now. Yes; God has done all that, and +that is regeneration.</p> +<h2>THE WORTH OF GOOD RESOLVES.</h2> +<p class="pn">Then some of you may have been saying, “I wish Mr. +Moody would tell us how we are to become Christians, for he says +that we cannot be Christians by trying to do good and by making +new resolutions.” Many a time you have been at a meeting like +this, and have resolved to turn over a new leaf, and you may now +form another good resolution. If you do, you will break it. What +are you going to do? If it is a new birth you are to have, you +cannot create life. Can you bring life to the dead? All the wise +men in London cannot do it. God alone is the author of life; and +if you have the new birth, it must be God’s work. When the +Jubilee Singers were in the North of England my family went to +see them, and my little boy asked why they didn’t wash the black +off their faces. I told him it was because they were born black. +The Ethiopian cannot change his skin, nor the leopard his spots. +You cannot save yourself. There is a man dying—can you put new +life into him? Or can you raise up a dead body by saying, “Young +man, arise”? That is the work of God. Your souls are dead in +trespasses and sins, and only the Lord Jesus Christ can speak +life.</p> +<h2>THE BEGGAR AND THE PRINCE.</h2> +<p class="pn">I imagine some of you will say, “Haven’t I anything +to do?” Well, you haven’t. Salvation has been worked out for you +by another. Many go all round the world in search of honour or +possessions. Salvation is worth thousands of times more than any +thing earth can produce; but you don’t get it that way. God has +but one price for salvation. Do you want to know what it is? It +is without money and without price. Rowland Hill said that most +auctioneers found they had hard work to get people up to their +price, but that he had hard work to get people down to his. “The +wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.” Who +will have it now? I say to you, young man, will you have this +gift? Suppose I was going over London Bridge, and saw a poor +miserable beggar, bare-footed, coatless, hatless, with no rags +hardly to cover his nakedness, and right behind him, only a few +yards, there was the Prince of Wales with a bag of gold, and the +poor beggar was running away from him as if he was running away +from a demon, and the Prince of Wales was hallooing after him, +“Oh, beggar, here is a bag of gold!” Why, we should say the +beggar had gone mad to be running away from the Prince of Wales +with the bag of gold. Sinner, that is your condition. The Prince +of Heaven wants to give you eternal life, and you are running +away from Him.</p> +<h2>THE DYING SOLDIER.</h2> +<p class="pn">Then you say, “If it is not by working in earnest, +how am I to be saved?” I will tell you; Scripture will tell +you—that is better. Take the illustration Christ used to +Nicodemus; you could not have a better. He took him to the +remedy: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even +so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in +Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John iii. 14, 15). +Now there is the remedy. How am I to be saved? By looking to +Christ; just by looking. It’s very cheap, isn’t it? Very simple, +isn’t it? Just look away to the Lamb of God now and be saved. +What says the great wilderness preacher? “Behold the Lamb of God, +which taketh away the sin of the world.” You might say the whole +plan of salvation is in two words—Giving; Receiving. God gives; I +receive.</p> +<p class="pn">I remember, after one of the terrible battles in +the American Civil War—I was in the army, tending soldiers—and I +had just laid down one night, past midnight, to get a little +rest, when a man came and told me that a wounded soldier wanted +to see me. I went to the dying man. He said, “I wish you to help +me to die.” I said, “I would help you to die if I could. I would +take you on my shoulders and carry you into the kingdom of God if +I could; but I cannot. I can tell you of One who can.” And I told +him of Christ being willing to save him; and how Christ left +heaven and came into the world to seek and to save that which was +lost. I just quoted promise after promise, but all was dark, and +it almost seemed as if the shades of eternal death were gathering +around his soul. I could not leave him, and at last I thought of +this third chapter of John, and I said to him, “Look here, I am +going to read to you now a conversation that Christ had with a +man that went to Him when he was in your state of mind, and +inquired what he was to do to be saved.” I just read that +conversation to the dying man, and he lay there with his eves +rivetted upon me, and every word seemed to be going home to his +heart, which was open to receive the truth. When I came to the +verse where it says, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the +wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that +whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal +life”—the dying man cried, “Stop, sir. Is that there?” “Yes, it +is all here.” Then he said, “Won’t you please read it to me +again?” I read it the second time. The dying man brought his +hands together, and he said, “Bless God for that. Won’t you +please read it to me again?” I read through the whole chapter, +but long before the end of it he had closed his eyes. He seemed +to lose all interest in the rest of the chapter, and when I got +through it his arms were folded on his breast, he had a sweet +smile on his face; remorse and despair had fled away. His lips +were quivering, and I leant over him, and heard him faintly +whisper from his dying lips, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in +the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that +whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal +life.” He opened his eyes, and fixed his calm, deathly look on +me, and he said, “Oh, that is enough; that is all I want”; and in +a few hours he pillowed his dying head upon the truth of those +two verses, and rode away on one of the Saviour’s chariots, and +took his seat in the kingdom of God.</p> +<p class="pn">Oh, sinner, you can be saved now if you will! Look +and live. May God help every lost one here to look on the Lamb of +God, which taketh away the sin of the world.</p> +<h1><a name="blood" id="blood">THE BLOOD</a></h1> +<p class="pt1">“And almost all things are by the law purged with +blood, and without the shedding of blood is no +remission.”—<span class="sc">Heb</span>. ix. 22.</p> +<p class="pnn">No man can give a satisfactory reason for the hope +that is in him if he is a stranger to the “Blood.” At the very +commencement of the Bible we find reference made to the subject +in Genesis iii. 21: “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord +God make coats of skins, and clothed them.” In this verse we get +the first glimpse of blood. Certainly God could not have clothed +Adam and Eve with the skins of beasts unless He had shed blood. +Here, then, we have the innocent suffering for the guilty—the +doctrine of substitution in the garden of Eden. God dealt with +Adam in grace before He dealt in judgment. Death came by sin. +Adam had sinned, and the Lord came down to make the way of +escape. God came to him as a loving friend, and not to hurl him +from the earth. Adam could have said to Eve, “Though the Lord has +driven us out of the garden of Eden, He loves us,” for this coat +is a token of love.</p> +<p class="pn">God put a lamp of promise into Adam’s hand before +He drove him out; for He said, “The seed of the woman shall +bruise the serpent’s head.” Did you ever think what a terrible +state of things it would be if man was allowed to live for ever +in his lost, ruined state? It was from love to Adam that God +drove him out of Eden, that he should not live for ever. God put +the cherubim with a flaming sword there. But now Christ has taken +the sword out of his hand, and opened wide the gate, so that we +can come in and eat. Adam might have been in Eden ten thousand +years, and then be led astray by Satan; but now “our life is hid +with Christ in God.” Man is safer with the second Adam out of +Eden than with the first Adam in Eden.</p> +<p class="pn">Let us next turn to Genesis iv. 4: “And Abel, he +also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat +thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering.” +Cain and Abel were brought up outside of Eden, and had the same +parents, and both received the same instruction as to how they +were to draw near to God; but</p> +<h2>CAIN CAME IN HIS OWN WAY,</h2> +<p class="pnn">while Abel came in the way God commanded. Cain +said to himself, “I am not going to bring a bleeding lamb. Here +is the grain and the beautiful fruit that I have raised by my +industry; and I’m sure it looks better than blood, and I’m not +going to bring blood.” Now it was not that there was any +difference between these two men, but it was the offering which +each brought. One came in the way God had marked out, and the +other in a way of his own. Now there are a great many just like +that at the present day. They prefer what is agreeable to the +eye, as Cain did his beautiful corn and fruit, and they do not +like the doctrine of</p> +<h2>THE BLOOD OF ATONEMENT.</h2> +<p class="pnn">But any religion that makes light of the Blood is +the work of the devil, even if an angel from heaven came down to +preach salvation through any other means.</p> +<p class="pn">Undoubtedly on the morning of creation God marked +out the way a man might come to Him; and Abel walked in God’s +way, and Cain in his own. Perhaps Cain could not bear the sight +of blood, and so he took that which God had cursed and laid it +upon the altar.</p> +<h2>THERE ARE MANY CAINITES IN THE CHURCH</h2> +<p class="pnn">even now; and some have got into the pulpit, and +they preach against the doctrine of the Blood, and that we can +get to heaven without the Blood. From the time Adam went out of +Eden there have been Abelites and Cainites. The Abelites come by +the way of the Blood—the way God had marked out for them. The +Cainites come by their own way. They repudiate the doctrine of +the Blood, and say it does not atone for sin. But it is better to +take God’s word than man’s opinion.</p> +<p class="pn">Again, turn to Genesis viii. 20: “And Noah builded +an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of +every clean fowl, and offered burnt-offerings on the altar.” We +have thus passed over the first two thousand years, and have come +to the second dispensation. The thought I want to call your +attention to is this: The first thing Noah did when he got out of +the ark was to build an altar and slay the animals, thus putting +blood between him and his sin. The second dispensation is founded +upon blood; and these animals were taken through the flood in the +ark that they might illustrate the indispensable necessity of the +shedding of blood.</p> +<h2>ABRAHAM OFFERING UP ISAAC.</h2> +<p class="pn">Again, in Genesis xxii. 13, it is written: “And +Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a +ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took +the ram, and offered him up for a burnt-offering in the stead of +his son.” The ram was typical, and was offered up in the place of +Abraham’s son. God loved Abraham so much that He spared his son; +but He so loved the world that He would not spare His own Son, +but gave Him up freely for us all. It may be that from the top of +the mountain Abraham saw a glorious sight. He saw Christ going up +Calvary carrying His cross. He saw that mountain peak sprinkled +with blood; and he saw that sacrifices were to go on until the +true Isaac made His appearance and offered Himself for us all. +Abraham had the altar built, and he was ordered to take his only +son, and to bind him, and to slay him; and he bound that boy, and +everything was ready. He took the knife, and was about to slay +him, because it was the will and command of God. He did not know +what it meant; but he obeyed.</p> +<p class="pn">Would that there were more men like him now, ready +to obey God in the dark without asking the reason why! The old +man took his son, and he told him the secret that he had hid from +him all the journey—that God had told him to offer him up as a +sacrifice. And he bound the boy hand and foot, and laid him all +ready on the altar; and just when he was about to stretch forth +his hand and slay him, he heard a voice from heaven calling to +him: “Abraham, Abraham, spare thy son.” God was more merciful to +the son of Abraham than to His own, for He gave Him up freely for +us all. He opened up to him the curtain of time, and showed him +Christ coming in the future; and Abraham saw his sins laid on +Christ and was glad.</p> +<h2>THE PASSOVER.</h2> +<p class="pn">In Exodus xii. 13 we read: “And the blood shall be +to you for a token on the houses where ye are: and when I see the +blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you +to destroy you.” God did not say, When I see your good deeds; +when I see how you have prayed, and wept, and cried. No; but +“When I see the blood I will pass over you. The blood shall be a +token.” What was it saved those men? Was it their good +resolutions or their works? It was the blood. “When I see the +blood I will pass over you.” Very likely when some of the lords, +and dukes, and great men rode through Goshen, and saw the +Israelites sprinkling their dwellings, they said they never saw +such foolishness, and that they were spoiling their houses. They +were to sprinkle the door-posts and lintels of their houses with +the blood, but not the threshold. God would not have</p> +<h2>THE BLOOD TRAMPLED UPON,</h2> +<p class="pnn">but that is what the world at the present day is +doing.</p> +<p class="pn">Some preachers speak not of the death of Christ, +but His life, because it is more pleasing to the natural ear; but +the life of Christ may be preached for ever and it will not save +any man, if His death is left out. A live lamb could not have +kept death out of the houses of Goshen. God did not say that He +wanted a live lamb at every door, but to have the lintels and +door-posts sprinkled with the blood of the lamb. People sometimes +say, “If I was as good as that minister, that preached the gospel +for fifty years”; or, “If I was as good as that mother, who did +so and so for her children”; but if we are behind the blood of +God’s Son, we are just as safe as any Christian that has ever +walked the face of the earth.</p> +<p class="pn">It is not a long life of usefulness that makes men +and women acceptable to God. We must work for Christ; but we get +salvation as a gift, and then begin to work because we cannot +help it. All the work a person does before he becomes converted +goes for nothing.</p> +<p class="pn">The little child down in Goshen behind the blood of +the lamb was just as safe as Joshua, or any man in the whole +town. The angel of death passed by when he saw the blood. The +little tiny fly was as safe in the ark with Noah as the elephant. +It was equally the ark that saved the fly and the elephant, and +it is</p> +<h2>THE BLOOD THAT SAVES</h2> +<p class="pnn">the weakest and the strongest. When death came +that night with his sword, he entered the palace of the prince, +and went into the houses of the great and mighty, and they all +had to pay tribute to death; for the first-born in Egypt was +smitten down that night. The only thing that kept death out was +death itself. The only way that death can be met is by death. I +have sinned, and must die; or get some one to die for me. The +great question is—Have you got the token? If death should come +after any one of us to-night, are we sheltered behind the blood? +that is the point. It is the blood that atones. Not my good +resolutions, or prayers, or position in society, or what I have +done, but what has been done by another. God looks for the +token.</p> +<p class="pn">Take another illustration. Suppose a man wanted to +go from London to Liverpool, and he got into a railway carriage, +he would soon hear the guard running along the platform crying +out for tickets. A man might be rich or he might be poor, black +or white, he might be learned or unlearned, that was not what the +guard wanted to know—he wanted to see the tickets; for the ticket +was the token, and if you have got a ticket you pass.</p> +<h2>NO DEATH WHERE THE BLOOD WAS.</h2> +<p class="pn">The Egyptians looked at the Israelites killing a +lamb and sprinkling the blood on the door-posts no doubt as a +very foolish proceeding, but not one house in the city, upon the +doorposts and lintels of which the blood was not sprinkled, +escaped; no matter who were the inhabitants, rich or poor, that +night there was no difference. There was a wail heard in every +habitation, from the palace to the meanest hovel where the blood +<i>had not</i> been sprinkled, but where it <i>had</i> been +sprinkled death was kept out. That showed clearly the truth, that +without the shedding of blood there is no remission. Let no man +or woman be guilty of laughing at this doctrine, that “the blood +of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin.”</p> +<p class="pn">In the eleventh verse of the same chapter we read, +“And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on +your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in +haste: it is the Lord’s passover.” Why you have not got more +power is because you don’t feed on the Lamb; and this is why +there are so many weak Christians. The Lamb not only atones for +our sins, but we are to feed upon the Lamb. We have got a +wilderness journey before us, as the children of Israel had. +After we are saved we are to feed upon Christ; He is the true +bread from heaven. If I don’t feed my soul with the true bread +from heaven I am sickly, and have not power to go and work for +Christ; and that is the reason, I believe, why so few in the +Church have power. Some people think if they get one glimpse of +Christ that is enough.</p> +<p class="pn">Some think much of their dinner; why should not +God’s children think a good deal of</p> +<h2>THEIR SPIRITUAL FOOD?</h2> +<p class="pnn">We should no more think of laying in spiritual +food to last for ten years than we should bodily food. A good +many people are living on stale manna. A man in Ireland said to +his boy, “I want you to eat two breakfasts. Do you know why?” The +boy said he understood one was for his body and the other for his +soul. All Christians should similarly take two breakfasts, for +the soul and for the body.</p> +<p class="pn">The Passover was to be to the Jews the beginning of +months. “This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it +shall be the first month of the year to you” (Exodus xii. 2). All +the 400 years that they had been in bondage went for naught, +because this was the first month of the year to them. And in like +manner throughout all the years that we have served the devil, +and all the time that we have been in Egypt, whatever good we may +have done in this world is to be reckoned as naught. Everything +dates back to the Passover night—to the time the blood was put +upon the door-posts. All the time we are serving the world goes +for naught. If you have not come to Calvary you are losing time. +Everything you do on the wrong side of the cross counts for +naught; the first thing is to be saved by faith in Christ, and +then we commence our pilgrimage to heaven. We don’t start, as +some people suppose, from the cradle to heaven. We start from the +cross. We have got a fallen nature that is taking us hellward. We +must be born of the Spirit, and</p> +<h2>SHELTERED BY THE BLOOD,</h2> +<p class="pnn">and then we become pilgrims for heaven.</p> +<p class="pn">Each man was to take a lamb for his house. “And if +the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his +neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of +the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your +count for the lamb.” The lamb was not too little for a household, +but the household might be too little for the lamb. Christ was +enough for every household, enough and to spare, and we ought to +pray that salvation may come to every member of our +households.</p> +<p class="pn">Let us next turn to Exodus xxix. 16: “And thou +shalt slay the ram, and thou shalt take his blood, and sprinkle +it round about upon the altar.” Even Aaron could not come to God +until he sprinkled blood round about the altar; and when the high +priest went into the holy of holies, he had to take blood with +him. From the time when Adam fell there has been no other way by +which a man can approach God than by the blood. You cannot have +an audience of God until you come by that appointed way. So it +has been for 6000 years. When Adam fell in Eden he broke the +golden chain that linked humanity to the throne of God, but +Christ came and made atonement for that fall.</p> +<p class="pn">Again, observe in Leviticus viii. 23: “And he slew +it; and Moses took of the blood of it, and put it upon the tip of +Aaron’s right ear, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon +the great toe of his right foot.” I used to read a passage like +this, and say it seemed absurd. I think I understand it now. The +blood <i>upon the ear</i> means that we are to hear the voice of +God. The unconverted man does not understand the voice of God; +and we are told that when the voice of God was heard, the +uncircumcised said that it thundered. They did not know the +difference between God’s voice and thunder. Without the blood we +cannot hear the voice of God and understand it. A man must be +sheltered behind the blood before he can hear God’s voice.</p> +<p class="pn">The blood <i>upon the hand</i> signifies that a man +may</p> +<h2>WORK FOR GOD.</h2> +<p class="pnn">You cannot work for God until you are sheltered +behind the blood; and until you are sheltered it all stands for +naught. You may build churches, endow colleges, pay ministers and +missionaries; but it all goes for naught until you are sheltered +behind the blood. Don’t let any one deceive you on this point. +Don’t let Satan deceive you by telling you that you can get to +heaven by some other way. They asked Christ, “What must we do +that we may work the works of God?” Perhaps these men had got +their pockets full of money, and were ready and willing to build +churches. Christ told them that the work of God was that they +should believe in His Son. But they were not willing to do such a +small thing; they would rather do some greater thing; but that +was not what was wanted. You cannot do anything to please God +until you believe.</p> +<p class="pn">“Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice.” People +may work day and night, and even work themselves to death; but +they never will do right until they do what God requires them to +do.</p> +<p class="pn">The blood <i>on the toe</i> of the right foot was +to show that Aaron was to walk with God. When Adam fell, +communion with God was broken. Before he had walked with God; but +the moment he sinned he fell out of communion with Him; and from +that time to this God has been trying to get man back into +communion. God is full of truth and justice. His justice must be +met; and after that has been met He is satisfied. God never +walked with men until He put them behind the blood at Goshen. +What could stand before them then? They passed through the Red +Sea, and God said to Joshua, “Take this country, and no man shall +be able to stand before you all the days of your life.” In the +days of Joshua there were whole regiments of giants; but one +stripling from the Lord’s hosts defeated the giant of Gath. If +God is with us, the giants will be like grasshoppers; but if God +is not with us, it will be different. I would rather have ten men +separated from the world than ten thousand nominal Christians who +go to the prayer-meeting to-night and the ball to-morrow.</p> +<p class="pn">In Leviticus xvi. 14 it is said: “He shall take of +the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon +the mercy-seat eastward; and before the mercy-seat shall he +sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times.” It seems as +if God originally gave Adam a life by which he held communion +with Him; but on the day that he broke the command he lost that +communion. And ever since God has been trying to get men back +into communion with Himself. But how could God be just and the +justifier of sinners? That is done through the Blood of Christ. +“The life of the flesh is in the blood.” God demands blood to +atone for sin.</p> +<h2>MAN’S LIFE WAS FORFEITED,</h2> +<p class="pnn">and he had to die, or pay the wages of death. He +could not pay the penalty and live; so he wanted a substitute. +Every man had sinned, and could not be a substitute for his +fellow; but Christ was sinless, and could become the substitute +for man; and He has become that substitute, because He has died +in the room and stead of man to satisfy the law. Then the +question for each and every one to answer is, whether they will +love Him and serve Him who has died to redeem them by His +precious Blood.</p> +<p class="pn">In Leviticus xvii. 11, we read: “For the life of +the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the +altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood +that maketh an atonement for the soul.” There may be some who are +saying, Why does God demand blood? Some one said to me: “I detest +your God; He demands blood. I don’t believe in such a God; for my +God is merciful to all.” I want to say, My God is full of mercy! +But don’t be so blind as to believe that God is not just, and +that He has not got a government. Suppose Queen Victoria didn’t +like any man to be deprived of his liberty, and she threw all her +prisons open, and was so merciful that she could not bear any one +to suffer for guilt, how long would she hold the sceptre? how +long would she rule this empire? Not twenty-four hours. Those +very men who cry out about God being merciful would say: “We +don’t want such a Queen.”</p> +<h2>GOD IS JUST.</h2> +<p class="pn">God is merciful, but He will not take an unredeemed +sinner into heaven. If He did, the redeemed would plant the +banner of indignant remonstrance round the throne, and there +would be a revolt in heaven. God said to Adam, On the day thou +sinnest thou shalt surely die. Sin entered, and brought death +into the world. God’s word must be kept. I must either die, or +get somebody to die for me; and in the fulness of time Christ +comes forward to die for the sinner. He was without sin; but if +He had committed one sin, He would have had to die for His own +sin. The life of the flesh is in the blood; and it is not blood +He demands really; it is life, and life has been forfeited. We +have sinned, and death must come, or justice must take its +course. Glory to God in the highest because He sent His Son, born +of a woman, to take our nature and die in our stead, tasting +death for every man. You take this blood out of this body of +mine, and life is gone.</p> +<h2>GOD DEMANDS BLOOD.</h2> +<p class="pnn">He demands life. Man has sinned; therefore life +must be forfeited, and I must die, or find somebody to die for +me. My friends, I have only just touched this subject. If you +read your Bibles carefully you will find the scarlet thread +running through the Bible. It commenced in Eden and flows on to +Revelation. I cannot find anything to tell me the way to +heaven</p> +<h2>BUT BY THE BLOOD.</h2> +<p class="pn">This book (holding up the Bible) wouldn’t be worth +carrying home if you take the scarlet thread out of it; and it +doesn’t teach anything else; for the blood commences in Genesis, +and goes on to Revelation. That is what this book is written for. +It tells its own story; and if a man should come and preach +another gospel, don’t you believe him. If an angel should come +and preach anything else, don’t believe it. Don’t trifle with the +subject of the Blood. In your dying hour you would give more to +be sheltered behind this Blood than for all the world.</p> +<h2>A MOTHER’S LOVE.</h2> +<p class="pn">In the time of the Californian gold fever a man +went to the diggings, and left his wife to follow him some time +afterwards. While on her voyage with her little boy, the vessel +caught fire; and as there was a powder-magazine on board, the +captain knew when the flames reached it the ship would be blown +up. The fire could not be got under, so they took to the +life-boats; but there was not room for all. As the last boat +pushed off, the mother and boy stood on the deck. One of the +sailors said there was room for another. What did the mother do? +She decided to perish herself in order to save her boy. She +dropped him into the boat, and with a mother’s last look, said: +“If you should live to see your father, tell him that I died in +your place.” Do you think when that boy grew up he could fail to +love that mother who died to save him? My friends, this is a +faint type of what Christ has done for you and me. He died for +our sins. He left heaven for that purpose. Will you go away +saying, I see no beauty in Him. May God break every heart here! +You will need Him when you come to cross the swelling of Jordan. +You will need Him when you go up to the bar of God. God forbid +that when death comes it should find you without Christ, and +without God, and without hope!</p> +<p class="pn">Not only is the vitally important subject of the +“Blood of Christ” referred to frequently in the Old Testament, +but likewise in many places in the New Testament.</p> +<p class="pn">Let us turn to the second chapter of the Acts of +the Apostles, and verses 22-26, “Him, being delivered by the +determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and +by wicked hands have crucified and slain.” What is this but the +bloodshedding and death of Christ? Read also Acts iv. 10; v. 28; +vii. 52; viii. 32; x. 39; xvii. 3; xviii. 21; Hebrews ix. 22; 1 +Peter i. 19; and many other passages will be found if the word +<i>Blood</i> is referred to in a Concordance.</p> +<h2>REDEMPTION.</h2> +<p class="pn">A friend of mine was in Ireland, and saw a little +Irish boy who had caught a sparrow, and the poor little bird was +trembling and panting in his hand, from which it wanted to get +away. It was evidently very much affrighted. The gentleman told +the boy to let it go, as the bird could not do him any good; but +the boy said he would not let it escape, for he had been chasing +it for three hours before he could catch it. The gentleman then +offered to buy the bird, and the boy agreed to a price, which was +paid. He took the poor bird and held it out on his palm, where it +sat for a time, scarcely able to realise the fact that it had got +its liberty; but at last it flew away, chirping, as if to say to +the gentleman, “You have redeemed me.”</p> +<p class="pn">That is an illustration of what is meant by +redemption. Satan is stronger than any man upon earth, and there +is no match for him but Christ. The lion of Calvary—the lion of +the tribe of Judah—He is stronger than the lion of hell. When +Christ on Calvary said, “It is finished!” it was the shout of the +conqueror. He came to redeem the world by His death.</p> +<p class="pn">Once when I was re-visiting my native village I was +going to a neighbouring town to preach, and saw a young man +coming from a house in a carriage, in which was seated an old +woman. I felt interested in them, and asked my companion who they +were. I was told to look at the adjoining meadow and pasture, and +great barns that were on the farm, as well as a good house. +“Well,” said my companion, “that young man’s father drank that +all up, and left his wife in the poorhouse. The young man went +away and worked until he had got money enough to redeem that +farm, and now it is his own, and he is taking his mother to +church.” That is another illustration of redemption.</p> +<p class="pn">In the first Adam we have lost all, but the second +Adam has redeemed everything by His death. A friend of mine who +was in Paris went to a great meeting of Jews, at which one of the +leading men presided, and that man said the Jews had the honour +of killing the Christian’s God; and those Jews stamped and +applauded at the statement. They were proud of the act, and cried +out, “His blood be upon us, and upon our children,” and that +imprecation has been literally fulfilled in their history. Now +His blood either cries for our peace and salvation or for our +condemnation.</p> +<h2>PEACE.</h2> +<p class="pn">In Colossians i. 20 it is written, “Having made +peace through the blood of the cross, by Him to reconcile all +things to Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in +earth, or things in heaven.” That is what the blood of the cross +does, it brings peace. In Romans v. it is written, “Therefore +being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord +Jesus Christ; by whom also we have access by faith into this +grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” +In this three things are stated: there is <i>justification</i> +for the past as well as peace. As the believer looks back to +Calvary, the blood speaks peace and pardon for guilt. Then there +is <i>grace</i> for the present, and <i>glory</i> for the +future.</p> +<p class="pn">In John xix. 34 it is written, “But one of the +soldiers with a spear pierced His side, and forthwith came +thereout blood and water.” There is a striking fact intimated in +this verse. The spear that went into the side of the Son of God +was the crowning act of sin, the culminating crime of earth and +hell. I don’t see how they could have done a more cruel thing +than that. What act could have been more black and hellish? And +the blood came out and covered the spear, and a fountain was thus +opened in the house of David for sin. The blood touched the Roman +spear, and it was not long before the Roman government became at +least nominally Christian. The blood ran down from His side upon +the earth, and this earth has been redeemed by Him; for He will +have the world by and by. He is</p> +<h2>THE TRUE SOVEREIGN,</h2> +<p class="pnn">and He will ere long cast out the prince of +darkness, and sway His sceptre from end to end of this earth. A +little longer, and He will personally return and set up His +millennial kingdom and reign over this earth. He has redeemed the +earth by His blood, and He will have all He has redeemed.</p> +<h2>ONENESS IN CHRIST.</h2> +<p class="pn">Has the Blood touched you? The blood of Christ +makes us one, brings us into the family of God, and enables us to +cry, “Abba, Father.” At the time of the American war, during the +days of slavery in America, when there was much political strife +and strong prejudice against the black men, especially by +Irishmen, I heard a preacher say, that when he came to the cross +for salvation he seemed to find a poor negro on one side and an +Irishman on the other side, and the blood came trickling down +upon them and made them one. There may be strife in the world, +but those whom Christ has redeemed He has made one family. We are +blood relatives.</p> +<p class="pn">When I go before an audience, there is hardly a +person I have seen before; but as I begin to talk about the King +their eyes light up, and I see they are kinsmen, they are blood +relatives, and in a short time I become attached to them. A man +may go into a town a perfect stranger, but as soon as he finds +out those who love God, they will be one. I wish Christians had +more of this oneness. I hope the time will soon come when +sectarian walls will be broken down, and people will not want to +ask whether you belong to the Established, Wesleyan, or Baptist +Churches. If washed in the blood, we are blood relatives. I +believe</p> +<h2>GOD WILL JUDGE THE WORLD BY THE BLOOD.</h2> +<p class="pnn">“What have you done with that blood?” will be the +great question in that day. If we make light of it, and send back +an insulting message, saying we don’t stand in need of it, we +shall stand speechless before God’s tribunal. If we make light of +that blood, what is going to become of our souls?</p> +<h2>JUSTIFICATION.</h2> +<p class="pn">The only way a man can be brought within the family +of God is by the blood, as it is said in Romans iii. 24, “Being +justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in +Christ Jesus”; and again in Romans v. 9, “Much more then, being +now <i>justified by His blood</i>, we shall be saved from wrath +through Him.” Justified from all things from which we could not +be by the law of Moses. When God looks into His ledger, there is +nothing found against the man who is washed in the blood. One +plunge in the crimson fountain, and the sinner is justified in +the sight of God. Christ was raised from the grave for the +justification of all who put their trust in Him, and such are not +only pardoned men but justified men. Justification is more than +pardon. It is said of an emperor of Russia that he sent on one +occasion for two noblemen who were charged with some conspiracy, +and one he found to be perfectly innocent, so he sent him home +justified; but the other was proved guilty, but was pardoned. +They both returned home, but ever afterwards would stand very +differently in the estimation of their sovereign and neighbours. +From that may be seen the difference between pardon and +justification.</p> +<h2>CONFIDENCE.</h2> +<p class="pn">When a man is justified he can go through the world +with his head erect. Satan may come to him, and say, “You are a +sinner”; but the reply would be, “I know that, but God has +forgiven me through Christ”; as it is written in Revelation i. 5, +“And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the +first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the +earth. Unto Him that loved us, and washed us in His own blood, +and hath made us kings and priests unto God the Father; to Him be +glory and dominion for ever and ever.”</p> +<p class="pn">Many people try to come to Christ, but think they +cannot come unless they first become good. But He loves all +Christians even before their sins are washed away. He loves them, +and then washes them in His own blood. It is wonderful love! To +think that He loves them first and then washes them in His blood +from their sins! There is no devil in hell that can pluck them +out of His hand. They are perfectly safe; for they are washed in +the blood of the Lamb.</p> +<h2>NO REMISSION WITHOUT BLOOD.</h2> +<p class="pn">It is said in Hebrews ix. 22, “And almost all +things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of +blood there is no remission.” It is utterly impossible that a man +can be saved who makes light of the blood. There is no other name +under heaven whereby we can be saved than the name of Christ +Jesus. Are we willing to receive what Christ has already done? +The salvation of those who trust in Him was already worked out +when He said upon the cross, “It is finished.”</p> +<p class="pns">In Matthew xxvi. 28 we get the words of Christ +Himself: “For this is my blood of the New Testament, which was +shed for many for the remission of sins.” That was what Christ +Himself said about the blood. He could have saved His life, but +He loved the human family so much that He shed His blood for +their redemption. He opened that fountain referred to in the +lines:</p> +<p class="p2">“There is a fountain filled with blood,</p> +<p class="p3s">Drawn from Emmanuel’s veins.”</p> +<p class="pnn">That hymn will last as long as the Church, and so +will others like:</p> +<p class="p4">“Rock of ages, cleft for me,</p> +<p class="p4s">Let me hide myself in Thee.”</p> +<p class="ps">There is a great deal about the blood in these +hymns, and they will all live. Every hymn into which the scarlet +thread is woven will live. There is another sweet hymn that will +last through all ages:</p> +<p class="p2">“Just as I am, without one plea,</p> +<p class="p3s">But that Thy blood was shed for me.”</p> +<p class="pn">In Hebrews x. 19 we read, “Having therefore, +brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of +Jesus, by a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, +through the veil, that is to say, His flesh.” When Christ’s work +was done, the veil of the temple was rent from the top to the +bottom. God came out of the holy of holies, and man can now go +in. He makes all His people in this dispensation kings and +priests. Every one can come right into the presence of God +Himself. In the Jewish dispensation none but the high priests +could enter into the holy of holies; but the veil being rent, God +came out and man can go in through the veil of His flesh. “Let us +draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having +our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies +washed with pure water.” Let us hold fast the profession of our +faith. The new and living way has been opened by His blood. The +only thing that Christ left down here was His blood. When He +ascended to heaven, He took with Him His flesh and His bones, but +His shed blood was left on this earth.</p> +<h2>THE BLOOD HAS TWO CRIES.</h2> +<p class="pn">It either cries for my damnation, or for my +salvation. If I make light of the blood, and trample it under my +feet, then it cries out for God’s condemnation; but if I am +sheltered behind the blood, there is no condemnation for me. God +dealt in judgment with Cain; and when Pilate wanted to know what +to do with Christ, he washed his hands and said he was innocent. +The Jews said, “Let His blood be upon us and our children, not to +save us, but to condemn us.” Would that they had said, “Let His +blood be upon us to save us and protect us.” Nearly 1900 years +have rolled away, and the Jews are wanderers on the face of the +earth without a king. Their having been scattered all these +years, what a proof it is the word of God is true! May our prayer +be to-day, His blood be upon us and our children, not to condemn +us, but to save us. Let that be our prayer, that we may know what +it is to be sheltered behind the blood of God’s dear Son. The +blood of the cross speaks peace. If I am sheltered behind the +blood, there is peace, but there is no peace until my sin is +covered. If you had committed sin against a man, you would get no +peace until that was forgiven. Men are running after peace; and +if it could be bought in the market, many would give hundreds of +thousands of pounds to secure it. The blood of Christ speaks +peace, and it will bring peace to every guilty conscience and +aching heart to-day if you only seek it.</p> +<p class="pn">In Hebrews x. 28, 29, we read: “He that despised +Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: of +how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought +worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath +counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, +an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?” +To me these are very solemn verses. I don’t see how any one can +sit here and hear these verses read and be content to remain +unsaved. “They died without mercy”; but how much more sore will +be the punishment of those who live in this age with an open +Bible, which tells how Christ died to redeem us, and make us +heirs of heaven.</p> +<p class="pn">In Revelation xii. 11, we read: “And they overcame +him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; +and they loved not their lives unto the death.” They overcame by +the blood. I don’t believe there is a word in the Bible Satan is +fearing more than the word “blood.” Judging from past experience, +I shall probably receive many letters to-morrow attacking me for +what I have said to-day. These letters will say it is heathenish +to stand up and preach what would only do for an unenlightened +age. May God forgive those who dare to say such things. If you +will read your Bible in the light of Calvary, you will find there +is no other way of coming to heaven but by the blood. The devil +does not fear ten thousand preachers who preach a bloodless +religion. A man who preaches a bloodless religion is doing the +devil’s work, and I don’t care who he is.</p> +<h2>VICTORY THROUGH THE BLOOD.</h2> +<p class="pn">It is said of old Dr. Alexander, of Princeton +Seminary, that when he parted with the students who were going to +preach the gospel, he would take them by the hand, and say, +“Young man, make much of the blood—<span class="sc">make much of +the blood</span>.”</p> +<p class="pn">As I have travelled up and down Christendom I have +found out that a minister who gives a clear sound upon this +doctrine is successful. A man who covers up the cross, though he +may be an intellectual man, and draw large crowds, cannot touch +the heart and conscience. There will be no life there, and his +church will be like a gilded sepulchre. Those men who preach the +doctrine of the cross, holding up Christ as the sinner’s only +hope of heaven, and as the sinner’s only substitute, and make +much of the blood, God honours, and souls are always saved where +that truth is preached.</p> +<p class="pn">I would say,</p> +<h2>MAKE MUCH OF THE BLOOD.</h2> +<p class="pnn">May God help us to make much of the blood of His +Son. It cost God so much to give us this blood, and shall we try +to keep it from the world which is perishing from the want of it? +The world can get along without us, but not without Christ. Let +us preach Christ in season and out of season. Let us go to the +sick and dying, and hold up the Saviour who came to seek and save +them, and died to redeem them.</p> +<h2>CHRIST WILL CONQUER.</h2> +<p class="pn">It is said of Julian the Apostate in Rome, that +when he was trying to stamp out Christianity he was pierced in +the side by an arrow. He pulled the arrow out, and taking a +handful of blood as it flowed from the wound, threw it into the +air, shouting, “THOU GALILÆAN, THOU HAST CONQUERED!” Yes, this +Galilæan is going to conquer. May God help us to give no +uncertain sound on this doctrine.</p> +<p class="pn">I would rather give up my life than give up this +doctrine. Take that away, and what is my hope in heaven? Am I to +depend upon my works? Away with them when it comes to the +question of salvation. I must get salvation distinct and separate +from works, for it is “to him that worketh not, but believeth on +Christ.” None will walk the celestial pavement of heaven but +those washed in the blood. The first man that went up from this +earth was probably Abel. You can see Abel putting his little lamb +upon the altar, thus placing blood between him and his sin. Abel +sang a song the angels could not join in. There must have been +one solo song of redemption in heaven, because Abel had no one to +join him. But there is a great chorus now, for the redeemed have +been going up for six thousand years, and they sing of Him who is +worthy to receive honour because He died to save us from +condemnation.</p> +<h2>ROBES MADE WHITE THROUGH THE BLOOD.</h2> +<p class="pn">In Revelation vii. 14, we read: “And I said unto +him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which +came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and +made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Sinner, how are you +going to get your robes clean if you don’t get them washed in the +blood of the Lamb? How are you going to wash them? Can you by +yourself make them clean? Oh, may we all reach that paradise +above! There they are singing the sweet song of redemption, and +may it be the happy lot of each of us to join them. It may be +only a short time, at the longest, before we shall be there, and +shout the song of redemption, and sing the sweet song of Moses +and the Lamb. There “they hunger no more, neither thirst any +more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the +Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and +lead them to living fountains of water: and God shall wipe away +all tears from their eyes.” At that day sceptics and scoffers +will pray for the rocks and mountains to fall on them, and cover +them from the wrath of God. If you die without Christ, without +hope, and without God, where will you be? Sinner, be wise! don’t +make light of the blood!</p> +<h2>THE DYING SAINT.</h2> +<p class="pn">An aged minister of the gospel, when dying, said, +“Bring me the Bible.” Putting his finger upon the verse, “The +blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin,” he +said, “I die in the hope of this verse.” It wasn’t his fifty +years’ preaching, nor his long life in the Lord’s service, but +the blood of Christ, upon which he relied. When we stand before +God’s tribunal we shall be pure, even as He is pure, if we are +washed in the blood of the Lamb.</p> +<h2>THE PRECIOUS BLOOD.</h2> +<p class="pn">During the American war a doctor heard a man +saying, “Blood, blood, blood!” The doctor thought this was +because he had seen so much blood shed upon battlefields, and +endeavoured to soothe his mind. The man smiled, and said, “I +wasn’t thinking of the blood upon the battlefield, but I was +thinking how precious the blood of Christ is to me as I am +dying.” As he died his lips quivered, “Blood, blood, blood!” and +he was gone. Oh, it will indeed be precious when we come to our +dying bed! it will then be worth more to us than all the world! +One sin is enough to exclude us from heaven, but one drop of +Christ’s blood is sufficient to cover all our sins.</p> +<p class="pn">Beware how you treat the gospel message of +redemption through the blood.</p> +<h2>THE DOWN GRADE.</h2> +<p class="pn">A stage-driver away on the Pacific coast—as I was +told when I was there about three years ago—while lying on his +dying bed, kept moving one of his feet up and down, saying, “I am +on the down grade, and cannot reach the brake.” As they told me +of it, I thought how many were on the down grade, and could not +reach the brake, and were dying without God and without hope. I +plead with you as a fellow-traveller; don’t go out of this hall +without saying, “Heaven is my home, and God is my Father.” Don’t +let the scoffers laugh you into hell; they cannot laugh you out +of it. The Blood is upon the mercy-seat, and while it is upon the +mercy-seat you can enter into the kingdom. God says, “There is +the Blood; it is all I have to give. As long as it is there, +there is hope for you. I am satisfied with the finished work of +my Son, and will you be satisfied?” Don’t leave this meeting +until you can claim this as yours.</p> +<p class="pn">How dark and sad it is to go to the bedside of a +dying infidel or atheist, or one who is dying without the light +of the resurrection morn. But if we trust to Christ, death has +lost its sting, and the grave its victory.</p> +<p class="pns">An eminent minister in America, Alfred Cookman, +the Robert McCheyne of his day, was dying, and when his friends +were gathered round his couch, waiting to see him depart to be +with Christ, his face lit up, and with a shout of triumph he +said, “I am sweeping through the gates, washed in the blood of +the Lamb!” And this echoes and re-echoes through America to-day: +“I am sweeping through the gates, washed in the blood of the +Lamb!” May these be our last words, and may an abundant entrance +be granted us into the gates of the heavenly city!</p> +<p class="p2">Who, who are these, beside the chilly wave,</p> +<p class="p2">Just on the borders of the silent grave;</p> +<p class="p2">Shouting Jesus power to save,</p> +<p class="p2">Washed in the blood of the Lamb.</p> +<p class="p2">Sweeping through the gates of the new Jerusalem</p> +<p class="p2">Washed in the blood of the Lamb.</p> +<h1><a name="all" id="all">CHRIST ALL IN ALL</a></h1> +<p class="pt1">Read <span class="sc">Colossians</span> iii. +11.</p> +<p class="pnn">C<span class="sc">hrist</span> is all in all to +every one who has truly found Him. He is our Saviour, Redeemer, +Deliverer, Shepherd, Teacher, and also sustains toward us many +more offices, to which I desire to call your attention.</p> +<p class="pn">1. If we turn to Luke ii. 10, 11, we find Christ is +there announced as our</p> +<h2>SAVIOUR:</h2> +<p class="pnn">“Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, +which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in +the city of David <i>a Saviour</i>, which is Christ the Lord.” We +learn to know Christ as our Saviour, to meet Him on Mount +Calvary, to look on Him as the bleeding Lamb of God, before we +know Him as our Redeemer, Deliverer, and Shepherd. Now, looking +round upon this vast assembly, I, who do not know the hearts of +the people, cannot know whether you can say that Christ is your +Saviour. There are many, I trust, who can say this, and who +rejoice in His salvation; while, without being uncharitable, I am +afraid there are many who know nothing personally of Jesus as +their Saviour.</p> +<p class="pn">He is offered to every one of you to-day as a +Saviour; “God gave Him up freely for us all,” that we all through +Him might be saved. If you are belonging to this world, I can +prove that you have a Saviour. If you belonged to some other +planet, such as the moon or any of the stars, then I could not +say a Saviour was offered to you; for it is not revealed whether +the people of these distant worlds, even if they are inhabited, +require salvation or not. But this I know, that every man on this +globe has a Saviour offered him.</p> +<h2>SALVATION FREE TO ALL.</h2> +<p class="pn">I have no sympathy with those men who try to limit +God’s salvation to a certain few. I believe that Christ died for +all who will come. I have received many letters finding fault +with me, and saying I surely don’t believe the doctrine of +election. I do believe in election; but I have no business to +preach that doctrine to the world at large. The world has nothing +to do with election; it has only to do with the invitation, +“Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” That is +the message for the sinner. I am sent to preach the gospel to +all.</p> +<p class="pn">After you have received salvation, we can talk +about election. It’s a doctrine for Christians, for the Church, +not for the unconverted world. Our message is “good tidings, +which shall be to all people; for unto you is born this day a +Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” All people, this Saviour is +proffered to you. Accept Him, and God will accept you; reject +Him, and God will reject you. Your eternal destiny depends on +your refusal or otherwise to accept the proffered Saviour. The +case is simply one of giving and taking. God gives; I receive. We +must, then, first of all know Christ as our Saviour.</p> +<p class="pn">2. But He is still more: He is our</p> +<h2>REDEEMER.</h2> +<p class="pnn">Supposing I saw a man tumble into a river, and I +were to jump in and rescue him, I should be a saviour to him—I +should have saved him. But when I brought the man ashore, I +should probably leave him, and do nothing further.</p> +<p class="pn">But the Lord does more. He not only saves us, but +He redeems us—that is, buys us back. He ransoms us from the power +of sin, as if I should promise to watch over that rescued man for +ever, and see that he did not again fall into the water. The Lord +not only saves us from spiritual death, but He redeems us for +ever that death can never touch us.</p> +<h2>LIBERTY TO THE CAPTIVES.</h2> +<p class="pn">When I was at Richmond, U.S., the coloured people +were going to have a meeting. It was the first day of their +freedom. I went to the African church, and never before or since +heard such bursts of native eloquence. “Mother,” said one, +“rejoice to-day. Your little child has been sold from you for the +last time; your posterity are for ever free. Glory to God in the +highest! Young men, you have heard the driver’s whip for the last +time; you are free to-day! Young maidens, you have been put up on +the auction-block for the last time!” They spoke right out, they +shouted for joy; their prayers had been answered, it was the +gospel to them. In like manner Jesus Christ proclaims liberty to +the captives. Some have accepted it; some, like the poor negroes, +scarcely believe the good tidings; but it is none the less true. +Christ has come to redeem us from the slavery of sin. Now, who +will accept of that redemption? There was one coloured woman, a +servant in an inn in the Southern States, who could not believe +she was free. “Be’s I free, or be I not?” she asked of a visitor. +Her master told her she was not, her coloured brethren told her +she was. For two years she had been free without knowing it. She +represents a great many in the Church of God to-day. They can +have liberty, and yet they don’t know it.</p> +<p class="pn">3. Again, Christ is our</p> +<h2>DELIVERER.</h2> +<p class="pnn">The children of Israel were not only saved and +redeemed from the bondage of the Egyptians, but they were also +<i>delivered</i>, that they should not be led back again into +bondage. Many are afraid; they think they are not able to hold +on, and therefore shrink from making a profession. But Christ is +able to keep you from falling; He is able to deliver you in the +dark hour of trial and temptation, from every evil device of +Satan, and from the snare of the fowler.</p> +<p class="pn">In Isaiah xlix. 24, we read: “Shall the prey be +taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered? But thus +saith the Lord, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken +away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will +contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy +children.” I will save him; I will deliver him. The children of +Israel were <i>saved</i> from the cruel bondage of Egypt, they +were led out of the land of Goschen; but still they were not +fully <i>delivered</i>. The great host of the Egyptians was +thundering behind them. It was not till they had passed safely +through the Red Sea, which closing behind them, swallowed up the +host of the enemy—it was not till then that they were free, that +they were delivered.</p> +<p class="pn">And similarly in our times of danger we shall find +it to be true of Christ, “He delivered my soul”; and again in Job +xxxiii. 24, “Then He is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him +from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom. His flesh +shall be fresher than a child’s: he shall return to the days of +his youth! he shall pray unto God, and He will be favourable unto +him: and he shall see His face with joy: for He will render unto +man His righteousness. He will deliver his soul from going into +the pit, and his life shall see the light.”</p> +<p class="pn">Here we have the saving, the redeeming, the +deliverance from the pit. Man is fallen into the deep pit, he is +kept there a lawful captive by one who is mighty. If he is to be +brought back from the darkness of the pit to see the light, then +we must have a ransom. Here God comes forward, and says, “I have +found a ransom.” Christ is the ransom, and He will deliver us. +Sound out the cry, “Christ is our deliverer.” He is mighty to +save, He is able to deliver.</p> +<h2>A LEADER.</h2> +<p class="pn">4. But now we need something more. Look back again +to the children of Israel; when they had marched gloriously +through the Red Sea, they had been saved, redeemed, and +delivered; but was that all they required? No; they had been +brought into the wilderness. What now do they need? They must +have a way to go in the pathless desert. They required a leader. +Then Christ is the way and the leader. Are we in difficulties, in +doubt, or in perplexity? Christ is our way. “I am the way, the +truth, and the life” (John x.).</p> +<p class="pn">I have heard some say, “Well, if I am converted, +and become religious, I don’t know what church I would go to. +There are so many different churches and denominations. I really +don’t know which is the right one.” Hence some people are +bewildered, and do not know which is the true way. Well, I would +say to such, Look only to Him who says,</p> +<h2>“I AM THE WAY.”</h2> +<p class="pnn">He is the only true way, and if you want to reach +the kingdom you have only to follow Him. We may be in darkness, +but He is able to lead us in the right path. He is the Shepherd +of His flock. He will go before us and lead us. He is calling +upon us to arise and follow Him, and He will lead us by a way we +know not; He will guide us to the green pastures if we only look +to Him.</p> +<h2>THE PILLAR OF CLOUD.</h2> +<p class="pn">All that the children of Israel had to do was to +follow the cloud. If the cloud rested, they rested; if the cloud +moved forward, then they moved. I can imagine that the first +thing Moses did, when the grey dawn of morning broke, was to look +up and see if the cloud was still over the camp. By night it was +a pillar of fire, lighting up the camp, and filling them with a +sense of God’s protecting care; by day it was a cloud shielding +them from the fierce heat of the sun’s rays, and sheltering them +from the sight of their enemies.</p> +<p class="pn">Israel’s Shepherd could lead them through the +pathless desert. Why? Because He made it. He knew every grain of +sand in it. They could not have a better leader through the +wilderness than its Creator.</p> +<p class="pns">And, sinner, can you, in all your difficulties or +doubts and fears, have a better leader than Jehovah? Oh, I do +like that good old hymn:</p> +<p class="p2">“Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah,</p> +<p class="p3">Pilgrim through this barren land;</p> +<p class="p2">I am weak, but Thou art mighty,</p> +<p class="p3">Hold me with Thy powerful hand.</p> +<p class="p4">Bread of heaven,</p> +<p class="p3s">Feed me till I want no more.”</p> +<p class="pn">Yes, that is the true prayer of the bewildered +sinner, God is <i>able</i>, and still more, He is <i>willing</i>, +to lead us, and to feed us. “Thou gayest them bread from heaven +for their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the +rock for their thirst” (Nehemiah ix. 15). He is still as able to +lead any of us as He was four thousand years ago to lead the +children of Israel, “For I am the Lord; I change not.” To every +one of us He says, “Fear not, I will lead thee; I will help +thee.” Wonderful thing, is it not, to have God to help us on our +way?</p> +<p class="pn">In our Western countries, when men go out hunting +into the dense backwoods, where there are no roads or paths of +any kind, they take their hatchet and cut a little chip out of +the bark of the trees as they go along, and then they easily find +their way by these “blazes.” They call it “blazing the way.” And +so, if you will allow me the expression, Christ has “blazed the +way.” He has travelled the road Himself, and knowing the way, He +tells us to follow Him, and He will lead us safe on high.</p> +<p class="pn">5. Now we have seen Christ is our Saviour, +Redeemer, Deliverer, Leader, or Way. But He is more than all +that;</p> +<h2>HE IS OUR LIGHT.</h2> +<p class="pnn">“I am the light of the world: he that followeth me +shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” He +shall have the very “light of life.” Yes, it is the privilege of +every Christian to walk in an unclouded sky.</p> +<p class="pn">But do we walk thus in an unclouded sky? No, most +Christians are often in darkness. If I were to ask this +congregation if they were all walking in the light, I believe +there is scarcely one, if he spoke the true feeling of his heart, +but would reply, “No, I am often in darkness.” Why is that? It is +because we are not following Christ, and keeping close to Him. We +are much in darkness when we might be in the light.</p> +<p class="pn">Suppose the windows of this building were all +closed, and we were complaining of the darkness, what would any +one say to us? Why, they would say, “Admit the light; open the +windows all round, and you’ll soon have plenty of light.” +Similarly we must let in Christ, who is the light, and open our +minds to receive Him, and we shall soon walk in light. There is a +great deal of darkness at the present time, even in the hearts of +God’s own people. But follow Him, and then you will have plenty +of light. Then Christ will show to each of us that He is “The +Light”; and He will do more, He will set us on fire with His +light, that we also may shine as lights in this dark world.</p> +<p class="pn">May God help His own people to</p> +<h2>SHINE BRIGHTLY,</h2> +<p class="pnn">to flash out of darkness, that men may take +knowledge of us that we have been with Jesus. But remember, the +world hates the light. Christ was the light of the world, and the +world sought to extinguish it at Calvary. Now He has left His +people to shine. “Ye are the light of the world.” He has left us +here to shine. He means us to be “living epistles, known and read +of all men.” The world is certain to watch, and to read you and +me. If we are inconsistent, then you may be sure the world will +take occasion to stumble at us.</p> +<p class="pn">The world finds plenty of difficulties on the way; +let us see that we Christians do not add more stumbling-blocks by +our un-Christlike walk. God help us to keep our lights burning +clear and brilliant! Out West a friend of mine was walking along +one of the streets one dark night, and saw approaching him a man +with a lantern. As he came up close to him he noticed by the +bright light that the man had got no eyes. He went past, but the +thought struck him, “Surely that man is blind.” He turned round, +and said, “My friend, are you not blind?” “Yes.” “Then what have +you got the lantern for?” “I carry the lantern that people may +not stumble over me, of course,” said the blind man. Let us take +a lesson from that blind man, and hold up our light, burning with +the clear radiance of heaven, that men may not stumble over +us.</p> +<p class="pn">6. Objectors have said that it’s all moonshine +about Christ’s people being lights on the way. Well, that’s just +what we believe; we reflect the light of Christ.</p> +<h2>REFLECTED LIGHT.</h2> +<p class="pn">Just like the moonshine, our light is borrowed +light. When we are living in the light of our Saviour we shine +with His light: somewhat like the face of Moses, which shone +after he had been in the mount with God. Let us live in an +atmosphere of heaven, and we cannot help shining. But whenever we +get downcast and weak in faith, then we are sure to lose our +light.</p> +<p class="pn">I remember during the American war I was in a +prayer meeting. We were all very dark and gloomy. Things had been +going against us for some time. At last an old man got up, and +said, “What is the matter with us, that we are downhearted and +sad? It is simply our lack of faith.” Moses, Joshua, and David +were men strong in faith. They believed, and therefore God +honoured them. Whence comes our want of faith? God is not dead. +He is as powerful, as willing, to help to-day as ever He was. +Why, then, are we not full of faith in Him? It is +God-dishonouring to forget that He still has power, although our +armies are defeated, and all seems dark and gloomy.</p> +<h2>GET ABOVE THE CLOUDS.</h2> +<p class="pn">I will tell you what happened to me some time ago +when I was out West. I wanted to reach the summit of one of the +Western mountains. I had been told that sunrise was very +beautiful when seen from the summit. We got up to the half-way +house one afternoon, where we were to rest till midnight, and +then set out for the top. Soon a little party of us started with +a good guide. Before a great while it began to rain, and then it +became a regular storm of thunder and lightning. I thought there +was little use in going on, and said to the guide, “Guess we’d +better turn back; we won’t see anything this morning, with all +these clouds.” “Oh,” said the guide, “I expect we’ll soon get +through these clouds, and get above them, and then we’ll have a +glorious view.” So we went on, whilst the thunders were rumbling +right about our ears. But soon we began to get above the +thunder-cloud; the air was quite clear, and when the sun rose we +had a splendid view of his rays as they tinged the hilltops; and +then, as the glorious sunshine began to break on where we stood, +we could see the dark cloud far beneath our mountain height. +That’s what God’s people want—to get into the clear air above the +stormy clouds, and to</p> +<h2>CLIMB HIGHER</h2> +<p class="pnn">away up to the mountain peak. There you’ll catch +the first rays from the Sun of Righteousness far above the clouds +and mists. Some of you may be in great darkness and gloom; but +fear not, climb higher, get nearer to the Master, and soon you’ll +catch His bright rays on your own soul, and they will sparkle +back upon others.</p> +<h2>KEEP THE LOWER LIGHTS BURNING.</h2> +<p class="pn">We must live as children of the light, not as +children of the darkness. If we are dark and sorrowful, how is +the world to know that we are children of peace, and joy, and +gladness? Our determination must be to keep our lights burning. A +few years ago, at the mouth of Cleveland harbour there were two +lights, one at each side of the bay, called the upper and lower +lights; and, to enter the harbour safely by night, vessels must +sight both of these lights. These Western lakes are more +dangerous sometimes than the great ocean. One wild, stormy night +a steamer was trying to make her way into the harbour. The +captain and the pilot were anxiously watching for the lights. By +and by the pilot was heard to say, “Do you see the lower lights?” +“No,” was the reply; “but I fear we have passed them.” “Ah, there +are the lights,” said the pilot! “and they must be, from the +bluff on which they stand, the upper lights. We have passed the +lower lights, and have lost our chance of getting into the +harbour.” What was to be done? They looked back, and saw the dim +outline of the lower lighthouse against the sky. The lights had +gone out. “Can’t you turn her head round?” “No; the night is too +wild for that. She won’t answer her helm.” The storm was so +fearful that they could do nothing. They tried again to make for +the harbour, but they went crash against the rocks, and sank to +the bottom. Very few escaped; the great majority found a watery +grave. Why? Simply because the lower lights had gone out.</p> +<p class="pn">And with us the upper lights are all right. Christ +Himself is the upper light, and we are the lower lights, and the +cry to us is, <i>keep the lower lights burning</i>, that is what +we have to do. In the place God has put us He expects us to +shine, to be living witnesses, to be a bright and shining light. +While we are here our work is to shine for Him, and He will lead +us safe to the sunlit shore of Canaan, where there is no more +night.</p> +<p class="pn">7. But Christ is more than our Light on the way; +for He is</p> +<h2>OUR TEACHER.</h2> +<p class="pnn">What a wonderful thing to have a teacher sent from +heaven. “If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth +to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given +him” (James i. 5).</p> +<p class="pn">“If any lack wisdom”: I am afraid there are a great +many of us who lack wisdom, and even the best of us at times will +be in perplexity. There are moments in the life of us all when we +seem in a fix; we just stand still, and say, “What shall I do? I +don’t know what is the best way.” Oh, leave it with God, He will +Himself be our teacher!</p> +<p class="pn">“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy +laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and +<i>learn of me</i>.” Here is a wonderful teacher. He has had a +school for many thousand years; He has had the best men in His +school; but still there’s room for another scholar there. His +college is not too full yet, and the teacher is the One sent from +heaven. Any one, every one in this assembly may join this school. +Jesus will welcome you there. Are you in doubt about anything? +ask Jesus; He will tell you.</p> +<p class="pn">Anxious sinner, seek the good teacher, as Nicodemus +did: “Master, we know thou art a teacher sent from God.” If you +seek Him thus He will direct you. He will keep you, and lead you +into green pastures and by the still waters. I met a woman the +other day who was full of infidel doubts and fancies. She could +not believe. Reading for some time infidel works had thrown a +dark and gloomy pall over her mind. It made me sad to see her in +such a case. Some of you may be like her. I wish you would take +Christ as your teacher, and then all darkness would flee +away.</p> +<p class="pn">Christ is able to teach us. See how He taught the +disciples. He never wearied of their learning from Him. So He +will teach us if we will only listen to Him.</p> +<h2>THE OLD JUDGE CONVERTED.</h2> +<p class="pn">I remember, as I was coming out of the daily prayer +meeting in one of our American cities a few years ago, a lady +said she wished to speak to me; her voice trembled with emotion, +and I saw at once that she was heavily burdened by something or +other. She said she had long been praying for her husband, and +she wanted to know if I would go to see him; she thought it might +do him some good. What is his name? “Judge---,” and she mentioned +one of the most eminent politicians in the State. “I have heard +of him,” I said; “I am afraid I need not go, he is a booked +infidel; I cannot argue with him.” “That is not what he wants,” +said the lady. “He has had too much argument already. Go and +speak to him about his soul.” I said I would, although I was not +very hopeful. I went to his house, was admitted to his room, and +introduced myself as having come to speak to him about salvation. +“Then you have come on a very foolish errand,” said he; “there’s +no use in attacking me, I tell you that. I am proof against all +these things, I don’t believe in them.”</p> +<p class="pn">Well, I saw it was no use arguing with him; so I +said, “I’ll pray for you, and I want you to promise me that when +you are converted you’ll let me know.” “Oh, yes, I’ll let you +know,” he said in a tone of sarcasm. “Oh, yes, I’ll let you know +when I’m converted!” I left him, but I continued to pray for him. +Some time subsequently I heard that the old judge was converted. +I was again preaching in that city a while after that, and when I +had done talking the judge himself came to me, and said: “I +promised I’d let you know when I was converted; I have come to +tell you of it. Have you not heard of it?” “Yes; but I would like +to hear from you how it happened.”</p> +<p class="pn">“Well,” said the judge, “one night, some time after +you called on me, my wife had gone to the meeting; there was no +one in the house but the servants. I sat by the drawing-room +fire, and I began to think: Suppose my wife is right, that there +is a heaven and a hell; and suppose she is on the right way to +heaven, where am I going? I just dismissed the thought. But a +second thought came: Surely He who created me is able to teach +me. Yes, I thought, that is so. Then why not ask Him? I struggled +against it, but at last, though I was too proud to get down on my +knees, I just said, ‘Father, all is dark; Thou who created me +canst teach me.’</p> +<p class="pn">Somehow, the more I prayed the worse I felt. I was +very sad. I did not wish my wife to come home and find me thus, +so I slipped away to bed, and when she came into the room I +pretended to be asleep. She got down on her knees and prayed. I +knew she was praying for me, and that for many long years she had +been doing so. I felt as if I could have jumped up and knelt +beside her; but no, my proud heart would not let me, so I lay +still, pretending to be asleep. But I didn’t sleep that night. I +soon changed my prayer; it was now, ‘O God, save me; take away +this terrible burden.’</p> +<p class="pn">I didn’t believe in Christ even yet. I thought I’d +go right straight to the Father Himself. But the more I prayed I +only became the more miserable; my burden grew heavier. The next +morning I did not wish to see my wife, so I said ‘I was not well, +and wouldn’t wait for breakfast.’ I went to the office, and when +the boy came I sent him home for a holiday. When the clerks came +I told them they might go for the day. I closed the office doors: +I wanted to be alone with God. I was almost frantic in my agony +of heart. I cried to God to take away this load of sin. At last I +fell on my knees, and cried, ‘For Jesus Christ’s sake take away +this load of sin.’ At length I went to my wife’s pastor, who had +been praying with her for my conversion for years, and the same +minister who had prayed with my mother before she died. As I +walked down the street the verse that my mother had taught me +came into my mind, ‘Whatsoever things ye desire, when ye pray, +believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.’ Well, I +thought, I have asked God, and here I am going to ask a man. I +won’t go. I believe I am a Christian. I turned and went home. I +met my wife in the hall as I entered. I caught her hand, and +said, ‘I am a Christian now.’ She turned quite pale; she had been +praying for twenty-one years for me, and yet she could not +believe the answer had come. We went into our room, and knelt +down by the very bedside where she had so often knelt to pray for +her husband. There we erected our family altar; and for the first +time our voices mingled in prayer. And I can only say that the +last three months have been the happiest months ever I spent in +my life.”</p> +<p class="pn">Since then that judge has lived a consistent +Christian life; and all because he came to God, asking for +guidance.</p> +<p class="pn">If there is one here to-day whose mind is filled +with such infidel thoughts, go honestly to God, and He will teach +you the right way through the dark wilderness of infidelity. He +won’t leave you in darkness or doubt. It is the devil’s own work +to lead men into such doubts; well he knows if he once gets them +there he has them pretty safe.</p> +<p class="pn">It is Satan’s work to keep you in ignorance or +doubt. It is God’s work to teach you. The teacher is Christ; He +is appointed by God for this work. God help us all to accept Him +as our teacher.</p> +<p class="pn">8. Now we have seen Christ as our Saviour, +Redeemer, Deliverer, Leader, Light, and Teacher. But He is still +more; He is also</p> +<h2>OUR SHEPHERD.</h2> +<p class="pnn">A very sweet thought it is to me, “The Lord is my +Shepherd; I shall not want.”</p> +<p class="pn">There is not one here, except the very babes, who +does not understand the work of a shepherd. He watches over his +flock, protects them from danger, feeds them, leads them into the +best pastures. In fact, the 23rd Psalm is just a statement of the +duties of a good shepherd: “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not +want,” etc.</p> +<p class="pn">You want to be fed; are you going to wander about +seeking something to satisfy the cravings of your soul? Then, I +tell you, you never will find anything to satisfy the longings of +your heart. The world cannot, and never could, satisfy a hungry +soul. The Lord Jesus can—He is the true Shepherd. He is seeking +to restore your soul, to lead you back to the paths of +righteousness. Even to death will He lead you, and safely through +its shadow guide you to a better land. Mother, father, will you +claim Him as your Shepherd?</p> +<p class="pn">Young man, young woman, will you have Him as your +Shepherd?</p> +<p class="pn">My little child, will you have Jesus as your +Shepherd? He will lead safely and softly.</p> +<p class="pn">You can, all of you, if you will. For “God gave Him +up freely for us all,” that He might have us for His flock. He +will lead us through life, down to the banks of the Jordan; He +will lead us across the dark river into His kingdom. He is a +tender, loving Shepherd.</p> +<p class="pn">I sometimes meet people in the anxious inquiry-room +who are nourishing hard, bitter feelings against God, generally +because they have been afflicted. A mother said to me the other +day, “Ah, Mr. Moody, God has been unjust to me; He has come and +taken away my child.” Dear afflicted mothers, has God not removed +your children to a pure and happy life? You may not understand it +now, but you will by and by. He wants to lead you up there.</p> +<h2>THE EASTERN SHEPHERD.</h2> +<p class="pn">A friend of mine, who had been in eastern lands, +told me he saw a shepherd who wanted his flock to cross a river. +He went into the water himself and called them; but no, they +would not follow him into the water. What did he do? Why, he +girded up his loins and lifted a little lamb under each arm, and +plunged right into the stream, and crossed it without even +looking back. Whenever he lifted the lambs, the old sheep looked +up into his face and began to bleat for them; but when he plunged +into the water the dams plunged after him, and then the whole +flock followed. When they got to the other side he put down the +lambs, and they were quickly joined by their mothers, and there +was a happy meeting.</p> +<p class="pn">My friend says he noticed the pastures on the other +side were much better and the fields greener; and on this account +the shepherd was leading them across. Our great Palestine +Shepherd does that. That child which He has taken from the earth +is but removed to green pastures of Canaan, and the Shepherd +means to draw your hearts after it, to teach you to “set your +affections on things above.” When He has taken your little Mary, +Edith, or Julia, accept it as a call to look upward and beyond. +You, mother, are you weeping bitter tears for your little one? Do +not weep! Your child has gone to the place where there is neither +weeping nor sorrow. Would you have it return? Surely never.</p> +<p class="pn">Christ is our Shepherd—faithful and loving. Though +sickness, or trouble, or even death itself, should come to our +house, and claim our dearest ones, still they are not lost, but +only gone before. God help each one of us to have Him as our +Shepherd.</p> +<p class="pn">If time permitted, I should like to take up the +subject of Christ as our Justification, our Wisdom, our +Righteousness, the Friend that sticketh closer than a brother; +but it would take a whole eternity to tell what Christ is to His +people, and what He does for them.</p> +<p class="pn">I remember when I was preaching on this subject in +Scotland, after I had done, I said to a man that “I was sorry I +could not finish the subject for want of time.” “Finish the +subject,” said the Scotchman, “why, that would require all +eternity, and even then it would not be complete; it will be the +occupation of heaven.”</p> +<p class="pn">9. Once more, let us look at Christ as</p> +<h2>OUR BURDEN-BEARER.</h2> +<p class="ps">Oh, I love to think of Him as the bearer of our +burdens as well as our sin-bearer. He carries our sins, although +they are more numerous than the hairs of our heads. Great and +terrible as these burdens are, God has laid them all on +Jesus.</p> +<p class="p3">“O Christ, what burdens bowed Thy head!</p> +<p class="p4s">Our load was laid on Thee.”</p> +<p class="pnn">That aspect of His burden-bearing we have already +looked at in His work as Saviour and Redeemer. I wish now to take +up the sweet thought, which has been a great comfort to me.</p> +<p class="pn">“Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our +sorrows.” Glorious, is it not, to know we have such a Saviour? +Can you feel that He has lifted your burden off your shoulders on +to His own shoulder? Then you will feel light in heart.</p> +<h2>A LIGHT HEART.</h2> +<p class="pn">On one occasion, after I had been talking this way, +a woman came forward, and said, “Oh, Mr. Moody, it’s all very +well for you to talk like that, about a <i>light heart</i>. But +you are a young man, and if you had a heavy burden like me you +would talk differently. I could not talk in that way, my burden +is too great.” I replied, “But it’s not too great for Jesus.” +“Oh,” she said, “I cannot cast it on Him.” “Why not? surely it is +not too great for Him. It is not that He is feeble. But it is +because you will not leave it to Him. You’re like many others. +They will not leave it with Him. They go about hugging their +burden, and yet crying out against it. What the Lord wants is, +you to leave it with Him, to let Him carry it for you. Then you +will have a light heart, sorrow will flee away, and there will be +no more sighing. What is your burden, my friend, that you cannot +leave with Christ?” She replied, “I have a son who is a wanderer +on the face of the earth. None but God knows where he is.” +“Cannot Christ find him, and bring him back?” “I suppose He can.” +“Then go and tell Jesus, and ask Him to forgive you for doubting +His power and willingness; you have no right to mistrust Him.” +She went away much comforted, and I believe she ultimately had +her wandering boy restored to her!</p> +<h2>A MOTHER’S PRAYER ANSWERED.</h2> +<p class="pn">This circumstance reminds me of a pious father and +mother in our country, whose eldest son had gone to Chicago to a +situation. A neighbour of theirs was in the city on some +business, and he met the young man reeling along the streets +drunk. He thought, “How am I to tell his parents?” When he +returned to his village, he went and called out the father, and +told him. It was a terrible blow to that father, but he said +nothing to the mother till the little ones had all gone to rest; +the servants had retired, and all was quiet in that little farm +on the Western prairies. They drew up their chairs to the little +drawing-room table, and then he told her the sad news. “Our boy +has been seen drunk on the streets of Chicago—drunk.” Ah, that +mother was sorely hurt; they did not sleep much that night, but +spent the hours in fervent prayers for their boy. About daybreak +the mother felt an inward conviction that all would be well. She +told the father “she had cast it on the Lord, had left her son +with Jesus, and she felt He would save him.” One week from that +time the young man left Chicago, took a journey of three hundred +miles into the country; and when he reached his home, he walked +in, and said, “Mother, I’ve come home to ask you to pray for me.” +Ah, her prayer had reached heaven; she had cast her burden on +Jesus, and He had borne it for her. He took the burden, presented +her prayer sprinkled with the atoning blood, and got it answered. +In two days that young man returned to Chicago rejoicing in the +Saviour. What a wonderful thing it is to have Christ as our +burden-bearer! How easy, how light do our cares become when cast +upon Him!</p> +<p class="pns">Do you say Christ is nothing to you? If so, it is +only because you won’t have Him. He is to all who will accept Him +a Saviour from death, a Redeemer from the power of sin, a +Deliverer from our enemies, a Leader through the wilderness; He +is the way Himself, He is Light in the darkness, He is a Teacher +to His people, He is the Shepherd of His flock, our +Justification, Wisdom, Righteousness, Elder Brother, +Burden-bearer. He is in fact “Our all in all.”</p> +<p class="p3">Then come to Christ; oh, come to-day,</p> +<p class="p3">The Father, Son, and Spirit say,</p> +<p class="p3">The Bride repeats the call,</p> +<p class="p3">For He will cleanse your guilty stains,</p> +<p class="p3">His love will soothe your weary pains,</p> +<p class="p4">For Christ is All in All.</p> +<h1><a name="naaman" id="naaman">NAAMAN THE SYRIAN</a></h1> +<p class="pt1">Read 2 <span class="sc">Kings</span> v.</p> +<p class="pnn">I <span class="sc">wish</span> to call your +attention to a man rather than to a text; to one who was a great +man in his own country, and very honourable; one whom the king +delighted to honour. He stood high in position; he was captain of +the host of the king of Syria; but he was a leper, and that threw +a blight over his whole life.</p> +<p class="pn">Now, you cannot have a better type of a sinner than +Naaman was. I don’t care who nor what he is, nor what position he +holds—all men alike have sinned, and all have to bear the same +burden of death. “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of +God.” All men must stand in judgment before God; what a gloom +that throws over our whole life! <i>But he was a leper</i>. There +was</p> +<h2>NO PHYSICIAN</h2> +<p class="pnn">to help him in Syria. None of the eminent doctors +in Damascus could do him any good. Neither could any in +Jerusalem. There was no balm in Gilead. If he was to get rid of +the leprosy, the power must come from on high. It must be some +one unknown to Naaman, for he did not know God.</p> +<h2>THE LITTLE MISSIONARY.</h2> +<p class="pn">But I will tell you what they had in Syria—they had +one of God’s children there, and she was a little girl, a simple +captive maid. Naaman knew nothing about her, though she was one +of his household. He knew nothing about this little Israelite. I +can imagine her one day as she said to Mrs. Naaman, her mistress, +that there was a prophet in her country that could cure her +master of his leprosy. “Would to God,” the maid said, “my lord +were with the prophet in Samaria! for he would recover him of his +leprosy.” There’s faith for you! “Why,” says the mistress, “what +are you talking about? Did you ever hear of anybody being cured +of leprosy?” “Ah,” said the little girl, “it is true, I can +assure you; we have got physicians down there that can cure any +one.”</p> +<p class="pn">So at last some one told the king about what the +little maid of Israel had said. Now, Naaman stood high in the +king’s favour, for he had recently won a great victory. He was +called a lord, perhaps he was a prince, a sort of Syrian Prince +Bismarck, who stood near the throne. So the king said, “You had +better go down to Samaria, and see if there is anything in it, +and I will give you letters of introduction to the king of +Israel.”</p> +<h2>MONEY WILL NOT BUY SALVATION.</h2> +<p class="pn">Yes, he would give Naaman letters of introduction +to the king. That’s just man’s idea. The notion was, that if +anybody could help him, it was the king, and that the king had +power both with God and man. Oh, my friends, it is a good deal +better to know a man that knows God! A man acquainted with God +has more power than any earthly potentate. Gold can’t do +everything.</p> +<p class="pn">Well, away goes Naaman down to Samaria with his +kingly introduction, and he takes with him a lot of gold and +silver. That is man’s idea again; he is going to pay for a great +doctor, and he took about &pound;100,000 sterling, as far as +I can make it out, to pay for the doctor’s bill. There are a good +many men who would willingly pay that sum if with it they could +buy the favour of God, and get rid of the curse of sin. Yes, if +money could do it, how many would buy salvation! But, thank God, +it is not in the market for sale. You must buy it at God’s price, +and that is “without money and without price.” Naaman found that +out.</p> +<p class="pn">And now, my dear friends, did you ever ask +yourselves, Which is the worst—the leprosy of sin, or the leprosy +of the body? Why, for my own part, I would a thousand times +sooner have the leprosy of the body eating my eyes out, and feet, +and arms! I would rather be loathsome in the sight of my +fellow-men, than die with the leprosy of sin in my soul, and be +banished from God for ever! The leprosy of the body is bad, but +the leprosy of sin is a thousand times worse. It has cast angels +out of heaven, it has ruined the best and strongest men that ever +lived in the world. Oh, how it has pulled men down! The leprosy +of the body could not do that.</p> +<p class="pn">But to proceed. There is one thing about Naaman +that I like, and that is his earnestness of purpose.</p> +<h2>HE WAS THOROUGHLY IN EARNEST.</h2> +<p class="pnn">He was quite willing to go one hundred and fifty +miles, and to take the advice of this little maid. A good many +people say, “Oh, I don’t like such and such a minister; I should +like to know where he comes from, and what he has done, and +whether any bishop has laid his hands on his head.” My dear +friends, never mind the minister, it is the message you want. +Why, if some one were to send me a telegraph message, and the +news were important, I shouldn’t stop to ask about the messenger +who brought it. I should want to read the news; I should look at +the message, and not at the boy who brought it.</p> +<p class="pn">And so it is with God’s message. The good news is +everything, the minister nothing. The Syrians looked down with +contempt on the Israelites, and yet this great man was willing to +take the good news at the hands of this little maiden, and +listened to the words that fell from her lips. Why, if I got lost +in London, I should be willing to ask anybody which way to go, +even if it were only a shoeblack boy; and, in point of fact, a +boy’s word in such a case is often better than a man’s. It is the +way I want, not the person who directs me.</p> +<h2>HUMAN PRIDE BROUGHT LOW.</h2> +<p class="pn">But there was one drawback in Naaman’s case. Though +he was willing to take the advice of the little girl, he was not +willing to take the remedy. The stumbling-block of pride stood in +his way. The remedy the prophet offered him was a terrible blow +to his pride. I have no doubt he expected a grand reception from +the king of Israel, to whom he brought letters of introduction. +He had been victorious on many a field of battle, and held high +rank in the army; perhaps we may call him Major-General Naaman of +Syria, or he might have been higher in rank even than that; and +bearing with him kingly credentials, he expected no doubt a +distinguished reception. But instead of the king rushing out to +meet him, he, when he heard of Naaman’s arrival, and his object, +simply rent his mantle, and said, “Am I God, to kill and to make +alive?”</p> +<p class="pn">But at last the king bethinks himself of Elisha the +prophet, and he says, “There is a subject in my kingdom who may +be able to help you and cure your leprosy.” And I can imagine +Naaman’s pride reasoning thus: “Surely the prophet will feel very +much exalted and flattered that I, the great Syrian general, +should come and call upon him.” And so, probably, full of those +proud thoughts, he drives up to the prophet’s humble dwelling +with his chariot, four-in-hand, and his splendid retinue. Yes, +Naaman drove up in grand style to the prophet’s abode, and as +nobody seemed to be coming out to greet him, he sent in his +message: “Tell the prophet Major-General Naaman of Syria has +arrived, and wishes to see him.”</p> +<h2>THE PROPHET’S MESSAGE.</h2> +<p class="pn">Elisha takes it very coolly. He does not come out +to see him, but as soon as he learns his errand he sends his +servant to tell him to dip seven times in the river Jordan, and +he shall be clean. Now that was a terrible blow to his pride. I +can imagine him saying to his servant, “What did you say? Did I +understand you aright? Dip seven times in Jordan! Why, we call +the river Jordan a <i>ditch</i> in our country.” But the only +answer he got was, “The prophet says, Go and dip seven times in +the Jordan, and thy flesh shall become like the flesh of a little +child.” I can fancy Naaman’s indignation as he asks, “Are not +Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters +of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean?” So he turned +and went away in a rage.</p> +<p class="pn">The fact was, the Jordan never had any great +reputation as a river. It flowed into the Dead Sea, and that sea +never had a harbour to it, and its banks were not half so +beautiful as those of the rivers of Damascus; for Damascus was +one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and it is said +that when Mahomet beheld it he turned his head aside for fear it +should divert his thoughts from heaven.</p> +<p class="pn">Naaman turned away in a rage. “Ah,” he said, “here +am I, a great conqueror, a successful general on the battlefield, +holding the very highest rank in the army, and yet this prophet +does not even come out to meet me; he simply sends a message. +Why, I thought he would surely come out to me, and stand and call +on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the +place and recover the leper.”</p> +<h2>I THOUGHT.</h2> +<p class="pnn">There it is; I never knew a man yet who, when +talked to about his sins, didn’t always say, “Yes, but I +<i>thought</i> so and so.” “Mr. Moody,” they say, “I will tell +you what <i>I think</i>; I will tell you <i>my opinion</i>.” In +the fifty-fifth chapter of Isaiah it says, “God’s thoughts are +not our thoughts, nor His ways our ways.” And so it was with +Naaman. In the first place he thought a good big doctor’s fee +would do it all, and settle everything up. And besides that there +was another thing he thought; he thought going to the king with +his letters of introduction would do it. Yes, those were Naaman’s +first thoughts.</p> +<p class="pn"><i>I thought</i>. Exactly so. He turned away in +rage and disappointment. He thought the prophet would have come +out to him very humble and very subservient, and bid him do some +great things. Instead of that Elisha, who was very likely busy +writing, did not even come to the door or the window; he merely +sent out the message, “Tell him to dip seven times in the +Jordan.” And away went Naaman, saying, <i>I thought, I thought, I +thought</i>. I have heard that tale so often that I am tired of +it. I will tell you just what I think about it, and what I advise +you to do—“Give it up,” and take God’s words, God’s thoughts, +God’s ways. I never yet knew a man converted just in the time and +manner he expected to be. Now there is a class of people in our +country who have been looked down upon there, just as they have +been in yours; I mean the Methodists. And I have heard people +say, “Well, if ever I am converted, it won’t be in a Methodist +church; you won’t catch me there.” Now, I never knew a man say +that but, at last, if converted at all, it was in a Methodist +church.</p> +<p class="pn">A man to be converted has to give up his will, his +ways, and his thoughts. And I have noticed this, that when a man +says, “Well, if ever I am converted, it will be in this way or +that,” God leads him in quite a contrary direction. And so +Naaman, after his anger had abated and cooled down a little, took +a second thought, which proved the best, although his pride had +been so dreadfully humbled.</p> +<h2>THE SIMPLE REMEDY.</h2> +<p class="pn">Whilst Naaman was thus wavering in his mind, and +thinking on what was best to be done, one of his servants drew +near and made a very sensible remark: “My lord, if the prophet +had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? +how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?” +Yes, and there is a great deal of truth in that.</p> +<p class="pn">Why, if Elisha had said to him, “Go back to Syria +on your hands and knees,” he would most likely have done it. If +he had said, “Go back all the way on one foot,” he would have +tried to do it. Or if he had said, “Give ten thousand pieces of +gold for the medicine I shall offer thee, and thou shalt be +cleansed,” no doubt he would have done it. But to tell him merely +to dip in the river Jordan seven times, why, it seemed absurd on +the face of it. Well, this servant suggested to him that he had +better go down to the Jordan and try the remedy, as it was a very +simple one.</p> +<p class="pn">I can fancy Naaman, still reluctant to believe in +it, saying, “Why, if there is such cleansing power in the waters +of Jordan, would not every leper in Israel go down and dip in +them, and be healed?” “Well, but you know,” urges the servant, +“now that you have come a hundred and fifty miles, don’t you +think you had better do what he tells you; for after all you can +but try it; and he sends word distinctly, my lord, that your +flesh shall come again as that of a little child.” And so Naaman +accepts this word in season. His anger is cooling down; he has +got over the first flush of his indignation, and he says, “Well, +I think I might as well try it.” That was the starting-point of +his faith, although still he thought it a foolish thing, and +could not bring himself to believe that the result would be what +the prophet had said.</p> +<p class="pn">How many men have told me right to my face they did +not believe a man could be saved by simply obeying God. Faith, +they thought, was not enough, they must do something. They will +have it that there must be a little asking, and reasoning, and +striving, and wrestling with God, before they can get the +blessing.</p> +<h2>FOOLISH QUESTIONS.</h2> +<p class="pn">I recollect once praying with a man for his +conversion, and just when I thought conviction had been brought +home to him, he turned round and said, “Who do you think +Melchisedek was, Mr. Moody?” And then I have had others who, when +I have been praying with them that their sins might be taken +away, would turn round and ask me, “Do you believe in infant +baptism, Mr. Moody?” My friends, you need not trouble yourselves +about those questions, but, if you wish to be saved, just do as +the Bible tells you. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou +shalt be saved (Acts xvii. 31).</p> +<p class="pn">The salvation of God requires from the sinner +an</p> +<h2>UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER.</h2> +<p class="pn">Well, at last Naaman’s will was conquered, and +subdued, and broken; and he had faith, and he surrendered. I +recollect when General Grant was besieging a town which was the +stronghold of the Southern Confederacy, some of the officers sent +word that they would leave the city if he would let them go with +their men. But General Grant sent word, “No, nothing but an +unconditional surrender!” Then they sent word that they would go +if he would let them take their flag with them. But the answer +was, “No, an unconditional surrender.” At last the beleaguered +walls were broken down, and the city entered, and then the enemy +made a complete and unconditional surrender. Well, it was so with +Naaman, he got to that point when he was willing to obey, and the +Scripture tells us, “To obey is better than to sacrifice.”</p> +<h2>OBEDIENCE.</h2> +<p class="pn">So he goes down to the river and takes the first +dip, and as he comes up, I can imagine him looking at himself, +and saying to his servant, “There, there I am, no better than I +was when I went in. If one-seventh of the leprosy was gone, I +should be content.” Well, down he goes a second time, and he +comes up puffing and blowing as much a leper as ever; and so he +goes down again and again, the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth +time, with the same result, as much a leper as ever. And the +people standing on the banks of the river probably said, as they +certainly would in our day, “Why, that man has gone clean out of +his mind.” So when he comes up the sixth time, he looks at +himself, and says, “Ah, no better. What a fool I have made of +myself. How they will all laugh at me. I wouldn’t have the +generals and aristocracy of Damascus know that I have been +dipping in this way in Jordan for all the world. However, as I +have gone so far, I’ll make the seventh plunge.” He has not +altogether lost faith, and down he goes the seventh time, and +comes up again. He looks at himself, and shouts aloud for joy. +“Lo, I am well! My leprosy is all gone, all gone! My flesh has +come again as that of a little child. I never knew such a thing. +I never felt so happy in all my life. I thought I was a great and +a happy man when I accomplished that victory; but, thank God, +praise God, I am the happiest man alive!”</p> +<p class="pn">So he comes up out of Jordan and puts on his +clothes, and goes back to the prophet, and wants to pay him. +That’s just the old story, Naaman wants to give money for his +cure. How many people want to do the same nowadays? Why, it would +have spoiled the story of grace if the prophet had taken +anything. You may give a thank-offering to God’s cause, not to +purchase salvation, but because you are saved.</p> +<p class="pn">The prophet Elisha refused to take anything, and I +can imagine no one felt more rejoiced than he did. So Naaman +starts back to Damascus a very different man than he was when he +left it. The dark cloud has gone from his mind; he is no longer a +leper, in fear of dying from a loathsome disease. He lost the +leprosy in Jordan when he did what the man of God told him; and +if you obey the voice of God, even while I am speaking to you, +the burden of your sins will fall from off you, and you shall be +cleansed. It is all done by the power of faith.</p> +<p class="pn">Well, you may be sure when he got home there was no +small stir in Naaman’s house. I can just see his wife, Mrs. +Naaman, when he gets back; she has been watching and looking out +of the window for him with a great burden on her heart. And when +she asks him, “Well, husband, how is it?” I can see the tears +running down his cheeks as he says, “Thank God, I am well”; and +then they embrace each other, and pour out mutual expressions of +rejoicing and gladness; and the servants are just as glad as +their master and mistress, as they have been waiting eagerly for +the news; and there never was a happier household than Naaman’s +now that he has got rid of the leprosy. And so, my friends, it +will be with your own households if you will only get rid of the +leprosy of sin to-day. Not only will there be joy in your own +hearts and at home, but there will also be joy among the saints +in heaven.</p> +<p class="pn">Another thought is suggested to us by this history +of Naaman in the fifteenth verse of the chapter; and which shows +what Naaman’s faith led him to believe. “And he returned to the +man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before +him: and he said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all +the earth, but in Israel: now therefore, I pray thee, take a +blessing of thy servant.” Now what I want particularly to call +your attention to is the words,</p> +<h2>I KNOW.</h2> +<p class="pn">There is no hesitation about it, no qualifying the +expression. Naaman doesn’t now say, “I think”; no, he says, “I +know there is a God who has power to forgive sins and to cleanse +the leprosy.”</p> +<p class="pn">Then there is another thought. Naaman left only one +thing in Samaria, and that was his sin, his leprosy; and the only +thing God wishes you to leave with Him is your sin. And yet it is +the only thing you seem not to care about giving up. “Oh,” you +say, “I love leprosy, it is so delightful, I can’t give it up; I +know God wants it, that He may make me clean. But I can’t give it +up.” Why, what downright madness it is for you to love leprosy; +and yet that is your condition. “Ah, but,” says some one, “I +don’t believe in sudden conversions.” Don’t you? Well, how long +did it take Naaman to be cured? The seventh time he went down, +away went the leprosy. Read the great conversions recorded in the +Bible. Saul of Tarsus, Zacchæus, and a host of others; how long +did it take the Lord to bring them about? Why, they were effected +in a minute. We are born in iniquity, shapen in it, dead in +trespasses and sin; but when spiritual life comes it comes in a +moment, and we are free both from sin and death.</p> +<p class="pn">The other day, as I was walking down the street, I +heard some people laughing and talking aloud, and one of them +said, “Well, there will be no difference, it will be all the same +a hundred years hence.” And the thought flashed across my mind, +“Will there be no difference?</p> +<h2>WHERE WILL YOU BE A HUNDRED YEARS HENCE?”</h2> +<p class="pn">Young man, just ask yourself the question, “Where +shall I be?” Some of you who are getting on in years may be in +eternity ten years hence. Where will you be, on the left or the +right hand of God? I cannot tell your feelings, but I can my +own.</p> +<p class="pn">A hundred years hence all this vast audience will +be gone. Some will probably be gone in less than a week, in less +than a month or a year, and at the best we shall all be gone in a +few more years. I ask you once again, “Where will you spend +eternity? Where will you be a hundred years hence?”</p> +<h2>THE CONVERTED NOBLEMAN.</h2> +<p class="pn">I heard the other day of a man who came a few years +ago from the Continent, and brought letters with him to eminent +physicians from the Emperor. And the letters said, “This man is a +personal friend of mine, and we are afraid he is going to lose +his reason; do all you can for him.” So the doctor asked him if +he had lost any dear friend in his own country, or any position +of importance, or what it was that was weighing on his mind. And +the young man said, “No; but my father and grandfather and myself +were brought up infidels, and for the last two or three years +this thought has been haunting me, ‘Where shall I spend +eternity?’ And the thought of it follows me day and night.”</p> +<p class="pn">The doctor said, “You have come to the wrong +physician, but I will tell you of one who can cure you”; and he +told him of Christ, and read to him the fifty-third chapter of +Isaiah, “With His stripes we are healed.” And the young man said, +“Doctor, do you believe that?” The doctor told him he did, and +prayed and wrestled with him, and at last the dear light of +Calvary shone on his soul, and a few years ago he was writing to +this self-same doctor as only one Christian can to another. He +had settled the question in his own mind at last where he would +spend eternity; and I ask you sinners to settle it before you +leave this hall to-night. It is for you to decide. Shall it be +with the saints, and martyrs, and prophets, or in the dark +caverns of hell, amidst blackness and darkness for ever? Make +haste to be wise; for “how shall we escape if we neglect so great +a salvation?”</p> +<h2>DECIDE NOW.</h2> +<p class="pn">At our church in Chicago I was closing the meeting +one day, when a young soldier got up and entreated the people to +decide for Christ at once. He said he had just come from a dark +scene. A comrade of his, he said, who had enlisted with him, had +a father who was always entreating him to become a Christian, and +in reply he always said he would when the war was over. At last +he was wounded, and was put into the hospital, but got worse and +was gradually sinking. One day, a few hours before he died, a +letter came from his sister, but he was too bad to read it. Oh, +it was such an earnest letter! The comrade read it to him, but he +did not seem to understand it, he was so weak, till it came to +the last sentence, which said, “Oh, my dear brother, when you get +this letter, will you not accept your sister’s Saviour?” The +dying man sprang up from his cot, and said, “What do you say? +What do you say?” and then, falling back on his pillow, feebly +exclaimed, “<i>It is too late! It is too late!</i>”</p> +<p class="pns">My dear friends, thank God it is not <i>too +late</i> for you to-day. The Master is still calling you. Are you +going to let present opportunity pass without coming to Christ? +Are you going to let these solemn moments come to an end without +entering the ark? Let every one of us, young and old, rich and +poor, come to Christ at once, and He will put all our sins +away.</p> +<p class="p3">Only a step to Jesus,</p> +<p class="p4">O why not come, and say,</p> +<p class="p3">Gladly to Thee, my</p> +<p class="p4">Saviour, I give myself away.</p> +<h1><a name="gospel" id="gospel">ONE WORD—“GOSPEL”</a></h1> +<p style="text-align:center; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1.5em"> +Read 1 <span class="sc">Cor</span>. xv. 1</p> +<p class="pnn">I <span class="sc">shall</span> take for my text +the one word “gospel.” I do not think there is a word in the +English language that is so little understood in this Christian +land of England as this very word “gospel.” We have heard it from +our earliest childhood up. There is not a day, and with many of +us not an hour during the day, but that we hear the word +“gospel.” And yet, I say, a partaker of the gospel is a long time +before he really knows the meaning of the word. It means “good +tidings.” I think it would do us good sometimes to get a +dictionary and hunt up the meaning of some of the words we use so +often; some of those Bible words, such as “gospel” and “Christ.” +I think it would change our ideas. I think this would be a very +joyful meeting to-night, if every one really believed that the +gospel is good news. Let a man or a boy bring a despatch into +this audience and hand it to any one here, and if that brings +good news you can see it immediately in the man’s face; his face +lights up when he opens the despatch. You can see he really +believes it. And if it is really good news, if it brings him the +tidings of a long-lost boy coming home, why, if his wife is +sitting next to him, he passes the despatch to her; he wants her +to have knowledge of it too. He does not wait for her to ask for +it; he does not wait till they get home. So when I preach, those +who really believe the gospel, if I am near enough to look into +their eyes, I see their faces light up and they look remarkably +sharp; but those who do not believe it put on a long face, and +look as if you had brought them a death-warrant, or invited them +to attend a funeral.</p> +<h2>THE BEST NEWS IN THE WORLD.</h2> +<p class="pn">No better news ever came out of heaven than the +gospel. No better news ever fell upon the ears of the family of +man than the gospel. Hark! hear those shepherds talking to one +another after the angels had gone away. They believed the +message, and they were full of joy. You can see them on the way +now to Bethlehem. They said, “Let us go and see what has taken +place.” And what was the message that the angels brought to those +shepherds? “Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which +shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city +of David a Saviour.” Now, if those shepherds had been like a good +many people at the present time, they would have said, “We do not +believe it is good news. It is all excitement. Those angels want +to get up a revival. Those angels are trying to excite us. Don’t +you believe them.” That is what Satan is saying now. “Don’t you +believe the gospel is good news.” Because he knows the moment a +man believes good news, he just receives it. I never saw a man in +all my life that did not like good news. And every man and woman +that is under the power of the devil does not believe the gospel +is good news. The moment you are out from under his power and +influence then you believe it. May God grant that the gospel may +sink deep into your hearts, and that you may believe it and be +saved.</p> +<p class="pn">It is the best news that ever came to this +sin-cursed world. It means “Good spell,” or, in other words, +“God’s spell.” We are dead in trespasses and sin, and God wants +us to be reconciled. It is a gospel of reconciliation, and God is +shouting from the heights of glory, “Oh, ye men, I am reconciled, +now be ye reconciled!” We have glorious news to tell you—God is +reconciled and beseeches his subjects to be reconciled. The great +apostle says, “We beseech you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled +to God.” The moment a man believes the gospel, down goes his arm +of rebellion, and the unequal controversy is over. A light from +Calvary crosses his path, and he can walk in unclouded sun, if he +will. It is the privilege of every man and woman in this vast +assembly from this hour to walk in unclouded sun if they will. +What has brought darkness into the world? Darkness came because +of sin, and the man who does not believe the gospel is blinded by +the god of this world. Now I want to tell you why I like the +gospel. It is because it has been the very best news I have ever +heard. That is just the reason I like to preach it. Because it +has done me so much good. I do not think a man can preach the +gospel until he believes it himself. A man must know it down deep +in his own heart before he can tell it out; and then he tells it +out but very poorly at the best.</p> +<h2>POOR AMBASSADORS.</h2> +<p class="pn">We are very poor ambassadors and messengers; but +never mind the messenger, take hold of the message—that is what +you want. If a boy brought me good news to-night, I would not +care about the look of the boy; I would not care whether he was +black or white, learned or unlearned. The message is what would +do me good. A great many look at the messenger instead of the +message. Never mind the messenger. My friends, get hold of the +message to-night. The gospel is what saves, and what I want now +is that you may believe the gospel now.</p> +<h2>CHRIST DIED FOR OUR SINS.</h2> +<p class="pn">Paul says in this fifteenth chapter of the 1st of +Corinthians what the gospel is. He says, “I declare unto you the +gospel.” And the first thing he states in the declaration to +these Corinthians is this: “Christ died for our sins according to +the Scriptures.” That was the old-fashioned gospel. I hope we +never will get away from it. I don’t want anything but that old, +old story. Some people have itching ears for something new. Bear +in mind there is no new gospel. Christ died for our sins. If He +did not, how are we going to get rid of them? Would you insult +the Almighty by offering the fruits of this frail body to atone +for sin? If Christ did not die for our sins, what is going to +become of our souls? And then he goes on to tell that Christ was +buried, and that Christ rose again.</p> +<h2>CHRIST RISEN.</h2> +<p class="pn">He burst asunder the bands of death. Death could +not hold Him. I can imagine, when they laid Him in Joseph’s +sepulchre, if our eyes could have been there, we should have seen +Death sitting over that sepulchre, saying, “I have Him; He is my +victim. He said He was the resurrection and the life. Now I have +hold of Him in my cold embrace. Look at Him. There He is; He has +had to pay tribute to me. Some thought He was never going to die. +Some thought I would not get Him. But He is mine.” But look +again. The glorious morning comes, and the Son of man bursts +asunder the bands of death, and came out of the sepulchre. We do +not worship a dead God, but a Saviour who still lives. Yes, He +rose from the grave; and then they saw Him ascend. That is what +Paul calls the gospel. Not only Christ’s death and burial, but +His ascension into heaven. He went up and took His seat at the +right hand of God, and He will come back again. The gospel +consists of five things: Christ’s death, burial, resurrection, +ascension, and coming again; for “I will come again,” said He. +Thanks be to God, He is coming back by and by. He will come and +take the kingdom; He will sway His sceptre from the rivers to the +ends of the earth. A little while and He shall rule and reign. +Let us lift up our heads and rejoice that the time of our +redemption draweth near.</p> +<p class="pn">Let us get back to the simple gospel—Christ died +for our sins. We must know Christ at Calvary first, as</p> +<h2>OUR SUBSTITUTE,</h2> +<p class="pnn">as our Redeemer; and the moment we accept of Him +as our Saviour and our Redeemer, then it is that we become +partakers of the gospel. The moment I believe on the Lord Jesus +Christ as my substitute, as my Saviour, that moment I get light +and peace. I know some people say, “Oh, it is not Christ’s death, +it is Christ’s life. Do not be preaching so much about the death +of Christ, preach about His life.” My friends, that never will +save any one. Paul says, “I declare unto you the gospel. Christ +died”—not Christ lived—“Christ died for our sins,” “who His own +self bare our sins in His own body on the tree.” Now, when I +accept of Christ as my Saviour, as my Substitute, then I am +justified from all things which I could not be by the law of +Moses.</p> +<h2>PERSONAL REMINISCENCES.</h2> +<p class="pn">The reason I like the gospel is, that it has taken +out of my path the worst enemies I ever had. My mind rolls back +to twenty years ago, before I was converted, and I think very +often how dark it used to seem at times as I thought of the +future. There was death—what a terrible enemy it seemed! I was +brought up in a little village in New England. It was the custom +there when a person was buried to toll out the age of the man at +his funeral. I used to count the strokes of the bell. Death never +entered that village and tore away one of the inhabitants but I +always used to count the tolling of the bell. Sometimes it would +be away up to seventy, or between seventy and eighty; beyond the +life allotted to man, when man seemed living on borrowed time +when cut off. Sometimes it would be clear down in the teens, and +childhood, and death would take away one of my own age. It used +to make a solemn impression on me; I used to be a great coward. +When it comes to death, some men say, “I do not fear it.” I +feared it, and felt terribly afraid when I thought of the cold +hand of death feeling for the cords of life, and being launched +out to eternity, to go to an unknown world. I used to have +terrible thoughts of God; but they are all gone now. Death has +lost its sting. And as I go on through the world I can shout now, +when the bell is tolling, “O death, where is thy sting?” And I +hear a voice come rolling down from Calvary, “Buried in the bosom +of the Son of God.” He robbed death of its sting; He took the +sting of death into His own bosom. If you take a wasp, and just +take the sting out of that wasp, you will not be afraid of it any +more than you would of a little fly. The sting has been taken +out. And you need not be afraid of death if you are in Christ. +Christ died for your sin. The penalty, the wages of sin is death. +Christ received the wages on Calvary, and therefore there is no +condemnation. All that death can get now is this old Adam. I do +not care how quickly I get rid of it. I will get a better body, a +resurrected body, a glorified body, a body much better than this. +Yes, my friends, “To die,” says the apostle, “is gain.”</p> +<h2>THE FEAR OF DEATH.</h2> +<p class="pn">If a man is in Christ, let death come. Suppose +death should come stealing up into this pulpit, and should lay +his cold, icy hand upon my heart, and it should cease to throb; I +should rise to another world, and should be present with the +King. I should be absent from the body, but present with the +Lord. That is not bad news. There is no use in trying to conceal +it, death is an enemy to a man’s rest. What a glorious thought to +think that when you die you will sink into the arms of Jesus, and +that He will carry you away to yon world of light. A little while +longer here, a few more tears, and then you can gain an unbroken +rest in yon world of light. The gospel turns that enemy into a +friend, and you even shout for death. Well, then, I used to go +and look into the cold, silent grave, and I used to think of that +terrible hour when I would have to be laid down in the grave, and +this body would be eaten up with the worm. But now the grave has +lost its terror and gloom; I can go and look down into the grave +and shout over it, and cry out, “O grave, where is thy victory?” +And I hear a shout coming up from the grave; it is the shout of +the Conqueror, of Him who has been down and measured the depth of +it, of my Lord and Saviour: “Because I live, ye shall live also.” +Yes, the grave has lost its victory. The grave has no terror to +the man in Christ Jesus. The gospel takes that enemy out of the +way.</p> +<h2>SIN PUT AWAY.</h2> +<p class="pn">Again, I thought all my sins would be blazed out +before the great white throne; that every sin committed in +childhood and in secret, and every secret thought, and every evil +desire, would be blazed out before the assembled universe; that +every thing done in the dark would be brought to light. But, +thanks be to God, the gospel tells me my sins are all put away in +Christ. Out of love to my soul, He has taken all my sins and cast +them behind His back. That is a safe place to have sin, behind +God’s back. God never turns back; He always marches on. He will +never see your sins if they are behind His back. That is one of +His own illustrations. Out of love to my soul, He has taken all +my sins upon Him; not a part. He takes them all out of the way. +There is no condemnation to him that is in Christ Jesus. You may +just pile up your sins till they rise up like a dark mountain, +and then multiply them by ten thousand for those you cannot think +of; and after you have tried to enumerate all the sins you have +ever committed, just let me bring one verse in, and then that +mountain will melt away—“The blood of Jesus Christ His Son +cleanseth us from all sin.” The blood covers the sin.</p> +<h2>WHAT GOD CANNOT DO.</h2> +<p class="pn">In Ireland, some time ago, a teacher asked a little +boy if there was anything that God could not do, and the little +fellow said, “Yes; He cannot see my sins through the blood of +Christ.” That is just what He cannot do. The blood covers +them.</p> +<p class="pn">Is it not good news to get rid of your sin? You +come here a sinner, and if you believe the gospel your sins are +taken away. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be +saved.” You shall be justified from all things, which you could +not be by the law of Moses. By believing, or by receiving the +gospel, Christ becomes yours. Only think, young man, you are +invited to accept of the gospel, you are invited to make an +exchange—to get rid of all your sins, and to take Christ in the +place of them. Is not that wonderful? What a foolish young man +you will be not to make the bargain. The Lord says, “I will take +your sins, and give you Myself in the place of them.” But a great +many say, “No”; and just hug the sin to their bosom. May God help +you to come up, sinner, to-night, and receive the Lord Jesus +Christ as your way, your truth, and your life.</p> +<p class="pn">There is another name which used to haunt me a good +deal—</p> +<h2>THE GREAT JUDGMENT-DAY.</h2> +<p class="pn">I used to think that was a terrible day when I +should be summoned before God, and could not tell till then +whether I should have a seat on His right hand or on His left. +Until I stood before the great white throne of judgment I could +not tell whether I should hear the voice of God saying, “Depart +from Me, ye cursed,” or whether God would say, “Enter thou into +the joy of the Lord.” But the gospel tells me that question is +already settled—“There is now no condemnation to them that are in +Christ Jesus.” Listen to this verse—“Verily, verily”—and when you +see that word “Verily, verily” in Scripture, you may know there +is something very important coming; it means, “Mind what I tell +you,” or, “Truly, truly”—“Truly, truly, I say unto you, He that +heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath +[h-a-t-h, hath] everlasting life, and shall not come into +condemnation [that means, into judgment]; but is passed from +death unto life.” Well, now, I am not coming into judgment for +sin. The question has been settled, because Christ was judged for +me, and died in my stead, and I go free. Is not that good +news?</p> +<p class="pn">I heard of a man praying the other day that I might +lay hold of eternal life. I could not have said Amen to that. I +laid hold of eternal life twenty years ago when I was converted. +What is the gift of God if it is not eternal life? And that is +what God wants to give to every one in this hall to-night, and it +is the greatest gift that can be bestowed on any one down here in +this dark world. If an angel came straight from the throne of God +on to this platform, and proclaimed to this vast assembly that +God had sent him here to offer to this audience any one thing +they might ask, that each one should have his own petition +granted, what would be the cry in this audience? There would be +but one cry coming up from you, and the shout would make heaven +ring—“Eternal life! eternal life!” Everything would float away +into the dim past. There is not anything a man values more than +his life. Let a man worth a million sterling be on a wrecked +vessel, and if he could just save his life for six months by +giving that million, he would give it in an instant. The gift of +God is eternal life; and is it not one of the greatest marvels +that we have to stand and plead, and pray men to take this gift. +May God help you to take it now. Do not listen to Satan any +longer. Reach out the hand of faith and take it now. Young man, +“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” +Trust Him to save you now, and then there will be no +condemnation. Death will have lost his sting, the grave and its +victory will be safe out of the way, and the judgment will be +past for you. Believe the gospel. Lay hold of eternal life while +God is offering it to you. Be reconciled to-night. Take your +stand hard by the cross, and you are saved for time and eternity. +I am told that at Rome, if you go up a few steps on your hands +and knees, that is nine years out of purgatory. If you take one +step now you are out of purgatory for time and eternity. You used +to have two steps into glory—out of self into Christ, out of +Christ into glory. But there is a shorter way now with only one +step—out of self into glory, and you are saved. May God help you +to take the step now! Flee, my friends, to-night to Calvary, and +get under the shadow of the cross.</p> +<h2>THE FIRE ON THE PRAIRIE.</h2> +<p class="pn">Out in our western country, in the autumn, when men +go hunting, and there has not been for months any rain, sometimes +the prairie grass catches fire, and there comes up a very strong +wind, and the flames just roll along twenty feet high over that +western desert, and go at the rate of thirty or forty miles an +hour, consuming man and beast. When the hunters see it coming, +what do they do? They know they cannot run as fast as the fire +can run. Not the fleetest horse can escape from that fire. They +just take a match and light the grass around them, and let the +flames sweep, and then they get into the burnt district and stand +safe. They hear the flames roar as they come along, they see +death coming towards them, but they do not fear, they do not +tremble, because the fire has swept over the place where they +are, and there is no danger. There is nothing for the fire to +burn. There is one mountain peak that the wrath of God has swept +over—that is, Mount Calvary, and that fire spent its fury upon +the bosom of the Son of God. Take your stand here by the cross, +and you will be safe for time and eternity. Escape for your life; +flee to yon mountain, and you are saved this very minute. Oh, may +God bring you to Calvary under the shadow of the cross now! Then +let death and the grave come. You will shout, “Glory to God in +the highest.” We will laugh at death and glory in the grave, and +just know this, that we are safe, sheltered by the precious blood +of the Lamb. There is no condemnation to him that is in Christ +Jesus.</p> +<p class="pn">God is coming down and beseeching you to take the +pardon. Every man and woman here has broken the law, and he that +has broken the least of the laws is guilty of all. I am sure I am +not talking to one man or woman in this audience to-night who can +say they have not broken the law.</p> +<h2>“NOW AND TO-MORROW.”</h2> +<p class="pn">You have all sinned and come short of the glory of +God, but God comes, and says, “I will pardon you. Come now, and +let us reason together.” “Now” is one of the words of the Bible +the devil is afraid of. He says, “Do not be in a hurry; there is +plenty of time; do not be saved now.” He knows the influence of +that word “now.” “To-morrow” is the devil’s word. The Lord’s word +is “now.” God says, “Come now, and let us reason together: though +your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though +they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Scarlet and +crimson are two fast colours; you cannot get the colour out +without destroying the garment. God says, “Though your sins be as +scarlet and crimson, I will make them as wool and snow. I will do +it.” That is the way God reasons. He puts the pardon in the face +of the sinner the first thing. That is a queer way of reasoning, +but God’s thoughts are not our thoughts; and so, my friends, if +you want to be saved, the Lord says He will pardon you.</p> +<h2>THE GOVERNOR IN THE CONDEMNED CELL.</h2> +<p class="pn">A few years ago, when Pennsylvania had a Christian +governor, there was a young man down in one of the counties who +was arrested for murder. He was brought before the court, tried, +found guilty, and sentenced to death. His friends thought there +would be no trouble in getting a reprieve or pardon. Because the +governor was a Christian man, they thought he would not sign the +death-warrant. But he signed it. They called on the governor, and +begged of him to pardon the young man. But the governor said, +“No, the law must take its course, and the man must die.” I think +the mother of the young man called on the governor and pleaded +with him, but the governor stood firm, and said, “No, the man +must die.” A few days before the man was executed, the governor +took the train to the county where the man was imprisoned. He +went to the sheriff of the county, and said to him, “I wish you +to take me to that man’s cell, and leave me alone with him a +little while, and do not tell him who I am till I am gone.” The +governor went to the prison, and talked to the young man about +his soul, and told him that although he was condemned by man to +be executed, God would have mercy upon him and save him, if he +would accept pardon from God. He preached Christ, and told him +how Christ came to seek and to save sinners; and having explained +as he best knew how the plan of salvation, he got down and +prayed, and after praying he shook hands with him and bade him +farewell. Some time after the sheriff passed by the condemned +man’s cell, and he called him to the door of the cell, and said, +“Who was that man that talked and prayed with me so kindly?” The +sheriff said, “That was Governor Pollock.” The man turned deathly +pale, and he threw up both his hands, and said, “Was that +Governor Pollock? was that kind-hearted man the governor? Oh, +sheriff, why did you not tell me? If I had known that was the +governor, I would have fallen at his feet and asked for pardon; I +would have pleaded for pardon and for my life. Oh, sir, the +governor has been here, and I did not know it.”</p> +<h2>RECONCILIATION.</h2> +<p class="pn">Sinner, I have got good news to tell you. There is +one greater than the governor here to-night, and He wants to +pardon every one. He does not want you to go away condemned. He +wants to bring you from under condemnation; to pardon every soul. +Will you have the pardon, or will you despise the gift of God? +Will you despise the mercy of God? Oh, this night, while God is +beseeching you to be reconciled, let me join with your praying +mother, with your praying father, with your godly minister, with +your Sabbath-school teacher, and all your praying friends; let me +join my voice with theirs to plead with you to-night to be +reconciled. Make up your mind now, while I am speaking, that you +will not cross your threshold until you are reconciled, and there +will be joy in heaven to-night over your decision. Oh, may God +bring hundreds to a decision to-night!</p> +<p class="pn">An Englishman told me some time ago a little story +of reconciliation, which illustrates this truth. We want to +preach the gospel of reconciliation; the good news that God is +reconciled. God does not say He can do, but that He has done it. +You must accept what He has done. The story is this: There was an +Englishman who had an only son; and only sons are often petted, +and humoured, and ruined. This boy became very headstrong, and +very often he and his father had trouble. One day they had a +quarrel, and the father was very angry, and so was the son; and +the father said he wished the boy would leave home and never come +back. The boy said he would go, and would not come into his +father’s house again till he sent for him. The father said he +would never send for him. Well, away went the boy. But when a +father gives up a boy, a mother does not. You mothers will +understand that, but the fathers may not. You know there is no +love on earth so strong as a mother’s love. A great many things +may separate a man and his wife; a great many things may separate +a father from a son; but there is nothing in the wide world that +can ever separate a true mother from her child. To be sure, there +are some mothers that have drunk so much liquor that they have +drunk up all their affection. But I am talking about a true +mother; and she would not cast off her boy.</p> +<h2>A MOTHER’S AFFECTION.</h2> +<p class="pn">Well, this mother began to write and plead to the +boy to write to his father first, and his father would forgive +him; but the boy said, “I will never go home till father asks +me.” She pleaded with the father, but the father said, “No, I +will never ask him.”</p> +<p class="pn">At last the mother was brought down to her sickbed, +broken-hearted, and when she was given up by the physicians to +die, the husband, anxious to gratify her last wish, wanted to +know if there was not anything he could do for her before she +died. The mother gave him a look; he well knew what it meant. +Then she said, “Yes, there is one thing you can do, you can send +for my boy. That is the only wish on earth you can gratify. If +you do not pity him and love him when I am dead and gone, who +will?” “Well,” said the father, “I will send word to him that you +want to see him.” “No,” she says, “you know he will not come for +me. If ever I see him you must send for him.” At last the father +went to his office and wrote a despatch in his own name, asking +the boy to come home. As soon as he got the invitation from his +father, he started off to see his dying mother. When he opened +the door to go in he found his mother dying and his father by the +bedside. The father heard the door open, and saw the boy, but +instead of going to meet him he went to another part of the room, +and refused to speak to him. His mother seized his hand—how she +had longed to press it! She kissed him, and then said, “Now, my +son, just speak to your father. You speak first, and it will all +be over.” But the boy said, “No, mother, I will not speak to him +until he speaks to me.” She took her husband’s hand in one hand +and the boy’s in the other, and spent her dying moments and +strength in trying to bring about a reconciliation. Just as she +was expiring she could not speak, so she put the hand of the +wayward boy into the hand of the father, and passed away. The boy +looked at the mother, and the father at the wife; and at last the +father’s heart broke, and he opened his arms, and took that boy +to his bosom, and by that body they were reconciled. Sinner, that +is only a faint type, a poor illustration, because God is not +angry with you. God gives you Christ, and I bring you to-night to +the dead body of Christ. I ask you to look at the wounds in His +hands and feet, and the wound in His side. My friends, gaze upon +His five wounds. And I ask you, “Will you not be reconciled?” +When He left heaven, He went clear down to the manger that He +might get hold of the vilest sinner, and put the hand of the +wayward prodigal into that of the Father, and He died that you +and I might be reconciled. If you take my advice, you will not go +out of this hall to-night until you are reconciled. “Be ye +reconciled.” Oh, this gospel of reconciliation! My friends, come +home to-night. Your Father wants you to come. Say as the prodigal +did of old, “I will arise and go to my father,” and there will be +joy in heaven.</p> +<h1><a name="way" id="way">THE WAY OF SALVATION</a></h1> +<p class="pt1">Read <span class="sc">Acts</span> xvi. 23, 40</p> +<p class="pnn">I <span class="sc">shall</span> not preach a +sermon; I have just one thought, and that is, to tell every +anxious soul what they must do “to be saved.” That is the first +question of every one who is honestly and really inquiring “the +way of salvation,” and, God helping me, I will try to-night to +make it plain to all.</p> +<h2>BELIEVING.</h2> +<p class="pn">If I say to you, “Believe on the Lord Jesus +Christ,” you will reply, “Oh, believe! I have heard that word +till I am sick and tired of it. Scarcely a week but I hear it in +the church, or at a prayer-meeting, or at some drawing-room +meeting.” You have all heard it over and over again; I don’t +suppose there is a child here over five years of age but can +repeat that text. What you want is, to know how to believe—what +it is to believe.</p> +<p class="pn">Some of you say, “We all believe that Christ came +into the world to seek and to save the lost; and that he that +believeth shall be saved.” But the devils believe, and are not +saved. Ay, they believe and tremble! You must believe <i>on</i> +the Lord Jesus Christ, and not merely <i>about</i> Him, and then +you will know what <i>salvation</i> is.</p> +<h2>RECEIVING.</h2> +<p class="pn">Well, we’ll take another word which means the same +thing; perhaps you’ll get hold of it better. “He came unto His +own, and His own received Him not. But as many as <i>received</i> +Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to +them that believe on His name.” Bear in mind, “received +<i>Him</i>.” That’s it; not receiving a doctrine or a belief, but +receiving <i>Him</i>. It is a person we must receive.</p> +<p class="pn">Now, my experience of the last few years is, that +we all want to have the <i>power</i> before we receive Christ. +That is, we want to <i>feel</i> we are in Christ before we will +receive Him. But we cannot love God and feel His presence until +we have received Him into our hearts. It is just like a boy with +a ball; he throws it to you. Well, you must catch it before you +throw it back again. That is the real meaning of “believe”—it is +“receive”—receive Christ as yours. I don’t know any verse in the +Bible that God has blessed to more souls than John i. 12: “To as +many as received Him, to them gave He power.”</p> +<p class="pn">I don’t know any better illustration I could have +than matrimony; for every other one doesn’t hold good in some +points; but I think this is one of the best I could use. Some of +you smile at this illustration, but the Bible uses it, and if God +uses it in His word, why should not I?</p> +<p class="pn">In the Old Testament He uses it—“I am married unto +you” (Jer. iii. 14). Jesus Himself uses it, when He speaks of +the bride in John iii. 29. Paul uses it in his epistles, as in +Romans vii. 4, as an illustration of the union between Christ and +His church.</p> +<p class="pn">Now, it is an illustration you can all understand; +there is no one here but knows what it means. When a man offers +himself, the woman must do either of two things—either receive or +reject him. So every soul in this hall must do one of these two +things—“receive” or “reject” Christ. Well, if you receive Him, +that is all you have to do, He has promised power.</p> +<h2>THE RICH HUSBAND.</h2> +<p class="pn">There was a shop-girl in Chicago, a few years ago; +one day she could not have bought a pound’s worth of anything; +the next day she could go and buy a thousand pounds’ worth of +whatever she wanted. What made the difference? Why, she had +married a rich husband; that was all. She had received him, and +of course all he had became hers. And so we can have power, if +you only receive Christ. Remember, you can have no power without +Him; you will fail, fail constantly, until you receive Him into +your heart; and I have Scripture authority to say that Christ +will receive every soul that will only come to Him.</p> +<h2>SEEKING A WIFE.</h2> +<p class="pn">You know that Abraham sent his servant Eliezer a +long journey to get a wife for his son Isaac. When Eliezer had +got Rebekah, he wanted to be up and off with the young bride; but +her mother and brother said, “No, she shall wait awhile.” When +Eliezer was determined to go, they said, “We will inquire of the +damsel.” And when Rebekah appeared, they said to her, “Wilt thou +go with this man?” That was a crisis in her life. She could not +have said “No.” Undoubtedly it cost her an effort; it would, of +course, be a struggle. She had to give up her parents, home, +companions, all that she loved, and go with this stranger. But +look at her reply; she said, “I will go.”</p> +<p class="pn">I have come to-night to get a bride for my Master. +“Wilt thou go with this man?” I can tell you one thing that +Eliezer could not tell Rebekah; he could not say, “Isaac loves +you.” Isaac had never seen his bride. But I can say, “My Master +loves you!”</p> +<h2>HE GAVE HIMSELF FOR YOU.</h2> +<p class="pn">Ah, that is love! But bear in mind, my friends, +that the moment Rebekah made up her mind to accept Isaac he +became everything to her, so that she did not feel she was giving +up anything for him. Ah, what a mistake some people make! They +say, “I’d like to become a Christian if I hadn’t to give up so +much.” Just turn round and look at the other side. You don’t have +to give up anything—you have simply to receive; and when you have +received Christ, everything else vanishes away pretty quick. +Christ fills you, so that you don’t feel these things to be worth +a thought.</p> +<p class="pn">When a bride marries a man, it is generally love +that prompts her. If any one is here that really loves a man, is +she thinking of how much she will have to give up? No; that +wouldn’t be love. Love doesn’t feed upon itself, it feeds upon +the person who is loved. So, my friends, it is not by looking at +what you will have to give up, but by looking at what you will +receive, that you will be enabled to accept the Saviour.</p> +<h2>WHAT IS CHRIST TO YOU?</h2> +<p class="pn">What is He willing to be to you, if you will have +Him? Won’t you be made heirs of heaven, joint-heirs with +Christ—to reign with Him for ever and ever—to be His—to be with +Him where He is—to be what He is? Think, then, of what He is, and +of what He gives. You don’t need to trouble yourselves at present +about what you have to give up. Receive Him, and all these things +will appear utterly insignificant.</p> +<p class="pn">I used to think of what I would have to give up. I +dearly loved many of the pleasures of this earth; but now I’d as +soon go out into your streets and eat the dirt as do those +things. God doesn’t say, “Give up this and that.” He says, “Here +is the Son of my bosom—receive Him.” When you do receive Him, +everything else goes. Stop that talk about giving up; let Christ +save you, and all these things will go for nothing.</p> +<p class="pn">Mark the words, “To as many as received Him, to +them gave He power.” Now, my friends, will you go with this man? +You have often heard about Christ; you know as much about Him as +any one on this platform perhaps; but did you ever know a man or +woman who regretted receiving Him?</p> +<p class="pn">No man ever regretted receiving Christ; but I have +heard of thousands who have been followers of the devil, and have +regretted it bitterly. And I notice that it is always the most +faithful followers of the devil who are regretting it most.</p> +<h2>TAKE JESUS.</h2> +<p class="pn">My friends, accept my advice, and take Jesus with +you when you leave this hall. Remember, He is the gift of God +offered to <i>whosoever</i>. You belong to that class, don’t you? +Just take <i>Him</i>; that’s the first thing you have to do. When +you go to cut down a tree, you don’t take the axe and commence to +hew down the branches. No, you begin right down at the root. So +here, you must take Christ, and then you will get power to resist +the world, the flesh, and the devil.</p> +<h2>RUTH AND ORPAH.</h2> +<p class="pn">Now, another case—Ruth and Orpah. Many are like +these two young widows. A crisis had come in their lives; they +had lost their husbands, and had been living up there in the +mountains of Moab. Often had they visited the graves of their +dear ones, and perhaps planted a few flowers there, and watered +them with their tears. Now, Naomi is about to return to her +native land, and they think they will go a bit of the road with +her. It is a sad parting; but now the crisis comes. Down in the +valley they embrace each other, and give the parting kiss. Then +they both say they will go with Naomi, but she warns them of the +difficulties and the trials which might await them. So Orpah +says, “I will go back to my people”; but Ruth cannot leave her +mother, and says she will go with her.</p> +<p class="pn">Orpah turns back alone, and I can see her on the +top of the hill; she stops, and turns round for a last look. And +Naomi says to Ruth, “Behold, thy sister-in-law is gone back to +her people, and unto her gods; return thou after thy +sister-in-law.” What does Ruth say? “Entreat me not to leave +thee, or to return from following after thee; for whither thou +goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy +people shall be my people, and thy God my God.” Her choice was +made. Poverty here or suffering and want yonder, she would share +Naomi’s lot.</p> +<h2>A BLESSED DECISION.</h2> +<p class="pn">Orpah loved Naomi, but not enough to leave all for +her; while Ruth loved her mother so much, that the leaving of her +people seemed nothing to her. Oh, may God draw out all your +hearts, so that you may leave <i>all</i> and follow Him! We never +hear any more of Orpah; the curtain falls upon her life. Perhaps +she died away up in the mountains of Moab, without God and +without hope. But how different with Ruth! She becomes famous in +history; she is one of the few women whose names have come along +down the roll of ages; and she is brought into the royal line of +heaven. I have an idea that God blessed her for that decision. +And He will bless you if you decide in a like manner. Who will +say to-night, as Ruth did, “I will follow thee; and thy God shall +be my God”? Will any one take up the language of Ruth? Is there +not a Ruth here? If there is, the Master is calling.</p> +<p class="pn">I’ll take another word. I have been speaking of +“receive”; the next word I want your attention to is,</p> +<h2>TRUSTING.</h2> +<p class="pn">Many get hold of that when they cannot get hold of +“believe” or “receive.” You all know what it is to trust. If it +were not for trust, there would be a terrible commotion in this +building to-night.</p> +<p class="pn">If you could not trust that the roof was firmly put +up, you would get out pretty quick; and if you could not trust +these chairs to support you, how long would you sit on them? Why, +you wouldn’t have come here at all if you didn’t trust our word +that there would be an address. Now, it is just the same trust +that God wants. It is no miraculous trust or faith, but just the +same kind, only the object is different. Instead of trusting in +these earthly things, or in an arm of flesh, you are asked to +trust in the Son of God.</p> +<h2>THE DUBLIN MERCHANT.</h2> +<p class="pn">In Dublin I was speaking to a lady in the +inquiry-room, when I noticed a gentleman walking up and down +before the door. I went forward and said, “Are you a Christian?” +He was very angry, and turned on his heel and left me. The +following Sunday night I was preaching about “receiving,” and I +put the question, “Who’ll receive Him now?” That young man was +present, and the question sank into his heart. The next day he +called upon me—he was a merchant in that city—and said, “Do you +remember me?” “No, I don’t.” “Do you remember the young man who +answered you so roughly the other night?” “Yes, I do.” “Well, +I’ve come to tell you I am saved.” “How did it happen?” “Why, I +was listening to your sermon last night, and when you asked, +‘Who’ll receive Him now?’ God put it into my heart to say, ‘I +will’; and He has opened my eyes to see His Son now.” I don’t +know why thousands should not do that here to-night. If you are +ever to be saved, why not now?</p> +<p class="pn">But another point you must remember—</p> +<h2>SALVATION IS A FREE GIFT,</h2> +<p class="pnn">and it is a free gift <i>for us</i>. Can you buy +it? It is a free gift, presented to “whosoever.” Suppose I were +to say, I will give this Bible to “whosoever”; what have you got +to do? Why, nothing but take it. But a man comes forward, and +says, “I’d like that Bible very much.” “Well, didn’t I say +‘whosoever’?” “Yes; but I’d like to have you say my name.” “Well, +here it is.” Still he keeps eyeing the Bible, and saying, “I’d +like to have that Bible; but I’d like to give you something for +it. I don’t like to take it for nothing.” “Well, I am not here to +sell Bibles; take it, if you want it.” “Well, I want it; but I’d +like to give you something for it. Let me give you a penny for +it; though, to be sure, it’s worth twenty or thirty shillings.” +Well, suppose I took the penny; the man takes up the Bible, and +marches away home with it. His wife says, “Where did you get that +Bible?” “Oh, I bought it.” Mark the point; when he gives the +penny it ceases to be a gift. So with salvation. If you were to +pay ever so little, it would not be a gift.</p> +<h2>THE USELESSNESS OF TRYING.</h2> +<p class="pn">Man is always trying to do something. This +miserable word “try” is keeping thousands out of heaven. When I +hear men speak of “trying,” I generally tell them it is the way +down to death and hell. I believe more souls are lost through +“trying” than any other way. You have often tried, and as often +failed; and as long as you keep trying you will fail. Drop that +word, then, and take as your sure foothold for eternity, “trust.” +“Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” I that is the right +kind of trust. Would to God that you would all say, “I will trust +Him now, to-night.” Did you ever hear of any one going down to +hell trusting in Jesus? I never did. This very night, if you +commit yourself to Him, the battle will be over.</p> +<p class="pn">You are complaining you don’t <i>feel</i> better. +Well, remember, the child must be born before it can be taught. +So we cannot learn of God until we receive Him. We must be +born—born again—<i>i.e.</i> the new birth, ere we can feel. +Christ must be in us the hope of glory. How can He be in us if we +don’t receive Him and trust Him?</p> +<h2>PRESENT SALVATION.</h2> +<p class="pn">Another verse that has been used a great deal +during the past two years, and I feel that I rest my own +salvation on it, is John v. 24. I trust God will write it on your +hearts, and burn it down into your souls. “Verily, verily, I say +unto you, He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent +Me, <i>hath</i> everlasting life.” Thank God for that “hath.”</p> +<p class="pn">I had a few men in the inquiry-room the other night +who could not find peace. I said, “Do you believe the Bible?” +“Yes, sir.” “I think I will prove you don’t. Turn up John v. 24.” +They turned it up. “Read the verse.” “‘He that heareth My Word—’” +“You believe that?” “Yes, sir.” “‘And believeth on Him that sent +me—’” “You believe God sent Jesus?” “Yes.” “Well, read on.” +“‘Hath everlasting life.’” “You believe you <i>have</i> +everlasting life?” “No, we don’t.” “Oh, I thought you didn’t +believe in the Bible!” What right have you to cut a verse in two, +and say you believe the one half, but not the other? It plainly +says, that he who believes “hath everlasting life, and shall not +come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” Why, +if you believe God’s words, you can say, “I have passed from +darkness into light.” Just by resting on that one little word in +the present tense we may have “assurance” now. We don’t need to +wait till we die, and till the great day of judgment, to find it +out.</p> +<h2>“TAKE, TAKE!”</h2> +<p class="pn">A lady in Glasgow came to me, and said, “Mr. Moody, +you are always saying ‘Take, take!’ Is there any place in the +Bible where it says ‘Take,’ or is it only a word you use? I have +been looking in the Bible for it, but cannot see it.” “Why,” I +said, “the Bible is sealed with it; it is almost the last word in +the Bible. ‘And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him +that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And +whosoever will, let him <i>take</i> the water of life freely.’” +“Well,” she said, “I never saw that before. Is that all I have to +do?” “Yes, the Bible says so.” And she took it, just there. God +says, “Let him take”; who can stop us if God says it? All the +devils in hell cannot hinder a poor soul from taking, if God says +“Take.” My friends, are you going to “Take” to-night? Are you +going to let these precious meetings pass without getting +Christ—without being able to look up and say, “Christ is my +Saviour, God is my Father, heaven is my home”?</p> +<h2>AN ANXIOUS INQUIRER.</h2> +<p class="pn">A lady came to my house the other night, anxious +about her soul; but after some conversation she left, without +finding peace. She came again, and I asked, “What is the +trouble?” “I haven’t got peace.” I took her to this verse, “He +that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life” (John iii. 36). +I just held up that little word “hath” to her, and turned to John +v. 24, and vi. 47. There these words were spoken by Jesus, and +they are all linked on to believing on the Son. After we had +talked for some time, she looked in my face earnestly, and said, +“I have got it!” and went away rejoicing in the Saviour’s +love.</p> +<p class="pn">If you seek life you can have it now, as you sit +upon your seat. The word “hath” occurs again in Isa. liii. 6: +“All we like sheep have gone astray;... and the Lord hath laid on +Him the iniquity of us all.” Our iniquity has been laid upon +Christ, and the Lord is not going to demand payment twice. “Who +His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree.”</p> +<h2>THE DEBT PAID.</h2> +<p class="pn">Suppose I owed Mr. Wanamaker a thousand pounds, and +I became a bankrupt; I would have nothing to pay, so he might +send me to prison. But suppose Mr. Stone heard of it, and says, +“I don’t want to see Moody taken to prison.” So he pays the debt +for me, and gets the receipt. When I see the receipt, I know that +I am free. But Mr. Wanamaker finds out that I didn’t pay it, and +gets me hauled off to court. He says he must have me pay it +myself, or I must go to prison. I show the receipt. “Why,” says +the judge, “the debt is paid.”</p> +<p class="pn">Mr. Wanamaker says, “Moody didn’t pay it.” Would +any judge in the land support him? No; it is paid, and cannot be +demanded again. Well, if man do not ask payment twice, will God? +No, certainly not! The case is this: the debt has been paid, our +sins have been atoned for. Christ Himself has redeemed us, not +with corruptible things, such as silver and gold, but with His +precious blood; therefore we are free.</p> +<p class="pn">But remember, although salvation is so free for us, +it cost God a great deal to redeem us. He had an only Son, and He +gave Him up freely for us. What a wonderful gift! If you make +light of so great a salvation, how can you escape the damnation +of hell?</p> +<h2>THE GREAT QUESTION.</h2> +<p class="pn">Now, one question: What are you going to do with +Christ? You have got to settle that question. You may get angry, +like a man a short time ago, who marched out of a church, saying, +“What right has that American to make such a statement?” But it +is true; you must settle it. Pilate wanted to shirk the +responsibility, and sent Jesus to Herod; but he was forced to a +decision. When the Jews forced him to decide, he washed his +hands, and said he “was innocent of this just man’s blood.” But +did that take away his guilt? No.</p> +<p class="pn">An angel may be here, hovering over this audience, +and he is listening to what is said. Some one may say, “I will +receive Him; I will delay no longer.” Immediately the angel will +wing his way right up to the pearly gates, and tell the news that +another sinner has been saved. There will be a new song ringing +through the courts of heaven over sinners repenting. God will +issue the command to write down their names in the book of life, +and to get rooms ready for them in the new Jerusalem, where we +all will soon be.</p> +<h2>GUILTY, BUT SAFE.</h2> +<p class="pn">A man was once being tried for a crime, the +punishment of which was death. The witnesses came in one by one, +and testified to his guilt; but there he stood, quite calm and +unmoved. The judge and the jury were quite surprised at his +indifference; they could not understand how he could take such a +serious matter so calmly. When the jury retired, it did not take +them many minutes to decide on the verdict “guilty”; and when the +judge was passing the sentence of death upon the criminal, he +told him how surprised he was that he could be so unmoved in the +prospect of death.</p> +<p class="pn">When the judge had finished, the man put his hand +in his bosom, pulled out a document, and walked out of the dock a +free man. Ah, that was how he could be so calm; it was a free +pardon from his king, which he had in his pocket all the time. +The king had instructed him to allow the trial to proceed, and to +produce the pardon only when he was condemned. No wonder, then, +that he was indifferent as to the result of the trial. Now, that +is just what will make us joyful in the great day of judgment; we +have got a pardon from the Great King, and it is sealed with the +blood of His Son.</p> +<h2>THE CHICAGO FIRE.</h2> +<p class="pn">After the Chicago fire took place, a great many +things were sent to us from all parts of the world. The boxes +they came in were labelled “For the people who were burned out,” +and all a man had to do was to prove that he had been burned out, +and he got a share. So here, you have but to prove that you are +poor, miserable sinners, and there’s help for you. If every man +who is ruined and lost will cling to “try,” there is no hope; but +if he give it all up as a bad job, then Christ will save him. The +law condemns us, but Christ saves us.</p> +<h2>THE LOST SCHOLAR.</h2> +<p class="pn">The superintendent of a Sabbath school in Edinburgh +was walking down the street one day, when he met a policeman +leading a little boy by the hand, who was crying bitterly. He +stopped, and asked the policeman what was the matter with the +boy. “Oh,” said the officer, “he has got lost.” The +superintendent asked to look at him. They went to a lamp, and +held up the little fellow. Why, in a moment the boy knew his +superintendent, and flew to his arms. The gentleman took him from +the policeman, and the boy was comforted. The law has got us, but +let us flee into Jesus’ arms, and we are safe.</p> +<p class="pn">A friend of mine in the North told me of a poor +Scottish lassie, who was very anxious about her soul. He told her +to read Isaiah liii. She replied, “I canna read, and I canna +pray; Jesus, take me as I am!” That was the true way; and Jesus +just took her as she was. Let Him take you this night, just as +you are, and He will receive you to His arms.</p> +<h2>THREE YEARS SEEKING JESUS.</h2> +<p class="pn">One night, when preaching in Philadelphia, right +down by the side of the pulpit there was a young lady, whose eyes +were riveted on me as if she were drinking in every word. It is +precious to preach to people like that; they generally get good, +even if the sermon be poor.</p> +<p class="pn">I got interested in her, and after I had done +talking, I went and spoke to her. “Are you a Christian?” “No, I +wish I was; I have been seeking Jesus for three years.” I said, +“There must be some mistake.” She looked strangely at me, and +said, “Don’t you believe me?” “Well, no doubt you thought you +were seeking Jesus; but it don’t take an anxious sinner three +years to meet an anxious Saviour.” “What am I to do, then?” “The +matter is, you are trying to <i>do</i> something; you must just +believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.”</p> +<p class="pn">“Oh, I am sick and tired of the word, ‘Believe, +believe, believe!’ I don’t know what it is.” “Well,” I said, +“we’ll change the word; take ‘trust.’” “If I say, I’ll trust Him, +will He save me?” “No, I don’t say that; you may <i>say</i> a +thousand things, but if you <i>do</i> trust Him.” “Well,” she +said, “I do trust Him; but,” she added in the same breath, “I +don’t feel any better.” “Ah, I’ve got it now! You’ve been looking +for feelings for three years, instead of for Jesus. Faith is up +above, not down here.”</p> +<p class="pn">People are always looking for feelings. You are +getting up a new translation of the Bible here, and if the men +who are translating it would only put in <i>feelings</i> instead +of <i>faith</i>, what a rush there would be for that Bible. But +if you look from Genesis to Revelation, you cannot find feelings +attached to salvation. We must rise above feelings. So I said to +this lady, “You cannot control your feelings; if you could, what +a time you’d have! I know I would never have the toothache or the +headache.”</p> +<h2>FEELINGS, THE DEVIL’S STRATAGEM.</h2> +<p class="pn">“Feelings” is the last plank the devil sticks out, +just as your feet are getting on the “Rock of Ages.” He sees the +poor trembling sinner just finding his way to the Saviour, when +he shoves out this plank, and the poor sinner thinks he’s “all +right now.” Some sermon you have heard arouses you, but then you +feel all right when you get on this plank. Six months after, +perhaps, you are dying, and the devil comes along when you think +you’re quite safe. “Ah,” he tells you, “that was my work; I made +you feel good.” And where are you then? Oh, take your stand on +God’s word, then you cannot fail. His word has been tried for six +thousand years, and it has not failed.</p> +<p class="pn">So I said to the lady, “Have no more to do with +feelings; but, like Job, say, ‘Though He slay me, yet will I +trust in Him.’” She looked at me a few minutes, and then, putting +her hand to take mine, she said, “Mr. Moody, I trust the Lord +Jesus Christ to save my soul to-night.” Then she went to the +elders and said the same words. As she passed out she met one of +the church officers, and, shaking his hand, said again, “I trust +the Lord Jesus to save my soul.”</p> +<p class="pn">Next night she was right before me again. I shall +never forget her beaming face; the light of eternity was shining +in her eyeballs! She went into the inquiry-room. I wondered what +she was going there for; but when I got there, I found her with +her arms round a lady friend, saying, “It’s only to trust Him. I +have found it so.” From that night she was one of the best +workers in the inquiry-room, and whenever I met a difficult case, +I got her to speak to the person, and she was sure to help +them.</p> +<h2>“WORTHY OF ALL ACCEPTATION.”</h2> +<p class="pn">Surely you can trust God to-night. You must have a +very poor opinion of God if you cannot trust Him. You have only +to come to Him thus—receive Him, trust Him. What more can you do, +and what less can you do than trust Him? Is He not worthy of it? +Now, let us be perfectly still a moment, and while the voice of +man is hushed, let us think of one passage of Scripture “Behold, +I stand at the door and knock.” That is Christ standing at the +door of your heart, knocking; and He says, “If any man hear My +voice, and open the door, I will come into him, and will sup with +him, and he with Me.” Will any one to-night pull back the bolts, +and say, “Enter, thou welcome, thrice welcome One. Blessed +Saviour, come in.” God grant that all here may do this!</p> +<h1><a name="wills" id="wills">EIGHT “I WILLS” OF CHRIST</a></h1> +<p class="pt1">Read <span class="sc">Matt</span>. xi. 28, 29</p> +<p class="pnn">I <span class="sc">wish</span> to call your +attention to eight “I wills” of Christ.</p> +<p class="pn">1. The first one you will find in Matthew xi. 28: +“Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and</p> +<h2>I WILL GIVE YOU REST.</h2> +<p class="pnn">Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am +meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. +For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.”</p> +<p class="pn">Now I never met a person that did not want rest. +That man or woman is not living on the face of the earth that +doesn’t want rest. We read of the rich man that was going to pull +down his barns and build larger, saying to his soul, “Take thine +ease, there is plenty laid up in store, so now take thy rest.” +Merchants toil day and night to amass money, in order that they +may get rest. Men leave their families and friends and go round +the world to earn money, in the hope that they may get rest. +Sailors plough the sea, and are away from home for months to get +money, in order that it may bring them rest. In fact, if rest +could be bought in the market, there are many hundreds in London +who would be paying a very high price for it; but though money +can’t buy it, nevertheless by believing the word of God you can +get it without money and without price. “Come unto Me, all ye +that labour and are heavy-laden, and <i>I will give you +rest</i>.” Now when <i>we</i> say “we will,” it doesn’t mean much +very often. Perhaps we don’t intend to keep our word when we say +we will do a thing; or if we do mean to keep it, we very often +fail for want of ability to make our promise good. But bear in +mind, God never breaks His promise; He never makes a mistake; He +never fails to fulfil His word. And the words I have read may be +relied on; for they are not the words of man, but of the Son of +God—“Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy-laden, and I +will give you rest.”</p> +<p class="pn">This tells us of the only place where we can find +rest. There is no other place where a man can by any possibility +find rest for his soul. Bear this in mind: it is not coming to +some creed, it is not coming to some particular church, or to +some particular doctrine, but to Christ. “Come unto <i>Me</i>.” +It is the coming to a personal Christ that alone gives peace and +rest to the soul.</p> +<h2>PEACE.</h2> +<p class="pn">Now, in John xiv. 27, there is a promise which is +very precious to me. Christ says, “Peace I leave with you”; I am +going away, but I am not going to take away My peace from you; +that I leave behind Me. “My peace I give unto you.” Mark that +little expression “My <i>peace</i>”—“My peace I give unto you.” A +good many people look for their peace from worldly sources, but +when they do find it they don’t get much out of it, for the devil +can play on men’s feelings as men play on a harp, and can delude +them into almost anything. But if we go to Christ for it, we do +get what we want, we get rest for the soul, and until we do go to +Him we shall never get it.</p> +<p class="pn">There are a good many things which disturb our +peace; but nothing can disturb the peace of God. You might take +this little island, and throw it right into the Atlantic, and it +would make a great stir and commotion in this world, but I don’t +think that God would be moved on His eternal throne by it; it +would not disturb Him in the heavens, high and lifted up above +all the earth. Let us have the peace of God, and then we shall +have rest.</p> +<p class="pn">Again He says, “These things have I spoken unto +you, that my joy might remain in you.” Christ’s joy, not our own +joy. When we come to a personal Christ, and our souls are stayed +on Him, then we get rest, and peace, and joy. That is a rest that +nothing can disturb; that is peace that flows on like a river; +that is joy for evermore.</p> +<p class="pn">2. Now, the next “I will” is in John vi. 37. I can +imagine some of you people saying, “Ah, if I were only good +enough to come, I would come, and get this rest, and peace, and +joy.” But if you will read the verse I am speaking of, you will +find it says, “Him that cometh to Me</p> +<h2>I WILL IN NO WISE CAST OUT.”</h2> +<p class="pnn">Surely that is broad enough—is it not? I don’t +care who the man or woman is; I don’t care what your trials, what +your troubles, what your sorrows, or what your sins are, if you +will only come straight to the Master, He will not cast you out. +Come then, poor sinner; come just as you are, and take Him at His +word.</p> +<p class="pn">There was a wild and prodigal young man who came +into one of our meetings. He was running a headlong career to +ruin, but the Spirit of God got hold of him. Whilst I was +conversing with him, and endeavouring to bring him to Christ, I +quoted this verse to him. I held it right up to him, and led his +mind right up to it, for some time, and at last light seemed to +break in upon him, and he seemed to find comfort from it, so I +told him to stick to that verse. Well, after he had left, on his +way home the devil met him. Why, I don’t believe that any man +ever starts to go to Christ but the devil strives somehow or +other to meet him and trip him up. And even after he has come to +Christ the devil comes, and tries to assail him with doubts, and +make him believe there is something wrong in it. And so this +young man was met by Satan, who whispered to him, “How do you +know that is a right translation?” So that brought him for a +while to a standstill, and threw him into darkness again. But he +remembered my telling him to stick to that text, and there he +was, after Satan had put that into his mind, holding on to it, +but he did not find peace till two o’clock. He then said to +himself, “I will stick to it anyhow, and if it is not the right +translation, when I get to the bar of God I will tell Him I +didn’t know it was wrong, because I didn’t understand anything +about Greek and Latin.” “Him that cometh to Me I will in nowise +cast out.” If you will only come to Him, I have got good +authority to tell you that Christ will receive you to-day—yea, +this very hour.</p> +<p class="pn">The kings and princes of this world, when they +issue invitations, call round them the rich, the mighty and +powerful, the honourable and the wise; but the Lord, when He was +on earth, called round Him the vilest of the vile. “This man,” +they said, “receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.” Publicans, +sinners, and harlots pressed into the kingdom of God in His +days.</p> +<h2>THIS MAN RECEIVETH SINNERS.</h2> +<p class="pn">Here in London there is no society that would have +such a man as John Bunyan once was in their company; yet the Lord +saved him, and welcomed him into His kingdom. Here is some poor +miserable drunkard cast out by his father and mother, and +deserted by all his friends, but the Lord has received him. I +have known some of the most miserable outcasts that were ever +seen, cast out and despised by everybody, and yet the Lord has +received them. Take Him then at His word to-day, and accept His +invitation, “Him that cometh to Me I will in nowise cast +out.”</p> +<p class="pn">But you say I must just get rid of my sins first, +and then I will come to Him. Why, that’s just like a man dying of +the scarlet fever saying, “Oh, I’ll wait till I get rid of the +fever before I send for a doctor!” Why, it is just because you +are a sinner, and cannot get rid of your sins, that you need a +Saviour. If I was dying for want of bread, it would be just as +reasonable for me to say, “When I have got rid of this hunger, +then I will begin to eat.” It is because I am hungry that I need +to eat, and it is because we are sinners that we need Christ. It +is because a man is sick that he needs a physician, and Christ is +the Physician of the soul.</p> +<p class="pn">3. In Luke v. we read of the leper coming to +Christ, and the Lord said unto him,</p> +<h2>“I WILL: BE THOU CLEAN.”</h2> +<p class="pnn">And immediately the leprosy left him. That’s +another <i>I will</i> I want to call your attention to. Now, if +there is any man or woman here full of the leprosy of sin, if you +will but go to the Master and tell all your case to Him, He will +speak to you as He did to that poor leper, and say, “I will: be +thou clean,” and the leprosy of your sins will flee away from +you. It is the Lord, and the Lord alone, that can forgive sins. +There is His word, just look it right over, “I will: be thou +clean,” and then put that with the other verse, “Him that cometh +to Me I will in nowise cast out.”</p> +<h2>THE DEVIL’S CASTAWAYS.</h2> +<p class="pn">One day when Whitfield was preaching, he said the +Lord was so anxious to save souls that He would take in the +devil’s castaways. Lady Huntingdon remonstrated with him, and +said he ought not to make such statements. A little while after, +however, there came to his preaching a poor fallen woman, an +outcast from society. She was labouring under deep conviction of +sin, and before long she found peace in her Saviour, and was +received right into the kingdom of God. Now if there is a poor +sinner here, let him take this one verse, and then keep in his +mind that poor leper coming to Christ. The law forbade him to +come, but Christ is above the law. “The law came by Moses, but +grace and truth by Jesus Christ.”</p> +<p class="pn">Now, you can make a wonderful exchange to-day. You +can have health in the place of sickness; you can get rid of +everything that is vile and hateful in the sight of God. The Son +of God comes down, and says, “I will take away your leprosy, and +give you health in its stead. I will take away that terrible +disease that is ruining your body and soul, and give you my +righteousness in its stead. I will clothe you with the garments +of salvation.” Is it not a wonderful thing? That’s what He means +when He says <i>I will</i>. Oh, lay hold of this “I will!”</p> +<p class="pn">4. Now turn to Matthew x. 32: “Whosoever therefore +shall confess Me before men, him will I also confess before My +Father which is in heaven.” There’s the</p> +<h2>“I WILL” OF CONFESSION.</h2> +<p class="pn">Now, that’s the next thing that takes place after a +man is saved. We have been washed in the blood of the Lamb, and +the next thing is to get our mouths opened. We have to confess +Christ here in this dark world, and tell His love to others. We +are not to be ashamed of the Son of God.</p> +<p class="pn">A man thinks it a great honour when he has achieved +a victory that causes his name to be mentioned in Parliament, or +in the presence of the Queen and her court. A very great honour. +And in China, we read, the highest ambition of the successful +soldier is to have his name written in the palace or temple of +Confucius. But just think of having your name mentioned in the +kingdom of heaven by the Prince of Glory, by the Son of God, +because you confess Him here on earth. You confess Him here; He +will confess you yonder. If you wish to be brought into the clear +light of liberty, you must take your stand on Christ’s side. I +have known many Christians go groping about in darkness, and +never get into the clear light of the kingdom, because they were +ashamed to confess the Son of God. Don’t be ashamed, Christians, +to let your friends, and even your enemies, know that you are on +God’s side.</p> +<p class="pn">5. The next <i>I will</i> is the</p> +<h2>“I WILL” OF SERVICE.</h2> +<p class="pnn">There are a good many Christians here, I believe, +that have been quickened and aroused to say, “I want to do some +service for Christ.” Well, Christ says, “Follow Me, and I will +make you fishers of men.” There is no Christian who cannot help +to bring some one to the Saviour. Christ says, “And I, if I be +lifted up, will draw all men unto Me”; and our business is just +to lift up Christ, and live to Him. You may go on preaching like +the angel Gabriel; but if you live like a devil, your preaching +goes for nothing. I do not care how eloquent you are, and what +beautiful language you use, your preaching goes for nothing. It +is no good following this man or that man; follow Christ, and Him +only. He says, I will make you fishers of men.</p> +<h2>PETER HAD A GOOD HAUL ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST.</h2> +<p class="pnn">I doubt if he ever caught so many fish in one day +as he did men on that day of Pentecost. Why, it would have broken +every net they had on board, if they had had to drag up three +thousand fishes.</p> +<p class="pn">Our Lord said, “Follow Me, Peter, and I will make +you a fisher of men”; and Peter simply obeyed Him, and there, on +that day of Pentecost, we see the result.</p> +<p class="pn">But there is one reason, and a great reason, why so +many do not succeed. I have been asked by a great many good men, +“Why is it we don’t have any results? We work hard, pray hard, +and preach hard, and yet the success does not come.” I will tell +you. It is because a good many people spend all their time +mending their nets. No wonder they never catch anything.</p> +<h2>INQUIRY MEETINGS.</h2> +<p class="pn">But the great matter is to <i>hold inquiry +meetings</i>, and thus pull the net in, and see if you have +caught anything. If you are always mending and setting the net, +you won’t catch many fish. Whoever heard of a man going out to +fish, and setting his net, and then letting it stop there, and +never pulling it in? Why, everybody would laugh at the man’s +folly.</p> +<p class="pn">There was a minister in Manchester who came to me +one day, and said, “I wish you would tell me why we ministers +don’t succeed better than we do.” So I brought before him this +idea of pulling in the net, and I said, You ought to pull in your +nets. I said there are many ministers in Manchester who can +preach much better than I can, but then I pull in the net. Many +people have objections to inquiry meetings, but I urged upon him +the importance of them, and the minister said, “I never did pull +in the net; I will try next Sunday.” He did so, and eight +persons, anxious inquirers, went into his study. The next Sunday +he came down to see me, and said he had never had such a Sunday +in his life. He had met with marvellous blessing. The next time +he drew the net there were forty, and when he came to see me at +the Opera House the other day, he said to me joyfully, “Moody, I +<span class="sc">have had eight hundred conversions this last +year!</span> It is a great mistake I did not begin earlier to +pull in the net.” So, my friends, if you want to catch men,</p> +<h2>JUST PULL IN THE NET.</h2> +<p class="pnn">If you only catch one, it will be something. It +may be a little child, but I have known a little child convert a +whole family. Why, you don’t know what’s in that little +dull-headed boy in the inquiry-room; he may become a Martin +Luther, a reformer that shall make the world tremble—you cannot +tell. God uses the weak things of this world to confound the +mighty. God’s promise is as good as a Bank of England note—“I +promise to pay So-and-so,” and here is one of Christ’s promissory +notes—“If you will follow Me, I will make you fishers of men.” +Will you not lay hold of the promise, and trust it, and follow +Him now?</p> +<p class="pn">But then, if you wish to catch men, you must use a +little—what shall I say?—</p> +<h2>COMMON SENSE.</h2> +<p class="pnn">That’s the plain English of it. If a man preaches +the gospel, and preaches it faithfully, he ought to expect +results then and there. But after he has proclaimed the glad +tidings, let him have an inquiry meeting, and, if necessary, a +second meeting, and go to the people’s houses and talk and pray +with them, and in that way hundreds will be brought to God. I +believe it is the privilege of God’s children to reap the fruit +of their labour three hundred and sixty-five days in the +year.</p> +<p class="pn">“Well, but,” say some, “is there not a sowing time +as well as harvest?” Yes, it is true, there is; but then, you can +sow with one hand, and reap with the other. What would you think +of a farmer who went on sowing all the year round, and never +thought of reaping? I repeat it, we want to sow with one hand, +and reap with the other; and if we look for the fruit of our +labours, we shall see it. “If I be lifted up, I will draw all men +unto Me.” We must lift Christ up, and then seek men out, and +bring them to Him. Then, again, you must use the right kind of +bait. A good many people don’t do this, and then they wonder they +are not successful. You see them getting up all kinds of +entertainments with which to try and catch men. They go the wrong +way to work. I will tell you what this perishing world wants: it +wants</p> +<h2>CHRIST AND HIM CRUCIFIED.</h2> +<p class="pnn">There’s a void in every man’s bosom that wants +filling up, and if we only approach them with the right kind of +bait we shall catch them. This poor world needs a Saviour; and if +we are going to be successful in catching men, we must preach +Christ crucified—<i>not His life only, but His death</i>. And if +we are only faithful in doing this we shall succeed. And why? +Because there is His promise: “If you follow Me, I will make you +fishers of men.” And that promise holds just as good to you and +me as it did to His disciples, and is as true now as it was in +their time. “They that are wise shall shine like the sun in the +firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness like the +stars for ever and ever.” Think then of the exalted privilege of +turning one soul to Christ. You set a stream in motion that shall +go on running for ages after you are gone. “Blessed are they that +die in the Lord; for they rest from their labours, and their +works do follow them.”</p> +<h2>PAUL AND HIS WRITINGS.</h2> +<p class="pn">Think of Paul up yonder. Why people are going up +every day and every hour, the men and women that have been +brought to Christ through his writings. He set streams in motion +that have flowed on for more than a thousand years. I can imagine +men going up there and saying, “Paul, I thank thee for writing +that letter to the Ephesians; I found Christ in that.” “Paul, I +thank thee for writing that epistle to the Corinthians.” “Paul, I +found Christ in that epistle to the Philippians.” “I thank thee, +Paul, for that epistle to the Galatians; I found Christ in that.” +And so, I suppose, they are going up still, thanking Paul all the +while for what he had done. Ah, when Paul was put in prison he +did not fold his hands and sit down in idleness. No, he began to +write; and his epistles have come down through the long ages of +time, and brought thousands on thousands to a knowledge of Christ +crucified. Yes, Christ said to Paul, “I will make thee a fisher +of men if thou wilt follow Me,” and he has been fishing for souls +ever since. The devil thought he had done a very wise thing when +he got Paul into prison, but he was very much mistaken; he +overdid it for once. I have no doubt Paul has thanked God ever +since for that Philippian gaol, and his stripes and imprisonment +there. I am sure the world has made more by it than we shall ever +know till we get to heaven.</p> +<p class="pn">6. We find the next “I will” is in John xiv. +18:</p> +<h2>“I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU COMFORTLESS.”</h2> +<p class="pnn">To me it is a sweet thought, that Christ has not +left us alone in this dark wilderness here below. Although He has +gone up on high, and taken His seat by the Father’s throne, He +has not left us. The better translation is, “I will not leave you +orphans.” He did not leave Joseph when they cast him into prison. +“God was with him.” When Daniel was cast into the den of lions, +they had to put the Almighty in with him. They were so bound +together that they could not be separated, and so God went down +into the den of lions with Daniel.</p> +<h2>NO SEPARATION.</h2> +<p class="pn">If we have got Christ with us we can do all things. +Do not let us be thinking how weak we are. Let us lift up our +eyes to Him, and think of Him as our Elder Brother, who has all +power given to Him in heaven and on earth. He says: “Lo, I am +with you, even to the end of the world.” Some of our children and +friends leave us, and it is a very sad hour when some member of +our family goes to a distant country—perhaps to Australia. But, +thank God, the believer and Christ shall never be separated. He +is with us here, and we shall be with Him in person by and by. We +shall be with Him, and see Him in His beauty by and by. But not +only is He with us, but He has sent us the Holy Ghost, who will +tell us all things. Let us honour the Holy Ghost by acknowledging +that He is here in our midst. He has got power to give sight to +the blind, liberty to the captive, and to open the ears of the +deaf that they may hear the glorious words of the gospel.</p> +<p class="pn">7. Then there is another <i>I will</i> in John vi. +40; it occurs four times in the chapter: “I will raise him up at +the last day.”</p> +<h2>THE “I WILL” OF RESURRECTION.</h2> +<p class="pn">To me it is a very sweet thought to think that I +have a Saviour who has power over death. My blessed Master holds +the keys of death and hell. I pity the poor unbeliever and the +poor infidel. They have no hope in resurrection. But every child +of God can open that chapter and read the promise, and his heart +ought to leap within him for joy as he reads it. You know the +tradesman generally puts the best specimen of his wares in the +window to show us the quality of his stock. And so, when Christ +was down here, He gave us a specimen of what He could do. He just +raised three from the dead, that we might know what power He had. +There was (1) Jairus’s daughter, (2) the widow’s son, and (3) +Lazarus of Bethany. He raised all three of them, so that every +doubt might be swept away from our hearts. How dark and gloomy +this world would be if we had no hope in the resurrection; but +now, when we lay our little children down in the grave, although +it is in sorrow, it is not without hope. We have seen them pass +away, we have seen them in the terrible struggle with death; but +there has been one star to illumine the darkness and gloom—the +thought, that though the happy circle has been broken on earth, +it shall be completed again in yon world of heavenly light. You +that have lost a loved one rejoice as you read that “I will.” +Those that have died in Christ shall come forth again by and by. +The darkness shall flee away, and the morning light of the +resurrection shall dawn upon us. It is only a little while, and +He that has said it shall come, His voice shall be heard in the +grave—“I will raise him up at the last day.” Precious promise! +precious <i>I will!</i></p> +<p class="pn">8. Now, the next <i>I will</i> is in John xvii. 24: +“Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given Me, be with +Me where I am.”</p> +<h2>THE “I WILL” OF GLORY.</h2> +<p class="pn">That was in His last prayer in the guest-chamber, +on the last night before He was crucified and died that terrible +death on Calvary. I see some here whose countenances begin to +light up at the thought that they shall be with the King in His +beauty by and by. Yes; there is a glorious day before us in the +future. Some think that on the first day they are converted they +have got everything. To be sure, we get salvation for the past, +and peace for the present; but then there is the glory for the +future. That’s what kept Paul rejoicing. He said, “These light +afflictions, these few stripes, these few brickbats and stones +that they throw at me—why, the glory that is beyond excels them +so much that I count them as nothing, nothing at all, so that I +may win Christ.” And so, when things go against us, let us cheer +up; let us remember that the night will soon pass away, and the +morning dawn upon us.</p> +<h2>DEATH NEVER COMES THERE.</h2> +<p class="pnn">It is banished from that heavenly land. Sickness, +and pain, and sorrow come not there to mar that grand and +glorious home where we shall be by and by with the Master. God’s +family will be all together there. Glorious future, my friends! +Yes, glorious day! and it may be a great deal nearer than many of +us think. During these few dark days we are here, let us stand +steadfast and firm, and by and by we shall be in the unbroken +circle in yon world of light, and have the King in our midst.</p> +<h2>THE SINNER’S “I WILL.”</h2> +<p class="pn">And now there is just one <i>I will</i> that I want +you to say, and that is the <i>I will</i> of the sinner. You have +got the eight “I wills” of Christ: (1) He will give us rest; (2) +He will not cast out the vilest, but will receive all that come; +(3) He will make us clean; (4) He will confess us as His; (5) He +will make us successful winners of souls; (6) He will not leave +us comfortless; (7) He will raise us up at the last day; and (8) +He wills that we be with Him in glory.</p> +<p class="pn">And now I want sinners to say,</p> +<h2>“I WILL ARISE, AND GO TO MY FATHER.”</h2> +<p class="pnn">Who will say it this afternoon? Who will come to +God as the poor prodigal did? I can see him now. Perhaps he is +looking over those blue hills; and away in the distance he can +see the home he has left, and he knows that there’s a loving +father, a grey-headed man there; and he says, I perish here in a +foreign land, while there is bread enough and to spare in that +home which I have left; “I will arise, and go to my father.” That +was the turning-point in his life. That was a glorious thing to +do, was it not, sinner?</p> +<p class="pn">When Mr. Spurgeon preached the other day in the +West End, he summed up the things his audience had got over. Some +of you, he said, have got over the prayers of faithful +Sabbath-school teachers who used to weep over you, and come to +the house and talk to you. You resisted all their entreaties, and +got over their influence. And you have got over your mother’s +tears and prayers, and she, perhaps, sleeps in the grave to-day; +you have got over the tears and prayers of your father and of +your minister, who has prayed with you and wept with you, a +godly, faithful minister. There was a time when his sermons got +right hold of you, but you have got over them now, and his +sermons make no impression on you; you have been through special +meetings, and they have made no impression on you, they have not +touched you. Still, you say, you are getting on. Well, so you +are; but bear in mind, you are getting on as fast as you can to +hell, and there is not one man in ten thousand who can hope to be +saved after he has grown so hard-hearted.</p> +<p class="pns">Oh, my friends, say I will arise to-day! Let there +be joy in heaven to-day over your return. We read in Luke xv., +“There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth.” May many +return now, and live.</p> +<p class="p3">I am lost, and yet I know,</p> +<p class="p3">Earth can never heal my woe</p> +<p class="p3">I will rise at once and go,</p> +<p class="p4">Jesus died for me.</p> +<h1><a name="faith" id="faith">THE RIGHT KIND OF FAITH</a></h1> +<p style="text-align:center; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1.5em"> +“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”—<span class="sc">Acts</span> +xvi. 30.</p> +<p class="pnn">I <span class="sc">do</span> not know of any more +important truth to bring out than the answer to this question, +because that is the beginning of everything with regard to the +divine life. A man must know he is saved before there is any +peace, or joy, or comfort. The answer to the question is, +“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved”; and +the question that comes right after that from almost every one +is, “What is it to believe?” I believe that Jesus Christ is the +Son of God; I believe that He came into the world to save +sinners. Well, and so do the devils. The devils not only believe, +but they tremble. I can believe intellectually that Jesus Christ +is able and willing to save, and yet be as far from the kingdom +of God as any man who never heard about Jesus Christ. To believe +that He can and is willing to save you, won’t save you. I will +now take up the word “faith,” which means believing.</p> +<h2>THE BIBLE DEFINITION OF FAITH.</h2> +<p class="pn">People say, “What is faith?” Now the Bible +definition of faith is perhaps as good as any one that we know +of. We are told in Hebrews xi., “Now faith is the substance of +things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Now faith +is—what? The substance, or, as you have it in the margin, +“ground” or “confidence.” In other words, faith is dependence +upon the veracity of another. Why, all business is carried on on +this principle of faith. Let men lose confidence one in another, +and see how quick business could cease here in London. Let men +withdraw their confidence, and see what would take place in the +commercial world to-morrow. It was faith that brought you here. +If you had not faith to believe that there would be a meeting in +this hall, you would not have come. Somebody said there are three +things about faith—knowledge, assent, and laying hold, and it is +the last clause that is safe. Not the knowledge. A great many +people say, “I believe Christ is able to save.” They give their +assent, and say, “I believe” but that does not save. It is the +last clause, the laying hold, that saves, and that is what we +want to press upon you.</p> +<p class="pn">Faith has an outward look, not an inward one. +Hundreds of people spend time in looking at their own hearts, +but</p> +<h2>FAITH IS AN OUTWARD LOOK.</h2> +<p class="pn">We are to have faith in God, and not in man. A +great many people place their faith in men, and they pin their +faith to other people’s doctrines and creeds. Not long ago I +heard of a man who was asked what he believed. He said he +believed what his church believed. “What does your church +believe?” “The church believes what I believe.” And that was all +they could get out of him. There are a great many in that same +state of mind. They believe what the church believes, but they do +not know what the church believes. If their church teaches it, +they believe it. All the churches in the world can’t save a soul. +It is not to have faith in this church or that church, this +doctrine or that doctrine, this man or that man, but it is to +have faith in the man Christ Jesus at the right hand of God. That +is the only faith that will ever save a soul.</p> +<h2>PUT NO CONFIDENCE IN MAN.</h2> +<p class="pn">Let me call your attention to a few verses where +God has warned us not to put faith in man: Jeremiah xvii. 5: +“Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and +maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. +For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see +when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the +wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited. Blessed is the man +that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.” You will +find some men have not faith in God; they are like a tree that is +withered and blasted. And there is a man perhaps right along next +to them who has strong faith in God; “he is like a tree planted +by the rivers of water; his leaf also shall not wither.” Why? He +trusts in the living God. “Happy is the man that hath the God of +Jacob for his help.” Cursed is the man that leaneth upon an arm +of flesh, and trusteth in man. The same thought is brought out in +Isaiah xxx.: “Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, +that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, +but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin: that walk to +go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen +themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow +of Egypt! Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, +and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.” In one +place He says, “Woe,” and in another place He says, “Cursed be +the man.” It is a terrible thing for man to put faith in man. +Then Psalm cxlvi. 3: “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the +son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he +returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish. +Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope +is in the Lord his God.” Now here we are told very plainly by God +that we are not to put our trust in this man or that man—not to +lean upon an arm of flesh. All the ministers in the world and all +the potentates in the church put together cannot save one soul. +It is thoroughly impossible. It is the Lord that can save, and +the Lord alone; therefore we want to get our eyes away from man, +from the church, and right straight up to the man Christ Jesus. +We read in Mark xi. 22 whom we are to believe in. Christ says—and +how sweet it sounds—“Have faith in God.” I never saw a man or +woman in my life that had faith in God who was confounded, I do +not care what their troubles or trials were. Have faith in God, +and not in man.</p> +<h2>THE GREAT DELUSION OF OUR DAY.</h2> +<p class="pn">We are living in very strange days. Some people +tell us it does not make any difference what a man believes if he +is only sincere. One church is just as good as another if you are +only sincere. I do not believe any greater delusion ever came out +of the pit of hell than that. It is ruining more souls at the +present time than anything else. I never read of any men more +sincere or more earnest than those men at Mount Carmel, those +false prophets. They were terribly in earnest. Some people say, +“Why, if these men are holding, as you say, error, why should +they be so in earnest?” Those prophets of Baal were the most +earnest men I ever read of. You do not read of men getting so in +earnest now that they take knives and cut themselves. Look at +them leaping upon their altars; hear their cry, “O Baal! O Baal!” +We never heard that kind of prayer on this platform. They acted +like madmen. They were terribly in earnest, yet did God hear +their cry? They were all slain. “I believe one religion is just +as good as another, if you are only sincere in what you believe.” +It is one of the devil’s lies.</p> +<h2>HAVE FAITH IN GOD,</h2> +<p class="pnn">not in man. I don’t care how good a man is, don’t +you put your faith in him. His breath departs from him, he dies, +and where is your help? Our God never dies, our God never will +disappoint us if we put our faith in Him. “Have faith in God,” +says Christ.</p> +<p class="pn">I saw some time ago some men arranging to go up in +a balloon fastened to the car. They had one rope fastened, and by +some mistake that rope got untied, and instead of seizing hold of +the car they seized hold of the rope. One of them let go; the +other just hung on, and he was swept away in the heavens and +lost. “It did not make any difference; if he had hung on to the +car it would have been just the same,” you say, “if he was only +sincere.” Why, that man was very sincere when he seized hold of +that rope, yet he was lost—perished in his earnestness. My +friends, bear in mind if you do not believe on the Lord Jesus +Christ you must perish. It is God that says it—not man. Some +people say, “He is such a good man, I cannot help but believe +him; it is all right because he is such a good man, and he holds +that doctrine.” Paul says, “If a man preach any other gospel unto +you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” And if +Gabriel should come right down here to-night, and commence to +proclaim a different gospel from this platform, I would get out +of the hall, and would not listen to him.</p> +<h2>DECEIVERS AND DARK DAYS.</h2> +<p class="pn">Deceivers are going out into the world who would +deceive even the very elect if they could. I believe we are +living in dark days. Error is coming in on all sides, and it is a +time when we must maintain the faith. “I have kept the faith,” +says Paul. The good old doctrine of our forefathers, and of the +Puritans, is a good deal better than your new doctrine at the +present time, that is just doing away with Christ, with hell, and +even with heaven. Let us cling to the word of God, and have faith +in God.</p> +<p class="pn">There was a young man God sent down to Bethel, and +told him to prophesy against it. He was not to eat and drink in +the place, nor to go back by the same way as he went. Down the +young man went. The king asked him to go to his palace, but he +refused. No, God had told him to go and prophesy, not to eat and +drink. But there was an old prophet, and he sent out word to tell +him an angel had told him to invite him, and the young man obeyed +the voice of the angel rather than God, and then he started home +another way, and a lion met him and slew him. We are not to put +our faith in this man or that man, not even in a prophet if it is +contrary to the word of God; not to believe the best man living +if it is contrary to the word of God. If God says it, let us take +our stand upon it. God’s word will stand when these men and their +names have been swept away and forgotten. There have always been +false teachers, men trying to teach us it does not make any +difference what a man believes if he is only sincere. My friends, +let us have faith in the living God, and then it will be light +where it is darkness now.</p> +<h2>HOW TO GET FAITH.</h2> +<p class="pn">Now, just turn to John xx. I can imagine some of +you saying, “I would like to have faith in God, but I do not know +how to get it; I have been praying a long time for faith.” I used +to pray, “O God, give me faith,” and at the same time I was all +the time neglecting the Bible. Here it stands; see how we are to +get faith: “But these are written that ye might believe that +Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might +have life through His name.” Now John took up his pen and wrote +the gospel for one express purpose. What was it? That men might +believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. Every chapter but +two in John speaks of believing, and if you run through the +gospel and mark out the word “believe,” you would find what that +gospel is written for. It is, “Believe, believe, believe, +believe,” and it keeps right on to that one thing. He took up his +pen and wrote that gospel that we might believe, and by believing +we get life. Then turn to Romans x. 15: “How shall they preach, +except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet +of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings +of good things! But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For +Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith +cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Do you want +to know how to get faith? It is to get acquainted with God. +Jehovah says, “Acquaint now thyself with me, and be at peace.” We +find the people that are best acquainted with God have the most +peace. It is the people that do not know God that do not trust +Him. The people that know God put their trust in Him. I never +knew a man to be well acquainted with God who did not trust Him. +The more you know of a true man the more you trust him. I met a +man ten years ago for the first time; I had not much faith in +him, because I did not know much about him. In the course of a +year I got well acquainted with him, and found him to be a true +man; then I had more faith in him; the second year I had still +more; and this year I have more faith in him than ever, because I +know him well now. If you know God you cannot help trusting +Him.</p> +<h2>LITTLE WILLIE.</h2> +<p class="pn">I wanted to teach my little boy what faith was some +time ago, and so I put him on a table. He was a little fellow two +years old. I stood back three or four feet, and said, “Willie, +jump.” The little fellow said, “Pa, I’se afraid.” I said, +“Willie, I will catch you; just look right at me, and jump”; and +the little fellow got all ready to jump, and then looked down +again, and says, “I’se afraid.” “Willie, didn’t I tell you I +would catch you? Will Pa deceive you? Now, Willie, look me right +in the eye, and jump, and I will catch you”; and the little +fellow got all ready the third time to jump, but he looked on the +floor, and said, “I’se afraid.” “Didn’t I tell you I would catch +you?” “Yes.” At last I said, “Willie, don’t take your eyes off +me,” and I held the little fellow’s eyes, and I said, “Now jump; +don’t look at the floor”; and he leaped into my arms. Then he +said to me, “Let me jump again.” I put him back, and, the moment +he got on the table he jumped, and after that, when he was on the +table, and I was standing five or six feet away, I heard him cry, +“Pa, I’se coming,” and had just time to rush and catch him. He +seemed to put too much confidence in me. But you cannot put too +much confidence in God. Now faith never looks down; it looks +right up. God says, “Trust me,” and God will bring us through all +our difficulties, if we will only trust Him. Who will trust Him +to-night? Who will have faith in Him to-night? “Whatsoever He +saith unto thee, do it,” is what the mother of Christ said at the +wedding; and whatsoever God speaks to you, do it. If God tells +you to run, run. If God says, “Believe,” believe, and you will +always be safe in doing just what God tells you to do.</p> +<h2>UNBELIEF THE GREATEST ENEMY.</h2> +<p class="pn">I have a great admiration for the old coloured +woman who said, if God told her to jump through a stone wall she +would jump; getting through the wall was God’s work, not hers, +and she would do whatever God told her to do. The greatest enemy +God and man have got is unbelief. Christ found it on both sides +of the cross. It was the very thing that put Him to death. The +Jews did not believe Him; they did not believe God had sent Him; +they took Him to Calvary and murdered Him; and the first thing we +find after He got up out of the grave was unbelief again. Thomas, +one of His own disciples, did not believe He had risen. He said, +Thomas, feel these wounds; and Thomas did, and believed, and said +“My Lord and my God.” Now those Christians here that have learnt +to trust God in past years will bear me out in this, that the +more they know of God, the more they can trust Him. Why? They +have found God to be true. When man has failed, God never has +failed; and when every one else has disappointed them, God has +proved true. Now, you that never trusted Him, won’t you just leap +right into His arms to-night? Won’t you just take Him at His +word, and believe on Him now?</p> +<h2>THE GREATEST INSULT TO GOD.</h2> +<p class="pn">It is considered you cannot offer a man a greater +insult than to tell him he is a liar. Unbelief is telling God He +is a liar. Why, suppose a man said, “Mr. Moody, I have no faith +in you whatever,” don’t you think it would grieve me? There is +not anything that would wound a man much more than to be told +that you do not have any faith in him. A great many men say, “Oh, +I have profound reverence and respect for God.” Yes, profound +respect, but not faith. Why, it is a downright insult! Suppose a +man says, “Mr. Moody, I have profound respect for you, profound +admiration for you, but I do not believe a word you say.” I +wouldn’t give much for his respect or admiration; I wouldn’t give +much for his friendship. God wants us to put our faith in Him. +How it would wound a mother’s feelings to hear her children say, +“I do love mamma so much, but I don’t believe what she says.” How +it would grieve that mother. And that is about the way a great +many of God’s professed children talk. Some men seem to think it +is a great misfortune that they do not have faith. Bear in mind +it is not a misfortune, but it is the damning sin of the +world.</p> +<h2>GOD’S WORD IS ALWAYS KEPT.</h2> +<p class="pn">Is there any reason why you should not have faith +in God? Has God ever broken His word? I will defy any infidel to +come forward and put his finger on any promise God has ever made +to man that He has not kept. I can show you for 6000 years how +the devil has lied, and how he has broken every promise he has +made. What a lie he told Adam and Eve; and yet I can find a +thousand men that will believe one of the devil’s lies quicker +than I can find one man that believes God’s truth. Men will +believe lies; but when it gets to real truth, then how few will +believe the word of God. Why should not every man and woman in +this house have faith in God? Why should not every one put +confidence in Him now, and trust God to save them? And let me +say, if you are ever saved, you will have to come to this one +point of trusting to God for salvation. You never will be saved +until you put your trust and confidence in God.</p> +<h2>SETTING THE SEAL.</h2> +<p class="pn">Look at John iii. 33: “He that hath received his +testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.” In those days +men used to wear a signet ring, with their initials, and instead +of signing their names, they used to take the ring and seal the +document. That was setting to their seal; that was an +endorsement. And now God comes down into this unbelieving world, +and says, “Who will set to his seal that I am true?” And so I +want to ask the friends in this hall, Who will set to his seal or +her seal that God is true? It is a great deal better for us to +make ourselves liars and God true than to try and make ourselves +out true and God a liar. That is what many men will do. Who will +set to his seal that God is true? Unbelief says, “I won’t.” Faith +says, “I will set to my seal.” Oh, may God help many now to say, +“I will set to my seal that God is true” this very hour; and, my +friends, the moment you do set your seal that God is true, and +put your faith in God, then comes the peace, the happiness you +have been looking for so long!</p> +<h2>NO PEACE WITHOUT TRUST.</h2> +<p class="pn">A great many people go looking for peace and +happiness before they trust. There will be no peace, no +happiness, no joy, until you put your trust in God. The joy that +flows through the Christian’s heart is the result of trusting +God. Suppose I meet a man to-night leaping for joy, laughing at +the top of his voice. I say, “My friend, what makes you so +happy?” “Oh, I don’t know; I am so happy I cannot contain my +feelings!” What would you say? Why, you would say the man had +gone mad. But suppose I meet a man whom I have seen out here +night after night begging, and I say to him, “Hullo, beggar, is +that you?” “Don’t call me a beggar; I am no longer a beggar.” +“Are not you the man who has been begging here every night?” +“Yes.” “Where did you get your good clothes? How is this you are +not a beggar?” “No, I am no beggar; I am worth a thousand +pounds.” “How is that?” “Well, sir, last night I was here +begging, and a man came along and put a thousand pounds in my +hand.” “How did you know it was good money?” “I took it to the +Bank of England, and they gave me gold for it.” “How was it +done?” “Well, I just held out my hand, and he came and put a +cheque right into it, and I took it to the bank and got gold for +it.” “Did you really get it in that way?” “Yes.” “How do you know +it was the right kind of hand?” “Why,” says the beggar, “what do +I care about the hand, I have got the money.” Faith is the hand +that reaches out and takes the blessing. Any faith that brings me +to Christ is the right kind of faith, and instead of looking at +your faith look to Christ. Some one has said, faith sees a thing +in God’s hand, and says, “I will have it.” Unbelief sees it +there, and says, “God won’t give it me.” Look to God by faith +to-night and have salvation.</p> +<h2>WHO WILL HAVE IT?</h2> +<p class="pn">Every man and woman may have it if they will but +put their trust in God. Is not God worthy of our confidence? Is +not God worthy of our trust? You must have a poor opinion of God +if you cannot trust Him. We consider we have a poor opinion of a +man if we cannot trust him. If a man should tell me something, +and I did not believe a word he said, I would have a very poor +opinion of the man. Faith is putting confidence in God’s word. +Take hold of His word to-night. He will save all that will +come—not only that, but He will save you when you do come. Away +with everything but Christ, and take Him now. Who will take God +at His word to-night? Some one has said, “Faith is saying yes to +God.” Who will say yes to-night, and take it? Now, is it too much +to ask or to expect that every person in this hall should put +their faith in God? If God does not save us, who will? Men +cannot, the church cannot, creeds and doctrines cannot; the +sacraments cannot save; baptism cannot save. You must have a +living personal Christ, and God presents Him to the world. Who +will take Him? Who will have Christ—who will trust Him? Faith +says, I will. Is it not the very best thing you can do? Can you +do a better thing than trust to God for salvation? “What must I +do to be saved?” Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, or trust the +Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, and trust Him now.</p> +<h2>STORY OF A CONDEMNED MAN.</h2> +<p class="pns">Away back some years ago it is recorded in history +of a man that was condemned to be put to death, that when he came +to lay his head on the block the prince asked him if there was +any one petition that he could grant him, and all that the +condemned man asked for was a glass of water. They went and got +him a tumbler of water, and when he got it his hand trembled so +that he could not get it to his mouth. The prince said to him, +“Your life is safe until you drink that water.” He took the +prince at his word, and dashed the water to the ground. They +could not gather it up, and so he saved his life. My friends, you +can be saved to-night by taking God at His word. The water of +life is offered to “whosoever will.” Take it now, and live. Faith +cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Rom. x. +17).</p> +<p class="p3">Faith is not what we see or feel,</p> +<p class="p4">It is a simple trust;</p> +<p class="p3">In what a God of love has said</p> +<p class="p4">Of Jesus as the Just.</p> +<h1><a name="thief" id="thief">THE DYING THIEF</a></h1> +<p class="pt1">Read <span class="sc">Luke</span> xxiii. 39-43</p> +<p class="pnn">I <span class="sc">am</span> going to take as my +text a man who was the last one saved before Christ went to +heaven, or before He died on the cross, and the story of his +conversion ought to give hope to every man. We have got an +account of the conversion of all classes of people in the Bible. +There is not one class left out. There is the richest and the +poorest; the greatest and the smallest; all classes of men, and +all classes of women.</p> +<p class="pn">There are so many people nowadays talking against +sudden conversions, that I think the very best thing we can do is +to see what the Scripture says about it—to see how long it takes +God to convert a soul. If I read my Bible correctly, there were +eight thousand converted in two days. That was a good number in a +short time, was it not? We have not got to that yet; I wish we +had. But I feel sure, if the church of God would only wake up, we +should see something like it.</p> +<h2>NEVER TOO LATE.</h2> +<p class="pn">Well, this man was not only a thief, but a reviler +of God, right upon the threshold of eternity, a most depraved and +abandoned wretch. Matthew tells us: “And the two thieves cast the +same in His teeth.” You would have thought they would have been +doing something better than that, coming so near death and the +grave; and that their thoughts would have been made very solemn +in the face of not only death, but after death the judgment. +Instead of that, they were reviling Christ, and casting +accusations in His teeth a few hours before their death. Well, I +do not think this thief could have sunk any further, until he +sunk into hell. Though so far off Jesus found him. Matthew and +Mark both tell us that these two thieves reviled Him. John says +nothing about their reviling; in fact, he does not tell us about +one of them being converted. The first we get of it is in Luke +xxiii. 40, where we find him saying to the other thief, “Dost not +thou fear God?” Solomon, the wise man, says, “The beginning of +wisdom is the fear of God.” Now, there we have the beginning of +wisdom in this thief. He began to <i>fear</i> God. I hope there +will be hundreds in this building who will fear Him; for that is +the true beginning of wisdom.</p> +<h2>CONVICTION OF SIN.</h2> +<p class="pn">Now, the next thing was, the man was convicted. No +man is likely to be converted until he is first convicted of sin. +This thief was convicted. And what convicted him? He heard no +sermon from Christ. The rulers were then deriding Him. The chief +men of His own country had found Him guilty of blasphemy, and had +condemned Him to die the death of the cross. The chief men of the +realm were there wagging their heads and mocking Him. What was it +then that convicted this poor thief? He had seen Christ perform +no miracles; he had heard no wonderful words fall from His lips; +he saw no glittering crown upon His brow. True, it was written +over His cross, “Jesus, the King of the Jews”; but where was His +kingdom? He saw nothing of the Jews paying homage to Him. The +Jews were putting Him to death. There was no sceptre in His hand. +True, He had been crowned a little while before, but only with +thorns, and yet amidst it all this poor thief was convicted after +fear fell upon him.</p> +<h2>THE POWER OF LOVE.</h2> +<p class="pn">What convicted him? I will tell what I think +convicted him, though I could not teach it dogmatically but I +think it was the Saviour’s prayer. When the Lord Jesus cried out +from the very depths of His soul, “Father, forgive them,” +conviction flashed into his heart. He must have said, “Why, this +is more than a man; He has got a very different spirit from me. I +could not ask God to forgive them. I would call down fire from +heaven to consume them, and I would call upon God to smite them +with blindness as Elijah did, and I would sweep them from this +mountain if I had the power.” That’s what he must have thought as +he heard the piercing cry go up, “Father, forgive them, for they +know not what they do.” Ah, it was love that broke his heart. In +those days, when they crucified a man, they used to scourge him. +This poor man had been taken into the court, and tried and +condemned by the judge; but that had not broken his heart. He had +been led forth and scourged; but that had not broken his heart. +And now they had nailed him to the cross; but even that had not +broken his heart. There he is reviling his God. But when he saw +that loving Saviour, he got a glimpse of His love, and that one +glimpse broke his heart.</p> +<p class="pn">I heard of a young man once who was very +hardhearted. His father loved him as he loved his own life. He +had tried everything he could to win that prodigal boy back. When +his father was dying, they sent for him; but he refused to come. +But after his father’s death, he returned home to attend the +funeral; but not a tear fell from his eyes. He followed that +father to his resting-place, and never dropped a tear over his +grave. But when they got home, and the will was read, they found +that father had not forgotten his prodigal boy, but had +remembered him kindly in his will; and that proof of the father’s +love just broke his heart. And so I think it must have been with +the thief when he heard the Saviour crying, “Father, forgive +them; for they know not what they do”; it pierced like an arrow +down into his heart, and he was convicted.</p> +<h2>CONFESSION FOLLOWS CONVICTION.</h2> +<p class="pn">Well, then, the next point in this man was, he +confessed his sin. He says to his brother thief, “We are +suffering justly; we deserve it.” I never knew a man saved till +he took his stand as a sinner. Cain never confessed his sin. +Judas never confessed his sin to God, though he went and +confessed it to man.</p> +<p class="pn">Now, I want to say that I am not come here to urge +you to confess your sins to any man, unless you have done some +sin against him and he is stumbling over it; if so, go and +confess that certainly. We must not confess our sins to any but +God. I have not much sympathy with the class of people that are +always running to this man and that man to confess their sins. +There is no priest on earth that can forgive sins. I have got a +high priest who is “a priest for ever after the order of +Melchizedek.” The only man we have a record of in Scripture who +confessed his sins to man was Judas, and he went right out and +hung himself.</p> +<h2>FAITH IN CHRIST.</h2> +<p class="pn">The next thing about this thief was his faith in +Christ Jesus. We talk about the faith of Abraham and Moses; why, +this thief had the most remarkable faith of any man on record. He +took his stand at the very head of the class, passing by many who +had wonderful faith. He heard no sermon, saw no sceptre in +Christ’s hand, no crown on His brow, nor witnessed any marvellous +works, yet he had wondrous faith. Why, God was twenty-five years +toning up Abraham’s faith. God met Moses in the burning bush, and +went up into the mountains and talked with him; and Isaiah saw +God lifted up on His throne; but not so with this thief. There +were many who had met Christ and seen wonderful things. His +disciples had heard Him discourse, and had seen Him raise the +dead, and yet they had forsaken and left Him. Yet here amidst the +darkness and gloom this poor thief had faith in Him; for although +the Jews had nailed his hands and feet to the cross, they did not +nail his eyes, and he could look at Him. They did not nail his +heart to the cross, and it is with the heart man believeth, as we +read in Romans, and with his heart <i>he believed</i>. There’s +faith for you.</p> +<h2>NOT ASHAMED OF CHRIST.</h2> +<p class="pn">Then the next thing is, he confessed Christ at that +dark period. It was the darkest hour of Christ’s pilgrimage down +here. We will never see another dark hour like that. The sin of +the world was on Him; heaven was closed against Him—locked, +bolted, and barred. He was now hanging on the tree bearing our +sins; and it is written, “Cursed is every one that hangeth on a +tree.” And even God had to hide His face from Him, for He could +not look on sin, and Christ was then bearing the sin of all the +world. I believe that’s what Christ meant in the garden of +Gethsemane, when He prayed that the cup might pass from Him. Up +to that time He saw His Father’s face, and He knew He was blessed +of Him, and from time to time a voice came from heaven, “This is +my beloved Son.” But now He was taking our place before God as a +sinner, and God had to hide His face from Him. Yes, it was +breaking the Saviour’s heart; and now, when darkness is coming +over creation, and the moon is to be turned into blood, and the +sun is about to veil its face because it cannot look upon the +terrible scene, and Peter, one of His most conspicuous disciples, +had denied Him with a curse, and swore that he never knew Him, +and Judas, one of His own disciples, had gone out and sold Him +for thirty pieces of silver, and the chief men of the nation were +mocking Him, saying, “He saved others, let Him save Himself, if +He be the Christ”—amidst all this darkness and gloom, out comes +this signal faith of the thief, “Lord, remember me,” He called +Him Lord there and then; and he said to the other thief, “This +man hath done nothing amiss.” Thank God for that confession. +There’s faith and confession for you. If you want to be saved, +you must have faith in Christ, and be ready to confess Him before +all men.</p> +<h2>“LORD, REMEMBER ME.”</h2> +<p class="pn">Look at the prayer of the thief. People say, “Oh, +pray for salvation, and you will get it!” Yes, but bear in mind +you must have faith in Christ before you can pray. He had got +faith in Christ, and now he calls Him “Lord.” It was the sound of +a young convert’s voice, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into +thy kingdom.” It was not a very long prayer, but it was a prayer +red-hot, one right out of his heart. Some people tell you they +cannot pray without a prayer-book. But the poor thief had no +prayer-book; and if there had been any prayer-books then, there +was nobody to give him one. He wanted salvation, he simply wanted +to be saved, and he cried from his heart, “Lord, remember me!” +and a more eloquent prayer never was heard or printed on earth. +But not only that, he got more than he asked, for he only asked +to be remembered. We always get more than we ask when we come to +the Lord.</p> +<h2>THE WORLD’S LAST LOOK AT CHRIST.</h2> +<p class="pn">Now, when a great man dies, people are very anxious +to get his last words and acts. It is sweet to get the last words +of the Son of God. The last sight the world had of Christ was on +the cross. They have never seen Him since. We have no record that +any uncircumcised eye beheld Christ after He rose from the dead. +The last glimpse the world had of Christ was saving a poor sinner +as he hung upon the cross, saving him from the very jaws of hell, +and the grasp of Satan. Christ snatched him out of the very grasp +of the devil, and said unto him, “This day shalt thou be with me +in paradise.” The lion of the tribe of Judah conquered the lion +of hell, when He snatched the dying thief as a lamb out of +Satan’s grasp. “This day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” +That’s the glorious gospel. Free from the law. There is no +condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.</p> +<h2>FREE! FREE!</h2> +<p class="pn">In the days of Wilberforce, when slavery was +abolished, and it was said that no slave could live under the +Union Jack, because a bill had been passed declaring every man +free, the news had got abroad, and when the captain of a ship was +going to a distant island in the slave dominions, the negroes +were on the watch to get the news and make sure if it were true. +They were anxious to know if the bill had passed that they were +really free. And when the captain came in sight of the little +island, there they were waiting to get the tidings, and the +captain put his trumpet up to his mouth, and shouted across the +island, “Free! Free!” And the cry was taken up and echoed through +the island, “Free! Free!” And they shouted for joy, because they +were slaves no longer. I bring you good news. The Son of God will +speak the word, “Free.” He spoke the words on the cross, and the +poor thief was a free man, and Satan could not hold him.</p> +<p class="pn">Then think of the contrast! In the morning led out +a poor condemned man, cursing and reviling the Son of God +Himself; in the evening singing the new song of redemption. That +evening I see him hard by the throne, singing the sweet song of +Moses and the Lamb. In the morning cursing, in the evening +singing, “Glory to God in the highest.” Was it not a change? What +a contrast! Think of it, O sinner. Condemned in the morning by +man, cast out as too vile for earth; in the evening good enough +for heaven; in the evening washed in the blood of the Lamb, and +Christ ready to receive him into the kingdom of heaven. Christ +was not ashamed to walk down the crystal pavement of heaven with +him. He heard the shout on the cross when Christ called out, “It +is finished!” How his soul must have thrilled with joy at that +shout! He said, “My salvation is completed now.” He saw the spear +thrust into that side and the blood flow out, and I can see the +sparkle on his face lit up with glory. “Without the shedding of +blood there is no remission.” It was a sad sight, but +glorious.</p> +<h2>THE BEST THING TO DO.</h2> +<p class="pn">Now, young man, do you want Him to save you? Are +you ready to confess Him as your Lord and Saviour, and take your +stand by the Master, and say from this hour, I will serve the +Lord Jesus? If so, it will be the best night in your life up to +this time. The best thing you can do is to yield to Christ at +once. Every true Christian would give you that advice, and if I +could shout clear up to the throne, and ask the Saviour what He +would have you to do, I should hear a voice rolling down from +heaven, and saying, “Tell him to seek salvation.” When the poor +thief was converted, it was probably the first time he had ever +heard of the Lord Jesus Christ, or had been invited. But it is +surely not so with you. How many people keep putting salvation +off and off, until it is one day too late! There are so many that +live in the future. It is better you should be wise, and enter +into the kingdom of God now. Let your prayer, like that of the +poor thief, go up from your heart, “Lord, remember me,” and you +will not ask in vain.</p> +<h2>A TIMELY CONVERSION.</h2> +<p class="pn">A minister in Edinburgh tells a story of the +conversion of a young man who was working in one of the mining +districts. When the meeting at one of the churches was over on a +particular evening, he saw him standing by a pillar in the +church, the rest having gone out, all but two or three, and they +asked this man if he was not going home. He said, “I have made up +my mind that I will not leave this church till I become a +Christian”; so they stopped and talked and prayed with him. It +was the best thing he could do. I would like every man here to do +the same thing. Make up your minds that you won’t leave till you +have settled about your soul for eternity. Well, the next day, +while this young man was working in the mine, the coal fell in +upon him, and before he died, he had just strength enough left to +say to his companions, “It’s a good thing that I settled it last +night—a very good thing.” Young man, I will leave you to answer +the question, Was it not a good thing he settled it that +night?</p> +<p class="pn">A young man, who was in the army during the Civil +war, told me that when he heard that his brother, from whom he +had never been separated, had joined a certain regiment, he went +right away and put his name down under his brother’s. They messed +together, marched together, and fought shoulder to shoulder. At +last his brother was struck with a Minnie ball, and he fell +mortally wounded by his side. He saw too plainly that he must +die, and as the battle was raging, and he could do nothing to +save him, he put his brother’s knapsack under his head, and made +him as comfortable as he could, and bending over him, kissed him, +bade him good-bye, and left him to die. As he was going away, his +brother said, “Charlie, come back, and let me kiss you upon your +lips.” “As I bent over him,” said the young soldier who told me +the story, “he kissed me on my lips, and said, ‘Take that home to +mother, and tell her that I died praying for her’; and as I +turned away from him, I could hear him say, ‘This is glory,’ and +as he lay weltering in his blood, and I wondered what he meant, I +asked him what was glory. He said, ‘Charlie, it’s glorious to die +looking up—I see Christ in heaven.’”</p> +<h2>DYING LOOKING UP.</h2> +<p class="pns">If you want to die looking up and seeing Christ, +seek the kingdom of God. You may never hear the call again. Do +not leave this place without making up your mind to settle the +solemn question of eternity at once.</p> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Wondrous Love, by Dwight Moody + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WONDROUS LOVE *** + +***** This file should be named 33520-h.htm or 33520-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/5/2/33520/ + +Produced by Keith G. Richardson + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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